A shopping list app sorted by aisle, that learns what you buy

You know the walk. Bread first, then the fruit, then all the way to the dairy aisle for yoghurt, back to the fruit for the lemons you missed, and to the dairy once more, because the milk was on the list too, at the bottom. At home you find you forgot the coffee, the one thing you buy every week. And your partner bought eggs as well.

A list on paper can't fix any of that. A list that knows your shop and your habits can. Here is how to set one up in Tasks, and how it gets better each time you shop.

1. Start from the Supermarket template

Your account already comes with a Shopping list, set up for the job. To make another, for the weekly shop or the market, choose New list and, under Start from a template?, pick Supermarket.

You get the supermarket's sections, such as Produce, Bakery, Meat, Dairy & eggs, Pantry, Frozen and Cleaning, and around 245 everyday products already filed under them, ready to be suggested. No dates, notes or priorities get in the way: a shopping list should stay simple. You can change all of it later.

The Supermarket is one of 23 templates. There are others for the hardware store, the pharmacy, moving house, a trip or a wedding.

2. Put the sections in the order you walk

This is the step that ends the trips back to the dairy aisle. Open the list's menu, choose Categories and move each one up or down with the arrows until they follow your route through the shop: fruit and veg by the door, say, then the bakery, with dairy and frozen at the far end. Leave Sort by name off. Your supermarket isn't alphabetical.

From then on, whatever you add falls into its section, and the list reads from top to bottom in the order you'll meet things on the shelves. You tick your way through the shop and never double back.

3. Type less: suggestions and quantities

Start typing and Tasks makes suggestions: first what you usually buy, the most frequent at the top, then the everyday products of the template. Type "co" and coffee is there before you finish the word. A suggestion you no longer want can be forgotten.

To note how much you need, turn on Units in List settings. Quantities are then understood as you type:

• "200 g ham" becomes ham, with 200 g beside it.
• "1.5 kg potatoes" becomes potatoes, 1.5 kg.
• "ham 200 g" works too, the other way round.

4. New products: it asks once

Sooner or later you add something the list has never seen. Tahini, say. Turn on Ask for the category in List settings, and Tasks asks Where does “tahini” go?, with your sections to choose from. Answer once and it remembers: next time, tahini goes straight to Pantry.

Everything you've bought before goes back to its own section by itself. So the list learns your shop simply by being used.

5. Share it with the household

Choose Share in the list's menu and invite people by email. For each one, pick Can edit or Read only: your partner adds and ticks off, while a flatmate who only wants to check what's left can just look.

On a shared list:

• A small bubble with a name shows who added each thing, so you know who wanted the oat milk. If you'd rather not see it, turn off Show who added each task.
• Changes show up live on every phone. When one of you ticks off the eggs, the other sees it from the next aisle, and nobody buys them twice.
• Notifications come grouped: one notice that says "Laura added 3 items", not three pings, and never one about your own changes.
• If a list gets chatty, mute its notifications from the list's menu. Each person mutes the lists they want.

6. Quick in the aisle

On your phone, swipe a task to the left to delete it, with a way to undo. Swipe it a short way to the right for the star, and further for My Day.

And no signal in the basement supermarket is no problem: Tasks works offline, and whatever you tick off is sent as soon as you're back online.

7. Ask your AI, even out loud

If you've connected an AI assistant to Cronum Work, you can add to the list in your own words, typed or spoken, while your hands are full:

Add milk, bread and eggs to the shopping list.

Each one lands in its aisle, just as if you'd typed it. The list's name can be approximate, too:

Put bin bags on the shop list.

And before you leave the house:

What do I usually buy that isn't on the list?

The assistant looks at what you've bought before and tells you what's missing. Usually, the coffee.

A checklist to start

1. Use your Shopping list, or a new one from the Supermarket template.
2. Put its Categories in the order you walk the shop.
3. Turn on Units and Ask for the category.
4. Share it with the household, to edit or to read.
5. Connect your AI, and add things without opening the app.

Tasks is one of the four modules of Cronum Work, and the Free plan is enough to start.