Support
The short version. Shelvanize is a catalog of the physical books you own, and it gives you the exact order to put them back on the shelf. It runs on iOS and Android, it keeps your collection on your device, and there is no account to make.
Email nic@laughterconsulting.com about anything. Shelvanize is built by one person, so a reply usually takes a day or two, and longer over a holiday weekend.
Getting in touch
Write to nic@laughterconsulting.com. It reaches the developer directly, so there is no queue and no ticket number to quote.
It helps to say which phone or tablet you are on and what you were doing when it went wrong. If a book came back with the wrong details after a barcode scan, send the ISBN printed under the barcode, because that number is exactly what the app looked up.
Export and back up your collection
Open Settings in the app and pick Export as CSV or Export as JSON. The app writes the file wherever you point it, and no copy of it goes anywhere else.
CSV opens in spreadsheet apps. JSON is the complete backup and the one worth keeping, because Import books reads a JSON export back into Shelvanize.
Exporting is free, needs no account, and works offline. It is not a paid feature and it will never become one. Everything you type, scan or photograph stays readable, editable and exportable for as long as you have the app, whatever you do or do not pay for.
Moving your collection to a new device
Your collection lives on the device you entered it on, and nothing copies itself between devices, so moving it means carrying a file across. Pick Export as JSON on the old device, put the file somewhere the new device can reach, then open Settings there and pick Import books.
Imported books are added to what is already in the collection. Nothing is replaced and nothing is removed.
Adding books
Scan the barcode and Shelvanize looks that ISBN up in the catalog we host. For a book with no barcode, photograph the cover and the app reads back the lines of text it can make out. You tap the line that is the title and the line that is the author, tap Use these details, and they land in the add form. You can also type a book in by hand. Either way nothing joins your collection until you tap Save.
If the camera will not open, check that Shelvanize has camera access in your device settings. The barcode reader and the cover reader both need it, and everything else in the app works without it.
Deleting everything
Open Settings, pick Delete all my data, and confirm. That permanently erases your whole collection and everything attached to it from the device. It cannot be undone, and there is no copy on our side to put back, so export first if you want to keep one.
Deleting the app removes its database with it. There is no account to close, because there is no account.
Purchases
Shelvanize sells nothing today. There is no subscription and no in-app purchase, so there is nothing to restore.
The app does have a screen offering to unlock arranging your own collection, and it says plainly that unlocking is not available in this beta yet. That is the feature being built. When it does go on sale, the App Store and Google Play handle the payment and the app never sees your card details. Your collection stays free and uncapped either way, and if you buy and later cancel, everything you entered stays readable, editable and exportable.
Privacy
Your collection is stored on your device and nowhere else. The only things the app sends are the ISBN of a book you scanned or typed, so the catalog can send that book's details back, and a technical report if the app crashes. The privacy policy covers all of it, including what a crash report can and cannot contain.