Count with a phone,
not a clipboard.

What this app does

A handful of tools that hand work to each other. You do not need all of them on day one — start by counting.

Where it runs

Almost everything exists in both the admin and POS, and they are the same data — start a count on a computer and finish it on a phone if you like.

Throughout this guide, Admin and POS tell you which one a step happens in.

What you need

• A Shopify store with locations set up, and stock tracked on the products you want to count
• Admin access to your store, to install the app and set it up
• Shopify POS on a phone or tablet, signed in to the location being counted — optional: you can also count in the admin, or on your staff's own phones with a team link

A barcode scanner is optional — the device camera works, and so does a paired scanner gun. The app listens for both from the moment a count opens.

Setting up

The first time you open the app, a short setup guide asks how you will count — In this app or On Shopify POS — and ticks each step off as you go. You can skip it at any time; the dashboard keeps a reminder of the steps left, with a button to open the guide again.

On POS, three things have to be true before your staff can update Shopify stock from a device.

1. Set a manager passcode Admin

   Go to Settings → POS access → Manager passcode and press Set passcode. Four to eight digits.

   This is what your staff type on the device whenever something irreversible is about to happen: finishing a count, applying it, adding a delivery to Shopify, adding or removing stock, or adjusting a product.

   

2. Add the tiles to your POS POS

   On a POS device: ≡ More → Settings → Customize home screen → Add tile → Apps, then add the tiles you want — Stock Take, Deliveries, Transfers, Add Stock and Remove Stock.

   Adjust stock and Reorder point are not tiles: they appear when you open a product on POS.

   This step ticks itself once something arrives from a real device.

   

3. Run a count and apply it POS

   Count one shelf, finish it, apply it. That last step is the one that corrects Shopify — and doing it once end to end is the fastest way to understand the whole app.

   Walk through it below →

Your first count

Start small. Pick one shelf — one supplier's products, or one product type — rather than the whole shop. Ten minutes, and it teaches you the entire flow.

1. Start the count POS

   Tap the Stock Take tile, then Start a new count.

   Under “What do you want to count?” choose One vendor and type a supplier's name exactly as it appears on your products. Name the count if you like — otherwise it is named with today's date.

   

2. Count the shelf POS

   Scan each item with a scanner gun, or tap Scan with camera. Every scan adds one.

   No barcode? Type part of the name into Search name, barcode or SKU and enter the figure in the Counted box.

   Shelf empty? Tap None on shelf — that records a real zero, which is different from leaving the row alone.

   

3. Finish counting POS

   Tap Finish counting. The screen tells you how many items were counted and how many were not, and reminds you to make sure everyone counting has finished.

   

4. Apply it to Shopify POS

   Choose Leave uncounted items alone — the safe option, and the right one for a first count.

   Enter your manager passcode. The confirmation names how many items will change. Confirm, and Shopify is updated.

   

5. Check it in the admin Admin

   Open the app in your Shopify admin, go to Stock takes, and open the count. Every line shows what Shopify had, what you counted, and the difference.

   That is the whole loop. Everything else in this guide is a variation on it.

Counting on POS

Everything the counting screen can do.

Three ways to count

What you see after each scan

A scan counts straight away — there is nothing to tap first. The screen then shows you what it counted:

• The product picture, name and variant, so you can check it against the thing in your hand
• The number it now stands at, in a box you can type over if it is wrong
• Scan next to carry on, or Done scanning to go back to the list

Typing a new number shows a Save button that names the figure it will write. You do not have to tap it — carrying on with Scan next saves it too, so a correction is never lost.

Counted zero is not the same as not counted

This is the distinction the whole app turns on, and the one thing worth teaching your staff.

If two products share a barcode

Shopify allows it, so the app asks rather than guessing: “2 products share the barcode 5012345678900. Tap the one you scanned.” You are holding the item — you can tell them apart.

Counting with no signal

Counts are saved on the device first and sent when the connection returns. Rows update immediately either way. A device holds up to 250 pending counts.

Counts from the admin

Everything you can do on a phone, you can do on a computer — plus the reviewing, which is easier on a big screen.

Creating one

Press New Stock Take, pick the location, and choose what to count — everything, one vendor, type, tag or collection, the products you pick, or Scan as you go. The choices are explained under Cycle counts.

A big count keeps loading in the background

A count of a few thousand products is ready at once. A bigger one keeps loading after you create it: the page shows “Getting your products from Shopify” and how many have arrived so far. It can take a few minutes on a large catalogue.

