FAQ


A list of Frequently Asked Questions is below. If you can’t find the answer to your question below, please send an email to support@supremewinemanager.com.

 

General

How often should I clean the database?

That depends on how actively you have downloaded wine information from the Internet and if you feel the application is becoming unresponsive. One of the goals of Supreme Wine Manager is that you can use it in a completely offline mode and therefore we store any information that you search for so that it can be used when you do not have a data connection (when at a restaurant for example).

Help: Dropbox status box has disappeared!

As a Dropbox operation might take too long, all operations take place in the background and a notification will be sent to let you know when the operation has completed. Should you have moved to another application or the screen saver kicked in, don’t worry as the Dropbox save/restore is still taking place in the background.

Why don't you support label recognition?

We have seen apps that handle wine label recognition – or at least attempt to do so. This technology is far from foolproof and isn’t entirely accurate most of the time. Accuracy depends on multiple factors, including your camera’s resolution and lighting environment.

Similar to why we don’t support barcode searches, our philosophy is not to waste your time with features that don’t really work well. It will take you 1-2 minutes to enter in bottle information manually, while label recognition might take closer to 3-4 minutes and then require you to spend the 1-2 minutes entering information anyway. That seems rather inefficient.

Why can't I scan an existing barcode to get bottle information?

Many wine producers recycle barcodes and therefore you aren’t guaranteed that the barcode actually maps to your bottle. While they can be useful to get some standard information, such as Winery and Wine name, you will still need to enter information manually. Our tests have shown that about 20% of bottle barcodes actually tie to a bottle and then information is only accurate less than 5% of the time.

Our approach is not to waste your time by misleading you into thinking you can scan an existing barcode and get useful information. If in the end you will need to enter information in manually anyhow, you might as well do that vs. waiting 1-2 minutes trying to scan a barcode and get information.

Why does the application access my location information?

The application uses your location information to display locally relevant advertisements. In the future, this will be used to help you locate wine stores close to your locations that carry specific wines as well.

Help: The application says I have an invalid tag

Supreme Wine Manager can only ready SWM tags and not other tags. If you are having difficulty reading a SWM tag then most likely it is defective and you will need to replace the tag. The application makes that easy for you – simply locate the bottle in the cellar listing, click on it to edit, then click on the replace icon to change the tag associated with the bottle.

Help: I can't delete a bottle

Most likely you are trying to delete a wine bottle that has an associated cellar or wish bottle. You should see a short error message appear in this case. To delete the wine bottle, you will need to delete all cellar and wish bottles as well.

Help: I can't change the bottle image

You can only change the bottle image when editing the actual wine bottle itself, not when editing a cellar or wish bottle.

Does the program automatically save the database?

No, the program requires you to manually save the database to DropBox. It is suggested that you do so periodically so that you don’t lose information, can recover from a serious database issue, or can synchronize between multiple devices.

What is Supreme Wine Manager

Supreme Wine Manager, or SWM for short, is the best wine cellar management application available for Android today.

Sometimes I see a half rating on a bottle. How is that possible?

The application supports half ratings, to the extent that you find that useful. In our experience, we know that a 4 star wine and a 4.5 star wine are very similar and we would enjoy either so we can’t be bothered with half ratings. But if you really want to get that detailed, you can indicate a half star by clicking the rating bar and keeping your finger on the screen. Then move your finger slowly right or left and you will see the half star markings.

Help: I accidentially marked a bottle as consumed

It’s terrible when you mark a bottle as consumed but actually haven’t even had a chance to drink a drop! Simply click the upside down glass icon to “undrink” the bottle. No harm done!

How large are the images that get stored?

Any bottle images that you take using your camera will automatically be reduced in size. While there is a slight impact on image quality, this is done in order to ensure your database remains as responsive as possible. Typically the image sizes are between 50k-500k in size. The exact size is highly dependent on your camera and the settings used when taking the picture.

Why does the screen not close when adding a new bottle to my cellar?

