Sainsbury's SmartShop Reviews: Is It Legit?

Customer Experience

Positive experience17.7% of reviews
Neutral9.9% of reviews
Negative experience72.4% of reviews

~ Based on 355 written reviews from the US App Store.

What users say about Sainsbury's SmartShop

Is Sainsbury's SmartShop Safe?

Sainsbury's SmartShop appears safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Sainsbury's SmartShop is 94/100.

This assessment is based on 378 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.8/5.

Safety Analysis

94.7% of ratings point to a safe experience
1.6% of ratings suggest some concerns
3.7% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 378 App Store ratings for Sainsbury's SmartShop.

Is Sainsbury's SmartShop Legit?

Sainsbury's SmartShop appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Sainsbury's SmartShop is 88/100.

Based on 88 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

This one actually works

Unlike the new app where the nectar discounts/prices don’t appear

Mapping

The app is a great new addition to but the mapping location. Is not doing it’s job properly. I’m standing in the store. But it says the branch is 25 miles away. My maps and location are all set correctly.

Frustrating

Everytime we use smart shop we are stopped and the staff member have to check our trolley. We are told it is random, but it’s not because it happens to us EVERYTIME

Why do I bother?!!

Because a bag of potatoes scanned the QR code my entire shop had to be rescanned WHY?? Could it not have just said the item couldn’t be scanned and i’d of rescanned the item !! Instead my entire shop was rescanned my point is why do I bother scanning everything when I could have put it on a manned till . Not happy wasting my time
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Always check me

Enough

Impossible

I’ve just changed my phone and being asked to re-input my nectar card, it then shows error message 34009, I have deleted and reinstalled the app as suggested by nectar. What’s my next move?

SmartShop move to Sainsbury’s app

Sounds good in principle. One location for all things. Having checked the revised Sainsbury’s app containing the smart shop option, the shopping list seems to be missing. This is one of the most useful options in smart shop. What you really need to do is using the location access allow the shopping list to auto rearrange as you walk round the shop to show where items in the list are located. There’s a challenge for you.
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No replacement

Always been a great app and much better than the Sainsbury’s app which doesn’t even work in smaller branches

Great app being dumped

Why? The Sainsbury's app doesn't work well in-store

No longer works in our store :(

Slow to load, sometimes recognises the store before scanning the QR code, sometimes not. Infuriating habit of crashing due to lost internet link when I’ve got all my shopping stashed in my rucksack so I have to checkout normally. Also infuriating that having shopped at that store since it opened > 20 years ago it subjects me to time- wasting random checks- 2 of the last 4 visits. (Never missed an item). Dreadful experience, I give up.
Update: I didn’t give up and eventually it worked well enough. Until a few weeks ago when it wouldn’t load at all in our local store (Chiswick). Now a complete waste of time, reportedly due to their failed internet . Update Sept ‘26. Still doesn’t work efficiently even after interminable login to their own wifi. And why does it give me a message “SmartShop is moving to the Sainsbury's app
You can now scan and bag as you shop right in the Sainsbury's app.” No, you can’t. And I checked my Sainsbury’s app is up to date. Talk about trying to drive customers away 😡
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The worst app of all high streets

Really the worst. I have to spend so long just trying to log in when all others just know where I am by gps. The app takes gps data so it knows which store I am at yet forces me to scan a qr code - it is the worst designed app of all the supermarkets in the uk

Slooooow

Slow and variable performance. Sometimes cannot find the item. Even when using Sainsburys in store WiFi

The perfect shopping app

Easy to use, straightforward, does exactly what you need when shopping at Sainsbury's.

So obviously Sainsbury's are 'replacing' it with something far more complicated, less easy to navigate, and without the shopping list feature.

Apparently that's progress.

Booooooooooo, Sainsbury's! Booooooooooo!
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Makes shopping easier

Makes my shopping trips really convenient. Don’t have to worry about the scanning thingies all having been taken and it works well even if I don’t have any cell service. It’s really nice to see each item’s price as I scan so I can see if it fits within my budget.

Today was rubbish…

Usually use the scanner which on the whole I haven’t had many issues with. Today, tried 2 hand sets, neither would unlock my nectar offers, despite allowing them on the app first. Resorted to using my phone for the 1st time which I really didn’t like as I usually have my phone tucked away & don’t need to connect to the store’s WiFi to enable me to use the app with poor quality network signal. I also prefer the fact you can put the scanner in the cradle on the trolley to enable hands free shopping.
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Keep the app

Can we please keep this app the version on the main Sainsbury’s app is useless in comparison

Doesn’t work

It doesn’t work now, I appreciate you’re trying to incorporate it into the main app, but it’s not prominent enough on that at the moment, also unable to write a shopping list which was handy.

Check at till

Very good idea but getting fed up with the quick check at the till. Makes you feel like you’re committing an offence.

Unreliable

This app was reliable for ages until it crashed at the checkout, and even with the assistance of a staff member, an entire shop could not be retrieved. Soon after, an ID/password issue rendered the app unusable for weeks and, of course, my shopping list was inaccessible. Although this was eventually resolved, I have to use mobile data when shopping with the app - never the store’s WiFi which always freezes the app. A shambles, quite honestly.
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Sainsbury’s Grocery

Where is the SmartShop part in the Grocery app. When’s SmartShop moving into the grocery app?
So annoying as cannot use SmarrShop app in the local Sainsburys store near me