I’ve been testing iOS 17 since the first beta released in June, but it wasn’t until my latest trip to the grocery store that I found that standout feature that I think I’d use every day.
If you’re anything like me, grocery shopping can be a massive source of stress and anxiety that often ends with purchasing far too much food and often unhealthy options. Recently, I bought a Costco membership card, which means even more opportunities for impulsive bulk purchases of food that aren’t good for my gut health. Seriously, I left Costco with 24 cookies and an entire chocolate cake, which I deemed acceptable as I’d give some to my colleagues — I work remotely, so I’ll let you put two and two together.
The trick to healthy food shopping, budgeting, and removing any source of anxiety is a grocery list that prevents impulsive purchases and leaves you in control of your weekly food shop. When I do try to plan my grocery shop, I usually use the Notes app and write a long list of items as they come into my brain. It helps a little, but having the items so scattered means I still end up browsing far too much for that next tasty treat.
iOS 17 will save your grocery shopping
"Maybe with iOS 17 I'll finally feel in control of my grocery list thanks to the great quality of life improvements in Reminders."
For this week’s grocery shop, my partner decided to take control and, without realizing what she was about to uncover, opted to use Apple’s Reminders app. It was to our surprise that in iOS 17, Reminders is better than ever when it comes to grocery lists and could genuinely be a life-changer for many people.
Basically, Reminders in iOS 17 allows you to add food items and automatically sorts them based on their food type and, subsequently, their location in a grocery store. With iOS 17, I no longer need to worry about running between sections at the grocery store, which often leads to my wandering eyes finding a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor or a tasty new bag of chips.
When I wrote my preview of iOS 17 with my favorite ten features, I mentioned the improvements to Visual Look Up, which now can work for food and allows you to find new and exciting recipes. Combined with these grocery list improvements in Reminders, the foodies at Apple HQ have made iOS 17 the best update for those who love to wine and dine since the iPhone launched in 2007.
As always with Apple’s app development, there will already be some kind of third-party app that has provided a similar experience when writing your grocery list for years. But Apple providing an option like this in a first-party app is the kind of feature many people could start to rely on because it’s so accessible and pre-installed on your device.
As the How To expert at iMore, I knew that iOS 17 improved grocery lists in Reminders, but my partner definitely did not. Seeing her surprise and delight as she noticed that iOS 17 had solved a problem that we commonly have in our lives is what makes new operating systems so exciting. iOS 17 is likely to launch soon with Apple’s iPhone 15 event on September 12, and before we know it, you might see everyone in your local Walmart with Reminders and a neatly organized grocery list.
