Picania guide

How the app works, screen by screen. Labels in quotes are what the app shows. Values are AI estimates, not appraisals: check the item before you buy.

Scanning

Tap the shutter on Home ("Start picking") to open the camera. The pill under the shutter switches between three modes; the app remembers the last one.

Quick Scan

• Point at a barcode and hold still: the app takes the photo by itself once it has read the code. Or press the shutter to photograph an item.
• Every shot or barcode is its own scan and its own row in Manage Items; up to three scans run at once and the latest show as chips on the camera.
• A session holds 60 scans. Go back and reopen the camera to start a new one.
• Books: a book barcode is checked against the bundled first-edition list on the phone. A hit asks you to "Open to the copyright page and take the shot". A book not on the list that the catalogue dates to the years the list covers shows a phone-only SKIP; long-press its chip on the camera to check it in the cloud anyway. A book newer than the list goes to the cloud by itself.
• Records and CDs: a barcode on the bundled collectible CD and vinyl list asks for the disc face or the label and run-out groove.
• The same barcode scanned again within the "Repeat scans" window (Settings, default 30 minutes) reopens the earlier result instead of making a new one.

Scene Shots

• Three photos of one table or shelf: the whole scene, then about 45 degrees to the left, then about 45 degrees to the right. A check button, "Analyze 3 shots", replaces the shutter once all three are taken; tap a thumbnail, then "Retake", to redo that shot.
• The wide shot finds the items; the two angles refine them into one result.

Cards

• Lay up to nine trading cards in a grid, fronts up, and take one photo: you get one row per card.
• Then tap "Flip the cards and shoot the backs" on the result, turn the cards over in place and shoot again. Keep the phone the same way round as for the fronts, or the backs photo is refused.

Import from Gallery

• On Home, "Import from Gallery" takes one photo, or two or three of the same scene. With several, the first one you pick is treated as the wide shot.

The camera also has zoom (0.5x, 1x, 2x where the lens allows), a torch, and, in Quick Scan, the front camera with a screen flash. Photos taken with Picania's camera are also saved to your gallery under Pictures/Picania.

Reading a result

• Every item gets one verdict: PICK with the most to pay ("≤$X"), INSPECT when something needs a closer look, MAYBE with a price for a thin-margin find in a category you want, or SKIP. Skipped rows fold into "N skipped".
• The header's "Est. value" is the range of estimated resale values of the PICK, INSPECT and MAYBE items (skipped items are left out); it is not a budget.
• Tap a row for its detail sheet: the verdict and limit, a ruler from "great" to "ok" to "pass", As-is, Good and Perfect values, confidence and evidence, and what to check.
• Checks such as "is it in working order?" take your answer (Works, Does not, Can't tell); tap the answer again to undo it. Answers change the limit: only "Works" removes the estimated repair cost.
• "Take another photo" at the bottom always starts a new scan; it never adds to the one on screen.

Checking an item

• Inspect: take a close-up of a maker's mark, a model label, a hallmark or a book's copyright page. The result updates the item.
• Correct details: type the item's real name, then tap "Re-analyze" to have it read again, or add a note (used by a second opinion).
• Second opinion: a second cloud reading of the item. If the two readings disagree, a PICK becomes INSPECT. In Settings you can turn on "Second opinion on expensive picks" for picks above $50, $100, $200 or $500 (off by default).
• Search opens a Google search for the item's name or barcode; Image search sends the item's crop to Google Lens or an app you choose.

Mode, Margin and Desire

• Mode: Flip picks what resells with a margin; Collect picks rare pieces worth keeping, at their full value; Auto (the default) tries Flip first, then Collect.
• Margin: the least profit a Flip PICK must leave you at its limit: High about $40, Normal (the default) about $20, Low about $10. The limit already allows for fees, shipping and estimated repairs.
• Change both from the pills at the bottom of a result, or set the defaults in Settings. They change how results are shown, not what was scanned.
• Desire (the heart icon): how much you want each of 15 categories, from "Not for me" to "Must have". Above neutral, a thin-margin item shows MAYBE with a price instead of SKIP; below it, a PICK needs more. Trading cards use their own floor instead of MAYBE.

Manage Items

• Every scan, newest first, grouped by day, with unfinished scans and then your sales on top. Search by name, maker, model or ISBN.
• The "Scans" pill shows only scans with a PICK, with a PICK or INSPECT, or all.
• Group: long-press a row, select two or more, tap "Group" to join them into one result. "Undo" is offered right after.
• Delete: swipe a row to the left and keep holding for a second; let go early to cancel. "Undo" is offered right after.
• Quick Scan and Cards shots that did not finish stay as grey rows under "IN PROGRESS": for example "Waiting for a connection · retry 1 of 3", "Out of AI credits this month" or "Couldn't reach the AI". Waiting rows retry by themselves; waiting and failed rows have "Retry", and every row that is not running has "Remove".

