Get Keeps on the App Store
Download Keeps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Keeps requires iOS or iPadOS 18 or later, or macOS 15 or later. Check the App Store listing for device compatibility.
1. Try the demo, or add your first item
Choose Explore a demo collection to look around with sample items. Demo data is stored separately from your personal collection. Leave demo when you are ready to add your own belongings.
In Collection, choose +. Add the item name, purchase price and currency, purchase date, and category. A photo, warranty date, and notes help tell the rest of its story. Save when you are ready.
2. Make it easy to recognize
Select a photo or use the web photo picker to find a suitable image. Available photo styles and subject extraction run on your device, with the imported original retained for reversible edits.
Web searches contact the provider you choose. Pages and image hosts receive ordinary web requests. Use images you have permission to save.
3. Log a use when it is useful
Open an item and choose Log a use (called Record use in older releases). You can record multiple uses in a day and review or undo entries in its history. Set a cost-per-use goal if you want something to work toward. Logging is optional.
Shortcuts · Available in the current app
Let the connection log the use.
Some things announce when you use them. Your phone connects to your car, your headphones pair, or CarPlay starts. A Shortcuts automation can turn that moment into a recorded use in Keeps.
Chen’s example · Model Y
“When my iPhone connects to my Model Y’s Bluetooth, log a use of my car.”
- ConnectYour car’s Bluetooth
- LogA use of your car in Keeps
- See the valueRecorded uses update cost per use
1. Make a shortcut for your car.
- Add your car to your personal collection in Keeps, then open Keeps on the iPhone that will run the automation.
- In Apple’s Shortcuts app, create a shortcut and search for Log a use in Keeps.
- Add that action. Tap Item and select your own car from Keeps.
- Expand the action’s options. Turn on Only once a day if you want to count days you drive. Name the shortcut something like Log my car use.
The shared shortcut is named “Log Use For My Car” and points to Chen’s Model Y. After adding it, edit the selected Item to choose your own car and set Only once a day as above. Adding the shortcut does not create your Bluetooth or CarPlay trigger.
2. Choose what starts it.
On iOS 18–26, open Shortcuts → Automation → +, then choose the trigger that fits your car:
Bluetooth
Choose Bluetooth, select your car’s paired device, and choose the connection option if shown. Select that specific car, rather than Any Device.
This is the route used in the Model Y example.
CarPlay
Choose CarPlay → Connects for a car that supports CarPlay.
This trigger responds to a CarPlay connection. If you use several CarPlay cars, use a specific Bluetooth device when you need to distinguish them.
Choose Run Immediately where offered. If your version instead shows Ask Before Running, turn it off and confirm. Choose your saved car shortcut, or add Run Shortcut and select it. Save the automation.
Using the newer iOS 27 Shortcuts layout?
Open the car shortcut, choose Edit → Automation, and add the Bluetooth or CarPlay trigger there. In Edit → Info → Privacy, enable Allow Running When Locked for unattended use. The trigger belongs to the shortcut in this layout. See Apple’s current automation instructions.
3. Test it, then let it work.
Run the shortcut once manually and check the car’s use history in Keeps. Then check that the next connection triggers the same action. A manual test records a real use; remove that entry if it was only a test.
If the item is unavailable, open Keeps on this iPhone and select the item again in the shortcut. If the automation asks for confirmation or an unlock, review its run settings and any action permissions in Shortcuts.
The same idea works for Bluetooth headphones. For items without a connection, use an NFC tag or another trigger that matches your routine. Keeps’ Log automatically guide offers more examples.
Apple’s setup references: Bluetooth triggers, CarPlay triggers, and automatic running on iOS 26. Labels vary with your iOS version.
4. Understand the numbers
- Cost per use
- Ownership cost divided by the uses you log, or by estimated uses when you choose a usage frequency. A $120 item with 30 logged uses costs $4 per use. For sold items, sale proceeds reduce the ownership cost; profitable sales have a zero cost per use.
- Cost per day
- Ownership cost divided by days owned, including purchase day. The ownership period stops when the item is sold or retired.
- Net ownership cost
- Purchase price minus sale proceeds. When currencies differ, Keeps uses a sale-date reference conversion for the proceeds.
- Currency equivalents
- Original amounts stay intact. Purchase reporting uses transaction-date reference rates; Collection can show an equivalent at the latest available daily rate. These estimates may differ from card charges and fees.
In Overview, explore the current year or all-time purchases and open a month or category to see its items. Sold items remain in purchase history and are excluded from the items you currently own. Missing conversions are identified instead of silently treated as zero.
5. Keep the history when things move on
Edit an item to mark it Retired or Sold. Add the relevant date and, for a sale, the proceeds. The record stays available alongside the belongings still in use.
6. Sync and keep a backup
iCloud collection sync uses your own private iCloud storage.
Enable iCloud in Settings to synchronize your personal collection between devices signed in to the same iCloud account. The demo collection does not sync.
Use Settings → Export backup to save a JSON file containing item details, photos, and usage history. In a synced collection, Import backup as new items adds copies. In local or demo mode, Restore backup replaces that collection after confirmation. Read the confirmation before proceeding.
Set up widgets
Widgets require Keeps 1.1 or later on iPhone and iPad. Touch and hold the Home Screen, choose Edit → Add Widget, then find Keeps. Choose Overview for collection totals, Item details for a belonging you select, or Item Suggestion for an insight from your collection. Touch and hold Item Suggestion after adding it, choose Edit Widget, then select Automatic, Least Used, Best Value, or Most Expensive. Automatic considers ownership age, logged use, and price, and changes its useful suggestion over time. Add the widget more than once to keep several modes visible. The Record use widget logs a use from the Home Screen.
Send feedback
In Keeps 1.1 or later, choose Settings → Feedback to open your default email app directly. A short template has space for your feedback or idea and optional steps to reproduce a problem, followed by your hardware model, OS version, and Keeps version/build. Write and edit the message in your email app; you can remove any technical details. No log, item name, or collection data is attached automatically. You decide when to send.
Editing and warranty reminders
The following options require Keeps 1.1 or later. The AI review lets you edit the name, category, and tags before applying. Suggested names retain the recognized item type to help distinguish an accessory from the device it fits—for example, a Kindle charging dock should keep the dock type in its name. In the editor, Cost per use contains an optional usage estimate; leaving it off uses the entries you actually log.
Open the Warranty section of the item editor. Save an expiry date, then choose Warranty reminders in the editor or Settings to choose 1 day before, 1 week before, 30 days before, or Custom. Custom supports 1–365 days before expiry, and you can choose the time of day for any option. Existing reminder settings keep their 9 AM time until you change it. This preference applies to all active items on that device and requires notification permission. Next reminder shows the earliest date and time actually scheduled. Choose Send test notification to schedule a test five seconds later. You can keep Keeps open; the banner should still appear. Tapping the test returns to Keeps, while a real warranty reminder opens the saved item. Focus and system notification settings can affect how alerts appear.
Saved changes update scheduled reminders. Removing the warranty or moving the item out of active use cancels its pending reminder. Past reminder dates are skipped. Keeps schedules the nearest 60 future reminders; opening the app refreshes later dates. Demo items do not send reminders.
On iPad, Collection keeps its title in the toolbar while you scroll, in both portrait and landscape. Grid, list, search, and the item inspector remain available.
Category filters show your chosen emoji alongside each category name, just as they show symbol icons. Selecting a category still filters the collection to its saved items.