ListMonger for iPhone Review

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I recently received an email from Paul at Inspiretis, an iPhone app developer.  Having seen one of my reviews in which I confessed my obsession with list making, Paul offered to send me a review copy of his new iPhone app, ListMonger.

I downloaded the app and I’ve been playing with it for about a month.  To be frank, I really like ListMonger.  It packs a bunch of features into a few basic, easy to use screens.  Among the features are:

  • Nested lists – and not just at one level. I only tried it for three levels (a list with a list with a list), but it just seemed to keep going.
  • A full-screen notes field that automatically formats phone numbers, website addresses, and email addresses as links
  • The ability to insert new items wherever you want – not just at the end of the existing list of items
  • The option to move or copy multiple items between lists
  • Sorting and reordering of list items by sorting on a column name or by manually dragging and dropping them where you want them
  • Flags for filtering items
  • Auto date-stamping of checked items
  • 10 pre-defined and 1 user-defined fields are available for list items:  Item name, Quantity, Cost, Priority, Date, Flag, Check, Check Date, Notes, and Color, plus the one user-defined field
  • Emailing of list items: item names, names and completion status, or a table with all of the details for each item
  • Password protection for the entire application or for individual items

There are three basic views:

  • The main screen, which displays the active lists.
  • The list items screen, which is similar to the main screen in appearance, but displays the individual items in your list.
  • Item edit screen, which is pretty much what the description says

Start off by adding a new list. The initial setup screen for a new list is fairly simple with options for a list name, a label for the user-defined field, and toggle switches to turn on item counts, count flagged items, and to password protect this particular list.

After creating the new list, the “Edit” button on the main screen will allow you to choose additional options for your list, including adding notes about the list, selecting a priority, and choosing a highlight color.

Add a new item to your list by tapping on one of the green buttons in the upper right corner of your screen.  The new items screen allows you to input information for each of the 11 fields that each item can hold.   These include the item name, quantity, cost, date, priority, a custom field,  and a large notes field. After that, one can select  from several different options, including setting a color to highlight the item in the  list items screen,  moving or copying the item to another list, and creating a sub list for this item.

As you might notice from the fact that I included three screen shots above, there are a lot of options and you need to do a fair amount of scrolling to see all of them.  I’m not complaining, mind you, because it’s great to have these features, but it’s just a limitation of the iPhone’s screen size.

Moving or copying an item is very simple. Individual items can be moved or copied by selecting the appropriate button in the items detail view, which brings up a scroll wheel from which one can select the list to which you wish to move or copy the item. If one wishes to move or copy multiple items, this can be done from the list’s main view.

The main view of a given list has several different view options. This includes turning on or off flag or completion status (checkmark) views, filtering by flag or checkmark, and turning on or off columns.

You can also choose from view mode, edit mode, or mail mode using the red buttons at the bottom of the screen.  Edit mode allows you to choose from several functions, including the options to move, copy, or delete multiple items at once.  Mail mode gives you the option to email the list contents, sending either just the items, the items and their completion status, or a table with all of the information associated with each item.

ListMonger also includes a backup and restore option.  What’s nice about it is that there’s no need to install or purchase desktop synchronization software.  Everything is done through your browser window.  Turn on your iPhone’s WiFi connection, make sure your computer is on the same WiFi network, and choose the “backup” button on the main list window.  ListMonger will provide you with an IP address, which you enter in a browser window on your computer.  From there, you can either backup or restore your ListMonger database.

ListMonger is rich with features, but remains a pretty simple app to use.  What’s really nice is that you can make as much or as little use as you want of the features – they don’t get in your way if you just want to create a simple checklist, but they’re there if you want to do something more complex.

It is easy to quickly get a feel for how the app works, but Inspiritis has included some really good help files within the app itself, starting with a  preloaded list that explains the different options.

MSRP:  Available here in the iTunes App Store for $2.99.  There is also a “lite” version available for free, if you want to try ListMonger before purchasing. ListMonger is formatted for the iPhone for the moment, but there may be an iPad-optimized version on the way.

What I Like: Tons of features, but still easy to use; wireless backup and restore

What Needs Improvement: Not much, really, but it would be nice to have a version formatted for the iPad, as that would make it easier to see and access all of the options at one time

 

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