This is done for convenience reasons as the application assumes you might be entering multiple bottles of the same wine. In this situation, you simply click the save icon to save another bottle of the same wine.

A practical example: You have ordered a case (12 bottles) of 2009 Robert Mondavi Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Initially, you enter in the wine information (Vintage, etc) and click the save button for the first bottle. For the next 11 bottles, you simply need to click the save icon again.

 

Why do you use a subscription model?

We use a subscription model to help us continue to fund application development. If you chose not to continue to pay for the subscription, your version will revert to a Free version with the limitations described in the Free version. Importantly, no bottles will be removed to enforce the 25 bottle limit when you revert to the Free version. You will simply be unable to add any new bottles.

What is the difference between the Free and Subscription versions?

Free – This is an advertising supported version that has the following features limitations in addition to showing advertisements:

  • No DropBox Restore capability. You can only save your database to DropBox.
  • A limit of 25 bottles in your Cellar and Wish lists.

Paid Subscription – This is a paid version of the application using a subscription model which renews every 12 months. All features are available in this version

What happens when I stop paying for the subscription?

If you chose not to continue to pay for the subscription, your version will revert to a Free version with the limitations described above. Importantly, no bottles will be removed to enforce the 25 bottle limit when you revert to the Free version. You will simply be unable to add any new bottles.

Why does your shopping experience look so bad?

We are application developers first and web designers a distant third…. our goal is to put our time, money, and efforts into the application and not the web site. Sorry if you find this experience to be sub-par but we hope you understand why!

Feel free to make a donation which will help us maintain enough revenue to enhance the application and web site. Or continue to sit back, drink your wine, use our application, and complain about how bad the web site is. Either way, we wish you good health!

Searching

When I enter keywords to search for in the listings screen, I see bottles that don't match my keywords

The keyword search option looks through several different pieces of information: Vintage, Wine name, Winery, Storage location, and Store you purchased or wished for the wine at.

All wine data is provided by Snooth. SupremeJumble is not responsible for any of the information provided.

Help: Internet wine information is incorrect

All wine information is provided by Snooth. We have experienced many examples where the wine information is indeed not correct. Supreme Wine Manager allows you to update any of the information that appears. Your changes will remain with the application and will not be replaced with Snooth information should you download information from Snooth again.

How often should I clean the database?

That depends on how actively you have downloaded wine information from the Internet and if you feel the application is becoming unresponsive. One of the goals of Supreme Wine Manager is that you can use it in a completely offline mode and therefore we store any information that you search for so that it can be used when you do not have a data connection (when at a restaurant for example).

Why can't I scan an existing barcode to get bottle information?

Many wine producers recycle barcodes and therefore you aren’t guaranteed that the barcode actually maps to your bottle. While they can be useful to get some standard information, such as Winery and Wine name, you will still need to enter information manually. Our tests have shown that about 20% of bottle barcodes actually tie to a bottle and then information is only accurate less than 5% of the time.

Our approach is not to waste your time by misleading you into thinking you can scan an existing barcode and get useful information. If in the end you will need to enter information in manually anyhow, you might as well do that vs. waiting 1-2 minutes trying to scan a barcode and get information.

Why don't you support label recognition?

We have seen apps that handle wine label recognition – or at least attempt to do so. This technology is far from foolproof and isn’t entirely accurate most of the time. Accuracy depends on multiple factors, including your camera’s resolution and lighting environment.

Similar to why we don’t support barcode searches, our philosophy is not to waste your time with features that don’t really work well. It will take you 1-2 minutes to enter in bottle information manually, while label recognition might take closer to 3-4 minutes and then require you to spend the 1-2 minutes entering information anyway. That seems rather inefficient.

Tags

Help: The application says I have an invalid tag

Supreme Wine Manager can only ready SWM tags and not other tags. If you are having difficulty reading a SWM tag then most likely it is defective and you will need to replace the tag. The application makes that easy for you – simply locate the bottle in the cellar listing, click on it to edit, then click on the replace icon to change the tag associated with the bottle.

