Helium Foot Software

A Gallon of Milk and an Onion

I've been a little cagey here about the exact nature of the iPhone app which isn't entirely fair to my loyal reader since i've talked about it elsewhere. It's a grocery list app. I realize that this is a pretty crowded market, but as i've said before, i strongly believe that an app that works differently and is (to enough users) better than the others will succeed in the marketplace. I'm going to keep my app's secret sauce close to my chest until we get a little closer to launching lest the more established players squash me like a bug. For now, i'll say that it's sufficiently different in its focus from the competition to be worth bringing to market. Frankly, it's kind of hard NOT to talk about it so watch this space for loose lipped updates.

Progress for the past few weeks has been steady, but the time has come to take a plunge. This morning, i went to the grocery store and purchased a gallon of milk and an onion. I hereby resolve: i will make no further grocery purchases until i can do so based on a list created with my app. Nothin' like a little hunger to keep you motivated.

Dog Fed

I recently threatened the food supply of my entire family but am happy to report that supply lines remained unaffected. People who write software like to use the phrase "eating your own dog food" to mean using and living with the software that you write. Well last week, i ate the dog food and successfully made a shopping list and then took it to the store to shop from it! To my competitors, i say: you've got nothing to worry about yet. This app is missing a lot of features and is very rough but as of today, we're off to the dog races.

Go, Go, GroceryList

It's been a long time in coming, so i'll just say it: GroceryList is now available from the iTunes App Store! I've only talked a little about what sets GroceryList apart from the many other grocery list apps (some of which are, frankly, quite good). GroceryList is this: the fastest way to make your grocery list. Here's why you want it:

Fast List Making

As with any app, it starts with the startup. GroceryList starts up fast which means your list starts fast. Then we come to the real secret sauce: Multi-index. Multi-index is a new way navigate long lists of information. With GroceryList you rarely type. Instead, you select from the built in master list of the 1,500 items you would find in a typical grocery store. With Multi-index, you can tap "C", then "Choc" to find items like "Chocolate Chips" or "Chocolate Milk" (can you tell what our favorite food is at Helium Foot central?) It's easier to get when you see it in action, so go forth and watch the screencast. GroceryList also keeps track of your common purchases for quick reference and of course, if you really want to, you can type to search.


Incidentally, i really think that the "long list" problem is an important unsolved area in the iPhone development kit. As such i'll soon be open sourcing Multi-index (as in probably this weekend) so that other developers can use it in their apps.

Simple Shopping

Making a list is only half the battle, and half the battle is knowing, er... i mean shopping. GroceryList will speed you through the store by showing all of the items on your list categorized by aisle and listing all of the aisles in the order that they would be in a typical grocery store. You can, of course reorder these aisles to match your store.

Customizable

You can add new items, and new aisles. Natch.

Help

I haven't seen a lot of apps include any sort of help. While iPhone apps are very intuitive and discoverable, i still think that a lot of users are missing important features because they just don't know that they're there (or how to use them). To solve this, i included a full set of help videos to show you how to get the most out of GroceryList.

On a final note, there's been a lot of horror stories about dealing with the app store as a developer. However, this recent post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog gave me hope that it was getting better. The fact is that fewer than 48 hours passed between the moment of submission and the moment it went on sale. Us software developers can be tough to please but so far, the app store and i are on very good terms.

GroceryList and Beyond

We've been hard at work in the Helium Foot software foundry carefully crafting GroceryList v1.1 and v1.2. Fear not loyal reader for these subsequent sequels to our flagship iPhone product will still give you the fastest way to make your grocery list. Version 1.1, just released this weekend, brings the oft requested "Multiple Lists" feature. Now you can can keep track of one list for your grocery store, another for your drug store and a third for that overpriced specialty store with the terrific produce. We've also updated the interface a bit for easier tapping and faster scrolling. Sound interesting? Get it from the app store.

Still not enough? Well, loyal reader, perhaps version 1.2 is what you have been waiting for? The big focus for this version is providing more user control: Pick your own favorites, change your master list, rename items and aisles and more! Here at Helium Foot, we make a habit of not announcing release dates lest the angry mobs start showing up at our doorstep (deep underground in the HF walled compound) demanding their overdue release. So let's just agree that i'll be personally (and deeply) embarrassed if we can't get this one out by the middle of May. In the mean time, watch your app store updates.