Wine Cellar Database vs The Unknown Bottle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Wine Cellar Database
Manage your wine collection with flexible inventory tracking. Search online databases for wine details, add custom categories, and track bottle valuations. Supports multiple photos and international currencies.
- Online wine search and recommendations
- Customizable wine categories and sorting
- Add unlimited photos per wine
- Multi-device transfer via Dropbox
- Import/export from spreadsheets
- Real-time cellar valuation statistics
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Every cellar is kept differently. This one lets you keep yours your way. Wine Cellar Database is an inventory app for a real collection: what you own, how many bottles, where it is stored, what you paid, what you thought of it. You decide which of those it asks about. Add a column, rename one, hide one, put them in the order you want, and every wine in the cellar picks up the change. Version 5 is a rebuild. Everything below is new or rewritten. FIND A WINE WITHOUT TYPING IT OUT A catalog of 210,000 wines from 38,000 producers ships inside the app. Search it, tap a wine, and the producer, region, sub-region, vineyard, designation and color are filled in for you. It makes no network request. It works on a plane, and in a cellar with no signal. YOUR COLUMNS, NOT OURS • Add columns of your own: text, large text, number, yes/no, year or date • Rename and reorder the ones that came with the app, and hide the ones you never use • Choose which columns appear under a wine's name in the list • Your own spreadsheet headings are remembered, so an export comes back the way you sent it ONE CELLAR ON TWO DEVICES (BETA) Turn on iCloud Sync and your iPhone and iPad keep the same cellar: wines, photographs, columns and saved filters. It goes to the private database of your own iCloud account, not to a server of ours, because there isn't one. It stays off until you turn it on, and it will not turn on until you have taken a full backup. A BACKUP YOU CAN HOLD One file holds the whole cellar: every wine, every column, every photograph. Save it to Files or iCloud Drive, put it on a Mac, or mail it to yourself. Open one later and look at the wines inside it before you restore anything. Spreadsheets too. Import a CSV from Cellar Tracker or from a spreadsheet you keep yourself, and export the cellar back out under your own headings. FIND THE BOTTLE • Search as you type • Filters you build and save, on your columns, by text, number or date • Favourites and Wishlist, each its own list • Sort by name or vintage, in either direction AND • As many photographs per wine as you like: the label, the back label, the receipt • Prices in your own currency, converted at current rates • A dark appearance, and type that scales with the rest of your phone • On iPad, your cellar and the wine side by side — and it shares the screen, in Split View or Slide Over WHAT IT COSTS Ten spaces are free. A space is one unique wine, however many bottles of it you have: a 2007 and a 2008 of the same wine are two spaces, and twenty-eight bottles of the 2008 are still one. More spaces are a one-time purchase, and any purchase also removes the ad at the bottom of the list. No account. No subscription. No sign-in. Your cellar lives on your device and goes nowhere you do not send it.
The Unknown Bottle
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The Unknown Bottle is the ultimate companion for blind wine tastings. Whether you’re hosting a competitive wine night with friends or training your palate in a solo practice session, our app removes the need for paper and pens, letting you focus entirely on the wine. COMPETE WITH FRIENDS Bring your wine club or social gatherings to life with a gamified wine blind tasting: • Live Leaderboards: See scores update instantly as guests submit their guesses. • No login needed: Join any tasting using a simple ID and see how your palate ranks against the group. • Interactive Fun: Compare your tasting notes and price guesses with friends to see who really knows their labels. MASTER IT SOLO Use the app as your personal sommelier training tool: • Track Your Progress: Keep a detailed history of every wine you’ve tasted and every guess you’ve made. • Timed tastings: Practice for your sommelier exam. THE ULTIMATE BLIND TASTING GAME Score points by uncovering the secrets of the "unknown bottle": • Grape Variety: Identify grapes used to produce the wine. • Interactive Map: Pinpoint the wine’s origin on a global map. • Vintage & Price: Test your knowledge of harvest years and market value. HOSTING MADE EASY • AI Bottle Recognition: Just take a photo of the label! Our AI helps identify the wine and fills in the technical details for you. • Customizable Rounds: Create tastings with specific challenges from simple grape guessing to advanced, timed rounds. • See how much your guests like the wines you serve and what they think they cost. Download The Unknown Bottle today. Whether you're competing for the top spot on the leaderboard or mastering your craft alone, every bottle has a story. Are you ready to uncover it?
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: The Unknown Bottle at none against Wine Cellar Database's 10. The Unknown Bottle also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Wine Cellar Database sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. The Unknown Bottle asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Wine Cellar Database | The Unknown Bottle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 57.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 8 days |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Adysseus | Andreas Torp |
Bugs and requests
Wine Cellar Database
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes on iOS 14.2 and later
- Online wine search no longer functions
- Dropbox sync failures
- Data corruption and loss
- Restore function broken
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- Purchased storage spaces not recognized
- App won't open after iOS updates
- Syncing between iPad and iPhone fails
- Support website links to expired domain
- App defaults to old file versions
- Incorrect wine deletion when removing entries
- Missing color and region fields in some versions
Requested features
15 requests- Barcode/label scanning functionality
- OCR technology for automatic data entry
- Automatic cloud syncing (not manual)
- Web-based access to cellar database
- Visual cellar layout/location mapping
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- Expanded international wine database
- Notifications for optimal drinking dates
- Cellar value/worth calculation
- Data export to web dashboard
- API access for data extraction
- Printing functionality
- Expanded food pairing suggestions
- Duplicate wine entry for different vintages
- Copy/paste functionality for data entry
- Tutorial for new users
The Unknown Bottle
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Wine Cellar Database
- 10 More Spaces$0.99
- 40 More Spaces$0.99
- 20 More Spaces$1.99
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- 100 More Spaces$1.99
- 30 More Spaces$2.99
- 50 More Spaces$3.99
- 225 More Spaces$3.99
- 500 More Spaces (Most Popular)$9.99
- 1000 More Spaces$9.99
- Infinite Spaces$24.99
The Unknown Bottle
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Wine Cellar Database free?
Is The Unknown Bottle free?
Do Wine Cellar Database or The Unknown Bottle have ads?
Which is updated more often, Wine Cellar Database or The Unknown Bottle?
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