How to use shared shopping lists

1. Getting started

Shopping lists is an app of DevQuake and uses your DevQuake account, so there is no separate sign-up.

1. Sign in on devquake.com (or create an account and confirm your email).
2. Open Your account → Available projects and Subscribe to “Shared shopping lists”.
3. Click Open Shared shopping lists. You arrive here already signed in. If you open the app address directly while signed out, sign in once and you come right back.

2. The main screen

The main screen has four tabs. On a phone or tablet, swipe left and right between them.

• Today (opens first): every list planned for today, with its products, prices and totals per store. Tap Open list to work on it.
• Calendar: all your lists by date, past and future, as a week, month or year.
• New list: plan a new list, or join someone else’s with their invite code.
• Statistics: what you bought, where, at which prices, and who shopped with you.

The toolbar at the top always has Lists (back to this screen), Manual (this page) and the language picker.

The toolbar shows the app’s name (tap it to come back to the start), full screen, the notification bell and the DevQuake mark. The manual and the version notes are at the bottom of every page; your language and theme are set in Your account → Profile on DevQuake.

3. Plan a list

1. Go to the New list tab.
2. Give the list a name, for example “Weekly groceries” or “Barbecue on Saturday”.
3. Pick the shopping date with the date picker. It is today unless you choose another day; plan as many days ahead as you like.
4. Choose the currency (RON by default) and press Create list. The list opens and you are its owner.

One list per trip works best: a list for Saturday’s groceries and another for next week’s hardware store run keeps the calendar and the totals clear.

Copy lists to other days (in the New list tab): repeat one list on another day, on every day of a week or of a month; copy all lists of a week to the other weeks of its month; or all lists of a month to the other months of its year. Copies have the same products, prices and stores, nothing ticked off; a list already there with the same name and day is not copied twice.

4. Add stores

Stores tell everyone where to buy each product. A store has a name, a type, a location and a description, and belongs to the list.

1. In the Add to the cart form, open the Store menu and choose + New store….
2. Type the store’s name. Well-known chains are suggested, and their type fills in automatically (Kaufland → Grocery store, Dedeman → Hardware and DIY, Altex → Consumer electronics, Catena → Pharmacy). You can always pick another type.
3. Add the location (address, mall or area) and a description if it helps (opening hours, parking, which entrance).

The store types are grouped like this:

• Food and daily essentials: Grocery store / supermarket, Convenience store, Specialty food market
• Home improvement and tools: Hardware and DIY store, Garden centre
• Electronics and appliances: Consumer electronics, Major appliances
• Apparel and lifestyle: Clothing and fashion, Department store
• Health and personal care: Pharmacy / drugstore, Cosmetics and beauty
• Other: Other

To change or remove a store, press Edit next to its name on the list. Removing a store keeps its products; they move to “Any store”.

5. Add products (with suggestions and photos)

Each product needs a name and a unit; everything else is optional.

• Item (required): the product, e.g. “Milk”.
• Unit (required): how it is sold, e.g. l, kg, pcs, pack, bottle.
• Quantity (optional): how many units. Leave it empty when the product itself says it all (“Milk, 1 l”); it then counts once.
• Price / unit (optional): can be filled in now or later by whoever is in the shop. The line total is price × quantity.
• Store and Description (brand, size, “lactose-free”).

After Add item the form keeps the chosen store, so you can add several products for the same shop quickly. Press Edit on a product to change it or delete it.

Suggestions from your usual shopping

• Start typing a product name: products from your earlier lists appear, most frequent first, with their unit, last price and store. Accents do not matter (“paine” finds “Pâine”). Pick one with a tap, or with the arrow keys and Enter.
• With Fill in the whole row from last time switched on, picking a product fills in the unit, quantity, last known price, description, store (added to the list if needed) and its photo. Switch it off to fill in only the name and unit. The app remembers your choice on this device.
• Usual products above the form lists what you buy most often and is not on the list yet: one tap adds it with everything from last time.

Photos

• Use Add a photo in the form, or Edit → Add a photo on a product. On a phone you can take the picture right away.
• Photos are shrunk on your device before uploading, so it is quick even on mobile data. Only people on the list can see them. Tap a photo to see it large.
• A product picked from the suggestions brings its last photo along.

