Some iPhone apps are so natural to use that, after a few months, one forgets that they weren’t shipped by Apple themselves with the phone. ShopShop, by Nikolaj Schumacher is one of those. I use it without thinking, and I use it virtually every day. Now I will have to explain why.
When you are in a shop, you want a shopping list that is clear and readable. If it is electronic, you might want to be able to check items off with ease as you find them and, because shop layouts can be complex, you might want to be able to re-order items easily. As you can see from the screenshot to the left of this text, ShopShop has all of this.
Items with a red line through them have been found. You can mark them as found very simply by tapping them. If you make a mistake you can get rid of the red line by tapping an item again.
The grey “list” icons to the right of each item are grab-handles (as it were) that allow you to re-order your list in a way that is intuitive and matches the iPhone interface conventions.
As you can see, the interface is attractive and functional, but more is yet to come. ShopShop has a number of useful features hiding behind those very few buttons.
A very powerful feature is the one that allows multiple shopping lists. This is great for days when you need to visit different shops, or to separate your personal and business-related shopping. You can scroll between lists with a sideways flick and you can select a different background colour for each list from a delightful palette of colours reminiscent of “post-it” notes.
When you add items to a shopping list, ShopShop will remember them in its internal database so that, when you need to add items to your list again, they will be selectable from a list that is pared down to likely options as you type. This feature is illustrated in our second screenshot.
If, at the end of your shopping excursion, you have not been able to purchase all of the items on your list, you can easily remove the checked off items and use those that remain as the basis for your next list. You can also E-mail your shopping lists from right within the ShopShop application.
I’ve been using this application for over a year and I love it. ShopShop has got exactly the right blend of functionality and simplicity that makes a mobile application really great. Another fantastic thing is that all of this is free. ShopShop costs nothing and carries no advertising. I’ve given it a 5-star vote in the App store, and would recommend it unhesitatingly to anyone.
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