Getting Started with Shelf Companion for iPhone

Shelf Companion is the free iOS app for your Shelf workspace. It puts the field-side workflows of Shelf — scanning, kits, audits, custody, bookings — directly on your iPhone. The web platform stays your source of truth for workspace setup, configuration, billing, reporting, and admin work.

This guide walks through downloading the app, signing in, and using each of the core flows.

What You Need First

Before installing Shelf Companion:

An existing Shelf account. The app does not create a separate account or workspace — it connects to your current Shelf workspace using the same login. If you do not have one yet, sign up free at app.shelf.nu/join.
iPhone running iOS 15.1 or later.
Optional: assets in your workspace already labelled with Shelf QR codes (or registered Code 128, Code 39, EAN-13, DataMatrix, or external QR codes). If you do not have labels yet, you can still browse and act on assets manually — see Printing QR labels.

The app is free with any Shelf plan, including the free Personal tier. Nothing is sold through the app. If your workspace does not have an add-on enabled (for example, the Audits add-on), the app shows an informational message rather than a paywall.

1. Download the App

Search the App Store for "Shelf Companion" or open the direct link:

Download Shelf Companion on the App Store

The app is published by Shelf Asset Management, Inc., in the Productivity / Business category, age rating 4+. Global App Store propagation can take up to about a day after a release — the direct link works immediately.

Open the app and tap Sign in. Use the same email and password you use at app.shelf.nu — same workspace, same data, same permissions.

If your team uses SSO, tap Sign in and the app opens your organization's SSO flow in a secure in-app browser — the same login screen you use on the web. Your identity provider handles the password, one-time code, and any multi-factor step, then returns you to the app signed in. This works on both iPhone and Android. If you have not configured SSO yet, see User roles and their permissions and the SSO setup guide.

After sign-in, your session is held securely on the device using iOS Keychain. Signing out clears the token.

3. Switch Workspaces (if you have more than one)

If you belong to multiple Shelf workspaces, tap Settings in the app and choose the workspace you want to act in. You can switch at any time. The app respects each workspace's role-based access — base user, self-service member, admin, owner — so you only see and do what you are entitled to do.

4. Scan a QR Code or Barcode

Tap the Scan action from the home tab. Point the phone camera at a Shelf QR label or any registered barcode (Code 128, Code 39, EAN-13, DataMatrix, external QR).

If the code is linked to an asset in your workspace, the app jumps straight to the asset detail screen.
If the code exists but is not yet linked (for example, a printed sticker that has not been assigned, or a code from a deleted asset), the app shows an informational message. Linking a code to an asset (or creating a new asset for an unlinked code) happens in the web app today.

Can't scan a label? Tap Enter code to type a QR ID, barcode value, or sequential ID (a SAM, such as SAM-0001) by hand. This is handy when a label is damaged, hard to reach, or printed on packaging the camera can't focus on. Typed SAM IDs resolve to their asset on both the general and audit scanners; the lookup itself needs no add-on (running a full audit still requires the Audits add-on).

Scanning several items for one action. When you scan a run of assets for a bulk action (assign or release custody, or update location), the app gathers them into a list. If any scanned item can't take that action, the app shows a per-item blocker card you clear with one tap, and keeps the submit button disabled until every item is eligible. This mirrors the web scanner, so you never push a batch that would half-fail.

5. View Asset Detail

The asset detail screen shows the asset image, current status, category, location, who currently has custody, and recent activity history. From here you can:

Update the asset's location — useful when you move an asset between rooms, buildings, vehicles, or job sites.
Assign or release custody — hand the asset to a teammate, or release custody when it comes back.
Open the asset's full activity history — a permanent, timestamped record of every check-out, return, and transfer.

Workspace permissions apply: what you can edit depends on your role.

6. Browse and Act on Kits

Kits group assets that travel together (a camera body with its lenses, batteries, and charger, for example). The app gives kits their own screens alongside assets:

On the Assets tab, use the Assets | Kits switcher to list your kits. Each row shows the kit's category and location, and you can filter to My custody.
Tap a kit to open its detail screen: hero image (tap to zoom), the kit's QR card, and full details (category, location, value, and who currently has custody).
From kit detail you can Assign or Release custody of the whole kit and Move location, the same inline actions you use on an asset.
Scanning a kit's QR jumps straight to its detail screen, and you can scan kits into a batch action just like assets. From an asset that belongs to a kit, tap through to open the kit.

Workspace permissions apply here too: the actions you see match your role.

