30 questions · 21 of them play the answer
Questions, answered
and playing.
Most answers here show you the thing rather than describe it. If you already have Spinstack, an answer can open the exact screen it is talking about.
Getting started
Do I need a Discogs account?
Yes, and a free one is enough. Spinstack is built on your Discogs library: it reads your collection and wantlist, and writes your changes back. If you do not have an account yet, making one takes a minute and your records stay yours on Discogs whatever you do with Spinstack afterwards.
Your collection, cached, from the guide
How do I get my records into the app?
If your collection is already on Discogs, it syncs and you are done. For records that are not, point the camera at them: scan the barcode, photograph the cover, or type the catalogue number. Bulk Scan handles a stack in one go, and anything the databases have never heard of can be added as a custom record.
Vinyl Vision, from the guide
What is a spin, and why would I log one?
A spin is one play, logged with the date, a rating, a mood and any notes you want to keep. Log them for a few months and the app can tell you what you actually listen to rather than what you own, which records have sat untouched since you bought them, and what you were playing this time last year.
Spin Log, from the guide
I have just installed it. What should I do first?
Connect Discogs so the shelf fills itself, then log one spin so the app has something to work with. After that let Crate Dig pick something for you. There is a guided first week and a deeper collector path on the demos page, each one a short clip per step.
Crate Dig, from the guide
Condition
How does Groove Vision grade a record?
It reads scratch depth in the groove with the LiDAR sensor, across four close-up captures of the playing surface, and lets the worst quadrant set the result, because the stylus meets every scratch rather than an average of them. It estimates a grade and shows how confident it is. You set the grade the record actually gets.
Groove Vision, from the guide
My iPhone has no LiDAR. Can I still measure condition?
Groove Vision needs the LiDAR sensor, so it is iPhone Pro and iPad Pro only. Scratch Detection is not: it listens through the microphone while a side plays and maps what it hears, which works on any iPhone the app supports. Most of the condition tools, including the Condition Receipt, do not need LiDAR at all.
Scratch Detection, from the guide
It listens to my records?
During a Silent Session, yes. The microphone picks up the clicks a stylus makes on damage, and the app pins each one to where it falls in the groove, track by track. On iOS 27 it also measures the copy itself, so it can tell you which marks sit under a loud chorus and which you are going to hear.
Sonic Fingerprint, from the guide
How much should I trust the grade?
Treat it as measurement rather than verdict. Every result carries a confidence tier, the app marks which grades came from a scan rather than your own eyes, and you always set the final grade yourself. It is evidence for a decision you make, not a professional appraisal.
The Condition tab, from the guide
What is a Condition Receipt?
A record of what the app measured on one specific copy, which you can send to a buyer instead of asking them to take your word for it. It is free for everyone, on every tier, including people who never pay for Pro.
Condition Receipt and Appraisal, from the guide
What is the Condition Card?
A shareable image of the disc with every detected scratch drawn where it actually sits in the grooves. It is the picture you attach to a listing, or send to the friend who swears the copy they sold you was clean.
The Condition Card, from the guide
Why is my copy worth less than the cheapest listing I can see?
Because the cheapest listing is usually not in your copy's condition. Spinstack values a graded record at its own grade rather than at the market floor, using current Discogs listings. Everything it shows is an estimate drawn from those listings, not an appraisal, and the app says so wherever a number appears.
Your copy, at its price, from the guide
Discogs
Will it change my Discogs collection?
Only when you ask it to. The sync runs both ways, so grades, folders and additions you make in Spinstack end up on Discogs, and changes you make on Discogs turn up here. Nothing is edited behind your back.
Your collection, cached, from the guide
Can I sell records from the app?
You can list a record on the Discogs Marketplace, track the orders that come in, and message buyers without leaving Spinstack. The money side stays on Discogs: payment happens there, and you need a Discogs seller account.
Sell on Discogs, from the guide
My record is not on Discogs at all.
Add it as a custom record. Bootlegs, self-released singles, flea-market oddities and picture discs all work. Photograph the sleeve and the app pre-fills what it can read, then the record behaves like any other: spins, folders, NFC tags, the shelf on Apple TV. Five are free and Pro lifts the cap.
