Shelfbook

Grocery price book

Is $3.79 a good price for oats? The tag won't tell you. Your own history will.

Shelfbook is the grocery price book you've always meant to keep. Point your iPhone at a shelf tag, confirm the price with one tap, and Shelfbook tells you how it compares — per ounce, against every price you've seen for it, at every store you shop.

Checking a tag

Tap Check a tag and hold the shelf tag inside the frame.
Shelfbook reads the shelf price, the size and the unit price on your phone.
Tap the circle next to the shelf price to confirm it. Nothing is saved until you do. If a number can't be read clearly, it is left blank for you to type in — Shelfbook doesn't guess.
Tap File it. The record goes into your price list with its verdict.

What the verdicts mean

Best yet	The lowest unit price you've recorded for this item.
Stock up	At or under your stock-up price. Buy extra while it lasts. (Full)
Good	At or under your good price. Buy it when you need it. (Full)
Logged	Recorded, with nothing yet to compare it against.
▲ over best	How far this is above the best price you've seen.

Questions people ask

It read the wrong price. What do I do?

If the photo caught more than one tag, choose the right one under Not this tag?. Otherwise tap the price and type it. That's why every shelf price needs your tap before it's saved: tags come in many layouts, and a wrong number that saves itself is worse than an empty one.

Why doesn't it compare two items?

Unit prices only compare when Shelfbook knows the size and the unit can be converted — ounces to pounds, fluid ounces to gallons. If a record has no size, the item says so instead of comparing.

What does the free version include?

Up to 25 items and 2 stores, with unlimited tag checks, the price list, the shopping list, price history and iCloud sync. Shelfbook Full is a one-time purchase that unlocks unlimited items and stores, good and stock-up prices, insights (what's due for a low, what shrank, fake sales, monthly savings), tag thumbnails and CSV import and export. It is not a subscription. If you stop at the free limit, everything you've recorded stays readable.

I bought Full but it's locked on another device

Open Settings → Full and tap Restore purchase, signed in with the same Apple Account you bought it with.

How do my prices get to my other devices?

Through your own iCloud. Turn on iCloud for Shelfbook in your iPhone's settings and use the same Apple Account on each device. Shelfbook has no servers and no accounts of its own.

Can I take my data with me?

Yes. With Full, Settings → CSV import and export writes every record to a CSV file you can open in any spreadsheet, and reads it back.

Contact

Email xufei547@gmail.com. It helps to include your iOS version and what you were checking. If a tag was read wrong, a photo of that tag is the most useful thing you can send.