Comparison

Shelf Scanner. vs Living Shelf

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Shelf Scanner.

Easily discover the value of books by scanning barcodes or taking photos of entire shelves. Get live pricing data from major online sellers to maximize your profit when selling your books.

Highlights
  • Scan book barcodes for value
  • Photo scan entire bookshelves
  • Live pricing data
  • Sell books for profit
  • Source from major online sellers
Features
Read full description

Find Valuable Books. That's what Shelf Scanner makes it easy to do, our app can: - Scan book barcodes to find their values - Take a photo of a bookshelf and find the value of each book on the shelf - Provide live pricing data on any book you scan With Shelf Scanner you can easy find what your bookshelf, those old books you have laying around, or books from thrift stores, are worth, and sell them for a profit. Unlike other book scanning apps, we provide live pricing data of what your book is worth, sourced from the largest online book sellers and based on current listing prices. This means you get the most money for your books, quick and easy. Download Shelf Scanner today and start turning books into cash. Terms Of Use can be found at: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.termsfeed.com/live/619c315c-27b8-4e47-9aaf-20bad24d5d6e

About

Living Shelf

Effortlessly organize and locate your physical book collection. Turn photos of your bookshelves into a searchable library, mapping each book's exact location. Works offline and syncs via iCloud for private, ad-free management.

Highlights
  • Photograph bookshelves to create a searchable library
  • Map room layouts and individual shelf locations
  • Search by title, author, bookcase, or shelf
  • Compare shelf scans to see changes
  • Offline spine reading
  • iCloud syncing for sharing libraries
  • Private and ad-free design
Features
Read full description

Find the book you want, right where you left it. WHAT IT COSTS Living Shelf includes five shelf scans every month at no charge. Your library, search, shelf maps, importing a book list, and adding books by hand are never limited. For unlimited scanning there is a monthly option, a yearly option, and a one-time lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in the app. Monthly and yearly options renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and can be managed in Settings, Apple Account, Subscriptions. The lifetime option is a single payment that never renews. Living Shelf turns a photograph of your bookshelves into a library you can actually search, so a title never disappears into a wall of spines again. PHOTOGRAPH YOUR SHELVES Point your camera at a shelf. Living Shelf reads the spines and builds your library from what it sees. Clear matches are saved for you. Anything uncertain waits under Needs checking, so nothing is guessed into your collection. MAP YOUR ROOM Map a whole bookcase, divide it into sections, and mark each shelf. If the photograph is taken at an angle, drag the grid corners to match it, then adjust rows and columns one line at a time. Shelves can be removed or restored individually, so bookcases with uneven columns still map correctly. FIND ANYTHING Search by title, author, bookcase, or shelf. Locate opens your library map, shows the shelf a book belongs to, and takes you to the photograph of that shelf. SEE WHAT CHANGED Rescan a shelf and compare it against what you had before. Highlighted areas show you what to look at. They are a prompt to check, not proof that a book has gone missing. WORKS OFFLINE Reading spines happens entirely on your device. Online lookup adds catalog details and cover art, and you can switch it off completely in Settings. SHARE A LIBRARY Sync through your own iCloud account, and share a library with family or housemates. You can stop sharing at any time. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No analytics. No advertising. Your library and your photographs stay on your device and in your own iCloud. Requires iOS 17 or later. Designed for iPhone and iPad. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Shelf Scanner.2 screens
Living Shelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Living Shelf at 5.0 against Shelf Scanner.'s 4.5. Shelf Scanner.'s advantage is ratings volume (264 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Shelf Scanner. sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Living Shelf sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Living Shelf holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shelf Scanner. has 264 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Shelf Scanner. versus Living Shelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelf Scanner.Living Shelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (264 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews9.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings264 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 7 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGabe RogersAdam Keath

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Shelf Scanner.

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Pro$4.997 Days
  • Monthly Pro$15.991 Month
  • Annual Pro7 Days trial$48.991 Year
3 purchases

Living Shelf

Subscriptions2
  • Unlimited Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Unlimited Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Shelf Scanner. free?
Shelf Scanner. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Living Shelf free?
Living Shelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Shelf Scanner. or Living Shelf?
Living Shelf is rated higher. Shelf Scanner. averages 4.5 out of 5 from 264 ratings, while Living Shelf averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Shelf Scanner. or Living Shelf have ads?
Neither Shelf Scanner. nor Living Shelf shows ads.

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