How can I help?

Getting started

What does Piilo do?

Piilo remembers where you put things. Add an Object — your passport, a charger, the spare keys — say where it went, and Piilo finds it again with the whole path: Home › Bedroom › Wardrobe › Blue Box. Places, Rooms and Boxes sit inside each other as deeply as your home does.

How do I start?

The first time you open Piilo, choose Add a thing to type a name or take a photo, or Set something up to start from your home, a move, a trip, a collection and more. One thing is a start; add as much or as little as you like.

Do I need an account?

No. There’s no Piilo account and nothing to sign in to. Your library starts on your device.

Do I need Apple Intelligence?

No. Adding things, putting them away and finding them all work without it. Tell Piilo — where you say or type a sentence and Piilo works out what you mean — uses Apple Intelligence, so it appears only where that’s available and turned on.

Putting things away

How do I add an Object?

Tap + on Home and choose New Object…, or use the camera button for Camera Add: photograph it, name it, say where it goes. Under Several Things in the same menu, Quick Add keeps the camera open for one thing after another, Add by Voice takes names you say, and Paste a List adds many at once. From another app, share a photo, some text or a file to Piilo.

How do I say where it goes?

After you add something, Piilo asks Where does it go? Type or say it in your own words — “top drawer in the bedroom” — and Piilo shows how it read that before you put it there. Or choose Browse for it to pick the Place, Room or Box yourself.

What if I don’t know yet?

Choose Decide Later. The Object waits in Unplaced — the tray on Home — until you’re ready. Open Unplaced and choose Sort It Out to put things away one after another.

Finding things

How do I find something?

Type in the search field on Home. Piilo answers with the thing and its whole path, so you know which room, which cupboard and which box to open. You can also ask Siri: “Where’s my passport in Piilo?”

Can I see everything in a room or a box?

Open it. You can see what’s inside as a List, as Icons, or as a Map of everything nested inside it.

How do labels and tags work?

Print Labels makes labels for your Boxes, and Write NFC Tag writes a tag you can stick on one. Point Scan to Find at a Piilo QR label or a written label, or hold your iPhone to the tag, and Piilo opens that Box.

Moving and deleting

How do I move something?

Touch and hold it and choose Move…, then pick where it’s going. Moving a Box moves everything inside it, and each thing’s History remembers where it has been.

I’m moving home.

Tap + on Home, choose Set Up…, then A move, to pack Boxes by the room they’re going to.

I deleted something by mistake.

It waits in Recently Deleted for 30 days, with its photos and everything that was inside it, so you can restore it. You’ll find Recently Deleted in Settings.

Backups

How do I back up my library?

In Settings, open Backup, Export & Import and choose Export Piilo Backup…. A complete backup is one .piilo file with everything in it — Places, Rooms, Boxes, Objects, photos, receipts, files, notes, tags, Lists and locks. Keep it somewhere safe, such as iCloud Drive or a computer.

How do I restore a backup?

In the same place, choose Import Piilo Backup… and pick the file. Piilo shows what the file contains and asks before creating or updating anything. Importing never deletes what’s already in your library.

Can I get my things out in another format?

Export a Copy makes an Inventory Book (a PDF) or a Readable Copy (a Zip for Numbers, Excel, Finder or printing).

I’m coming from another home-inventory app.

Import from Another App…, in the same place, explains what to export from it and brings your things into a Place in Piilo.

iCloud sync

How do I keep my iPhone and iPad in step?

Turn on Sync & Household Sharing in Piilo’s Settings on each device, signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account. Your library is kept in your own iCloud — there are no Piilo servers. Sync is off until you turn it on; turning it on saves a complete backup first, and turning it off never removes anything from your device.

Sync doesn’t seem to be working.

Check that each device is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple Account, is online, and has iCloud storage free. Piilo’s Settings shows how sync is doing under Sync & Sharing. If it still looks stuck, email me what it says.

Household Sharing

How do I share my library with my household?

With Sync & Household Sharing on, choose Invite People… in Settings. The people you invite join from their own Apple Accounts. You choose read-only or editing for each person, and you can stop sharing at any time — no one loses their own copy.

What happens if I leave a household?

Leaving stops syncing and never deletes anything on your device. You choose whether to keep the household’s things on this device or go back to the library you had before you joined.

A new iPhone or iPad

Any one of these brings your library with you:

• Set up the new device from an iCloud or computer backup of the old one. Piilo’s library comes along with your other apps.
• If you use Sync & Household Sharing, sign in to the same Apple Account on the new device, install Piilo, and turn it on there.
• Export a Piilo backup on the old device and import it on the new one.

Before you erase or give away the old device, check that your library has arrived — or keep a backup file somewhere safe.

Privacy and locks

How do I keep something private?

Edit it and turn on Lock. Piilo then asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode before showing its photo or what’s inside, and keeps it out of Siri, Spotlight and the widgets. App Lock in Settings asks every time Piilo opens. Locks hide; they don’t encrypt — and a complete backup includes locked things, so keep backup files somewhere you trust.

What does Piilo do with my information?

It keeps your library on your device. The privacy policy explains what leaves it, when and why, and so does Settings › Privacy in the app.

Troubleshooting

The camera, microphone or Face ID doesn’t work in Piilo.

Open the Settings app, choose Apps › Piilo, and allow it. Piilo works without these — you can type names and choose photos — but the feature that needs one won’t.

I can’t find Tell Piilo.

Tell Piilo needs Apple Intelligence, so it appears only on devices and in languages where Apple Intelligence is available and turned on. Everything else works without it.

Scanning a barcode says there’s no connection.

Scan Barcode looks the product up in Open Food Facts, so it needs the internet. You can always add the Object by hand.

Piilo says it can’t open my library.

Piilo shows this screen instead of starting over, and offers to save a copy of your library first. Please don’t delete the app — save the copy, then email me and I’ll help.

Testing the beta

Piilo is in public beta on TestFlight. Send feedback with Send Beta Feedback in TestFlight, or email me — what you added, what confused you, and whether you found it again.