Getting started

Bin by Bin runs on your phone and in a browser, against the same inventory. Most people capture on the phone (that is where the camera is) and browse on a laptop when they want a wider view.

Getting the app#

The app is in beta and distributed to testers rather than published on the app stores. Ask for an invite and you will get build instructions for your platform.

The web dashboard needs no install. Sign in with the same account and you get the same rooms, bins and items, plus a few things that are simply nicer with a keyboard: bulk tidying of names, and reading through a long room.

Choosing where your data lives#

The first real decision, and the only one that is awkward to change your mind about later.

Cloud is the default. You sign up with an email address and your inventory lives on our server. Nothing to run, nothing to maintain, and Smart Scan works out of the box.

Self-hosted points the same app at a server you run yourself, typically on a NAS. Your photos and your database stay on your own hardware and never touch our infrastructure. It costs you a container to run and some initial setup, and Smart Scan needs an API key you supply.

Both are the same app. The choice is not about features; it is about who is holding your data and who is responsible for backups. Your data covers moving between them.

Signing in#

Under Settings → Connection you will see either Backend or NAS Server, depending on which mode you are in, and a Connect entry beneath it. Cloud sign-in is an email and password. Self-hosted asks for the server address first, then credentials for that server.

The server address is remembered when you sign out, so returning to your own server is a password rather than a setup.

Your first bin#

Resist the urge to plan. The single most common way a home inventory dies is an afternoon spent designing a category scheme, followed by never entering anything.

1. Pick one container. A real one: a box, a drawer, a shelf. Not "kitchen".
2. Add it as a bin, give it a room, and write where it physically is in the location field. Overhead rack and top shelf, left of the boiler are both good locations; the field is free text because the truth usually is.
3. Photograph it open. If Auto Smart Scan is on (it is, by default), the app suggests a name and description from the photo.
4. Add items, or let Smart Scan read them off the photo.

That is the whole loop. Everything else in this guide is a refinement of it.

How much is enough#

You do not need the whole house, and pursuing it is how people burn out in week one. An inventory that covers the garage and nothing else still answers the question you actually have, because the things you cannot find are almost never the things sitting in plain sight.

Start with the storage. Come back to the living room never.