It’s been over 8 years since I wrote the last entry for this particular journey and started using the uGrokit iPhone app. Since then, the app has worked reliably for me across at least two different iphones and provided easy to access information about the 180 or so objects in our loft. However, a year or so ago, the facility to have a backup email sent listing the contents of the database, stopped; and soon afterwards my local version stopped synching with the remote cloud copy. Investigations revealed that the uGrokit company had been acquired by Turck (a German international supplier of factory and process automation technology) in April 2017, and that the uGrokit app was now EOL (End of Life). I had truly taken my eye off the ball. Turck continues to sell the U Grok smartphone readers but, instead of a ready built app, it provides a software development kit for users to build their own databases.

This is a classic digital preservation problem for collectors using technology to support their activities: you have to keep abreast of the technology or risk losing access to your digital content. It’s demanding enough to have to do this in a commercial enterprise; but for a private individual it is an unwanted responsibility easily brushed under the carpet.

Anyway, I realised that I needed to get on and do something because, although the uGrokit app continued to work OK on my iphone, there is no guarantee that it will stay that way, or that it will work when I upgrade my iPhone; and there is no longer any support operation that I can call on for help. Furthermore, any new entries I make in the app will be locked in the app and not downloadable to another format which can be reused in another system.  For all these reasons I decided it was time to find another iPhone app.

A key starting point was the question about RFID. As can be seen from my previous post in 2016, it had been my intention to try to acquire a uGrokit Reader and to try fitting RFID tags to all my loft objects. Well, I did try to do that but nothing came of it. I couldn’t acquire a reader on loan or second hand, and I couldn’t really justify the full price spend of £395 + VAT. Meanwhile, my uGrokit app was working very nicely. I lost momentum and abandoned the idea. Now, however, I needed to be clear if RFID was going to be on the requirements list for the new system I was going to look for. Interestingly, the answer was quite clear: No!

Over the last 8 years I have come to realise that adding an RFID capability would not improve my loft system for the following reason: the position of each loft item is specified in the database; and each position is about three feet wide and 5 feet deep. Most objects are either fairly large in their own right, or else in a container like a case which is also fairly large: so, it is relatively easy to find an object when you know its position. When I want to find an object, I find its position by looking at the app, and then go into the loft armed with that knowledge. Having an RFID reader to point at the object once I get to the Position wouldn’t really make it any easier.

On top of this fundamental fact that I don’t actually need RFID to control my loft objects, there would be a whole lot of extra work to do to implement an RFID system. RFID tags would have to be bought and attached to each object. The tags can be either active with a power source such as a battery, or passive which reflect energy from the reader. I wouldn’t want to have to supply and keep replacing batteries so I would be using passive tags – UHF (high Frequency) passive tags (which can operate up to about 20 feet) as opposed to HF (Low Frequency) passive tags which only operate up to about 3 feet. The tags come in all shapes, sizes, prices, data storage capacities and ways of attaching them to their objects; so, I would have to undertake a selection exercise or be tied to the tags provided by the card reader supplier. The tags would also have to be programmed to identify the objects they are attached to. Special tags may be required for metal objects; and apparently metal objects (such as the TV arial in my loft) can affect the RFID signal.

Given all these complexities, I’m glad I don’t need to go down the RFID route. My tags are white Strung Tie-On Tags which cost about £3 for 100, and I already know how to tie the knot when I attach them to an object. I programme them by writing the Item Serial No on both sides of the tags with a black felt tip pen.

Back to the list of requirements for my replacement Loft app. These are the things that immediately spring to mind:

• It must operate on an iPhone.
• It must enable me to specify the fields I require
• It must enable me to take photos of objects from within the app
• It should be free or very cheap to use
• It should enable the export of the data to a csv file (for backup or transfer to another system)

With these points in mind, I set about looking for a suitable app. The following post documents how I got on.