Guide contents
Start here
On your first run, PLUed asks for your region and whether you have a Store Pack. You can change both later. If your trainer gave you a QR code, link, or .plupack file, import it now. If not, jump straight into Levels (the Most Common journey).
Best first session: open Levels, study Level 1, then play a short round of The Belt. You do not need to set up an account.
The home screen is your market. Tracks hold chapters, chapters hold produce concepts, and your progress fills in as you learn. The continue card takes you back to the next useful step.
Levels, Store Sections, and Recipe Sets
The Home screen has three shelves. Levels (the Most Common journey) gives you a sane order — Level 1 through Level 10, starting with produce that shows up constantly. Store Sections replace the old family tracks with 20 plain, retail-aisle sections (Apples & Pears, Citrus, Root Vegetables, and so on) that cover every concept in the app, so you can find an item the way you'd find it on a store floor. Recipe Sets are 14 themed collections — Guacamole, Salsa & Pico, Taco & Fajita Night, Smoothie & Juice, and more — for practicing the produce that shows up together.
- Open a track. Levels is the right place for nearly every new cashier.
- Pick the next level, section, or set. Review the concepts and their codes before you play.
- Build mastery. Practice, flashcards, and game sessions all feed the same learning record.
Level 1 is free. The rest unlocks with one in-app purchase. The Library and concept cards remain open for browsing.
In the Library, a mode row above search switches between All · Top first (most-common items first), By section, and By recipe — each with its own filter chips and a launch bar for Flashcards, Practice, or Quick Play on whatever you're currently viewing.
The Belt
The Belt puts produce on a moving checkout lane. Type the PLU before time runs out. It is where recognition becomes the quick, no-pause recall you need at a register.
When you know it
Enter the digits and submit. Correct answers keep the session moving. Faster, clean answers are stronger evidence that the code is sticking.
When you need help
Narrows the field with similar produce. You still supply the item and code.
Shows the produce name. You still recall and type the PLU.
Shows the answer. The session treats that as a miss.
The item is recorded as needing more work and comes back sooner.
Reveal-retype rule: seeing the answer does not skip the item. Type the revealed code correctly before the belt continues. That last retrieval matters.
Complete a game session to count the day toward your practice streak.
Speed stats: finish 10+ items at 80% or better accuracy and your session summary shows your items-per-minute, with a personal-best chip when you set a new one.
Smarter coaching: mix up two similar codes (like the wrong size of the same avocado) and PLUed notices — expect a quick side-by-side comparison card later, and the two codes may resurface near each other so they stop blurring together.
PLUzzle Daily
A new produce puzzle every day — free forever, Wordle-style. A banner right on Home (above the Levels shelf) shows today's puzzle number and your status: an invite to play if you haven't yet, or your result and current streak if you have.
You get six guesses to find the day's PLU code. After each guess, colored squares tell you how close you were: green for the right digit in the right spot, yellow for the right digit in the wrong spot, black for a digit that isn't in the code at all. It's the same item for everyone that day, so it's a good one to compare with coworkers.
Everyone's results, once enough people have played: the result screen also shows a simple bar chart of how the wider PLUzzle community guessed that day, with your own result highlighted — once a puzzle has enough finishers. Below that threshold you'll just see a quiet placeholder line instead of a chart; either way your own result and streak are unaffected.
Flashcards
Flashcards are for clean, focused recall. Look at the photo and prompt, type the code, then rate the review honestly. The scheduling system uses your history to bring weak codes back sooner and let strong codes wait longer.
Your full available deck for the selected scope.
Only codes you have explicitly kept in your study set.
Codes your answer history says need more attention.
Rate ten cards in one day to count that day toward your streak.
Do not protect your score by rating a shaky answer as easy. Honest ratings make the next session shorter and more useful.
Your entry always stays visible: if a code comes back wrong, the card keeps showing exactly what you typed alongside the correct code — never swapped out or hidden, so you can see precisely what you missed.
Concept cards and stars
A concept card groups one kind of produce with all of its useful codes. Hass avocado can have different codes by size; apples can split by variety and size; some items have regional differences. The card keeps those relationships together.
Each code has a star. Leave a code starred if your store carries it. Turn the star off if your store does not. Starred filters and mastery calculations can then focus on the wall you actually ring.
Store Pack codes are already store-specific. They appear with their own source and feed the My Store track after import.
One code at a time: a concept with several sizes or regions starts you on just its most common code. The rest show as a LATER tag on the card and a ghosted chip on the flashcard, and unlock automatically once you've mastered the first one.
Region chips and rare status chips: the catalog is verified against the live official IFPS database. Codes that only apply to one growing region (East/Central vs West — think East-grown navels vs West-grown) carry a region chip, and setting your region in Settings shows you the codes your store actually rings. In the rare case a code is genuinely retired or restricted from US/Canada use, it shows a Retired or Non-US chip — visible for reference, not quizzed (and if your store still uses one, starring it adds it back to your training). Every code is scored on its own — entering a sibling code is a miss, with a coaching note.
Every card also carries one rule instead of per-code data: Organic = 9 + PLU.
Set your region
Some produce codes differ by region. In Settings, choose East / Central, West, or show all. PLUed applies that choice across concepts, study decks, and games so you are not drilling the wrong regional duplicate.
If your trainer is not sure, use show all until your store confirms. You can change the setting at any time without losing progress.
Language
PLUed is fully available in Spanish (es-US) — every screen, all 1,087 produce names, concepts, and coaching notes. In Settings, choose Español (beta) to switch instantly, no restart required.
Why "beta"? The translation has been carefully reviewed, but stays labeled beta until confirmed by a bilingual tester using it day to day. The first-run welcome walkthrough is still English-only; everything after it follows your language choice.
Streaks and the freeze
A practice day counts when you complete a game session or rate at least ten flashcards. One active day starts a streak. Another active day on the next calendar day extends it.
- After seven active days, you earn one streak freeze if your freeze bank is empty.
- You can hold one freeze at a time.
- If you miss one day while you have a freeze, PLUed uses it automatically.
- A second missed day breaks the streak if no new freeze is available.
The streak is a nudge, not the job. A calm ten-minute session is enough.
Light, dark, or automatic
Open Settings and choose System, Light, or Dark. System follows your phone. Your learning data and appearance choice stay on the device.
Import a Store Pack
A Store Pack is your location's own training layer: codes, named sets, and item graphics your produce manager picked from PLUed's own catalog.
- Open Library, then Import Pack.
- Scan the QR, paste the link, or open a
.plupackfile. - Review the store name and import. The pack becomes a My Store track, and any sets your trainer created — Front Table, Organic Wall, New Hire Week One — arrive as named practice collections under your store's name, each one launchable as its own study or practice session.
Where the graphics come from
Codes, sets, and graphics all come through however you import: QR, link, or .plupack file. Every graphic is one of PLUed's own catalog images, so the whole pack travels inside the link itself — nothing is uploaded, and the link works offline.
If a trainer re-publishes a pack you've imported, the link stays the same — the Import screen shows an "Update available" tap that brings in the new version.
Free and full access
You can start without paying. Level 1 (The Daily Dozen) is free, and you can browse the Library and concept cards. The full journey, every Store Section and Recipe Set, and the My Store training track unlock with a one-time in-app purchase. There is no subscription.
If you already purchased on the same Apple ID, open Settings and choose Restore purchases.