What the Tech: App of the day - CoinSnap

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - The U.S. dollar isn’t worth what it used to be, but some coins are worth thousands of dollars. You may be holding a valuable penny or quarter or half-dollar without even knowing it.

Many people have a basket on the dresser where they toss any loose change. You can trade it in for cash at the bank or a coin exchange, but this app called CoinSnap Value Guide can show you if that dime is worth more than 10 cents.

CoinSnap was released last fall. It shows the collector values of pennies, dimes, quarters, and other coins. But instead of just a list, CoinSnap uses the phone’s camera to see what you’ve got.

Snap a photo of the coin’s front and back. The app then determines the date and where the coin was minted which is important to a collector. In a snap, you’ll see all that information plus, whether the coin is worth more than you thought.

Common coins are at face value of course, but you might run across something more valuable, like a 1986 penny I tossed into my basket. CoinSnap says a collector would value the penny at $3.09. The app shows varieties of the penny like this are worth as much as $2,000.

It’s an easy app to use and you can scan, or snap hundreds of coins in minutes and add them to your collection.

One thing I wish the app did was put a value on your total collection of coins. Maybe that’ll come in an update. The app is only a few months old. It’s free to download but requires a subscription that’s $30 a year. Or, if you’ve got a certain buffalo nickel, the annual subscription is just 5 cents.

The CoinSnap app is for iPhone and Android devices. Collectors say, if you do run across a rare and expensive coin, it’s best not to clean or polish it as collectors generally put higher values on coins in their current condition.

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