Money | Tech
Why TickTick is the Perfect Shopping List App
All I wanted was an easier way to organize my shopping list. At first I tried Apple Reminders. Then Google Tasks. Then Google Express’s Shopping List tool. Then I dabbled in to-do list apps like Todoist, Things, and Things 3. I tried jerryrigging note-taking apps like Google Keep, Bear, Day One, and Evernote. Then I experimented with project management apps like Monday.com and Asana. I even tried using Zenhub on Github. Oh, and a couple apps designed just for making shopping lists, like Remember the Milk.
In case you haven’t had the pleasure of plumbing the depths of this particular rabbit hole, let me save you some precious time. Each of these is great, but there is one that pulls it all together and takes home the gold: TickTick.
Let me introduce you to yet another way TickTick reigns as the best to do list app out there.
On Shopping Lists
Let’s just take a second and recognize that the very concept of a shopping list itself has changed dramatically. While at one point, it may have made sense to take a single shopping list to a single store where you then proceed to buy everything on your list, very few people shop this way anymore. With the advent of services like Basket and Google Shopping, our shopping strategy has become more perceptive of price differences across stores, and shopping lists have multiplied. At any one point you may have one list for Safeway, another for Whole Foods, another for Amazon.com, one for Costco, and others for Target, Trader Joes’, Walmart, Jet, and Etsy. Then there are lists for the bargain grocery store, the farmer’s market, Wayfair, PetSmart, Container Store, IKEA, and World Market.
Managing all these lists can become a nightmare.
While each of the above apps has their strengths and there are clear reasons why each of them is in business, none of them quite match with the ways most of us actually go about shopping now.
In my search for a shopping list solution, I was looking for a smartphone app that could do each of the following:
- Allow me to tag specific shopping list items by which store I’d like to buy them from.
- Add notes, like prices, sizes, amounts, descriptions, websites, etc., for each item (if I want to).
- Add to my shopping list across all my main devices (iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro).
- Integrate with my Apple Watch.
- Integrate with Google Home.
- Allow me to set a due date if I want that.
- If part of a to-do list app, let me choose whether to include my shopping list in my list of daily to-dos.
- Keep the cost down of adding yet another app into my list of monthly subscriptions.
- Ties all the loose ends: Decent look and feel, User-friendly, and good customer support.
While the way you shop may not match mine exactly, even a fraction of this checklist knocks out almost all of the apps out there.
Except TickTick.
I won’t belabor you here with an explanation of all the many, many reasons why TickTick is the best to-do list app available. Instead, I’ll jump right into showing you, step by step, how TickTick delivers on every one of the wish list items above👆🏼. This may be helpful as a walkthrough guide for those trying to set up their TickTick app to serve as your favorite shopping list app of all time.
It’s also worth noting that I get no commissions from speaking up in behalf of TickTick. I just sincerely cannot find a better alternative out there.
Getting Started
A) Download TickTick. iOS, Google, or go to their webapp. (All the screenshots below are made using the iOS app.)
B) Add List. Tap the three-line menu button in the top left to open the sidebar. Scroll to the bottom and tap Add List.
C) Name your list something creative, like…“Shopping List.” Hit Done. Tap the name of the new list in the sidebar to open it.
1) Tag by Store
A) Add new item. Tap the big plus button in the bottom right. Type the name of the item you want to add. Tap the paper airplane icon to save.
B) Tag as you add. Type “#” then the store name (without spaces).
C) Create a new store. If you’re tagging a store for the first time, just type “#” and the name of the new store as you enter the item. When you save the item, TickTick will also save the new store tag.
D) Add from list view. Tap the three dots at the top right to open the menu. Select Edit Multiple Tasks. Select the task(s) you want to add/change a tag on. Tap the three dots, which are now at the bottom right. Select Tags, then select, search for, or add the tag you want to assign. Deselect any tags you want to remove.
E) Add from item view. Open an individual item. Tap the menu in the top right (three dots), then select Tags. Either select or search for an existing store tag, or type and add a new one.
F) Move between stores. Use either of the methods above to get to the tags list from either item view or list view. Tap the tag(s) you want to remove. Select the tag you want to move an item to.
