Grocery Shopping List – Listonic - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Not much. The prototype of our application was a small project for our computer science classes at the Technical University of Łódż, Poland. This is where we gained basic knowledge of mobile app development.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

There are many. Concept development and value proposition, to name two of them. But nothing was as challenging as getting to the top of the most downloaded, and top-rated apps list, in the app's category. It took us nearly ten years.

_Listonic

Listonic uses technology to your advantage to bring you a simple and easy to use list full of great little features. The company's goal with these is to make shopping lists easier and faster to use.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

Zero, Reddit, and Instagram.
Zero, because I was never particularly interested in diets until I found this app. It showed me that being on a diet can be fun and exciting. It is also beautifully designed.
I got hooked on Reddit the day I downloaded it. It’s so addictive, so engaging, and informative. The app design doesn't get in the way of your curiosity. You hardly notice its intuitive design because you're so engrossed by the content.
I also can’t help mentioning Instagram. It continues to amaze me how an app that has so much to offer is so simple and intuitive at the same time. This application is a superlative model for successful app development. It's a product from which every developer should learn from.

How long have you been working on this app?

It's been 10 years since we published the first version of our app for the "feature phone": the basic precursor to today's smartphone. Then, since, 2010 we have been developing Android and iOS versions.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

Our primary concern was to help the users organize their shopping so that they could spend less money and save time at the grocery store. That's why we have features such as automatically grouping items into aisle categories. From here, we also came up with the idea to create shopping lists that can be shared and edited simultaneously on different phones. It was a way to solve a problem myself and the other two developers had when we were living together at university. We kept buying the same things because there was no way to see what the other had already bought.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

There are hundreds of shopping list applications available, and yet it's ours that's the best rated. As I said, it took us 10 years. 10 years of constant product development on all available platforms, including Wear OS and Windows Phone. We’ve had a lot of time to learn. I believe we managed to strike a balance between user-friendliness and feature-rich experience. It's this that makes us stand out from our competitors. We’re also proud to offer great and unique features, such as voice input, and predictive text that makes suggestions from your recent shopping history and not just what you type.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

We're not going to rest on our laurels. Our team is currently involved in a full redesign of the app. We also want to make the UI smoother and faster and improve how notifications work.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

We owe the introduction of many successful and popular improvements to the app to the feedback of our users. We always care about users' suggestions and needs. If you have any, please contact us: https://listonic.com/contact-us/ We also appreciate all the hard work of the translators of our app. It's available in over 40 languages because of them. If you would like to help us develop the project in your own language, join our translation community: https://crowdin.com/project/listonic