You can leave the page — loading carries on from the same place. Or press Start counting now to count the products that have arrived and stop waiting for the rest. If you do, do not set uncounted items to zero: the products that never arrived would be counted as missing.

Reviewing a count

You can also scan straight into a count from here, using the scan bar at the top of the page — handy with a USB scanner plugged into the computer.

Changing what POS can do, mid-count

Counting with your team

Your staff count on their own phones, from a link and a PIN — no Shopify account, no POS, nothing to install.

1. Open the team link Admin

   Open the count and press Team link. The first time you open a new count it opens by itself — tick Don't open this by itself when a new count starts if you would rather it did not.

   

2. Share it Admin

   Press Copy link or Download QR code and send it to your team. Give the PIN separately — say it out loud or send it in another message. A forwarded link is useless without it.

3. Count on the phone

   Each person opens the link, types their name and the PIN, and presses Start counting. They scan with a scanner or Use camera, or search a product and type the quantity — the same counting as anywhere else, saved under their name.

   

Keeping it under control

Phones count through the same switch as POS devices. If Let POS devices add to this count is off for a count, phones see “Your manager has paused counting from phones for this stock take”, and the admin offers Allow devices to count.

Wrong PINs are limited: ten from one network means a 15-minute wait, and thirty in all pauses the link for an hour. New link and PIN unlocks it straight away.

Who counted what

Once anyone has counted, the count page shows who did what.

• Team link names appear as Name (team link), exactly as they typed it.
• Everything done in the admin is one row, Shopify admin; all POS devices together are one row, Shopify POS.
• When someone lowers a number, it comes off their quantity, so a figure can be below zero. Press Refresh to see the latest from POS and team phones.

Cycle counts

Counting a section at a time, on a rota, instead of closing the shop for a full count.

There is no separate “cycle count” mode — it is simply what happens when you scope a count to part of a location. Pick a different slice each day and you are cycle counting.

A rota that works

Split by whatever your shelves are actually organised by — usually vendor or product type. Count one slice a day, at the same time each day, and you get through everything in a fortnight without ever closing.

A count holds up to 20,000 products. Slicing still makes each count quicker to finish — and easier to check.

Scan as you go — for big or mixed shops

When your shelves are not organised by vendor, type or tag, or your catalogue is too big to load, choose Scan as you go. The count starts empty, and every product you scan is looked up in Shopify and added — the screen says “Added …”. There is no limit on catalogue size.

• Adding a product the count has not seen yet needs a connection. Scanning one that is already in the count works offline as usual.
• If a barcode is on more than one product, you are asked which one you are holding.

Blind counting

Hiding Shopify's own figure from whoever is doing the counting.

Someone who can see “Shopify has 12” tends to count up to twelve and stop. They stop counting and start confirming. And anyone hiding a shortfall can simply type the number the screen already gave them.

A blind count removes the number, so what gets recorded is what is genuinely on the shelf.

Changing it later

From the admin, in either direction, instantly. From POS you cannot change a running count's mode at all.

There is one deliberate rule when starting a count on POS: making a count blinder is always allowed, but starting a less blind count over shelves already being counted blind is refused — otherwise anyone could open a second count over the same products and read the numbers off it.

Finishing and applying

The step that actually changes Shopify.

Finishing a count closes it to further counting. It changes nothing in Shopify. Applying is separate, and always tells you how many items will change first.

What to do with items nobody counted

On POS you choose at the end, when you apply. In the admin it is chosen when the count is created — the Set uncounted items to zero box — and the confirmation before applying reminds you which it is.

Counting took days, and you kept selling?

Applying normally sets each product to the number you counted. If you counted on Monday and sold two on Tuesday, applying on Wednesday would put those two back. So when you apply, the app asks how:

The difference option is only offered when the app recorded Shopify's quantity for every product at the moment it was counted. If it is missing, apply the count normally.

Mark counted products in Shopify

Switch on Tag counted products (in Settings, on the create page, or on the count itself) and every product you count and apply gets a tag in Shopify — MiMi Counted unless you choose another. Your product list in Shopify can then be filtered to show what has been counted, and a Products without a tag count picks up everything that was missed.

• It has to be on before you apply. It cannot be added to a count afterwards.
• The app never removes the tag. Clear it in Shopify when you start a new cycle.
• The first time, Shopify asks you to approve a permission to edit products. Until you do, the count shows Tag remaining products — press it once you have approved.

