Support

Questions, bug reports and requests go straight to a person, not to a ticket system.

About the recommendations

Are these the official BBK figures?

The quantities for one adult come from the 10-day stockpiling table in the guide to emergency preparedness published by the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), and from the stockpile calculator of the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). Notvorrat is, however, not an official app and is not connected to these authorities. The sources are linked in the app under “More → Sources & notes” so that you can check every figure yourself.

Why a German recommendation?

Because the app is built for people who shop and live in Germany – including those who have moved here and would rather use the app in English. The official recommendation that applies to them is the German one. The United States (ready.gov) and the United Kingdom publish their own figures; Notvorrat does not reproduce those. What you can do is set the period under “More → Household & planning” anywhere from 3 to 28 days, which also covers the Austrian and Swiss recommendations.

Where do the values for children come from?

There is no official table for children. Notvorrat scales the food quantities using the energy reference values of the German Nutrition Society: a child aged four to six counts as roughly 0.65 of an adult. These values are marked as derived in the app.

Why is the water requirement not reduced for children?

A deliberate decision. The BBK calculates 2 litres per person per day regardless of age. Being conservative about drinking water is the safe side in an emergency.

Why does the overview show 0 days when I have already entered a lot?

Coverage is the minimum across all official groups, not an average. If one group is missing entirely – usually beverages – the coverage is zero. That is correct: 200 kg of pasta without water will not last a day. The bottleneck is shown right below the number.

Are quantities converted to pounds and gallons?

No. The figures stay in kilograms and litres, because that is how the official table is written and how food is labelled in German shops. Only the decimal separator follows your device language.

Using the app

An item has expired – has it gone off?

Not necessarily. A best-before date is not an expiry date; tinned food, pasta, rice and sugar are usually fine well beyond it. Check the packaging, the look and the smell. Take care with meat and fish products, and bulging or badly dented tins belong in the bin unopened.

By default the app stops counting expired items towards your requirement – that is the cautious way to calculate. You can change it under “More → Reminders”.

How often does the app remind me?

The free version uses one fixed combination: seven days before and on the expiry date. With Notvorrat Pro you can set as many lead times as you like and a time of your own. iOS allows at most 64 pending notifications, so the app groups all items due on the same day into one message.

Can I use my shopping list in the supermarket?

Yes. Under “Shopping”, “Send to Reminders” puts the open entries into a list of their own in Apple's Reminders app – shareable with the family there, available on Apple Watch and able to remind you by location. Entries already sent are skipped. Alternatively the share button exports the list as text.

The barcode scanner cannot find my product.

That is not a fault: Notvorrat deliberately queries no product database on the internet. The first time you scan a code you enter the name and quantity yourself; after that the app remembers the code on the device and fills it in automatically next time.

I cannot see “Recognise from photo”, “Receipt” or “Shelf photo”.

These features use Apple Intelligence and appear only from iOS 27 on devices that support Apple Intelligence. If Apple Intelligence is turned off or still being set up, the app shows a note. Every other way of adding items – manually, by barcode and by date scan – works on any device.

What happens to receipts and shelf photos?

Unlike photo recognition of packaging, they are analysed not on the device but by Apple Intelligence in Apple Private Cloud Compute – and only if you gave your consent the first time you used the feature. For a receipt the app first removes the header, the total, the payment and card lines and all prices; you see the text before it is sent. The shelf photo goes to Apple scaled down and without a location. Notvorrat itself receives none of it. You can withdraw your consent under “More → Cloud recognition”. The details are in the privacy policy.

Does the app sync between several devices?

With Notvorrat Pro: “More → iCloud sync”. For that, an Apple Account must be signed in to iCloud on the iPhone and iCloud must be turned on for Notvorrat. The data then lives in the private iCloud database of your Apple Account; no restart is needed. Settings such as the preparedness period or reminder times apply per device. Without iCloud the app carries on working purely locally.

How do I back up my data?

Through the iOS backup, iCloud syncing, or the export under “More → Back up data”. The export is always free – it is your way out of the app and is never put behind a purchase.

About purchases

I bought Notvorrat Pro but cannot see the features.

Tap “More → Notvorrat Pro → Restore purchases” and make sure the same Apple Account is signed in that was used for the purchase.

What is this about coffee?

A voluntary tip towards further development, not a charitable donation – there is no donation receipt for it. It expressly unlocks no features and is never needed to use the app.

How do I delete all my data?

“More → Back up data → Delete all data”. Afterwards all entries are removed and the settings are reset; the app starts again with the welcome screen. With iCloud syncing the entries are deleted on every device with your Apple Account – the app says so before you confirm.

Which version of the legal texts applies?

The German one. The English imprint, privacy policy, terms of use and important notice are translations provided for convenience; in case of doubt the German text prevails.