For years I relied on OI Shopping List, little open‑source app that also let me track the prices for groceries that I buy. The app is nothing fancy, nothing bloated, just the essentials: item, unit, price, store. Then, I have decided (actually, I was forced) to replace my phone with a new one. It turned out that OI Shopping List data export is broken, and there are no other sync options. The app was not updated since 2020. My entire carefully curated shopping list with prices was trapped on my old device like a hostage.
After being desperate for a while, I tried something I didn’t expect to work: an old‑school ADB backup and restore. Against all odds, it actually transferred my OI Shopping List data from the old phone to the new one. Though with warnings that the method is deprecated and that it might stop working any time.
So run this command while the old phone is connected:
adb backup -f oi_shopping.ab -apk org.openintents.shopping
And this one while the new phone is connected and OI Shopping List installed:
adb restore oi_shopping.ab
Now I’m left with a bittersweet victory. I saved my data, but the app that has it is effectively dead. I also went down the rabbit hole of "modern replacements". Every open‑source shopping list app today is either too simple (no price tracking), too complex (full household inventory systems), or just missing the one feature I actually need. Even if I fork the OI Shopping List or write a new app to suit my preferences, I won't be able to transfer the data that easily. I genuinely reached the point where paper and pen feel like a more reliable technology than Android apps in 2026.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
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