Frequently Asked Questions

Yaga is your personal shopping list assistant. It helps you:

• Create shopping lists for different stores or occasions
• Add rich item details (descriptions, prices, categories, photos)
• Scan product barcodes for quick item addition
• Organize trips with multiple lists
• Get reminders so you never forget your shopping
• View items by category, list, or store location

Perfect for families, students, busy professionals, or anyone who loves organized shopping!

Yaga works on:

• 📱 iPhone (iOS)
• 🤖 Android phones
• 💻 Tablets (iPad, Android tablets)
• 🖥️ Web browsers
• 🍎 Mac computers
• 🐧 Linux computers

All your lists are stored locally on each device (no cloud account needed).

No! Yaga is completely free with:

• ✅ No ads
• ✅ No in-app purchases
• ✅ No hidden costs

Your data is yours alone—stored only on your device.

Yes! All your shopping lists are stored locally on your device. We:

• Don't collect any personal data
• Never send your lists to our servers
• Respect your privacy completely

Your data is completely yours and stays on your device.

No account needed! Just download and start using.

• ✅ No email required
• ✅ No login needed
• ✅ No registration

✅ Your new list is ready! Start adding items.

Method 1: Quick Add (Easiest)

1. Open your shopping list
2. Tap the + Add Item button
3. Type the item name
4. Tap Save

Method 2: Add Full Details

1. Open your shopping list
2. Tap + Add Item
3. Fill in:
   • Name (required): "Milk", "Bread"
   • Quantity: "1", "500ml"
   • Price: Cost estimate
   • Store: "Whole Foods", "Target"
   • Category: "Dairy", "Bakery"
4. Tap Save

Method 3: Scan Barcode (Fastest for products)

1. Go to the Add Item tab (middle icon)
2. Point your camera at a barcode
3. The app automatically looks up the product name
4. Select which list to add it to
5. Tap Add to List

Why add photos? Remember exactly which brand/size you need!

✅ Next time you see that item, you'll know exactly what it looks like!

Mark as Bought:

1. Open your shopping list
2. Tap the checkbox next to the item
3. Item moves to "Bought" section

Edit Item:

1. Tap the ✏️ edit icon
2. Change details
3. Tap Save

Delete Item:

1. Tap and hold the item (or swipe left on iOS)
2. Tap Delete
3. Confirm

What's a Trip? Group multiple lists together for a shopping day!

Example: "Weekend Shopping" might include:

• Grocery Store list
• Target list
• Pharmacy list

✅ Your trip is created! See all items from all lists together.

Never forget your shopping trip!

✅ You'll get a notification at that time!

Once in a trip, you can view items organized by:

📂 By Category

• All "Dairy" items together
• All "Bakery" items together
• Makes shopping more efficient!

📝 By List

• Items grouped by which list they came from
• Useful if lists are from different stores

🗺️ By Store Location

• Items grouped by store
• Tap the map icon to see directions!

Find a store with directions:

1. In a trip, switch to By Store view
2. Look for your store
3. Tap the 🗺️ map icon
4. Opens native Maps app with directions to that store

Create a Category:

1. Go to Categories tab (4th icon)
2. Tap + New Category
3. Choose an icon (🥕🧈🥛 etc.)
4. Choose a color
5. Enter a name (e.g., "Dairy", "Produce")
6. Tap Save

Assign to Items:

• When adding/editing items, pick the category
• Categories make organizing items easier!

Not yet, but it's coming! Currently, lists are stored only on your device. Each device has its own separate lists.

Workaround: You can manually recreate important lists on other devices.

Currently, sharing is not supported. Each person needs to create their own lists on their own device.

Future feature: Multi-person lists and family sharing is planned!

Your data is stored locally on your device in a secure database:

• iPhone: ~/Library/Application Support/
• Android: data/data/<app.package>/

No information is sent to any servers. Your data is completely yours.

All your lists will be deleted permanently. There's no backup, so make sure you're ready to lose your data.

Camera permission is needed only if you want to:

• 📷 Take photos of items
• 🔍 Scan product barcodes

You can use Yaga without these features—just add items manually.

Photo library permission lets you attach photos you've already taken to your items. This is optional—you don't need to grant it if you don't want to attach photos.

Absolutely! Yaga works completely offline. No internet needed for:

• Creating lists
• Adding items
• Organizing trips
• Setting reminders

Note: Barcode scanning works offline, but product lookup requires internet.

Typically less than 5 MB for most users, even with hundreds of items and photos. It's a lightweight app!

Problem: "Camera permission denied" or "Can't access photos"

Fix on iPhone:

1. Go to Settings → Yaga → Camera/Photos
2. Toggle permission ON
3. Restart Yaga

Fix on Android:

1. Go to Settings → Apps → Yaga → Permissions
2. Enable Camera and Photos
3. Restart Yaga

Problem: Camera opens but won't scan barcodes

Solutions:

• ✅ Make sure you have good lighting
• ✅ Hold barcode steady and flat
• ✅ Try different barcode angles
• ✅ Make sure barcode isn't damaged or faded
• ✅ Use on a physical device (simulators have limited camera support)

Problem: "I closed the app and my lists are gone!"

