iPhone Task Apps Part I

I can’t seem to find exactly what I’m looking for in an iPhone app.  I’d like a list maker that I can use online, on my computer and on my phone, completely syncing them.  I’d like to be able to import part of a list into another list.  I’d love it if all my lists were able to find coupons that were relevant to my lists at local stores.  Not all of my lists are shopping lists, but some of them are and I’d like to have a way to differentiate between the two, maybe by keeping them in different categories. I’d also love some social functions so that I can share lists with people in my network if we’re planning a pot luck party, or to just send some errands to my husband if we’re both out taking care of things. I’ve been desperately trying to find one app the does it all, but it’s eluded me so far.

A while back I reviewed MiMeals, which I still feel is a great app and a huge step in the right direction, but I can’t create online, or on my computer and sync and it doesn’t have any coupon or social features.  I love that I can import a meal’s ingredients into my shopping list, but there’s only one list and I have to input everything on the phone.  I have been using MiMeals in conjunction with Evernote which has the syncing capabilites, as well as bookmarking, multiple lists, and categorizing, but there’s still no sharing/social features, and no coupons.

I started to do some searching, and thought I had found a couple of prospects.  Make It At Home was one, but it turned out to be WalMart specific and when I went to the site in late January, they hadn’t updated it since the holidays.  I hate to think about how much money they spent on this and then just allowed it to languish into uselessness.  I don’t love Walmart,  so it probably wouldn’t have been a good fit for me anyway.

Next I found Yada Home.  I signed up for the free service and received an email that was an image file.  On the graphic were links to different parts of the site, but since it was a graphic, I couldn’t copy and paste and the entire image was linked to their paid subscription page, which according to the email was on special for $4.99 per year, yet when I clicked the link, the charge was $9.99 a year (still inexpensive, but I wanted to know if it was worth it).  I sent them the following email:

Hi! I signed up for Yadahome today and I received an email saying that I had a 7 day free trial to Turbo.  Also, it had a supposed link to an upgrade for $4.99, but when I click it – the charge is $9.99.  I’d like to review this app and service, but I can’t figure out the difference between free and turbo and the FAQ doesn’t’ really help.  Also, in the email, since it’s sent as a graphic, you can’t copy and paste the link to the terms and you can’t click on it because the whole graphic takes you to the upgrade page.  I hope to explore this further, thanks for your attention.

They responded:

Hi Christine.

Thank you for writing and for your interest in our service.

We recently returned pricing to $9.99/user/year. We will review our email text to make sure the pricing information has been updated.

We’re in the process of preparing a comparison page to help users decide between the free and paid offer, but the primary differences are:
1) The Turbo service allows users to create multiple grocery lists and to do lists, whereas the free version allows for a single generic grocery list and a single to do list.
2) The Turbo service allows you to access and sync from the iPhone and soon our web app, which will make access from many pther SmartPhones possible.
3) The Turbo service lets you share grocery lists and to do lists with others in your network.

The terms and privacy are available at the following link on the website:

http://www.yadahome.com/terms.php

http://www.yadahome.com/privacy.php

We continue to refine our product and are looking forward to introducing new features that will strengthen our offering and simplifying the overall user experience.

Thanks again,
YadaHome.com, LLC

If this were my company, I might have apologized for the mistake and offered the prospective client (who is obviously pretty vocal), the $4.99 rate.  They didn’t do either and it felt a little “bait and switchy” to me, so I deleted that app too. Also, in order to get “upgrades”, you had to invite friends to the community.  I know lots of communities that rely on word of mouth, but that felt a little too “spammy” to me. Maybe I’m jumping the gun and maybe they weren’t exactly ready for launch, but I wasn’t feeling so great about this one.

It did however, have some of the social functions I was looking for; I was able to share recipes, but I couldn’t import ingredients from those recipes into my shopping list.  The dashboard is very cute with a refrigerator/kitchen interface and if they had the import and coupon functions, I might have reconsidered.

I’m still on the lookout and I’m hopeful I’ll find the perfect app.  It doesn’t have to be free, but I have to feel that it’s worth the cost of admission and a free trial would be very helpful. I will continue to explore and download and try them out.  What are you using? Can you recommend something?

If you liked this, you might like:

• Grocery List App for the Iphone
• MiMeals Meal Planning App
• “Drync Wine” Free App for the Iphone
• Launch Bar
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