Is there an app to keep track of inventory?

The key facts

• Kind 1 — phone-camera apps: scan with the camera, track stock or single items. Great for one person, light volume, asset lists.
• Kind 2 — scanner + browser systems: a real record that any USB/Bluetooth scanner can type into — the warehouse-grade answer.
• Kind 3 — the spreadsheet: still the right answer below a second person; fails at concurrency and live deduction.
• BSimple's slot: kind 2 — browser-based, scanner-agnostic, full record from $180/month AUD, with a full-product trial.
• Context: the full inventory system holds the wider system, this page one stop in it.

Kind 1 — the phone-camera apps

For a single person tracking items — a home workshop, a small asset list, a collection — phone-camera scanning apps are a genuine answer: the camera reads the barcode, the app keeps the list, and some can read QR codes natively without any app at all. The ceiling arrives with concurrency (one phone, one truth) and structure (purchasing, orders, accounting are out of scope). If the question is "where is this thing?" rather than "what can we sell?", this kind is usually enough. The phone-scanning route in detail covers the trade-offs.

Kind 2 — scanner plus browser, and kind 3 — the spreadsheet

Scanner-and-browser systems are what most growing businesses actually need: the record lives in the cloud, quantities are live across locations, and any USB or Bluetooth keyboard-mode scanner works — no proprietary hardware. This is BSimple's kind: a scan updates the record the whole team shares, orders deduct stock on approval, purchase orders rise from demand, and the accounting handoff keeps the books current (Xero or MYOB; US integrations rolling out). The honest test is the same for every product in this kind: load your products, scan, sell, count — the trial runs it in an afternoon.

The spreadsheet remains the correct answer below a second person — one owner, quantities updated when stock moves, done. It fails structurally, not morally: two editors create two truths, and nothing in a cell can fix that. How small businesses track inventory today covers that stage, and free stock tools for PCs — or the free ladder in full — cover the free end.

Choosing by volume, in one table of thought

• One person, occasional checks: phone app or spreadsheet. Done — and no upgrade guilt.
• Two-plus people, real stock, orders daily: scanner-and-browser record. Prioritise live deduction and the accounting handoff over feature counts.
• Warehouse volumes: the same record, plus pick-sequence and stocktake workflows; dedicated scanners beat phones on speed and battery.
• Asset tracking rather than stock: the IT-asset aisle serves better — the open-source asset route is the honest pointer.

The upgrade trigger between kinds is never brand loyalty — it is the second person, the second location, or the first oversell. Stock management, the category shows what kind 2 contains in full.