Solution: This shouldn't happen. Your data should save automatically.

Try:

1. Force-close and restart the app
2. Wait a few seconds (data loads from storage)
3. If still missing, check device storage (phone might be out of space)

If nothing works:

1. Uninstall and reinstall Yaga (sorry! 😢)
2. Your lists are lost, but the app will work normally going forward

Problem: Scrolling is laggy or app feels slow

Solutions:

• 🔄 Restart the app
• 🗑️ Delete old closed trips (they take up memory)
• 📸 Delete photos you don't need
• 📱 Restart your phone (clear phone memory)
• 🧹 Check device storage (if full, everything is slow)

Problem: "I set a reminder but got no notification"

Fix on iPhone:

1. Go to Settings → Notifications → Yaga
2. Enable Allow Notifications
3. Set Alert Style to Banner or Alert

Fix on Android:

1. Go to Settings → Apps → Yaga → Notifications
2. Toggle Notifications ON

Problem: App closes unexpectedly

Try:

1. Update to latest version: Open App Store/Play Store and update
2. Force close: Swipe up (iPhone) or tap X (Android) to fully close
3. Restart phone: Turn off and on again
4. Reinstall app: Delete and reinstall from scratch

If it still crashes:

1. Note exactly when it crashes (adding item? opening trip?)
2. Contact support with these details

Problem: "Can't add photo to item"

Solutions:

• ✅ Grant photo library permission (see Troubleshooting)
• ✅ Make sure photo file isn't corrupted
• ✅ Try a different photo
• ✅ Check phone storage (might be full)
• ✅ Restart app and try again

Problem: "Checkbox doesn't work"

Solution: This feature only works in Cart view (trip view).

In regular list view, items automatically appear as completed in the trip.

Option 1: Delete app

• iPhone: Long-press app → Remove App → Delete App
• Android: Settings → Apps → Yaga → Uninstall

Option 2: In app

• Currently not available, but planned for future update

Can I export my lists?

Currently, this isn't available.

Workaround:

• Take screenshots of important lists
• Manually recreate on other device if needed

• ✅ Use categories - Makes finding items faster!
• ✅ Add prices - See your total spending before checkout
• ✅ Add store names - Remember where to find each item
• ✅ Use descriptions - "Organic", "2% milk", "Name brand" helps!
• ✅ Attach photos - Never forget which brand or size you need
• ✅ Create multiple lists - One per store or one per person
• ✅ Use trips - Group lists for more efficient shopping
• ✅ Set reminders - Never forget your shopping day

Mobile Shortcuts:

• 📝 Swipe left on item - Delete item (iOS)
• ✅ Tap checkbox - Mark as bought/not bought
• ✏️ Tap edit icon - Edit item details
• 🔔 Long press item - Quick actions menu (Android)

Organization Strategy:

• Create separate lists for different stores (Whole Foods, Target, etc.)
• Use categories to group items by type (Dairy, Produce, etc.)
• Assign store names to each item for reference
• Add prices to items to track spending
• Group lists into trips for shopping days

Suggested Categories to Create:

• 🥕 Produce - Fruits, vegetables
• 🧈 Dairy - Milk, cheese, yogurt
• 🥛 Beverages - Juice, soda, coffee
• 🍞 Bakery - Bread, pastries
• ❄️ Frozen - Frozen meals, ice cream
• 🥩 Meat - Chicken, beef, fish
• 🍝 Pantry - Canned goods, grains
• 🧴 Household - Cleaning, laundry
• 💊 Health - Vitamins, medicines

Tips for accurate cost tracking:

• 💰 Add prices as you add items - Check prices online or from previous shopping
• 📸 Take photos of price tags - Attach photos to items for reference
• 🏪 Add store name to each item - Prices vary by store
• 📝 Keep notes on prices - Use descriptions for "on sale" or special deals
• 📊 Track actual vs estimated - Learn from past shopping trips

Yaga supports multiple languages! The app automatically uses your device language.

Currently Supported: English, Polish

More coming soon!

Change language:

1. Go to Account tab
2. Tap Language setting
3. Choose your language

When reporting a bug, include:

• 📝 Describe what happened - What were you doing?
• 📱 Device info - What phone? iOS or Android?
• 🔍 Steps to reproduce - How can we see the problem?
• 📸 Screenshots - Visual proof helps!

Report on GitHub: https://github.com/PiotrKolsut/yaga/issues

Would you like to suggest something new?

Tell us:

• 💡 What feature? Be specific!
• ❓ Why do you need it?
• 🎯 How would you use it?

Suggest on GitHub: https://github.com/PiotrKolsut/yaga/issues

Yes! The app is actively developed and maintained.

• ✅ Bug fixes are added regularly
• ✅ New features are released regularly
• ✅ Performance improvements are ongoing
• ✅ User feedback drives development