About FossilVault

FossilVault started with a messy spreadsheet.

I've been collecting fossils for years. Trilobites from Morocco, shark teeth from the Carolinas, random ammonites picked up at shows. Like most collectors, I started tracking them in a spreadsheet. Photos lived in a separate folder. Discovery locations were scribbled in a notebook that I kept losing. It was chaos.

I'm also a software engineer. So eventually I thought: why not build something better?

What started as a weekend project turned into something I'm genuinely proud of. FossilVault is the app I wished existed. Simple enough to use in the field, detailed enough for serious documentation.

How it's built

This is a one-person project, built from my apartment in Berlin 🇩🇪. I design it, build it, and answer every support email personally. There's no team, no investors, no growth targets to hit. Just me trying to make a useful tool for people who share this hobby.

That means things move at a human pace. But it also means every feature exists because someone actually needed it, not because a product manager thought it would boost engagement metrics.

What I believe

• •Your data is yours. I don't sell it, I don't use it for ads, I don't train AI on it.
• •Software should work offline. Fossils don't care about your cell signal.
• •Fair pricing. Free tier for casual collectors, reasonable premium for those who need more.

The journey

Your feedback matters

Most of the features in FossilVault came from user suggestions. CSV import? Someone asked. Better taxonomy support? A reddit user shared some ideas. Batch photo editing? A beta tester requested it.

If you have ideas, I'd genuinely love to hear them. I read every message.

Get in touch

Email me at [email protected]. Whether it's a bug report, a feature request, or just to share a cool find, I appreciate it.

Thanks for being part of this.

Daniel