Scan it. Find it. Done.

No — the app is optional, not required. You have three ways to use Shelf on your phone: (1) the Shelf web app in any modern phone browser, with full access to bookings, custody, audits, and everything else; (2) install the web app as a Progressive Web App (PWA) on your home screen for a native-feeling icon and fullscreen experience, no App Store needed; or (3) Shelf Companion — an optional native app for iPhone and Android, focused on field workflows like scanning, audits, and custody handoffs. Many teams use a mix: admins on the web, field crews on the Companion app. Same workspace, same data, same login on every path.

Shelf Companion is live on the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android). Search for "Shelf Companion", or download directly — iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6765639874 · Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shelf.companion. Sign in with your existing Shelf account.

Yes, from version 1.5.0. Tap "Connect to a private server" on the sign-in screen and enter your organization's domain — the field takes your work email, your company's domain, or your Shelf server address. The app then points itself at your instance, and you sign in with your password or your company's single sign-on against your own server. Two things have to be true first: Shelf has to register your domain, and your instance has to be reachable from the phone over HTTPS. Registration comes with a private-server license from Shelf, billed as a monthly subscription, so contact sales to set it up; the change itself is on Shelf's side and needs no new app build. A domain Shelf has not registered is refused rather than quietly sent to Shelf Cloud. You can return to Shelf Cloud at any time from the sign-in screen or from Settings. See: /knowledge-base/connect-shelf-companion-to-your-own-server

Yes, from version 1.5.0. Tap the scanned row to open its notes and photos, then tap Remove scan at the foot of the sheet and confirm. An asset the audit expected goes back to Not scanned; an asset that was never on the list leaves the audit, because nothing but the scan put it there. The counts recount from the rows. Notes and photos you already attached stay on the audit, because evidence hangs off the audit's row for the asset rather than off the scan. A Completed or Cancelled audit refuses the change, on the phone and on the web alike.

Yes. The app connects to your existing Shelf workspace — same login, same organizations, same data, same permissions. You don't create a separate account.

Yes. The app is free with any Shelf account, including the free tier. Nothing is sold through the app. Pricing for the web platform stays exactly the same.

Yes — Shelf Companion is now live on Google Play, free with any Shelf account. You can also use Shelf in any Android phone browser, or install it as a PWA on your home screen.

Yes. Each scanned row during an audit carries an Add photo/note action — tap it to write a condition note and attach a photo taken with the camera or picked from your photo library. Once a row holds evidence, the action becomes a count of what it carries, and rows on the audit's asset list say what they hold ("1 note, 2 photos") and open the full record: every note and photo, with who recorded it and when. Notes and photos are counted separately. Everything lands on the same audit record you see on the web.

Not continuously, and never in the background. The app can attach the phone's location to a QR scan, so an asset's record shows where it was last seen. That is the same thing the web scanner has always done with the browser's location. It asks once, the first time you open the scanner, and declining changes nothing else: scanning keeps working, the scans just carry no coordinates. Location is only read while the app is open, never in the background, and it is never used for advertising or shared with third parties. See the Mobile Application section of our privacy policy for the full disclosure.

The app is purpose-built for field operations — scanning, audits, custody, bookings. Admin tasks like user management, bulk imports, custom fields, and reporting stay on the web app. They work together.