Shared grocery list: set one up today on iPhone, Android or Alexa

Published 15 September 2026, updated 18 September 2026

You probably don't need to download anything to start a shared grocery list. Two iPhones already have Apple Reminders, which sorts groceries into store sections on its own. A mixed iPhone and Android household already has access to Google Keep. And if there's an Echo on the kitchen counter, the Alexa shopping list is already there. Below are the exact steps for each, four dedicated apps worth considering if the built-in options fall short, what to check when a shared list stops syncing on iPhone, and the house rules that decide whether two people actually use the thing.

The quick answer: if everyone in the house uses an iPhone, make a Groceries list in Apple Reminders and share it through iCloud. If anyone uses Android, share a Google Keep list or pick an app that runs on both platforms, such as OurGroceries, AnyList, Bring! or Listonic. If the household mostly shouts at an Echo, use the Alexa shopping list.

Which shared list fits your household

One opinion before the steps: pick the option that the least enthusiastic person in the house will open. A beautiful app one person loves and the other ignores is worse than a plain Keep note both of you check. If you're also working out how to split the bill, our grocery budget for two sets out three ways to do it.

How to make a shared grocery list on iPhone with Reminders

Apple added the Groceries list type in iOS 17. According to Apple's own support article, it needs iOS 17 or later, and iCloud has to be turned on for Reminders. Once that's set, items you type are sorted into categories like Produce, Meat or Frozen Foods, so the list reads roughly in the order you walk a store.

Before you start: iCloud and updated reminders

Every person on the list needs to be signed in to their own Apple Account with Reminders switched on in iCloud settings. Apple spells this out in its guide to sharing and collaborating in Reminders. Grocery lists also depend on the upgraded version of Reminders. If you see an Upgrade button above your lists, tap it. Apple notes that shared lists require both the creator and everyone viewing it to have updated their reminders.

Don't solve this by signing both phones into one Apple Account. It shares far more than groceries (messages, photos, purchases) and it isn't how Reminders sharing is meant to work.

Create a Groceries list

1. Open Reminders and tap Add List.
2. Type a name, then tap List Type and choose Groceries.
3. Pick a color and symbol if you like, then tap Done.

To turn a list you already use into a grocery list, open it, tap the More button, tap Show List Info, set List Type to Groceries and tap Done. These are the steps in Apple's iPhone User Guide.

If an item lands in the wrong section, touch and hold it and drag it to the right one. Reminders remembers that choice for next time. You can also open an item's info screen and set its Section there. On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, Apple says the sorting works even when the list mixes languages, which helps if one of you types "tortillas" and the other types "Brot."

Share the list

1. Open the grocery list and tap the Share button.
2. By default, anyone you invite can invite others. If you'd rather keep it to the people you picked, tap "People you invite can add others" and turn off "Allow others to invite."
3. Send the invitation through Messages or Mail.

Sending it through Messages has a small bonus: the conversation shows activity updates when someone changes the list, and tapping an update jumps to the list. The other person has to accept before the list appears on their phone.

Assign items and choose your notifications

In a shared list you can assign an item to someone by typing @ and their name. That's handy for the person who passes the pharmacy on the way home, less so for a weekly shop.

To control alerts, open the list, tap the collaborate button, then Manage Shared List. Under Notify When, you can switch alerts on or off for Adding Items and Completing Items. Our suggestion is further down in the house rules, but in short: most people should turn Completing Items off.

Google Keep: the free shared list for iPhone and Android together

Keep is the simplest thing that works across both platforms. Anyone with a Google Account can edit a shared note from the Keep app on Android or iPhone, or from a browser.

To make the list on iPhone or Android, open Keep, tap New list at the bottom, add a title and your items, and go back. Then share it, following Google's Keep Help steps:

1. Open the list and tap the Action menu.
2. Tap Collaborator.
3. Enter the other person's name, email address or a Google Group, choose them, and tap Save (Done on iPhone).

If your household already has a Google family group, you can share the note with the whole family group in one step. Two cautions from Google's help pages: if you own a shared note and delete it, it's deleted for everyone, and anyone in a family group can edit or delete notes shared with that group.

One setting is worth changing on day one. In Keep's Settings, the list options let you move checked items to the bottom of the list, so ticked items stop cluttering the part the shopper is reading. Keep won't group items by aisle, so if order matters, type items roughly in the order of your store.

Alexa shopping list for the household

Amazon's version is built around voice. Anyone in the house can say "Add eggs to my shopping list" to an Echo, and it goes on one household list. Amazon's help page says you can open that list on Echo devices, in the Alexa app and in the Amazon app, and share it with other people by text message or email.

