Tell the app which grocery stores you most frequently visit. When you arrive at any of these stores, the app will send you a notification on your phone to "Get your grocery bags!" If you have an Apple Watch, you'll get a tap on the wrist.
If you are currently in a grocery store that is not in your favorites list, tap "Quick Add Store" on the home screen to add this store to your favorites. You can even add a custom location (such as a farmers market) using this option.
Your favorite stores are the grocery stores you most frequently visit. You can have up to 20 favorite stores. When you arrive at any of the stores in your Favorites list, you will receive a notification on your phone to "Remember your grocery bags!" If you have an Apple Watch, you can have these notifications mirrored on your watch.
If notifications occur when you are not yet close to the store, you can lower the notification distance set for the store. If notifications don't occur until after you've left the car and walked into the store, try increasing the notification distance set for the store. The minimum notification distance that can be set is 100 meters (110 yards).
This can happen when Wi-Fi settings are turned off. Check your Wi-Fi setting on your iPhone in Settings -> Wi-Fi. You don’t have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network but Wi-Fi must be enabled.
Apple states that “if Wi-Fi is disabled, region monitoring is significantly less accurate.” (And “less accurate” can mean “miles away” in our experience.)
You can change the distance that the app uses to monitor the region around each store. The default radius of the monitored region is 218 yards (200 meters). If you want to get a notification closer to the store, lower this distance. The minimum distance allowed by iOS is 109 yards (100 meters).
To change the notification distance for a specific store, go to the Favorites view, tap the information icon next to the store to see store details and then tap "Change" to change the notification distance.
You can change the distance that the app uses to monitor the region around each store. The default radius of the monitored region is 219 yards (200 meters). If you want to get a notification farther away from the store, increase this distance. In any case, you won't always get a notification at the exact same location every time.
To change the notification distance for a specific store, go to the Favorites view, tap the information icon next to the store to see store details and then tap "Change" to change the notification distance.
Normally, you won’t get a notification just by driving by unless you are moving slowly. This is due to the region monitoring specifications set up by iOS to prevent the system from generating numerous region events in quick succession while the user is traveling close the edge of a region boundary.
Get Your Grocery Bags tells iOS which regions to monitor but a notification may not happen immediately after a region boundary is crossed. To prevent spurious notifications, iOS doesn’t deliver a notification until certain threshold conditions are met. Specifically, the user must cross the region boundary, move away from the boundary by a minimum distance, and remain inside the region for several seconds. In addition, the specific threshold distances are determined by the available location hardware capabilities.
For more troubleshooting tips, see ourTroubleshooting page.
The nearby search is restricted to a specific distance. If the store you want does not show up when you “Search Nearby”, try “Search By Location” instead using the city name or zip code.
Get Your Grocery Bags uses the iOS CoreLocation service which only recognizes location information. You must use a location such as the city name or zip code.
The app uses Google to search for grocery stores. It turns out that Google is not perfect. (Who knew?) So this happens when Google either has the wrong coordinates for the store or does not list it as a grocery store or supermarket. However, as of version 1.2, the app will allow you to add a location even if Google does not list it correctly. So, if you are getting this message, upgrade to the latest version.
Yes, you can! When you get to the location you want to add, just click on the "Quick Add Store" button on the home page of the app. If Google does not find a store at this location, the app will ask you to name the location and then add it to your Favorites.
An iOS app is allowed to monitor at most 20 locations so we limit your Favorites list to 20 stores.
The California Dept. of Public Health has published some practical tips on the use and care of your bags.
Our privacy policy is short and simple. Read it here.