Shopping list via voice: Best feature of Alexa and Google Assistant?
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Shopping list apps like Bring! are extremely handy. However, did you know that you can link them to both Alexa and Google Assistant? If you want to know how to use your voice to add groceries to your shopping list in the smart home, grab a coffee, sit back, and read on.
I am the uncrowned king of poor shopping habits. Even if I only have to get just three items, chances are, I'll forget something. So I'm really happy that shopping list apps like Bring! exist. Did you know that you can also link Bring! to your smart home?
This way, you can add groceries to the list by voice. This is very handy if you happen to notice an item that you need in between your shopping spree. The link between the shopping app and the Google Home app is quick and easy, and we'll now tell you what you need to do.
Link Google Home with Bring!
- Launch the Google Home app on your smartphone.
- Select your profile picture in the top right corner.
- Select Assistant Settings from the menu.
- Scroll down to Notes and Lists.
- There, select Bring Shopping Lists and confirm your selection with Next.
- Log in with your Bring! login data and confirm the login.
That's it! You're done! From now on, you can tell your smart home device with the items you want to add to your shopping list simply by speaking to it. By the way, you can also connect the Bring! app with Alexa in pretty much an identical manner!
It is important that you also name the list. You can either use an existing list or create a new one (be smarter than me and don't name it "Bring" - because Google sometimes misunderstands this command and wants to take me somewhere).
So shout something like "Hey Google, add two liters of milk to my XY list" and your shopping list will be updated. You can also have Google Assistant read all the products back to you with "Hey Google, what's on my XY list." Unfortunately, you cannot delete any products from the list in this manner.
Nevertheless, I think this is a really practical use case for my Google devices and I'm sure you'll appreciate it, too. Perhaps when you realize in the shower that you're out of shower gel! By the way, my dear colleague Stefan thinks it's the best Google Home feature ever!
Do you agree, or do you have another favorite feature? Do you already use your smart home to update your shopping lists? And what are your most practical commands for Google Assistant?
I've never found one I liked. They're cumbersome. And I have to collect data from other members of my household about what they want from the grocer.
So I collect other's shopping needs via text.
During the week, I collect my needs in my bullet journal using a + symbol. Then I combine all that in the bullet journal for the shopping event. The act of writing it physically makes me remember most of it and I'm not bound by the vagaries of reception in a giant steel modern building.
Constructing a list electronically sounds good, but cooking is a hobby and any such list of entering and setting checkboxes for the cuisine ingredients I cook from quickly gets too cumbersome or too slow in the app.
This is an area that I find pen and paper is generally superior still. And the Bullet Journal practice is probably part of why that works so well for me.