Useful voice commands from Amazon's list help: "Remove [item] from my shopping list," "Clear my shopping list," and, on an Echo with a screen, "Show me my shopping list." To tick items off at the store, open the Alexa app, go to More, then Lists & Notes, pick the list and tap an item. It moves to a Completed section.

If two adults are linked through Amazon Family, Amazon says all the adults share Amazon Shopping Lists. Linking accounts also shares payment methods, so treat it as a household decision rather than a shortcut for groceries.

The honest weakness: voice entries come out vague. "Cheese" is a fine thing to say out loud and a useless thing to read in the dairy aisle. Alexa works best as the capture tool, with someone tidying the list in the app before the trip.

Shared grocery list apps for iPhone and Android

If you're in a mixed household and want aisle sorting, recipes or a list both people will enjoy using, these four are the ones that keep coming up for couples and families. For apps that track the pantry as well as the list, see our pantry inventory app comparison. We haven't tested them against each other. Prices below are as listed on each app's App Store page or website in September 2026 (US), and they can change by country.

OurGroceries

The quiet workhorse. Everything that matters is free, and the paid upgrade only removes ads, for everyone sharing the account. The catch is how sharing works: the OurGroceries user guide says the whole household must use a single email address, either by inviting people from Settings, Share Your Lists, or by having them sign in with the same email and password. That's fine for a couple. It's awkward for roommates who don't want to share a login. Items can be organized by category or aisle, and there's an Apple Watch app and a website.

AnyList

Probably the most polished of the four, and the one to pick if recipes and meal planning feed your list. AnyList's feature comparison says creating and sharing lists is free on iOS and Android, and so is automatic categorization of common groceries. The web app, Mac app, Apple Watch app, item photos and store filters sit behind AnyList Complete. If more than one person wants the paid features, compare the $14.99 household plan before anyone buys an individual one.

Bring!

Bring! uses big item tiles rather than a plain text list, which some people love and others find slow. It groups items automatically and lets you rearrange categories to match your supermarket, and it has a web version at web.getbring.com. The App Store listing shows the free version contains ads and lists Premium at $1.99 a month or $8.99 a year.

Listonic

Listonic's App Store description covers real-time sharing, grouping by aisle, notifications when someone updates a shared list, and offline use that syncs when you reconnect. According to Listonic's help center, Premium removes ads and lets you change currency and the app's look, so the list itself is the free part. The App Store shows several price points at once (for example $1.99 a month, and yearly options at $10.49 and $15.99), so check the price in the app before you subscribe.

If you want the list tied to what's already in the cupboard (a pantry inventory list does that on paper), that's what Duneed, our app, does on iPhone: with Premium household sharing, everyone sees one pantry and one shopping list. It's iPhone-only, so it won't help a household where one of you is on Android. For that, Keep or one of the apps above is the better call.

Shared grocery list not syncing on iPhone

When a shared Reminders list stops updating, the cause is usually on one person's phone, and the list itself is fine. Work through these in order, checking the list after each one. They come from Apple's guide for when iCloud Reminders won't sync, plus the sharing requirements above.

1. Check that the invitation was accepted. The list doesn't appear on the other phone until they accept. If they never saw it, share again through Messages.
2. Check each person's iCloud setting. Everyone must be signed in to their own Apple Account with Reminders turned on in iCloud settings. If you use Reminders on an iPad or Mac too, those devices need the same Apple Account as your iPhone.
3. Make sure everyone's reminders are updated. Both the list's creator and every participant need the updated Reminders. Look for an Upgrade button above the lists.
4. Update iOS. A Groceries list needs iOS 17 or later, and Apple's sync troubleshooting starts with making sure you're on the latest iOS.
5. Look at Apple's System Status page for an iCloud Reminders outage before you change anything else.
6. Check the date and time. Apple lists incorrect date and time settings as a cause. Setting them to automatic is simplest.
7. Set an iCloud list as your default. Go to Settings, then Apps, then Reminders (Settings, then Reminders on iOS 17 or earlier), tap Default List and pick an iCloud list. It matters most if you add items with Siri without naming a list, because those land in the default list.
8. Clear overdue reminders. Apple suggests opening the Today view and completing or deleting anything overdue.
9. Quit Reminders, wait a minute, then reopen it. If that doesn't help, restart the iPhone.
10. Confirm you're online. Syncing needs Wi-Fi or cellular data, so a store with no signal is a common reason the other phone looks out of date.

If a list still syncs in only one direction after all that, contact Apple Support. In the meantime, a Google Keep list will get you through this week's shop.

