How can we help?

After signing in, you'll be prompted to either create a new household or join an existing one.

• Create: Give your household a name (e.g. "Family", "My love"). You become the admin.
• Join: Ask an existing member for the invite code, then enter it in Settings → Household → Join.

You can belong to multiple households and switch between them at any time.

1. Open Settings in the bottom tab bar.
2. Tap your household name at the top.
3. Tap Invite members to generate a short invite code.
4. Share the code with your household member — they enter it in their app under Join Household.

Once joined, they'll immediately see your shared lists, meal plans, and budget.

Free gives you access to grocery lists, basic meal planning, and budget tracking for a single household.

Pro unlocks:

• AI meal planning (up to 2 weeks ahead)
• AI recipe generation with real food photos
• Cooking Mode with step timers
• Cross-household sharing
• Advanced budget categories and predictions
• Allergen management for AI suggestions

Tap the + button (bottom right) on the List tab. You can add items manually, or generate a full list from your meal plan using Generate grocery plan in the Meals tab.

Items can be assigned to categories (Produce, Dairy, Meat, Bakery, etc.) and organized into folders for each shopping trip.

Folders group items for a specific shopping occasion — e.g. "Weekly run", "Costco", "Pharmacy". Create a folder by tapping + New folder on the List screen.

Items inside folders are still visible in the main All view and can be filtered by category tag (Produce, Dairy, Meat, etc.).

Tap Add receipt at the top of the List screen to log a purchase. Enter the amount, category, and an optional note. The expense is automatically added to your Budget tracker for that month.

You can also attach a photo of the receipt directly from the camera or your photo library.

Yes. Each list (or individual item) can be set to one of three visibility levels:

• Private — only you can see it
• Household — visible to your household members
• Cross-household — shared across multiple households (Pro)

1. Go to the Meals tab and tap Plan Meals ✦.
2. Select the day range (up to 14 days ahead) and the number of servings.
3. Choose a cost preference: Budget-friendly, Balanced, or Premium.
4. Set a calorie target, diet preference, max cooking time, and cuisine preferences.
5. Optionally list excluded ingredients (e.g. "shellfish, peanuts").
6. Tap Generate meals. Generation takes 30–60 seconds.

Yes. The Meals tab has two views — Household and Personal. Switch to Personal to plan and view meals that only you can see. Household meals are visible to all members.

On the Meals screen, tap Generate grocery plan or Add week to grocery list. CartWhiz extracts all ingredients from your planned meals, deduplicates them, and adds them to your shared List — organized by category.

CartWhiz supports five meal types per day: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack, and Supper. You can plan any combination for any day in the next 14 days.

1. Go to the Recipes tab.
2. Tap Generate ✦ in the top right.
3. Set servings, calorie target, max cooking time, cost preference, and diet.
4. Add any cuisine preferences or excluded ingredients.
5. Tap Generate Recipe — a full recipe with food photo, ingredients, and steps is created.

Generated recipes include: cook time, servings, calorie count, cost estimate, and budget fit indicator.

Recipe photos are sourced from Pexels using the dish name and category as search terms. You can replace any photo by tapping Choose from Library, Take Photo, or Refresh image to get a different AI-matched photo.

Open any recipe and tap Cook Mode (or similar entry point). Cooking Mode shows one step at a time in large text — swipe left/right to move between steps.

• A progress bar shows how far you are (e.g. "Step 1 of 6 — 17%")
• Add a timer for each step: +1m, +5m, or Custom
• Tap Keep awake to prevent your screen from locking
• View all ingredients at once by tapping Ingredients

On the recipe detail page, find the Scale servings section. Tap a preset (2, 4, 6) or enter a custom number. All ingredient quantities update automatically. Scaled recipes can be added directly to your grocery list.

Go to the Budget tab and tap on a category (Groceries, Household, Utilities, Rent/Mortgage, Internet, Phone, Insurance, Other). Set a monthly limit for each category. You don't need to fill all categories — start with Groceries and add more as needed.

There are two ways:

• From the List tab: tap Add receipt and enter the amount + category.
• From the Budget tab: tap the expense log section at the bottom and add a new entry.

Both methods update the same monthly budget totals in real time for all household members.

Yes. The Budget tab has three views at the top: All, Household, and Personal. Switch between them to see combined spending, only household-shared expenses, or only your own logged expenses.

Go to Settings → Allergens. You'll see a list of common allergens: Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Soy, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish. Toggle on any that apply to you.

Once set, these allergens are automatically excluded from AI meal plan and recipe generation suggestions — you don't need to type them each time.

Go to Settings → Profile → Language and display preferences. Select your preferred language from the list. The change takes effect immediately — no restart required.

Go to Settings → Appearance. Choose System (follows your iOS setting), Light, or Dark. You can also toggle theme on the CartWhiz website using the sun/moon toggle in the top nav.

Go to Settings → Subscription → Manage Subscription. This opens the iOS subscription management screen where you can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel. Beta testers have Pro access automatically — no payment required during beta.

CartWhiz syncs in real time when both devices are online. If changes aren't appearing:

1. Check that both devices have an internet connection (the "Online" indicator shows in the top right of the List screen).
2. Pull down to refresh the list screen.
3. Ensure both users are in the same household — check Settings → your household name.
4. Sign out and back in if the issue persists.

AI generation typically takes 30–60 seconds depending on the number of meals and server load. A progress bar shows during generation. If it times out after 2 minutes:

• Check your internet connection
• Try generating fewer meals at once (e.g. 1 day instead of 7)
• Try again — AI servers can occasionally be busy

Recipe cost estimates are approximate and based on average North American grocery prices. The app notes this: "This is an approximate estimate and not the precise price for the meal or recipe." Actual costs vary by location, store, and seasonal pricing.

Go to Settings → scroll to the bottom → Delete Account. This permanently removes your account, lists, recipes, and meal plans. This action cannot be undone.

If you'd like to keep your data but leave a household, use Leave Household instead — found in Settings under your household name.