Guide

Scanning cards

The scanner adds real cards to your collection fast. Point the camera at a card and the app finds it on its own. You do not type anything. It works without internet.

Scan a card

Open the Scan tab. Hold the phone over a card.

Small sparks appear on the card while the app looks at it. The sparks change color as the app gets more sure. When the app is sure, it saves the card. You hear a short sound and feel a small tap.

Foil cards play two quick notes instead of one, so you can hear a foil went in without looking. The app sees the foil by the small star printed at the bottom of modern cards. Some cards only exist in foil, and the app knows those. If a card has no star and no printed finish mark, the app can miss the foil, so give the banner a glance and tap the finish if it guessed wrong.

Valuable cards play a small tune after the save sound. The more the card is worth, the longer the tune. It starts around one euro or dollar and grows in steps at five, ten, twenty five, fifty, and one hundred. A bulk common saves in silence, a hundred euro card gets a little fanfare. After a while you can sort a stack by ear.

Each saved card goes into the scan tray. The counter at the top shows how many cards are in the tray and what they are worth.

After each save, a banner shows the card at the bottom of the screen. A green tray with an arrow next to the name means the card was just added. The banner shows the set, the card number, the condition, and the price. Tap the condition to change it, for example from Near Mint to Played. Tap the set and number to pick a different version of the card. Tap the card picture to open the card's details.

A round The List symbol can appear on the banner. Cards reprinted in The List can look almost identical to their original printing. The scanner keeps the original printing unless you choose otherwise. If your physical card has the small Planeswalker mark used by The List, tap the round symbol to switch the saved card to its List printing. The scanner explains this symbol the first time it appears in a scan session, and the note clears as soon as the next card is saved.

A second button can appear on the banner. Some cards have another printing under the same card number: a special foil version, or a promo. Both use the same art, so the camera cannot tell them apart. The scanner saves the regular version and offers a round symbol you can tap to switch. For a special foil it is a star, and an outline star means the regular version is saved while a filled star means the special foil is. For a promo it is that printing's set symbol. Tap it again to switch back. The scanner explains the symbol the first time it appears in a scan session.

Scan many cards in a row

Take the card away and show the next one. That is all. The scanner is made for going through a whole stack quickly.

The scanner locks each card after saving it. This way one card is never added twice by accident.

Tap the card on the camera view if focus is soft or scanning seems stuck. The tap focuses the camera and asks the scanner to check what is in view again. It does not blindly add another copy. If the same card is still there, the usual repeat banner appears.

If you dismiss the banner but keep the card in view, the banner comes back with a quiet tap sound and a plain tray icon in your accent color. That means the card is already in the tray and nothing new was added. Swipe the banner right if you do want one more copy.

Sometimes a small banner appears above the big one. You hear a quiet tap instead of the save sound, because nothing was added yet. It means the scanner sees a card that looks like the last one. Maybe it is the same card again, or the same card from another set. The small banner shows what the camera sees and colors the part that is different, like the card number. Swipe it right to add that card. Swipe it up to dismiss it.

Swipe the banner right to add the same card one more time. Swipe it left to lower the count. At zero the card is removed, so a wrong scan is one swipe away from gone.

Tokens with two sides

Some tokens have a different token on each side. When you scan a token, a small button appears above the banner: Double-sided? Tap pause, then flip it. Tap it and the scanner pauses, so flipping the token cannot scan the card under it by mistake. Flip the token, then tap the play button to scan the other side. The app notices the pair and asks: two sides of one token? Tap Combine, and both sides become one double-sided token in the tray. It files into your collection as one card. If you continue scanning without tapping Combine, the two cards stay separate.

When the app asks you to pick

Some cards were printed many times. If the app cannot tell which version you hold, it shows a list of all versions of that card. Two low knocks play when the list appears, so you notice it even mid stack. The most likely versions are at the top, so your card is often the first one. Pick yours. The set symbol and the card number in the bottom corner of your card tell you which one it is.