Reading the count

Expected is fixed on purpose — if it tracked live stock, the difference would move every time you sold one. If a count has been open a while, press Update from Shopify on the count page to re-read it.

Changing your mind

Reopen puts a finished count back into counting. On a count already applied, use Reopen to recount — it re-reads Shopify's quantities first, so you are counting against current numbers.

After applying: record what it is worth

An applied count shows a Record what this stock is worth card. Its button opens Stock valuation with the count's location already chosen, so the value of your freshly corrected stock is one more click away.

Deliveries

Checking a supplier's boxes before their contents become your stock.

1. Create the order Admin

   Purchase orders → Create purchase order. Choose the destination location and the supplier, then add products with quantities and costs. The supplier can be changed later from the order's details.

   Got the supplier's list as a spreadsheet? Import from CSV fills the order for you: one row per product, with a barcode or SKU and a quantity — a cost column is optional. Download an example file shows the layout. Rows that match nothing in your store are listed and skipped, and nothing is saved until you press Create Purchase Order.

2. Place it, then ship it Admin

   Place order when it goes to the supplier, Mark as shipped when they dispatch. Both are record-keeping — nothing touches Shopify.

3. Count what arrived POS

   Open the Deliveries tile, pick the order, and scan each item as you unpack.

   Each scan counts straight away and shows you what it counted — the product picture, its name, and the number it now stands at, with what the paperwork said was ordered. Change the number there if it is wrong, then Scan next to carry on or Done scanning to go back to the list.

   The camera closes itself after every scan, so you always see what was recorded rather than a viewfinder.

   In the admin you can also press Receive everything if you have checked the boxes by eye.

4. Add it to Shopify POS

   Press Add N units to Shopify and enter the manager passcode. Only now does your stock go up.

Receiving more than you ordered is refused unless you turn on Allow receiving more than was ordered in Settings.

Transfers

Moving stock between your own locations.

Deliberately two-ended: one location sends, the other counts what actually turned up. Shopify changes only at that second step, so stock in transit is never lost.

1. Build it Admin

   Transfers → Create transfer order. Pick origin and destination, then add products. You can also start one on POS with the Transfers tile.

2. Send it Admin

   Mark as shipped. Nothing has moved in Shopify yet.

3. Count it in at the other end POS

   On a device signed in to the destination, the transfer appears under Arriving for you. Scan each item as you unpack.

   As with deliveries, each scan counts immediately and shows you the product and its new figure, with a box to correct it. The camera closes after every scan so you can see what was recorded.

4. Move the stock POS

   Confirm, and Shopify moves it: down at the origin, up at the destination, in one step.

Add and remove stock

Two POS tiles for stock that arrives or leaves without a delivery or a sale — donations, returns, damage, samples, items out on loan.

Add Stock POS

Open the Add Stock tile and scan what came in — with a scanner or Scan with camera. Every scan adds one; change the number on screen if you have several. Each line shows what Shopify has and what it will become, or New to this location for a product this shop has never stocked — the app starts stocking it there for you.

Press Add N items to stock, check the list, and confirm with Yes, add to Shopify stock and the manager passcode. Up to 40 different products per batch.

Remove Stock POS

1. Open the Remove Stock tile and choose why the stock is leaving — the reasons are your list from Settings, or Something else to type one.
2. Choose Gone for good, or Coming back — put on the hold list for things like try-ons, loans and repairs.
3. Scan what is leaving, press Take N items out, and confirm with the manager passcode.

Sold items are not for this tile — the till already takes them off. And you cannot take out more than Shopify shows at the location: that line is refused with “Shopify only shows N of these here”, so check the shelf first.

The hold list

Anything taken out with Coming back waits on the hold list. Open it from Remove Stock with See what's on hold: every item, its reason, and how long it has been out — the badge turns red after two weeks.

When it returns, press Put it back. Do the same if it was bought while it was out: the till has already taken one off, so putting it back keeps the numbers right either way.

Both tiles need Update Shopify stock from POS switched on in Settings, and the manager passcode if your shop asks for one. Everything they do is recorded, with its reason, in the Adjustments and Stock Changes by Reason reports.

Adjust stock

Correcting one product on the spot, without running a count.

Found one broken box? Open the product on POS and use Adjust stock. Type how many are actually there, pick a reason, save.