Why do you have different tags?

A number of different tags are provided to allow you to use the application in whatever way works best for you.

  • QR tags are perfect for those that don’t have NFC capable phones
  • NFC tags are perfect for those that have NFC phones and don’t want the size of the QR tag
  • NFC/QR tags are perfect for those that don’t currently have an NFC phone but think they might get one in the future
  • Ultimate tags are perfect for those that have NFC phones and want to save money by reusing tags

Can I remove a tag from the bottle?

Unless you are using an Ultimate tag, you should not attempt to remove a tag from the bottle. While the tag might remove without any issues, scanning of the tag might be impacted due to bends or creases in the tag removal process.

Why can't I use any NFC tag?

The SWM tag is specially designed to withstand a wine cellar environment (Humidity, temperature, condensation, etc.). Generic NFC tags do not necessarily work well in this environment and some are made very poorly and won’t read reliably.

What are Supreme Wine Manager Tags?

Tags are stickers that you place on specific wine bottles that make it easy for you to find them in the SWM application. You simply scan or tap the tag to pull up the entry in the SWM application. From there you can quickly mark the bottle as consumed, edit information, update tasting notes, or anything else!

There are several different Tags available for you to use. Please see the Tag FAQ for more information.

How are SWM Tags better than barcodes?

There are several reasons why SWM tags are far superior than barcodes:

  • Barcodes are difficult to scan due to the curvature of a bottle
  • Barcodes carry only a limited amount of information and may not properly identify an individual bottle
  • Many wine producers recycle barcodes and therefore you aren’t guaranteed that the barcode actually maps to your bottle
  • Barcodes don’t contain any error correction making them more difficult to read successfully unlike a SWM Tag that has error correction built in
  • Barcodes must be read by a scanner unlike a SWM tag that can be simply be tapped

Where should I place my SWM tag?

If you are using a SWM NFC tag or SWM Ultimate tag then you can place the tag anywhere you would like. However, you should still follow the general guidelines below to protect the tag from getting damaged.

SWM QR tags are much easier to use than barcodes, but there are still issues with scanning that can be addressed by following these guidelines:

  • Place the tag in the center of the bottle. You can cover the bottle label or, as is recommended, place the tag between the front and back labels.
  • When placing the bottle in your cellar, make sure the tag does not rub against a shelf or another bottle. While the tags are laminated to protect them, they could still get ripped.
  • Be sure that that tag is properly affixed to the bottle by smoothing out all of the corners.

Please also refer to the “Scanning tips” FAQ for more information

Tag Scanning tips

Below are some tips on scanning a SWM QR tag. For a SWM NFC capable tag, all you need to do is tap the tag in order to read it.

  • Always scan the tag in a well lit area
  • Hold the scanner two to three inches from the tag and ensure the tag is entirely within the scanning window
  • If you find that the tag is not being recognized, move the scanner slightly to the left or right or up or down to see if that helps.
  • Sometimes tags will be difficult to read if there is a large amount of  light reflected so move the bottle to a location where tag reflections are minimized
  • If you find it difficult to scan QR tags, consider upgrading to the SWM NFC tags which are much more convenient. However, you will need a NFC capable phone in order to use these

 

Shopping

How long will it take to deliver my order?

If the tag set you ordered is in stock, tags will typically be sent out within 3 business days. All orders are shipped via USPS and will take 3-5 days to reach you.

Do you have a payment option other than PayPal?

At this point the only payment option available is via PayPal.  Please note that, as a result, we do not store any of your credit card information and will only be able to look up your order via your order number or username.

Ratings

How to I change a downloaded bottle's rating?

When bottle information is downloaded from Snooth, it may contain rating information already. The application will display this rating unless you change it by simply specifying a new rating. While the application will keep track of both ratings, it will only show your rating as it is, after all, more important what you think than what the broader community things.