Make an app
Make a shared shopping list app for iPhone
A shopping list is only useful if it's the one everybody adds to. Describe your household and your shop, and Borel builds a native iPhone list with aisles in your shop's order, quick re-adds from past items and, with Borel's cloud, one list the whole household shares through an invite code.
Updated
“A shared grocery list: items have a name, an amount and an aisle. Aisles appear in the order I walk through my shop. Ticked items move to the bottom. Past items are suggested as I type. My household joins the list with an invite code and sees changes when they open it.”
Screens
What a shopping list app needs
The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.
List
Items grouped by aisle, in your shop's order, ticked items sinking to the bottom.
Add
A text field that suggests things you've bought before.
Aisles
Drag aisles into the order you walk through the shop.
Household
Who's on the list, and the invite code to add someone.
Data
What it keeps
Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.
| What | Holds | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| List | Name and invite code | In Borel's cloud, shared with members |
| Item | Name, amount, aisle, ticked, who added it | In Borel's cloud, in the list |
| Aisle | Name and position | In Borel's cloud, in the list |
| Account | Email and name | In Borel's cloud, with sign-in |
Native iPhone features
What it can use on your iPhone
Written in Swift with Apple's own frameworks, so they work the way iPhone owners expect.
Make it yours
What to ask for next
Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.
- “Keep a separate list for the hardware store.”
- “Show a small name tag on items someone else added.”
- “Clear all ticked items with one button when I'm done.”
How to make it
From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store
- 1
Describe it
Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.
- 2
Try it in your browser
Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.
- 3
Put it on your iPhone
With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.
- 4
Publish it when it's ready
Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.
Take the list shopping on your iPhone once before inviting anyone. Check that ticking works one-handed with a basket in the other hand, and that the aisle order matches your shop. Sign in on your iPad too, to see the list follow you between devices.
For the rest of the household to have it on their phones, the app goes to the App Store; Borel Companion installs it only on your own iPhone. With Pro and Apple's Developer Program, publishing is a few steps from the same project.
Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.
Before you start
Good to know
- Changes appear when someone opens or refreshes the list; there are no push notifications when a person adds an item.
- It doesn't connect to a supermarket's online shop or prices.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Ask for a shared list, and Borel adds sign-in and a list in its cloud that others join with an invite code.
No. Borel runs the cloud for your app, creates the tables and keeps each list to its members.
Yes. Without accounts, the list is saved on your iPhone and needs no sign-in at all.
Once you publish it to the App Store with Pro, they download it there and join your list with its code.
Make your shopping list app
Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.