Custom Records, from the guide
Discogs is having problems. What stops working?
Anything that needs their servers: signing in, syncing your collection and wantlist, marketplace listings, and fresh price data. Everything stored on your device keeps working exactly as normal, including your collection, spin log, wantlist, condition scans and the barcode scanner's local matches. Sync picks up on its own once they recover.
Checking the live Discogs status
This box reads our status page, so it tells you what Discogs is doing right now rather than in general. Full status
Price
What does it cost?
The download is free and gives you 30 days of the complete app. After that, Spinstack Pro is a one-time purchase of $9.99 in the US, priced by the App Store in other regions. There is no subscription.
What still works if I never pay?
Your collection, wantlist and folders, the Spin Log, What to Spin, Crate Dig, search, the barcode scanner, Last.fm scrobbling and the Condition Receipt. The trial ends, the app does not turn into a brochure.
Scrobble to Last.fm, from the guide
Do I pay again when a new version comes out?
No. Everything from 1.0 through 1.5 has been a free update for anyone who already bought Pro, including the condition scanning added in 1.5, and that is how it will stay.
Privacy
Does the AI send my collection to a server?
No, and there is no Spinstack server for it to send anything to. Every AI feature runs on your device with Apple Intelligence. There are no third-party SDKs in the app, no analytics and no tracking, which is also why there is no account to create.
Ask Your Collection, from the guide
My phone does not have Apple Intelligence.
Then the written parts sit out and everything else works as normal. Scanning, the spin log, valuations, condition measurement and the whole collection side have nothing to do with Apple Intelligence. Where it is available the AI features are on by default, and they are one switch in Settings.
Can I get my data out?
Yes. Export your spin history as JSON or CSV whenever you like, and your collection itself lives on Discogs, which has its own export. Nothing here is a one-way door.
Where does my data actually live?
On your device, and in your own iCloud so it reaches your other Apple devices. Your collection and wantlist live on Discogs because that is where you keep them. Discogs stores the list; Spinstack stores its story.
Never Spun, from the guide
Devices
What does it run on?
iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac, with widgets, Live Activities, Control Center controls, Siri and Spotlight along the way. One purchase covers all of them.
Spinstack on Apple TV, from the guide
Is there an Android version?
There is a free open beta with Discogs sync, the Spin Log, Crate Dig, the barcode scanner and NFC tags. It is not on Google Play yet and there is no launch date. Groove Vision and the on-device AI features stay on iPhone for now.
What is the Apple Watch actually for?
Starting and keeping a listening session without picking up your phone. The session counts the side down on your iPhone Lock Screen while it runs, the watch face stays current by push, and there are complications and Control Center buttons for logging what is playing.
The watch keeps up, from the guide
What languages does it speak?
Sixteen, including Arabic and Hebrew with the whole interface mirrored right to left. The permission prompts, Home Screen quick actions, Siri phrases and the in-app guide are translated too, not just the screens.
Troubleshooting
Do you sell the NFC tags?
No. They are ordinary blank NTAG stickers and you buy them wherever you like, which keeps them cheap. Write one from the record's page, stick it on the sleeve, and a tap brings up everything the app knows about that copy, offline. Background reads need an iPhone XS or later.
The Tap Card, from the guide
The scanner cannot read my record.
Old pressings often have no barcode, and some have one that no database ever recorded. Try the cover instead, or the catalogue number from the spine or the label. There is a Read the numbers path for exactly this, and the macro lens helps on small type.
Will not scan? Read the numbers, from the guide
My collection will not sync.
Nine times out of ten it is Discogs rather than you, so check the current state below before you start pulling things apart. If Discogs is healthy, sign out and back in on the Discogs screen in Settings, which refreshes the connection. Your local data is not touched either way.
Checking the live Discogs status
This box reads our status page, so it tells you what Discogs is doing right now rather than in general. Full status
Where do I find a particular feature?
There is a searchable guide inside the app covering every feature it has, and a clip of each one on the demos page here. If you would rather just ask, Siri and Ask Your Collection both answer questions about your own shelves.
Nothing here matches that. Search the whole site.
Still stuck, or found something wrong? There is a person on the other end of that address.