Reasons ship as Damaged, Theft or loss, Miscounted, Returned to supplier and Expired. Edit them in Settings → Stock takes → Adjustment reasons, one per line — the same list is used by Remove Stock. Staff can also type their own. Every adjustment shows in Report & Export → Adjustments.

Worth reviewing now and then: a month of theft says move the display; a month of damaged says fix the shelving.

Reorder points

Being told what is running low, before it runs out.

Set two numbers against a product at a location: warn me at, and fill back up to. When stock drops to the first, the product appears on What needs reordering — and the app can turn that list into a draft purchase order with the quantities already worked out.

• At the shelf — open the product on POS and use Reorder point
• In bulk — the Replenishments page in the admin, or import a spreadsheet

Reports and stock value

Everything the app knows, out as a spreadsheet — and what your stock is worth on the day.

Reports

Open Reports in the app. Every report downloads with one Export CSV button and opens in Excel or Google Sheets. Narrow them all at once with Filter the reports: a location, one stock take, or a date range.

Stock valuation

What your stock at one location is worth: quantity on hand × the cost per item in Shopify, frozen at the moment you take it. It reads the same in six months as it did on the day, however much your stock changes afterwards — a line in the sand for your accountant.

1. Take a snapshot Admin

   At the top of Reports, choose a location and press Take snapshot. A large catalogue takes a few minutes — keep the page open until it shows Ready.

2. Download it Admin

   Pick the file you need. Snapshots are kept, so you can download them again at any time.

   

• Quantity on hand includes units committed to unfulfilled orders — they are still yours. It is the same figure as Shopify's On hand column.
• A snapshot reads Shopify at the moment it is taken. Counting a location in sections? Take it once the last section has been applied.
• One snapshot runs at a time, and the newest 25 are listed. Delete one with the bin button.
• The PDF holds up to 25,000 lines in stock — beyond that, use Excel or CSV. Product names in scripts the PDF cannot show, such as Chinese or Japanese, print as question marks; the app warns first, and Excel and CSV show every name correctly.

Settings

Everything on the Settings page, what it does, and how it ships.

Settings has three tabs: POS access, Stock takes, and Purchase orders & transfers. The team link is not here — it lives on each count.

Products to leave out of counts

Some of this is handled for you. A product whose quantity Shopify does not track — a gift card, a service, a deposit, a made-to-order line — is already left out of every count. There is no number to compare a count against and Shopify refuses to have one written, so such a product could only ever be a row nobody can use. You do not have to configure anything for that.

The setting is for the judgement calls — stock you could count but have decided not to: a dropship supplier's range, consignment stock, display-only samples. Tag those products in Shopify, then put the tag in Skip products with these tags. Separate several with commas:

POS access

Manager passcode

Switching this off asks for the passcode first — so a device cannot switch off the control protecting it.

New counts started on POS

The defaults a count inherits when staff start one on a device. They do not affect counts created in the admin.

Adjustment reasons

Receiving

Common questions

The things people ask before they hit a problem.

Troubleshooting

The messages you are most likely to meet, and what each one means.

Glossary

What it does not do

Said plainly, so you can tell early whether it fits how you work.

• Nothing happens automatically. No orders are placed for you, no emails are sent, no counts are scheduled. Reorder points build a draft for you to review — they never buy anything.
• One location per count. To count two shops, run two counts. A stock valuation also covers one location at a time — there is no combined figure for all locations yet.
• It does not track serial numbers, batches or expiry dates. It counts how many of a variant you have.
• It does not print barcode labels or generate barcodes for products that have none.
• It does not forecast demand. Reorder points are numbers you set, not a prediction.
• It does not connect to accounting software or push costs anywhere. Export a report, or take a stock valuation as Excel or PDF, if you need the numbers elsewhere.

Card for your staff

Your staff will not read this guide. Print this bit and pin it in the stockroom.

Getting help

Support comes from the person who built the app — by live chat inside the app, or by email.

The chat bubble is in the corner of every page of the app. That means no hold music and no first-line script — but it also means one person answering, so the more your first message contains, the faster this is over.

Before you write

Check Troubleshooting. Most refusals are the app deliberately stopping something, and the message says which setting is responsible.

What to include

mimisupport.tech@gmail.com

Missing something?

Open Suggestions in the app to ask for a feature, or vote for what other shops have asked for. Several things in this guide exist because somebody did.