ShopAbout manual

Getting started

ShopAbout is a shared shopping list for any shop: the supermarket, the butcher, the chemist, the hardware store. Share a list with the people you shop for, fill a cart in the shop, and keep receipts and prices afterwards.

Open ShopAbout and tap Sign in with Apple. It uses your Apple ID, so there is no new password.
If Apple did not share your name, go to Settings → Name and add it. The others on your lists see it next to what you add.
With no lists yet, the screen says No lists yet. Tap New list, or open an invite link someone sent you.

ShopAbout works with no signal. Changes made in the shop wait on your phone and are sent when you are back online.

Lists and sharing

Make a list

Tap Lists (top left), then New list.
Type a Name, for example Butcher.
Choose the Currency and Measures. These apply to everyone on the list and cannot be changed later.
Tap Create.

The Lists screen shows every list you are on, how many items each has and who is on it. Tap a list to switch to it.

The ⋯ button (top right) opens List options: Select, Ingredient scan, Shopping history, Shops and List settings.

Invite people

Open ⋯ → List settings.
Under Invite, tap Invite someone. The share sheet opens with a link.
Send the link by Messages, email or however you like.

Each link works once, for one person, for a week. It counts as sent only if you actually send it.

Join a list

Tap the invite link on your iPhone, then choose Join. If the link did not open the app, copy it, open ShopAbout, tap Lists, choose Join with a link and paste it.

Owners, leaving and deleting

List settings shows who is on the list, with the Owner marked. The owner can tap a person to Make owner or Remove them. Anyone else can choose Leave list. An owner who wants to leave must first use Make someone else the owner….

Delete list for everyone removes the list and its shopping history for every member. It asks first and cannot be undone.

Adding items

Quick add

Type in the box at the bottom, Add an item, e.g. 3 butter, and tap the add button. ShopAbout reads amounts as you type:

3 butter or butter x3 is 3 butter.
2 kg potatoes, 500g mince and 1.5 litres milk set a weight or volume.
2 x 2L milk is 2 of the 2 L pack.

It suggests things that have been on your lists before. Something already on the list says On the list and opens instead of being added twice. A new name goes straight on the list under a supermarket section. If the guess is wrong, tap the item and change its Section, and the next one lands in the right place.

Buy again and scanning

Buy again is the first button in the add bar. It lists things you have bought before. Tap one to add it, and tap again to take it back off.
The barcode button opens Scan to add. Point the camera at a barcode and ShopAbout looks the product up. While shopping it goes in the cart, otherwise on the list. If nothing on your list matches, it asks Is it one of these? You can pick an item or choose Add it as new.

Change or remove an item

Tap an item to open it. You can change its name, amount, Shop, Section and note, and add up to 3 photos (Take a photo or Choose a photo) to show exactly which product to buy. A new name changes for everyone on the list. Tap Delete item at the bottom, or swipe the item left on the list, to remove it.

For a scanned product, the Product section shows what is known about it. If it is wrong, tap Fix the details from the pack, photograph the pack and check what was read.

Several items at once

Choose ⋯ → Select, tick items, then use Shop, Add to cart or Delete along the bottom.

Ingredient scan

Choose ⋯ → Ingredient scan to turn a meal into a shopping list. Paste the ingredients or the whole recipe, or take or choose up to 2 photos. Each ingredient comes back as something to buy, in shop amounts ("2 tbsp butter" becomes 1 butter). Things usually in the pantry, and things already on the list, start unticked. Tick what you want, fix any name or amount, and add them. This uses Claude: see The Claude features.

Shops

Each list keeps its own shops. Open ⋯ → Shops, or List settings → Shops.

Add a shop. Pick a Shop from the chains, or choose Another shop… and type a name, such as Huonville Butcher.
Add a Location if you like, and pick the State.
Turn on We have its card if you have its loyalty card, so member prices count when you compare shops.

Tap a shop to change it, or swipe for Change and Delete. Items for a deleted shop become Any shop.

Set a shop on an item from its screen. The list is grouped by shop, then by section in shop-walk order. Chips above the list show one shop or several, and Any shop items always show. When the filter hides something, a line says so, such as "Filtered · 8 items at 2 other shops hidden".