G) Group list view by store. From list view, select the three dots at the top right to bring up the menu. Select Sort, then choose By Tag.
H) See all items under a single store using Tag view. From list view, tap the three lines at the top left to open the sidebar. Select Tags, then select the store you want to view.
2) Add Notes
A) Open item.
B) Type description in the section below the title.
C) Convert to list. Tap the description section just below the title, whether this is empty or already populated. Select the three lines just above the keyboard — in between the tag and font icons — to convert the description from paragraph to list format. This allows you to add multiple sub-tasks under a single task. I’ve used this a number of times for adding ingredients under a recipe title I need to shop for.
3) Sync across Device
Any tasks you add via your phone can also be seen and edited in all the same ways on tablet and desktop. Pretty nifty…
4) Integrate with Apple Watch
A) Add TickTick to your Apple Watch. Open the Watch app on your iPhone. Scroll to the bottom and, if not already installed on your Apple Watch, find TickTick in the list of Available Apps, then tap INSTALL.
B) Add TickTick as a Watch complication. Select the Watch face where you want to add the TickTick complication. Pick the position on the face you want the complication to appear, then select TickTick from the list of available complications.
C) Include your Shopping List on Watch app. Open the TickTick app on your iPhone and get back to the menu sidebar (from list view, tap the three lines at top left). Select the gear icon at top-right to open Settings, then tap General, then Apple Watch. In addition to other lists you would like accessible via your Watch, make sure to select your Shopping List.
D) Open your Shopping List. Open the TickTick app on Watch. Tap the three lines at the top left to open the list choices. Select your Shopping List.
E) Add grocery item. Tap the “+” button in the top center. Dictate the item you would like to add. Hit Done.
F) Mark grocery item as purchased. Open the item from your Watch. Tap the blue Complete button.
5) Integrate with Google Assistant
A) Link your TickTick account with Google Assistant. Follow the below link to connect your TickTick account with your Google Assistant account.
B) Talk to TickTick. Whether from your Google Home, Google Assistant app on your phone, or other Google Assistant-enabled device, start talking with TickTick by saying any of the following (after “Hey Google” or “Ok Google”):
- “Let me talk/speak to TickTick.”
- “I want to talk/speak to TickTick.”
- “Can I talk/speak to TickTick?”
- “Speak/talk to TickTick.”
- “At TickTick.”
C) Review your Shopping List. Ask Google to review all the items in your Shopping List by saying: “What are my tasks in my Shopping List?”
D) Add a task to your Shopping List. Say something like the following to add an item to your Shopping List: “Add eggs to Shopping List.”
For more, see here:
6) Add Due Date
A) As you enter it. Make sure Smart Date Parsing is turned on by going back to Settings, then tapping General and Smart Recognition, then toggle Smart Date Parsing on. Also toggle on the option to Remove Due Date/Time in Task Name.
Once this is on, you can add due dates as you add an item just by typing the day or date after the name of the shopping list item you’re adding. Here are more examples of how you can format dates for smart parsing.
B) From item view. If there isn’t already a date assigned to a task, tap Date & Repeat at the top of your screen, just under the name of your list. If there is a date already assigned, tap the date in that same spot. In the calendar that pops up, select the date you would like to assign to the item.
C) From list view. While in list view, tap the three dots at top-right to open the options menu. Tap Edit Multiple Tasks, then select one or more items. Tap the calendar that appears at the bottom left and select the day you would like to assign to your shopping item.
7) Show Selectively
A) As you create a new list. You may remember in one of the first steps above that when you create a new list, there’s a toggle titled Do not show in Smart List. If you left this in the default/off position, then all of your grocery items will show up in your daily to do lists.
B) From List options. You may not want all your shopping list items showing up in your to-do list — like me, you may prefer to think of your daily to-dos and your shopping list as separate. In that case, from list view tap the three bars at top-left to open the sidebar. Find your Shopping List and slide left on the name to reveal additional options. Select the pencil icon to open options, then slide the toggle next to Do not show in Smart List to the highlighted/on position. Tap Done to save. This removes all your shopping list items from your daily to-do list.
Good Luck!