7. Run a Live Audit From the Floor

If your workspace has the Audits add-on enabled and you have been assigned an audit, you can run it from the app:

Open the audit from the audits list.
Walk to the location and start scanning assets.
Watch the Found / Expected / Unexpected / Pending counts update in real time as you scan. Urgency surfaces in the UI as you go.
When the audit is complete, tap Complete audit. The audit creator receives a summary email.

Important: Adding photos or notes to an individual audit scan from the iPhone app is not yet available — that capability is web-only today and is on the iOS roadmap for a future release. You can still run, complete, and review audits from the app; capture per-scan evidence from the web in the meantime.

If your workspace does not have the Audits add-on enabled, the app shows an informational "Contact your admin" message rather than a paywall or upgrade link.

8. Bookings: Create, Build, Check Out and Check In

For workspaces using Bookings, the app now handles a booking end to end — from creating it to checking it back in.

Find the right booking. The bookings list has individual Reserved, Ongoing, and Overdue status filters, keyword search, and a sort menu (by start date, due date, name, or recently created). Each row shows a live countdown, such as "Starts in 2d", "Due in 5h", or "Overdue by 3d", so what needs attention stands out at a glance.

Create or edit a booking. Tap New booking to set the name, dates, and custodian right on the phone, then reserve it. You can also open an existing booking to edit its details or reschedule it. Availability-aware pickers only offer assets and kits that are free for the window you chose, so you don't reserve gear that's already committed elsewhere.

Build out a booking by scanning. Open a draft booking and tap Scan to Add Assets, then scan the assets and kits you're packing. Kits expand to their member assets automatically.

Manage the booking's lifecycle. Reserve, cancel, archive, delete, or duplicate a booking without leaving the app.

Check out one item at a time or in bulk. You can check out a selected subset of a booking's assets rather than all at once (progressive check-out). A lifecycle progress bar tracks each item through Reserved, Checked out, and Returned, so a half-packed booking reads accurately.

Check items back in. Use the in-app scanner to check items in as they return. Scan-to-check-in only accepts assets that are actually in this booking, expands kit codes to their in-booking members, and won't double-return an item that is already back.

Roles apply: self-service members act on their own bookings; admins and owners act on behalf of others. The app enforces the same permission, ownership, and status rules as the web, so you can never do more from the phone than your role allows.

9. Custody Handoffs

For day-to-day custody handovers outside a formal booking flow:

Open the asset (scan or search), tap Assign custody, pick the teammate.
When the equipment comes back, open the asset again and Release custody.

The full custody chain is logged with timestamps. The web app's audit log shows every step.

Quantity-tracked assets. For assets tracked by quantity (cables, gloves, other pooled supplies), custody is by portion rather than all-or-nothing. The asset detail screen shows the total plus a per-status breakdown — available, in custody, reserved, and checked out — and a row for each holder. Tap Assign to give a set number of units to a teammate (capped at what's available to assign), or tap a holder's row to release units back to the pool. Individually tracked assets keep the same one-tap assign and release.

Workspace Add-Ons — What the App Shows

The app respects whether your workspace has an add-on enabled:

Audits add-on enabled — Audits tab is active. You can run and complete audits.
Audits add-on not enabled — Audits tab shows an informational "Contact your admin" message. No upgrade link or paywall — those live on the web side, where billing happens.
Barcodes add-on — Multiple registered barcodes per asset are honoured on the asset detail screen as the feature matures. Full multi-code parity on mobile is a 1.x item.

What the App Does Not Do Yet

For clarity — these are real, intentional 1.0 gaps. They are on our radar, but they are not in the app today:

Adding notes or photos to an audit scan from iPhone. Web only today; on the iOS roadmap.
GPS / last-known-location capture on scan. Deliberate 1.1 item.
Linking an unlinked QR code to an asset (or creating an asset from one) inside the app. Today the app shows an informational message; do the linking in the web app for now.

Opening Shelf Links in the App

If you have Shelf Companion installed, tapping a Shelf link on your phone — an asset, booking, audit, or QR code URL at app.shelf.nu — opens it directly in the app instead of bouncing through the browser. This works on both iPhone (Universal Links) and Android (App Links). Sign-in and account pages still open in your browser, so links that need a full web session behave exactly as before.

Where to Go Next

Shelf Companion overview — product page with screenshots, features, and the App Store link.
Getting started with Shelf — if you are still setting up your workspace, start here first.
Printing QR labels — you'll want labels on your assets before scanning at scale.
Bookings overview, Kits overview, and Audits overview — read up on the workflows you'll be running from the floor.

Questions or Issues?

If something is not behaving the way this guide describes, contact us — we want to know. The app is new and we are watching it closely.