Shopping with the cart

Start a cart

Tap the cart button on the right of an item.
With no open cart, ShopAbout asks Where are you shopping? Pick a recent shop, or type a name under New store and tap Shop here.
The add-to-cart screen opens, already filled in from the list. Tap Add to cart.

Nothing has to be filled in, because the receipt can fill prices in later. If you enter a price, the screen shows what you paid last time. Add without price skips it.

On the add-to-cart screen

Amount: a stepper for counted items, or a weight or volume.
Price per: how the price is quoted, such as each or per kg.
Total instead: enter a total, handy for "3 for $10".
Sale / special: records the Usual price and the deal, so a special does not look like the normal price.

If you cart less than the list asked for, the rest stays on the list.

The cart

While you shop, a cart bar sits above the add bar with the running total. Open it to see every line. Tap a line to change the amount or price. Swipe a line to Take out, which puts the item back on the list.

A cart belongs to the shop, not to one person. Two people can fill the same cart and see who added each line.

For an item meant for another shop, ShopAbout asks whether to add it to the cart anyway or Leave it on the list.
Shop somewhere else starts or joins another shop's cart.
This cart is at another shop fixes a cart started at the wrong shop.
An empty cart offers Change shop, Shop somewhere else and Stop shopping.

Check out

Tap Check out. ShopAbout asks, for example, "Check out at Huonville Butcher?" and shows the item count and total. If someone else is in the cart, it says checking out closes it for them too. Choose Check out or Not yet. Anything you did not buy stays on the list.

Receipts and shopping history

Choose ⋯ → Shopping history to see trips by month. Recent shops are under Recent, and older or submitted ones move to Archive. Tap a trip to see what was bought, or tap an item to see its Price history.

Add a receipt

In Shopping history, tap Add a receipt. If asked Which shop is this receipt for?, pick the shop, or A shop with no cart if you did not use the cart.
Choose Photograph the receipt, Choose photos or Attach a PDF or image, or paste it. A receipt can be up to 2 pages, so photograph a long one in two halves.
Wait while it is read, which can take up to a minute.
On Check the receipt, look over the shop, total and lines. Tap a line to fix a misread. Add a line that was missed adds anything it skipped.
Tap Save to the shop.

The receipt fills in prices and weights you did not enter, and adds things you bought that were not on the list. You can also share a receipt to ShopAbout from Mail, Photos or Files. When you next open the app, it asks Which shop is it for?

The receipt photo is not kept, unless the list owner turns on Keep receipt originals in List settings.

Check with the store

Where a receipt charged something differently from what you entered, Check with the store lists it. Mark each one Sorted or Queried at the store, or choose Ignore. If a receipt names something oddly (a chemist's "*MEDICINE ITEM"), use Link to say what it was. Sale marks a price that was lower because of a special.

When it looks right, tap Submit and archive on the shop's page. View receipt shows the receipt as printed. If you checked out twice at one shop, Merge with another cart here… joins the carts so one receipt covers both.

Settings → Receipt checks sets Flag differences, Price within and Weight within, which decide how big a difference must be before it is flagged.

Reading a receipt uses Claude: see The Claude features.

Specials and watches

ShopAbout does not read supermarket catalogues itself. The specials tray is filled by an AI agent that you connect (see Connecting an AI agent). Until you connect one, it stays empty.

The Specials banner

Once a list has a shop, a Specials banner sits at the top of the list. It shows how many specials are waiting, and changes colour when something you are watching is on special. Tap it to open the tray, titled On special.

The tray has a section for each chain, and for any other shop with its own specials. Each special shows its price, the usual price, the saving and when it ends. Things on your list come first, then your usual buys, then others worth a look, with a reason. While you are shopping, your shop comes first, marked You're at that shop.

Add puts the special on the list for that shop.
Not this time hides it for you. In Options, turn on Show what I set aside and tap Bring back to restore it.
In Options, All specials shows everything, and Only take specials the agent is sets how sure the agent must be: Fairly sure of, Sure of or Very sure of.

