Apple Reminders or Plenty for your grocery list?
Apple Reminders has a Groceries list type that sorts items into sections, shares through iCloud and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Plenty adds what Reminders does not describe: barcode scanning, loyalty cards at the till and a monthly budget from your receipts. Here is the comparison on nine points.
Written by the Plenty team · Checked on
Written by the Plenty team; we make Plenty. We have tried to be fair, including where another app does something better.
Plenty recipe update
Plenty recipe importing was checked against version 1.8.2 on 5 October 2026. The other app sources retain their original review dates. Save a recipe. Shop its ingredients.
How did we compare them?
Reminders is judged here as a grocery list, on the nine points we use for every app: voice, scanning, sharing, Apple Watch, loyalty cards, budget, aisle order, widgets, and languages and devices.
For Reminders we read Apple's own iPhone and Apple Watch user guides and the Reminders App Store listing. A feature that is not mentioned there is marked “not listed on their site”, which does not prove it is missing. Checked on 25 September 2026; we will check again before 25 March 2027, so after that date confirm with the source.
Reminders and Plenty side by side
| Plenty | Apple Reminders | |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | Dictation inside the app in 11 languages, plus Siri phrases (how it works) | Siri adds items, for example “Add artichokes to my groceries list”1 |
| Barcode scanning | A product barcode becomes a named item in your language, via a built-in product index and Open Food Facts | not listed on their site (checked 25 September 2026)2 |
| Shared list | Invite the household by code or link over WhatsApp, Messages or Mail; live updates and notifications; Plenty always needs an account (Apple or Google sign-in) | Invite people with an iCloud invitation, for example through Messages or Mail; everyone sees each other's changes3 |
| Apple Watch | View lists and tick items off; no adding on the watch | View lists, add items and mark them complete4 |
| Loyalty cards | Yes: scan or type a card, show it large at the till, shared with the household | not listed on their site (checked 25 September 2026)5 |
| Budget and receipts | One monthly budget per household; scan the receipt or type the total; spend by shop and by category | not listed on their site (checked 25 September 2026)5 |
| Aisle order | Drag a list's categories into order, or let Plenty learn the order after about three trips (how it works) | The Groceries list type sorts items into sections that you can drag into a new order6 |
| Widgets | Home Screen (tick off from the medium widget), Lock Screen and a Live Activity while shopping | Home Screen widget to view and complete reminders5 |
| Languages and devices | 11 languages; iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch; no Android, no web | Apple's app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro5; no Android version |
Where is Apple Reminders better?
- Made by Apple. Lists sync across your Apple devices with iCloud5.
- On the Mac. Reminders also runs on the Mac5; Plenty has no Mac version.
- Adding on Apple Watch. You can add items from the watch4; Plenty's watch app only ticks items off.
- Suggestions from recipes. On supported devices, Reminders can suggest grocery items from text such as a recipe in Safari2.
Where is Plenty different?
- Scan a product's barcode to put it on the list.
- Keep the household's loyalty cards and show them at the till.
- Track a monthly grocery budget from scanned receipts.
- Invite the household with a code or link, sent over WhatsApp, Messages or Mail.
Who should choose which?
Stay with Reminders if a sorted, shared checklist is all you need, or if you also plan the shop on a Mac.
Choose Plenty if you want the shop to cover more than the list: barcode adding, loyalty cards at the till and what your household spends each month.
Sources
- Apple Support: Use Siri with Reminders on iPhone
- Apple Support: Make a grocery list in Reminders on iPhone
- Apple Support: Share reminder lists on iPhone
- Apple Watch User Guide: Reminders
- Reminders on the App Store
- Apple Support: Organise a grocery list in Reminders
Each source was checked on the date above. Apps change; if a fact here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Spotted a mistake? Email support@theplentylist.com.