Shopping List
The Shopping List is one of Heima's most powerful features. It helps you plan your groceries at home and guides you through the store when you're actually shopping — automatically sorting your items in the order you'll find them on the shelves.
Overview
There are two distinct modes in the Shopping List:
- Edit mode — plan your list at home. Add, edit, reorder, and remove items before you go shopping.
- Shopping mode — active during a grocery run. Items are grouped by category and sorted intelligently based on the layout of the store you're in.
Edit Mode
When you open a shopping list without an active shopping session, you're in edit mode.
Adding Items
- Tap anywhere on the screen, or press the + Add Item button at the bottom, to create a new item.
- Type the name of what you need. You can also add a quantity, unit, and description to each item.
- New items are added to the bottom of the list.
Editing Items
Tap any existing item to select and edit it. Change the name, quantity, unit, or notes directly inline.
Reordering Items
In edit mode, you can drag items into whatever order you prefer. Tap and hold the drag handle on the right side of an item, then move it up or down.
Note: Your manual order is preserved and can be used as a sort option in shopping mode (see Sort Order below).
Deleting Items
Swipe an item to the left to reveal the Delete action. The item will be removed from the list.
Made a mistake? Shake your phone to undo the last deleted item.
Scanning Barcodes
On grocery lists, a Scan button appears in the bottom bar alongside + Add Item. Tap it to open the barcode scanner and scan a product's barcode. If the product is found in Heima's database, it's added to your list automatically. If not, you'll be taken to a screen to register the product manually.
Importing from Another List
Open the menu (top right) and choose Import from other list to copy items from any of your other lists into this one.
Adding from a Recipe
Open the menu and choose Add from recipe to pull ingredients directly from a recipe in your cookbook into the shopping list.
List History (Premium)
The menu also contains a History link. This shows a full log of past shopping sessions for this list, including what was picked and when. History requires an active Heima subscription.
Shopping Mode
When you're ready to head to the store, tap Start Shopping at the bottom of the screen.
Choosing a Store
A prompt will ask you which store you're going to. Selecting the right store is important — it allows Heima to sort your items in the order that matches that specific store's layout.
Picking Items
Once a session is active, the list switches to shopping mode. Tap an item to mark it as picked. Tap it again to unmark it.
For items with a quantity greater than one, a dialog will appear asking how many you actually picked — useful if you could only find part of what you needed.
Tip: If you picked an item by mistake, shake your phone to undo the last picked item.
Scanning Barcodes During Shopping
The barcode scanner is also available in shopping mode. Scan a product in the store and Heima will find the matching item on your list and prompt you to confirm how many you picked.
Finishing Shopping
When you're done, tap End Shopping. A short celebration animation plays. If you have a club card registered for the store you visited, it will be displayed automatically so you can scan it at the register.
Sort Order in Shopping Mode
One of the most useful aspects of shopping mode is intelligent sorting. Instead of hunting through a randomly ordered list, Heima organizes your items in the sequence you'll actually encounter them as you walk through the store.
How Smart Sort Works
When you start a session at a specific store, the backend sorts your items by product category — and in the order those categories are typically found in that store. For example, if you're shopping at "Kiwi" and fruits are near the entrance, your fruits will appear at the top of the list. Dairy at the back means dairy appears toward the bottom.
This sorting is learned anonymously from the collective shopping activity of Heima users. The more people shop at a store, the more accurately the system learns the layout. Over time, the sort order for popular stores becomes very precise.
Sort Modes
During an active session you can switch sort modes at any time using the sort icon in the top-right corner:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Smart Sort | Items sorted by store layout, learned from real shopping patterns. This is the default and recommended mode. |
| Simple Sort | Items sorted alphabetically by category name. Useful when Heima doesn't yet have enough data for a store. |
| Manual Order | Items sorted in the order you arranged them in edit mode. |
| No Categories | A flat, unsorted list — all items shown without groupings. |
Recommended Items (Premium)
After you've completed several grocery runs, Heima starts learning what you buy regularly. Once enough data has been collected, a Show Recommendations button appears at the bottom of your list in edit mode.
What Are Recommendations?
Recommendations are items you've bought repeatedly over time, surfaced at the moment you're likely to need them again. For example:
- Milk might appear every week because you buy it every week.
- Toilet paper might appear every four weeks because that's your typical purchase cycle.
Heima calculates these intervals from your actual shopping history and suggests the item when the time is right — so you don't forget essentials before you leave for the store.
Each recommended item shows:
- The product name and image.
- The average quantity you typically buy.
- A note about how often and how recently you've purchased it.
Adding a Recommendation to Your List
Tap + Add on any recommended item to add it directly to your shopping list with your typical quantity pre-filled.
Hiding a Recommendation
If a suggestion isn't relevant, swipe it to the left and tap Don't show again to permanently hide that product from your recommendations.
Recommendations require an active Heima subscription.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Shopping List
- Always select the correct store when starting a session. The smart sort relies on knowing where you are.
- Shop regularly with Heima to improve sort accuracy for your local stores. The system learns from your habits over time.
- Use barcodes for faster item lookup — especially for branded products.
- Attach a club card to your space so it appears automatically when you finish shopping.
- Enable recommendations after a few weeks of regular use to stop forgetting your weekly staples.
- Use shake to undo — it works both for accidental deletes (in edit mode) and accidental picks (in shopping mode).