Sales

A sale keeps the photos of one estate sale, yard sale or auction preview together, before and during the sale. On the sale screen, "Directions" (once the street address is shown) opens it in your maps app, and "Scan for this sale" opens the camera and files the scans under the sale.

Starting a sale

• From a listing link: in your browser, share the sale's page to Picania. See supported sale sites.
• From photos: Manage Items → "New sale" picks up to 30 photos, or share photos from any app to Picania. Nothing is uploaded until you analyze.

Choosing what to analyze

• Every photo starts selected; tap one to skip it. "Analyze N selected" shows what it will cost with your own key.
• For an imported listing, "Refresh listing" (More actions) fetches photos the seller added since; it never removes any, and new ones start unselected.

Shortlist

• Star items in a sale's results to put them on the shortlist. Give each your own limit ("My max") and a note.
• At the sale, mark each item Found, Bought (with the price you paid) or Gone. The shortlist adds up what you planned to spend and what you spent.
• Deleting a sale removes its photos, its shortlist and the scans it made.

Supported sale sites

Any other link shows "Only estatesales.net sales", with a "Supported sites" button that opens this section. For another site, save the sale's photos to your phone and start the sale from photos instead. To ask for a site, write to [email protected].

Haggle

• Open it from the shortlist's Haggle icon to show a seller the item you mean: its photo and name, one item a page, with pinch to zoom.
• Your limit, the app's values and the verdict stay hidden. Hold "My details" for half a second to see them yourself; they hide again when you let go.
• Record what the seller asks ("Asked"), mark an item Bought or Gone, and it leaves the pager.

Sharing a sale

• In a sale, More actions → "Share sale" makes one file and opens your phone's share menu. Send it by message, e-mail or any app.
• Your friend opens the file with Picania (it appears under "Open with" for zip files). It arrives as a new sale; opening it twice gives two sales.
• What it contains: the sale's details and listing link, every analyzed photo (the checked copy, with the personal text the phone found pixelated) with its results, and everything you recorded: stars, your own limits, names and notes you typed, check answers, outcomes, prices asked and paid. Haggle hides your limits from a seller; a shared sale shows them to whoever receives it.
• Photos you did not analyze do not travel. A sale can be shared with up to 60 analyzed photos and 200 MB.
• Received photos come with their results; the photos themselves cannot be sent for analysis again.

Your own key or Picania Plus

Identification and values come from Google's Gemini. Choose in Settings → Cloud AI:

• Your own key: create a Gemini API key in Google AI Studio, add it under "Gemini API key", tap "Test key" and pick a model. Google bills your account; Manage Items shows the estimated cost of each scan.
• Picania Plus (coming soon): a monthly subscription with no key: 608 AI credits a month, or 2,138 with Plus Pro. A typical photo scan uses about one credit; close-ups, second opinions and card grids use more. The count resets every month and unused credits do not carry over. Plus is priced at cost. Manage or cancel it in Google Play. See Pricing.
• Without either, a book or record barcode can still be screened against the bundled lists, and your history and sales still work.

Messages you may see

• "Can't analyze: too dark", "blurry", "nothing to identify": retake with more light or closer.
• "people in frame": a face fills too much of the photo; retake without it. On a phone without Gemini Nano any detected face stops the upload ("retake without the face in frame"), except on a Cards grid.
• "could not check the photo", "could not check for people", "could not check for personal text", "phone too hot to check the photo": nothing was uploaded. A Quick Scan or Cards shot retries by itself up to three times; for a Scene or gallery photo, try again.
• "Add your Gemini key or get Picania Plus in Settings": no cloud option is set up.
• "Out of AI credits this month": Plus credits are used up until the next renewal; a Quick Scan stays in Manage Items with "Retry" for when credits are back.
• "Only estatesales.net sales": the shared link is not a supported sale page; "Supported sites" opens this guide.
• "Couldn't read that sale file": the file is not a Picania sale or is damaged; nothing was imported.

Privacy

Your scans, sales and settings stay on your phone. Before a photo is uploaded the phone checks it, pixelates faces (not on a Cards mode grid) and personal text it can read, and strips location data; that check is best effort, not a guarantee. The full list of what leaves your phone, and when, is in the privacy policy. Replay the app's own tour from Settings → "Take the tour". Questions: [email protected].