An item that might be on special shows a Special tag on its row. Tap it to see that item's specials at any shop. On the item's screen, Get it at moves the item to that shop.

Watch for something

A watch tells you when something you do not buy every week, like a big tin of olive oil, is on special.

Open the tray and tap Watch for something.
Enter what to watch, such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A brand and size are optional.
Choose how prices are quoted (Prices are), and optionally a usual price and a price to be told at or under. Leave that empty to hear about any real special.
Add a note for your agent if it helps, then save.

You can also start a watch with Add to specials watchlist on an item's screen. To stop, open the watch and tap Stop watching.

Prices between shops

Open an item and look for Prices at your shops. It shows the item's usual price at each of the list's shops, with this week's special where there is one. It marks the Cheapest shop and where each price came from: what you paid, a shelf price an agent read, or a typical price from other households. It needs a connection. Any brand is fine compares across brands.

The price history chart shows a line for each shop. Specials appear as diamonds, and the line shows the usual price, so a half-price week does not look like a real drop.

Settings → Share prices anonymously controls whether what you pay helps other households. Only a typical price for a product at a shop is shared, worked out from at least 3 households, and never who paid it. You can turn it off.

The Claude features

Some features use Claude, an AI service from Anthropic: sorting new items into sections, the ingredient scan, reading receipts and reading a pack's label. They are off until you turn them on. The first time you use one, ShopAbout asks, with Turn on and continue or Not now.

What is sent: the names of new items, and the ingredients and receipts you choose to scan (text, photos or PDFs). Reading a receipt also sends the names of what is in that shop's cart and on the list, so it can be matched. Your name and email are not sent. What is sent is not kept by us or used for training.

Turn them off

Go to Settings and switch off Claude features. You can turn them back on at any time. Lists, carts, history and prices keep working.

Receipts and scans have allowances. Settings → Plan shows how many Receipts and Scans you have left.

Connecting an AI agent

You can connect an AI agent such as Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. It acts as you: it can read and change your lists and lists shared with you, but not anyone else's, and it cannot change your account or connect other agents. Steps for each agent are at shopabout.nsignia.au/agents.

In ShopAbout, open Settings → Connected agents.
In your agent, add the server address shown there as a custom connector. In Claude that is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Copy address copies it.
The agent opens a ShopAbout page asking for a sign-in code. In the app, tap Get a sign-in code and type the code on that page.
The app shows that your agent is connected and lists it.

A sign-in code works once and lasts ten minutes. Only type it on a ShopAbout page your own agent just opened.

To disconnect an agent, tap Disconnect next to it and confirm. Its access stops at once, and you can connect it again later. If your agent cannot sign in with a browser, the same screen has a collapsed section for setting one up by hand with an agent token. Treat a token like a password.

Settings

Open Settings from the gear button, and tap Done to close it.

Signed in as: your Name (tap to change) and email.
Connected agents: see above.
Plan: your plan, what is left, and choose, change or restore a plan. Shared lists work without one.
Household: appears if you have been asked to share someone's Family plan. Joining shares its Receipts and Scans and does not change your lists. Leave the household undoes it.
Weights and prices in: kg, g and litres or lb, oz and gallons, on every list.
Scanning without signal: choose your Home country and Download now so barcodes are found with no signal. Help Open Food Facts chooses whether products ShopAbout does not know are sent to that free database: Details and photos, Details only or No.
Share prices anonymously, Receipt checks and Claude features: covered above.
Couldn't sync: appears only if the server turned a change down. Dismiss it, and everything else still syncs.
About: the version, About ShopAbout, Privacy policy and Help and support.

Signing out and deleting your account

Sign out

Go to Settings → Sign out and confirm. You can sign in again with Apple.

Delete your account

Go to Settings → Delete account.
Read the message. It deletes your account, your name and email, and any list only you are on, with its photos, and signs you out everywhere.
Choose Delete account, or Cancel.

Things you added to lists shared with others stay on those lists, shown as from a former member. Deleting cannot be undone. To leave a shared list and keep your account, use Leave list in List settings.

More help: Help and support.