Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,494
37,783


When creating a list in the Reminders app in iOS 17, you can select a "Groceries" list option that will cause your iPhone to automatically organize every food item added into categories for easier shopping.

ios-17-reminders-app.jpg

Grocery items like produce, milk, and breads are automatically organized under different headers as you add them to your shopping list. Fruits and vegetables, for example, get organized under "Produce," while oatmeal and cereal go under "Breads & Cereals."

Categories include Produce, Breads & Cereals, Frozen Foods, Snacks & Candy, Meat, Dairy, Eggs & Cheese, Bakery, Baking Items, Household Items, Personal Care & Health, and Wine, Beer & Spirits.

Categories are customizable and you can add your own sections, or rearrange the order that sections are shown in the list.

If the iPhone doesn't recognize where an item should go, it remains uncategorized. It does recognize specific brands and types of food like "Sour Patch Kids," but some items like tofu are questionably categorized (Dairy, Eggs & Cheese).

While sections are turned on by default for the Grocery list option, any Reminder list that you create in iOS 17 can have sections added to it. You'll need to manually add sections and organize items into them, but the option exists for better list management.

There is a new column view that lets you see the sections you've created side-by-side, and this is in addition to the standard list view.

With interactive widgets in iOS 17, a reminder can be checked off directly from a widget without having to open the app, which is a convenient change. Other new additions include options to receive early reminders up to six months before a reminder becomes due, and tools for creating reminders from suggestions.

Article Link: iOS 17 Reminders App Can Automatically Sort Your Groceries Into Categories
 
Damn. This is good.

I have an Alexa Show 15 frame on my wall near the kitchen and it's a perfect way to manage grocery list items. Then I use the Alexa widget on my iPhone when shopping. It works well, but this has me reconsidering my setup.
 
Can you take an existing list and set it to be Grocery? My wife and I share a reminder list for shopping so being able to update it and keep sharing would be ideal.
 
Can someone show how the columns work? I read GTD a little over a year ago, have Things 3 on all devices, but would really like to use the built in reminders if it ever gets to the point of being better than Things for me.
Typically around 100 repeating todos spread across 7 areas, and twice a year during the summer camps that number goes up to around 300 todos.
 
Can you take an existing list and set it to be Grocery? My wife and I share a reminder list for shopping so being able to update it and keep sharing would be ideal.
Yes! I had a long list of groceries, changed the list type from standard to grocery and it put everything into categories! I had so many double items I had to delete
 
  • Like
Reactions: nwcs
Get sherlocked AnyList, OurGroceries, Grocery

Assuming it actually learns when you manually categorize things that is.

This is a competitor to AnyList the same way that TextEdit (which now supports full RTF formatting) is a competitor to Microsoft Word.

To be sure, this sounds like a great feature that many will appreciate; and it’s not hard imagining quite a few deciding that this is all that they need, obviating the need for them for AnyList.

But AnyList has had for a loooong time full recipe integration … as in, you can be following along in the kitchen with a recipe, realize that this recipe you’re working on just put a big dent in your supply of almonds, and tap right there to add that ingredient to your list. Or you can use it for meal planning and either selectively add ingredients to the list or tap a button to add everything.

I haven’t used it, but it also supports full Instacart integration, too. I can easily imagine that, were I an Instacart user, I’d be totally all over that one.

if the AnyList marketing team is as good as I suspect they are, they’ll leverage off of this … let people know that, yes, this is a great new feature for Apple to have added … but AnyList can do that and so much more. After all, the sort of person who’s likely to get excited about this feature is likely to get even more excited about what AnyList can do …

b&
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch
Can these lists be shared and edited in realtime by multiple users? Use case: wife and I add items to the list during the week, go to shop on weekend, split up and shop simultaneously but separately each checking items off the list and seeing updated checkoffs in real time.

Would that work with this?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
This is really an innovative approach to grocery list construction. Automatically grouping items in your list to appropriate categories will be a massive timesaver. It's the kind of thing that only Apple can do.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: locovaca
Damn. This is good.

I have an Alexa Show 15 frame on my wall near the kitchen and it's a perfect way to manage grocery list items. Then I use the Alexa widget on my iPhone when shopping. It works well, but this has me reconsidering my setup.
IFTTT can sync one way from Alexa shopping list to reminders.

Unfortunately it is only one way, So you have to clear the Alexa list every now and then.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
I love this. My life is about managing simple tasks for day-to-day and then research/writing projects for work. I was an OmniFocus Pro user, then moved to Things, seeking more simplicity. I shifted to Apple's Reminders when they did the big update two cycles ago. I have not looked back. It does EVERYTHING I need.
 
IFTTT can sync one way from Alexa shopping list to reminders.

Unfortunately it is only one way, So you have to clear the Alexa list every now and then.

That wouldn't work unfortunately. I use the Echo Show 15, not just for input but to see what we have to buy and whether it's worth going to the store. It's important to have the list synced and up to date.

I guess I'll be waiting for Apple to introduce its own smart screen or a much larger iPad that can be wall mounted with the Reminders app as a widget.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.