Flipp: Shop Grocery Deals

Review by eFreeware

Grocery bills creep up quietly. A few dollars here, a coupon you forgot to use there, and by the end of the month the total is higher than you expected. Most of us know the weekly ads exist, but chasing them means opening a different app or site for every store, and nobody has time for that on a busy week.

Flipp: Shop Grocery Deals is built to close that gap. It is a free shopping app from Flipp Operations Inc. that gathers weekly ads, coupons and price comparisons from thousands of stores into a single place, so you can plan a shopping trip around what is actually discounted instead of finding out at the register.

It has been on Google Play since February 2014 and now sits above 10 million installs with a 4.8 average from more than 432,000 ratings. Those numbers suggest a lot of people keep it installed through their weekly routine, which is the real test for a savings app.

Weekly ads from stores you already visit

The core of the app is the weekly ad. Flipp pulls current circulars from thousands of stores, covering groceries at chains such as Walmart, Target, Albertsons, Safeway and Publix, pharmacy offers from Walgreens and CVS, and broader retail deals from Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Petco and Petsmart. Rather than juggling a folder of paper circulars or a stack of store apps, you browse them in one feed.

You can mark your favorite stores so the ads you care about sit within easy reach, and the Explore page is there to surface local shops that might be new to you. That last part is the feature I find most interesting, because the cheapest option in your area is sometimes a store you have never walked into. If you are the type of shopper who rotates between two or three regular stops, this is a low-effort way to notice an alternative.

Deals are added weekly, according to the developer, so the catalog refreshes on a predictable rhythm. If you already plan meals around what is on sale, this is the section of the app you would live in.

Comparing prices before you leave the house

Search is the second job Flipp handles. Type in an item, whether that is soda, butter or something more specific, and the app shows which stores have it on sale right now. You can search a store name as well, which takes you straight to that chain's weekly ad. The point is to answer a simple question before you get in the car: where is this cheapest this week?

From a search result you can tap the plus icon to drop the deal onto your shopping list, which saves retyping it later. There is also a comparison arrow inside the list itself, so an item you have already added can be checked across stores without starting a new search.

For anyone who shops at more than one store in a week, this is where the savings add up. A dollar or two on a handful of staples is not dramatic on its own, but over a month of regular trips it changes the total.

A shopping list that does some of the work

The digital shopping list is more than a notepad. As you add food and household items, Flipp shows deals for the things on your list, so a list you were going to write anyway doubles as a savings plan. You can also clip or circle offers straight from a weekly ad into the list, which keeps the coupon and the item together instead of separating them.

Lists can be shared and combined with a friend, so two people can view and add to the same list. That is a practical arrangement for a household where one person plans and another picks things up, or for splitting a big shop between two carts.

There is also a Watch List for items you want but that are not discounted yet. Flipp tracks them and notifies you when fresh deals appear. It is a sensible way to handle a purchase you can afford to delay, like stocking up on something that goes on sale every few weeks.

What you need before you start

Setup is deliberately thin. You choose the stores you shop at most so their ads are easy to reach, and from there the app is ready to browse. There is no subscription to arrange and no purchase needed to use it: Flipp is free to download, and the app does not offer in-app purchases.

It does contain ads, so you are trading some screen space for the free access. That is the main cost of entry, and it is worth weighing against the savings you are chasing.

New stores are added over time, and coverage already runs across grocery, pharmacy, pet, electronics and home improvement, so most shoppers will find their regular stops represented.

Where the app fits into a weekly routine

Flipp suits people who already do a weekly grocery run and want to spend less on it without changing how they cook. If you plan meals around what is discounted, keep a running list, or split shopping between a supermarket and a warehouse club, the app is built for the way you already work.

It also fits households that shop for more than food. The same feed covers pharmacy essentials, pet supplies and home improvement sales, so a single app can cover a Saturday errand list that spans several types of store.

The people who get the least from it are those who buy the same short list of items regardless of price and never check circulars. Flipp is a tool for planning around sales, and it rewards shoppers who are willing to adjust where they buy something this week. If your routine is fixed, there is little here to change it.

Bargain hunters who enjoy the hunt itself will also find plenty to do. The Explore page, the Watch List and the price comparison arrow all encourage a bit of browsing, and that is where the app is at its most useful.

The case for keeping Flipp installed

Clipping deals into a list, comparing prices from search, and getting notified when a watched item drops is what separates it from simply checking a store's own circular.

The trade-offs are modest and clear. It is free but ad-supported, and the savings depend on your willingness to plan around sales rather than buying on autopilot.

If you do a regular grocery shop and want to cut the bill without much extra effort, Flipp is worth installing. If your shopping list never changes and sales never sway you, the app has little to offer.

What's new in version 111.0.0

We caught a few bugs that you’re better off without, so that you can keep finding the deals you love.