User – Prep & Pantry - Inventory Manager Review

I purchased this app about a month and a half ago. I've tried using it frequently and am giving up for good today. It is a great concept, but the database is virtually unpopulated and it appears the the developer wants us to do it for them. I truly spent time trying to use it and maybe the issues I'm having are solveable, but the help and how to section is limited. I did email the developer with a question and I have to give props as the reply was prompt!! Gotta love that. However, I cannot fathom emailing the developer with every question I have, which is many. Here is a gist on what you will encounter. I'm not going to write out what the app does, that is in the details section here in iTunes store. Assuming you have read that before you get here, I pick up with what I have experienced. I have used the scanner at home to scan in my favorite and usual items. Many of them are missing from the database. I started putting them in on the fly, but had to go back to my day job. There was just too many items missing and typing in all the details on the small keyboard afforded by my iPhone...well, that just isn't happening. Fast forward to the grocery store. With my list of about 22 items in hand, I looked forward to my shopping trip with my new app : ) I had forgotten about the dragging experience in the kitchen when fiturally nothing worked when I scanned it. Duh! So, I'm finding my items on the shelf and ready to scan them dutifullly and they aren't in there so I'm manually entering each of them and starting to get really frustrated. It's been over 40 minutes I've wasted with a really short list! I just can't do all this typing, but I really wanted the app to work for me, but it needs to auto-populate somehow. I wouldn't mind contributing to the database, but not from my iPhone. I would probably be happy to type in all the details (I tend to be a person who uses an app to it's fullest potential) if I had a way to do so from my computer. I do want to emphasize that developer seemed really enthusastic about their prodcut and that says a lot these days. I'd rather have a developer who is commited and has an app that still has a ways to go instead of a developer who just isn't invested even though their app is further along. I feel that in the long run the first scenario garners better results for the user experience.
Review by Ta Pemgrove on Prep & Pantry - Inventory Manager.