Most home inventory apps look similar until you dig into the details, such as item limits, account requirements, what offline means in practice, and what the free tier actually includes. Here is what to check before you commit to one.
This is the first thing to check. A realistic home inventory can easily run to several hundred items once you cover all rooms and storage areas, including electronics, appliances, tools, bikes, sports equipment, clothing and furniture. Some apps cap the free tier at 50 or 100 items and require an upgrade to track more. That limit is too low to be genuinely useful.
An app with no item limit on the free tier lets you build a complete inventory before you ever decide whether to pay for anything.
Many apps require an email address and a sign-up before you can add a single item. This is friction that makes it less likely you will actually use the app, and it means your data is tied to a service from day one even if you never want cloud sync.
The better model is no account required for local use. An account should only become necessary if you want something that genuinely requires one, such as cloud sync across devices, the web app or AI item scanning. For a single person tracking their own home on one phone, there is no need for an account at all.
Offline access matters more than it sounds. You might be doing a garage clear-out, checking what is on a shelf in the loft, or running a stocktake in a shed with no signal. An app that requires internet access for basic functions is unreliable in exactly the situations where you need it.
Look for apps that store all data on the device and treat the network as optional. Cloud sync should be an add-on, not a requirement for the app to function.
Photos are the single most useful thing you can record for each item. A photo of a laptop open on a desk, showing the model and a sticky note with the serial number, is better evidence of ownership than any spreadsheet entry. For insurance purposes, photos taken before an incident are often the difference between a successful claim and a disputed one.
Some apps include photos in the free tier. Others limit the number of photos per item, or remove photo support entirely until you upgrade. Photo support should be a baseline feature. If it is behind a paywall, that is worth knowing upfront.
NFC, QR and barcode support is not essential for everyone, but it is the most convenient way to navigate a large inventory. Stick a tag on a shelf or storage box and scan it with your iPhone to jump straight to that location. No typing, no scrolling, no searching.
If tag support matters to you, it helps to know how an app handles it. The most flexible approach does two things. It registers a tag by its built-in unique ID, so even locked or read-only tags work and another app can never corrupt them. And it writes a tap-to-open link to a writable tag, so tapping it opens the item or location directly. additem.to does both, and what it writes is a standard web link rather than a proprietary format, so you are never locked into one app.
Also check whether tag support is free or locked behind a subscription. In additem.to, NFC, QR codes, and barcodes are all free on every tier. For a feature this useful to basic home organisation, it should not be a premium add-on.
A flat list of items with no location structure quickly becomes unusable. The most useful apps let you create locations such as rooms, areas and storage spots, and assign items to them. Sub-locations add another level. Kitchen can contain Cupboard, Fridge and Counter, and Garage can contain Shelving Unit, Workbench and Loft Hatch. Being able to browse by room and drill down to an exact spot is far more useful than searching a flat list.
Check whether the app supports nested locations, and whether location browsing is available on the free tier.
At a minimum, you want name, description, photos, location, serial number, purchase date, and purchase price. Most apps cover these. What sets apps apart is custom fields, the ability to add your own data fields beyond the built-in set. Warranty expiry, condition rating, paint colour code, calibration date and the model number for an appliance part all vary by what you are tracking, and none of them should need a spreadsheet workaround.
Check what the built-in fields are, and whether custom fields are available on the free tier (and how many).
At some point you may want to share an inventory report with your insurer, make bulk changes in a spreadsheet, or simply move to a different app. Data portability, meaning CSV or PDF export, should be free and not a reason to stay locked in. An app that only lets you export on a paid plan is using your own data as leverage.
Free tiers exist on a spectrum from "genuinely free with a few advanced limits" to "free to download, paid to do anything useful." Before committing, check what the free tier actually gives you versus what is paywalled. Specifically, are there item limits, photo limits or export restrictions? Does the free tier time out? And if there is a paid tier, is the price clearly stated and are the benefits specific?
An app with honest, upfront pricing is easier to evaluate than one that obscures what you get until after you install it.
additem.to was built to cover all of the above. It is free on iPhone with no item limit, no account required, and no expiry. All 15 built-in fields are free, as are up to 10 photos per item, NFC, QR code, and barcode support, location organisation with nested sub-locations, lending tracking, reports with PDF export, CSV import and export, stocktake mode, reminders, and full activity history.
The free tier limits are one inventory, up to 5 custom fields, 25 item tags, 2 kits and 2 item templates. All data is stored locally on your device, so the app works with no internet connection. Cloud sync, web app access, and photo backup are available as a paid upgrade for people who want them, but you never need them to use the core app.
The app also includes AI item scanning. Point your camera at an item or pick a photo from your library and it suggests the name, brand, model, category and relevant custom field values. You review everything before it saves. It is opt-in, needs you to sign in, and comes with 25 free scans to try. Pro Local includes 200 scans per month and Pro Cloud includes 1,000.
Pro Local (£9.99/year) removes the free tier limits and keeps everything on device with no account needed. Pro Cloud (£4.99/month) adds cloud sync, multi-device access, and the web app. Prices may vary by country, so check the App Store for local pricing.
additem.to is free on iPhone, with no account required, no item limit and no expiry. Add items, photos, serial numbers and locations, and organise by room.
Download free on the App Store