Shopping without a signal
Groceries works offline. Check items off, remove rows, and add custom items even without a signal — your changes save when you reconnect.
What you can do offline
- Check items off. Tap a checkbox and the row crosses out. The check syncs when you reconnect.
- Remove items. Tap the × at the end of a row. The row drops from the list.
- Add a custom item. Type the name and press Enter. A small queued pill appears next to it until it syncs.
You can also reload the page while offline — provided you’ve opened Groceries once with signal. The app remembers the last version it saw.
The status banner
A line at the bottom of the page shows where you stand:
- Offline, no pending changes — “Offline — your changes will save when you reconnect.”
- Offline, with pending changes — “Offline — N changes pending.”
- Reconnecting — “Syncing…”
- Done, all good — “✓ Synced.” then fades.
- Done, with at least one failure — “Synced with issues — N still pending.” stays until you act on it.
Tap the banner at any time to open the receipt.
The sync receipt
When you come back online, a panel opens to show what synced and what didn’t:
Synced from your last shopping trip
✓ Cheerios, milk, eggs, butter, bread …and 7 more
⚠ Yogurt — couldn’t sync [Retry] [Discard]
[Looks good]
The receipt opens on its own when something needs your attention — a failure, or a queue older than an hour. Otherwise it stays out of the way; tap the banner to see what synced.
For each ⚠ row:
- Retry sends the change again. Worth a try if the server was briefly unhappy.
- Discard drops the change. Use this when the item doesn’t belong on the list anymore — for example, a partner already bought it.
Tap Looks good when you’re done. The page refreshes to pull the latest list, including anything a partner changed on another device while you were offline.
If you open the app for the first time without a signal
You’ll see a desert-island page that says You’re offline. The app needs at least one online visit to a page before it can show that page without a signal. Open Groceries once with signal and it’ll be there next time.