Use the search field when the list is long. You can narrow the choices by card name, set code, collector number, full set name, or artist.

Each version in the list shows a percentage. That is the app's guess at how likely each version is compared with the others in the list, so all the numbers together add up to about 100. A high number means the scanner is fairly sure, and numbers close to each other mean it truly cannot tell, so the bottom corner of your card is the tiebreaker. Tapping the card image opens its full details first if you want a closer look.

File your cards

Tap the counter at the top to open the tray. Here you can check every card, change how many you have, change the condition, or pick a different version.

Swipe a card right to add one more copy. Swipe it left to lower the count. When the count reaches zero, the card is removed. A message with an Undo button appears for a few seconds, in case the removal was a mistake.

Every scanned card starts with today's market price as its purchase price. Pick a different version or finish and the price follows along. Type your own price in the card's edit screen and it stays yours for good.

Then tap Add to and pick where the cards go: a binder, a deck, a brew, or a list. Use the search field to find a destination by name. You can create a new one right there. A message confirms how many cards were added and where.

One thing to know: cards filed into a brew or a list do not count as owned. Only binders and decks hold owned cards. The app asks you to confirm before filing into a brew or a list.

Scan modes

One button in the toolbar switches the scanner mode:

Scan saves cards to the tray. This is the normal mode.

Read aloud says the card out loud: its name, cost, type, and abilities. It is made for players who cannot see the card well. You can also start it with Siri: "Hey Siri, read a card".

Look up opens the card's detail page with prices and printings instead of saving it. Use it to check a card without adding anything.

The app remembers your last mode.

Tips

The toolbar has zoom, a flashlight, the scan mode menu, the eye menu, and the scan tray.

The scanner can also scan cards in other languages. Modern cards print a two-letter language code near the bottom. When the scanner reads the same code twice, it saves the card in that language automatically. If it cannot read the code, the language selected in the eye menu is the fallback. Download languages in Settings, under Card languages, to add them to that menu and show their localized names, text, and images. A clear printed code can still be recorded without its language pack, but localized card details need the pack.

For hands-free stack scanning, print our free Heimdall scan tower on a 3D printer. It holds the phone at the right height, and cards slide into the same physical spot every time. Any similar card scanning stand works too.

Heimdall mode is the software alternative in the scanner's eye menu. A dashed card frame appears in the center of the camera view. Place the physical card inside it. The scanner treats that designated area as the card instead of looking for its outer edges. Use it for binder pages, borderless cards, or any background where the card blends in. Drag any sparkle corner on its own to match a tilted card. Drag a side to move that whole edge. Pinch the camera view to make the complete frame larger or smaller. Tap Reset position to restore its default shape and size.

Use a plain background that contrasts with the card. Dark cards are easiest to find on blank white or light paper. A pale card may work better on a darker plain surface. Keep all four outer edges of the card visible.

Use even light and reduce glare. More light can make scanning faster, but a bright reflection can hide the title, picture, or small text at the bottom. Move the light, phone, or card a little until the reflection moves away from those areas. This is especially helpful for foil cards and sleeves.

Keep strong shadows away from the card. A shadow across an edge can look like part of the card frame. Move your hand, lamp, or phone until the card has even light. Pay special attention to the title at the top and the small set and card number at the bottom.

Hold the phone steady for a moment. Keep the whole card in view and do not move so close that an edge leaves the screen. If you scan cards in your hand, pause briefly after placing each card. The scanner can follow movement, but a settled card is found faster.

Clean the camera lens if the picture looks soft. Fingerprints can make small card text hard to read. Tap the card on screen after cleaning the lens to focus again.

The scanner slows down while iOS Low Power Mode is enabled. A small Low Power mode pill appears at the top right while this is happening. Turn off Low Power Mode to return to full-speed scanning.

The screen stays on while you scan.

Questions