6. Go shopping (and “not needed”)

1. Open the list (from Today or the calendar) and press Go shopping: bigger tick boxes, no editing clutter.
2. Tick each product as it goes into the cart. It moves to the bottom of its store.
3. Missing a price? Leave shopping mode, press Edit on the product and enter what it costs in the shop.
4. Watch the totals: Still to buy, Whole list, and the total per store. Products without a price are counted separately.
5. Afterwards, Clear … finished removes the ticked products, or keep them for your statistics.

Not needed any more

Press Not needed on a product to strike it out: it moves to the bottom of its store and no longer counts towards Still to buy or the list’s total. Needed again brings it back.

If the product had already been bought, the money is spent anyway: it stays in the totals and gets a darker background with a 🙃 (“bought, but not needed after all”). The Statistics tab counts these, with the money spent on them, so you can spot what you tend to buy for nothing.

In shopping mode, Add a product (folded at the top) adds something you remember in the store. Correct price under a product saves the price on the shelf: the planned price is kept next to it, and both go into your price history.

7. Using it on your own

Your lists are private: only you and the people on a list (who joined with its invite or whom its owner added) can see it. Today, the calendar, the statistics and the suggestions only ever use lists you are on.

You do not need anyone else: a list with only you on it works the same way.

1. Plan lists for the days you shop.
2. Each day, open the app: the Today tab shows exactly what to buy.
3. Tick products off and enter prices; the Statistics tab builds up your price history.

8. Shopping with friends

Everyone on a list can add products and stores, enter prices and tick things off. Only the owner can invite, remove people, change the settings or delete the list.

Invite someone

1. Open the list and press Share & settings.
2. Your friends on DevQuake: people you invited to DevQuake (and the person who invited you) can be added with one press on Add to list.
3. Anyone else: send the invite link, read out the 8-character code, or let them scan the QR code. They need a DevQuake account and a subscription to this app.
4. New link makes a fresh link and code; the old ones stop working.

Join someone’s list

1. Open their link or scan their QR code, or type the code in New list → Join a list.
2. Check the list name and owner, then press Join this list.

Shopping together

Changes show up for everyone within a few seconds, without reloading: on an open list, and on the Today, Calendar and Statistics tabs. Split up by store: each person ticks off what they picked up, and the list shows who added and who picked up each product.

9. Calendar

• Week: the seven days with each list, what is still to buy and its total.
• Month: a month grid; each day shows its lists. Finished lists are crossed out.
• Year: twelve small months with the shopping days marked; press a month to open it.

Use ‹ and › to move, and Today to jump back. Press a list to open it. A list only appears in the calendar of people who are on it.

10. Statistics

• Totals: lists, products, and what was bought compared with what was planned, per currency.
• Friends on your lists: for each person, on how many of your lists they were, a row of dots for your most recent lists (filled when they were on it), how many products they added and picked up, and when they last joined.
• Stores: where you shop most and how much you spent there.
• Spending per month by shopping date.
• Most bought products with average, lowest, highest and last price per unit, handy to spot a good deal.

Prices over time compares the first and the latest price of each product you bought on different days (your own inflation), and how far the planned prices were from the prices paid.

11. Change, leave or delete a list

• Change the name, date or currency: Share & settings → Settings (owner).
• Remove someone: Share & settings → Members → Remove (owner).
• Leave a list: Members → Leave list (members).
• Delete a list (owner): Share & settings → Delete list. The list disappears for everyone on it, together with its invite links, notifications and product photos. The prices and products stay in the Statistics of everyone who was on it, so your spending history does not change.

12. Notifications

• The bell in the toolbar shows what your friends did on lists you are on (“Ana picked up Milk”, “Bob struck out Chips”). A number shows how many are new; tap an entry to open that list.
• While the app is open, new changes also pop up briefly in the corner.
• In the bell, tick Notify me even when this tab is in the background and allow notifications: your device then shows them while the app is open in another tab or in the background.
• When the app is closed, nothing is sent. Open it and the bell shows what you missed (up to 30 days).

Clear all empties the bell; ✕ next to a notification removes only that one. Both apply on all your devices.

13. Tips and questions

• Prices differ per store? Put the product on the list once per store; the statistics then compare the prices.
• Nothing on Today? The tab shows the next planned list; plan one for today in New list.
• A friend cannot open the list? They must be subscribed to Shared shopping lists on DevQuake; the Share page tells you when that is the case.
• Deleting your DevQuake account passes your lists to the member who joined first (or deletes them when you were alone) and removes your name from products.