Frequently asked questions

Tilde is a home for your physical books. Photograph a shelf or scan a barcode to catalog what you own, then track your reading, follow your series, and see your reading year come together.

Tilde is made by Channelist, which is just two of us: a husband and wife who built it because we wanted a nicer way to keep track of our own shelves. There’s no big company or support department behind it. We design, build, and answer every email ourselves.

We’re self-funded. There are no investors, no venture capital, and no ads, just the two of us. The app is paid for by readers who subscribe to Tilde Plus, so our only job is building something you want to keep using, not chasing growth or selling attention.

No. Tilde doesn’t have ads, third-party analytics, or cross-app tracking, and we don’t sell your data. Subscriptions are how we keep the lights on, which means you’re the customer, not the product.

Please do. Every message goes straight to the two people who build the app. Email [email protected] and we’ll get back to you, usually within two business days.

Yes. Tilde is free to download and free to use. Barcode scanning, your shelves, reading progress, and your reading stats are all free, with no limit on the number of books.

Plus unlocks whole-shelf photo scanning (one photo, dozens of books), series tracking with what to read next, a month-by-month view of the books you finished, automatic daily backups, and extra color themes. It’s also the most direct way to support an indie app.

Plus is billed monthly or yearly, and the yearly plan works out cheaper per month. You’ll see the current price for your region in the app before you subscribe, along with any free trial on offer.

Some features cost real money to run. Every shelf photo is analyzed by an AI model, and backups need servers. Charging for those keeps the core app free for everyone without ads, investors, or selling data.

Subscriptions are handled by Apple. To cancel, go to iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Tilde. To restore on a new phone, open Settings in Tilde and tap Restore Purchases while signed in to the same Apple ID.

Nothing disappears. Your library, shelves, and reading history stay right where they are, and you can keep adding books by barcode. You just lose access to the Plus features until you subscribe again.

Your library lives on your device. With Plus and an optional sign-in, Tilde also backs it up daily so you can restore it on a new phone. Photos you use to identify books are sent to our server for recognition and aren’t kept afterward.

No. Open the app and start adding books. Signing in with Apple or Google is optional and is only needed for cloud backup.

Yes. Deleting the app removes the library stored on your phone. To delete your account and any backup on our servers, email [email protected].

Not yet. Tilde is launching on iPhone first, and Android is coming in the next few months. Email us and we’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Shoot one shelf at a time in good light, with the spines filling the frame and no glare on glossy covers. Anything Tilde misses can be added with a quick barcode scan, or by typing its ISBN.

Tilde is designed around the physical books on your shelves. Any book with an ISBN can be added, but e-books and audiobooks aren’t the focus today.