The Book Catalog App That Scans Your Whole Shelf at Once
Velato is the only book catalog app built around your physical shelf — not individual barcodes. Point, pan, and your entire home library is organized and searchable.
Want to compare shelf-first workflows? See Scan Bookshelf With Phone or explore the Bookshelf Scan App page for another angle on the same Velato workflow.
THE PROBLEM
Why Most Book Catalog Apps Are Painfully Slow
Most catalog apps still treat your shelf like a pile of separate items. If you own 50 books, that often means 50 barcode scans, 50 focus checks, and 50 chances to lose momentum. Velato replaces that one-book loop with a single shelf pan.
Barcode scanning
Reliable for one book at a time, but brutally slow for a real home library. Every book has to be pulled out, flipped over, and scanned on its own.
Spine photo apps
Faster than barcodes, but a single still photo often struggles with crowded shelves, angled spines, and partial text. Cleanup can eat the time you saved.
Velato
Built for shelf-scale cataloging. One continuous pan can capture dozens of books in seconds, then you review the results in a library that is already organized.
WHAT YOU GET
A Complete Home Library Catalog, Built in Minutes
Velato turns a shelf scan into a home library catalog you can actually use, not just a raw import you still need to rebuild by hand.
Searchable digital library
Every recognized title lands in one place, so you can search what you own before buying duplicates or hunting around the house.
See the main product overviewShelf-by-shelf organization
Velato keeps the catalog tied to the way your shelves are arranged, so it is easier to remember where each book actually lives.
View the feature walkthroughMarket value tracking
Cataloging and collection value happen in the same flow, giving you a cleaner inventory and a better picture of what your library is worth.
See how pricing fits into the product
How It Works
Frame → Pan → Library Ready
Velato keeps the workflow simple: capture the shelf, sweep once, and review a digital catalog instead of repeating the same scan 50 times.
- 1
Frame the full shelf with your iPhone camera
Start with the whole row in view so Velato can work from the shelf itself, not from one isolated book at a time.
- 2
Pan once while Velato reads the spines
Move across the shelf in one steady motion and let the scan keep detecting books continuously as you go.
- 3
Review a searchable library that is ready to use
Your shelf becomes a digital catalog you can search, organize, and revisit without re-scanning every book later.
Reader Reactions
What Readers Are Saying
Speed and ease are the first things readers mention once they try a full-shelf scan.
"I scanned five shelves in less than a minute."
"One sweep of the camera, and 30 books just... appeared. It's actually addictive."
"My bookcase has 2 columns, 5 rows each. I scanned them all in less than 5 minutes."
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions About Book Catalog Apps
What is the best book catalog app for iPhone?
Velato is built specifically for iPhone and designed around one workflow most catalog apps ignore — scanning a full shelf at once. Instead of scanning barcodes one by one, you pan your camera across the shelf and Velato identifies every visible spine automatically. LibraryThing and Goodreads let you build reading lists, but neither can scan a physical shelf from a photo. Velato is the only app built specifically for that moment.How accurate is book spine recognition?
Velato identifies more than 95% of books correctly in normal shelf conditions — upright spines, reasonable lighting, standard shelf depth. It handles tilted books, partial spines, and mixed languages better than general-purpose photo apps because it was trained specifically on how books look on real shelves, not just ISBN barcodes.How do I catalog my home library without scanning barcodes?
The traditional approach — pulling each book out, scanning the barcode, putting it back — takes hours for a large shelf. Velato skips that entirely. Open the app, point your camera at a shelf, pan slowly across it, and your library builds itself in real time. A shelf of 50 books typically takes under two minutes from start to searchable catalog.Is Velato free?
Yes — Velato is currently free to download and use on iOS. Scan your shelves, build your catalog, track market value, and share your library at no cost.How is Velato different from Goodreads or LibraryThing?
Goodreads and LibraryThing are great for tracking what you've read and getting recommendations — but both require you to add books manually, one at a time. Neither can look at a physical shelf and tell you what's on it. Velato's starting point is your actual shelf, not a search box. It's the bridge between your physical books and a digital catalog.Is there an Android version?
Not yet — Velato is currently iOS only. Android is on the roadmap. If you're on Android, you can join the waiting list and we'll notify you when it's available.
Scan. Organize. Share.
Join the readers turning their physical bookcases into beautiful digital libraries. Free to download on iOS.
"I scanned five shelves in less than a minute."