There have been numerous times when I have gone shopping and quickly jotted down a list of items to buy at the grocery store or pickup at Target on a Post-it note, only to discover that when I got to the store, I either forgot the list at home or left it in the car. One thing that never leaves my side is my iPhone, so If I could just put these on my iPhone, I wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting them. I tried to solve this need by using the built-in Notes app, but it was less than satisfying and clunky. Sure, I could have used something like Pocket Informant (which I already own), but that was overkill for something like a simple checklist and much too unwieldy. Then I saw a tweet by fellow AppAddict staffer Wil singing the praises of an app called Paperless.
My first experience with Paperless was just before Christmas, I was making some trips to multiple stores to pick up a few last minute items. The last thing I wanted to do was make more stops than necessary, or forget something and have to return to the fray, braving the crowded stores once again. Paperless worked like a charm! In no time I had a quick checklist setup with all of the items I was buying and other tasks I had to do, like get gas. I simply added each one and then dragged them around to organize them based on the order in which I was planning my trip. A quick tap on the screen to mark tasks as complete and I was good to go.
It is immediately evident that the guys at Crush Apps spent a good deal of time developing this app to be lean, but full featured and offering a pleasurable user interface experience. Some particularly nice aspects of Paperless are that once you have a list setup, you can copy lists, copy/move items between lists, or even send a list to someone else via email, which can then be imported directly into their own copy of Paperless. This means that now you can get your “honey do” list via email and with one tap, it’s ready to be tackled within Paperless. Hmm maybe this isn’t a selling point after all 😉 You also have the ability to sort lists alphabetically or instantly uncheck all items if you want to re-use a list. But that’s not all, you also have the option for the count of unchecked items from one or more lists appear on the icon badge. Finally, there are even multiple themes to choose from, and the ability to backup your lists remotely.
Recently I have also starting using Paperless to help me draft my reviews, so I don’t miss all of the points that I want to cover. So its more than just a shopping list app, it can be used for other scenarios as well, anywhere a checklist would be handy.
In Conclusion
If you are looking for a simple list generation app, with a clean and appealing interface, then you don’t need to look any further than Paperless. Let’s face it, there are a TON of apps like Paperless on the app store and I’m sure I’ve only experienced a very small percentage of them. So is Paperless the best of the best on the App Store? I can’t say for certain, but I can tell you that it is definitely the perfect choice for me. I highly recommend grabbing at least the free version (limited to 30 total list items) for yourself. Give it a try and see if it fills your listing needs. Right now you can buy the full version for just 99¢
