Google Shopper has not been one of the search king’s more standout apps for iPhone. Yet its refresh brings with it some of the social upgrades and retail moves that Google has recently made. If you like to price compare with your iPhone, it will be a useful tool for your bargain-hunting arsenal.
Scan the latest deals.
The app launches to a reorganized home screen. Included is a featured buy, which is selected by your physical location or the default city you have registered with your Google account. Swipe through the list of featured products or scroll down for the nearby sales. A list of popular items and featured offers are also included. You can search by typing the name of an item or speaking it.
Google Offers are also included, though surprisingly it does not feature as prominently, given how much effort Google has put into its Groupon competitor. There are a number of specials to be found for those in larger metropolitan areas.
The scanner is very useful, as it takes on the role of searching by image, text, bar code, UPC or QR code. The results are rather mixed – with some magazine covers it turned up related results from the company, but not official subscription information. Though it does a fair job at finding related products to any images that you scan. It takes some trial and error to find what it is especially good at, but there are some moments when carrying it around that I found it helpful to have available.
Google Shopper is useful for iPhone users, but it is not necessarily a “must have.” Given Google’s recent continued push into local business and social media it would not be surprising if further updates are being worked on.
Those on Android who are faithful users of Google Offers can get a dedicated app for that service from Google Play.
