MineralShelf

MineralShelf — Support

Written and answered by one person. There is no ticket queue and no bot: mail arrives, gets read, and gets a reply — usually within two or three days.

Email: support@mineralshelf.ca

When you write

Four things turn a puzzling message into a fixed problem, and they are all in the app already:

Please don't send a backup file unless it is asked for. If one is needed to understand a problem, it gets deleted as soon as the problem is solved — see the Privacy Policy.

The questions that come up most

Where is my collection stored?

On your iPhone, and nowhere else. There is no account and no server. That is also why the app works with no signal at the bottom of a quarry, and why nobody — including me — can look at what you have collected.

Then what happens if I lose my phone?

Two things protect you, and it is worth knowing both.

iCloud Backup includes MineralShelf, because the collection is stored in the app's own folder. Restore a new iPhone from that backup and the collection comes back with it. Check it is on: Settings app › your name › iCloud › iCloud Backup.

Settings › Export writes a .mineralshelf file — everything, optionally including photos — that you can keep in iCloud Drive, on a computer, or anywhere else. Do this from time to time. The app reminds you after 30 days.

How do I move to a new iPhone?

Restore the new phone from an iCloud or computer backup and the collection is already there. If you would rather move it by hand: Settings › Export on the old phone, save the file somewhere both phones can reach, then Settings › Import on the new one.

The app won't open, or says my collection couldn't be opened

Nothing has been deleted. MineralShelf never removes your data by itself.

The screen you are looking at offers to restore from the backup the app keeps for itself — it writes one a day — and tells you what is in it and when it was made. Restoring puts the unreadable database aside rather than throwing it away, so nothing is lost by trying.

If that screen does not appear, restart the phone first, then write to me and include what the screen says.

What does MineralShelf Pro include?

Unlimited specimens and expeditions, and the Market tools: market encounters, Quick Sell, Scan to Sell, sale records, show reports and the spreadsheet export. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

The free app holds 10 specimens and 2 expeditions, with an unlimited wishlist, and includes labels, QR codes, posters, the Collector Score, and backup and export.

I already bought Pro and it isn't showing

Settings › Restore Purchases, with the same Apple Account you bought it with. If it still doesn't appear, tell me which Apple Account region you are in and roughly when you bought it.

Can I get a refund?

Refunds are handled by Apple, not by me — I never see your payment details and cannot reverse a charge. Ask at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Can I get my data out?

Yes, and without asking. Settings › Export produces a plain ZIP file: open it on a computer and the photos are simply there in a folder, with the records beside them as JSON. Market encounters also export as a real Excel workbook.

How do I delete everything?

Settings › Erase Everything, at the bottom. It removes every specimen, expedition, wish, sale and photo, and sets catalogue numbers back to #0001. It does not touch backup files you have already exported. Deleting the app also removes everything it stored.

How do the printed labels work?

Each label carries a QR code holding a link to that specimen. Scan it with the MineralShelf scanner or the iPhone Camera and the specimen's page opens. The link is tied to an identifier created once and kept through edits, exports and restores, so a label printed today still works after you move to a new phone.

The QR code contains nothing but that identifier — no name, no price, no locality — so a label on a shelf or in a parcel gives nothing away.

Which iPhones does it run on?

Any iPhone running iOS 18 or later. There is no iPad or Mac version yet.

Things it deliberately doesn't do

Worth knowing before you write to ask:

Suggestions

They are read and they matter. A collection app is only as good as the collectors arguing with it, and a fair amount of what is in MineralShelf today arrived as somebody's "why can't it just…".

support@mineralshelf.ca