How to share a shopping list with your partner

Updated September 29, 2026

Two people shopping for the same home need one list, not two. This guide shows how to get there in under a minute, and what to do once it works.

Why WhatsApp messages do not hold up

A list sent as a message is correct for one moment. Five messages later it has scrolled away, and whoever is standing in the store is reading an old version. There is no way to check off what was already taken, and if you are both in the store at the same time, neither of you knows who took what.

A note on the fridge has the same problem in the other direction: it is up to date, but it is at home and you are in the store.

Four steps to a shared list

1. Open the site. Open add2lists.com in your phone browser and sign in with Google or as a guest. Nothing to download, nothing to install.
2. Create a list. Give it a name like Groceries or Pharmacy. You can keep several lists at once, and each one moves between active, done and archive.
3. Send an invite code. Settings has a short code. Send it over WhatsApp, the other person types it in at sign-in, and from that moment you are both in one household and see the same lists.
4. Add the first item. It shows up on the other phone without a refresh and without pinging anyone. The list groups itself into produce, dairy and cleaning, in the order you walk the store.

On iPhone it is worth adding the site to the home screen: the share button in Safari, then Add to Home Screen. You get an icon that opens full screen with no address bar, and that is also what makes notifications work.

Adding an item without taking out your phone

The moment you notice the milk is gone is usually at the fridge, with your hands full. On iPhone you can install a Siri shortcut and then just say Hey Siri, add to list. Siri asks what, and the item lands in everyone's list. Works on a locked screen, on headphones and while driving.

When one list should stay private

Sharing everything is not always what you want. Each list has a who sees this list menu, where you switch a partner off so the list disappears for them. A birthday gift list stays yours that way, in the same account and on the same screen.

A notification when a partner adds something

Settings lets you turn notifications on. Then when one of you adds an item, the other gets a notification with what was added and to which list. Useful mostly when one of you is already in the store and the other remembers something at the last second. On iPhone this works only after you add the site to the home screen.

Three mistakes that keep coming up

• Each of you starts a separate household. If you both signed up and neither typed the invite code, you have two separate lists that look identical. One of you needs to sign in with the other one's code.
• One list for everything. Better to keep a groceries list, a pharmacy list and a trip list. The grouping into aisles works better when a list is not mixing distant categories.
• Staying on a guest account. A guest account is tied to one browser. Clearing history deletes the lists with no way to restore them. Connecting a Google account takes a second and keeps them.

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