House rules that make a shared grocery list work

Setting up the list takes five minutes. Most shared lists fail later, for social reasons: one person adds "stuff for tacos," the other buys the wrong yogurt, and within a month you're back to texting. These rules fix most of that. They're opinions, so adjust them, but agree on them out loud once.

Whoever finishes it, adds it

The person who uses the last egg puts eggs on the list, right then, not later. For things you can't be without (coffee, toilet paper, the kid's specific cereal), move the trigger earlier: add it when you open the last one, not when it's empty. A pantry staples checklist helps you decide which items get the early trigger.

Write it the way the shopper will find it

An item on a shared list is a message to someone standing in an aisle without you. Put the quantity first and include the detail that actually matters. Grouping items by store section, as our printable grocery list by category does, also helps whoever is doing the walking.

Brand only matters for some things. Say which ones once ("any brand is fine unless I name one") and you'll avoid most wrong-yogurt arguments. Several apps let you attach a photo for the stubborn cases.

Tick it when it's in the cart

Ticking at the cart, rather than when you spot something on the shelf or when you unpack at home, means the list always shows what's still missing. That's the only thing the shopper needs to see. If two people split up in the store, this is also what stops you both buying cilantro.

Don't delete other people's items

If you think something shouldn't be on the list, ask or leave a note on it. Deleting it silently is how the other person learns the list isn't reliable. The exception is obvious duplicates, which anyone can merge.

One list, split by store only when the trip is separate

Keep one grocery list for the regular shop, even if it's sometimes Kroger and sometimes Trader Joe's. Aisle sorting handles the order. Make a second list only for trips that genuinely happen on their own, like a warehouse club run or the Asian market across town, because each extra list is another place someone forgets to look.

Agree on a cutoff

The shopper texts "heading out" or "at the store," and after that anything new goes in a message too, not only on the list. Otherwise items get added while the shopper is already at checkout, and nobody notices until dinner. If you use Reminders and send invitations through Messages, the activity updates in that thread do some of this work for you.

Be stingy with notifications

A notification every time someone ticks off bananas trains everyone to ignore notifications. We'd turn off completion alerts for everybody and leave "items added" alerts on only for the person who usually shops. Apple Reminders lets each person choose this under Manage Shared List.

Clear the finished items after each shop

Whoever did the shop clears the ticked items when they get home, so the next person opens a list of things that are actually needed. It's also a good moment to look at the receipt. If you want to see where the money went, our guide covers how to track grocery spending without a spreadsheet habit.

Kids can add, adults tick

Letting kids add items keeps them from asking for the same thing ten times. Letting them tick items off is how the list ends up saying you bought ice cream you didn't buy.

Shared grocery list FAQ

Can I share an Apple Reminders list with someone on Android?

Not in a practical way. Reminders sharing works between people who use iCloud, and Apple's support page on iCloud.com in a browser only describes iPhone, iPad and computer access. For a household with both platforms, use Google Keep or one of the cross-platform apps above.

What's the best free shared grocery list app?

For a mixed household, Google Keep costs nothing and needs only a Google Account. If you want aisle sorting too, OurGroceries keeps all its features on the free plan and charges only to remove ads. All-iPhone households already have the best free option in Reminders.

Do both people need the same app?

Yes. Everyone has to use the same service, because lists don't sync between different apps. Some apps take entries from voice assistants (AnyList supports adding items through Siri or Alexa), but the list itself lives in one place.

How do I stop sharing a grocery list?

In Reminders, open the list, tap the collaborate button and choose Manage Shared List. From there you can tap a person's name and remove their access, or stop sharing with everyone. In Google Keep, open the note, tap Collaborator and tap Remove next to the person. Don't just delete a Keep note you own to end sharing, because Google says that deletes it for everyone.

Sources

1. Apple's own support article support.apple.com
2. sharing and collaborating in Reminders support.apple.com
3. shared lists require both the creator and everyone viewing it to have updated their reminders support.apple.com
4. Apple's iPhone User Guide support.apple.com
5. Google's Keep Help steps support.google.com
6. share the note with the whole family group support.google.com
7. Amazon's help page amazon.com
8. Amazon's list help amazon.com
9. all the adults share Amazon Shopping Lists amazon.com
10. OurGroceries ourgroceries.com
11. AnyList anylist.com
12. Bring! apps.apple.com
13. Listonic listonic.com
14. web version getbring.com
15. web.getbring.com web.getbring.com
16. Listonic's help center helpcenter.listonic.com
17. iCloud Reminders won't sync support.apple.com
18. iCloud.com in a browser support.apple.com

Found a mistake? Tell us and we will correct it: support@duneed.app