User Guide
Welcome to Hoard Hero, your personal inventory assistant. Snap photos of your belongings, organise them into locations, and find anything in seconds — even with typos. This guide covers everything from your first capture to advanced tips.
rocket_launch Getting Started
The Home Screen
When you open Hoard Hero, you'll see the Home screen. At the top, a banner shows your collection stats — how many items, images, and locations you have. Below that, recent items and recent locations give you quick access to what you've been working with.
The bottom tab bar has four tabs:
- home Home — your dashboard
- search Search — find anything in your collection
- photo_camera Capture — take photos and add items
- folder Locations — browse your storage zones
The navigation drawer (swipe from the left edge or tap the menu icon) gives you access to Unlock Premium, Backup & Restore, Statistics, User Guide, and Settings.
photo_camera Capturing Items
Using the Camera
- Tap the Capture tab in the bottom bar.
- If prompted, grant camera permission. The viewfinder shows framing corners and a crosshair when the camera is active.
- Point your camera at the item and tap the circular TAKE PHOTO button.
- Each photo appears in the reel at the bottom. A label shows "1 photo of this item" (or "N photos of this item") to reinforce that multiple photos belong to the same item. Take as many as you like from different angles.
- When you're ready, tap the + button (bottom-right) to open the item details screen and add a name and tags before saving. Or use the small Save icon next to the shutter button for one-tap quick save.
You can also use the gallery button in the overlay row to pick a photo from your device instead of using the camera.
If Camera Is Unavailable
If you denied camera permission or your device has no camera, the viewfinder area shows a message explaining the situation. You can still use the app fully:
- Use the gallery button below the viewfinder to add photos from your device.
- Create items without photos — tap the + button and give the item a name. Items without photos show a placeholder icon and work just like any other item.
- Enable camera later: if you permanently denied permission, tap Open Settings on the error screen to re-enable it in system settings. The app re-checks permission when you return.
Quick Capture Tips
- Multiple photos per item: Take several angles of the same item before saving. The first photo becomes the main image; the rest are visible when you open the item.
- Batch items import: When the photo reel is empty, a small FAB appears above the + button. Tap it to select multiple gallery photos at once — each becomes a separate item saved to the same location.
- Create without photos: Tap the + FAB with an empty reel to create an item with just a name. Useful for quick inventory or items you'll photograph later.
- Zoom: Pinch on the viewfinder or tap +/- buttons to zoom the camera before taking a shot.
- Aspect ratio: The capture frame uses a 1:1 ratio by default. Toggle between 1:1 and 4:5 portrait using the button in the top-right corner of the viewfinder.
- Discard all: When photos are in the reel, the small FAB above the + button turns into a trash icon. Tap it to clear all photos and reset the location.
Adding Item Details
Tap the + FAB during capture to open the item details screen. Here you can name the item, add tags, and choose a location before saving. If you captured photos, they'll be pre-populated. If you didn't, you can still create the item — just give it a name.
After saving, your item appears with a default name like "Capture" or "Import" (if you quick-saved without naming it). Tap the item on the Search screen to open its detail screen. A centred label ("1 photo of this item" / "N photos of this item") sits above the photo reel to reinforce the multi-photo concept. From here you can:
- Rename it — tap the name field
- Add tags — tap the tags section, type a tag name (e.g. "tools"), and tap Add. Tags help you find items later
- Change location — move it to Garage, Kitchen, or any zone you've created
- Add or remove photos — tap the camera icon in the image reel
- Set the main image — long-press any photo in the reel to make it the hero image
auto_awesome AI-Powered Identification
Hoard Hero can automatically name and tag your items using AI. Snap a photo of a power drill and it'll suggest "Power Drill" with tags like #tools and #dewalt — no typing needed.
Enabling AI
- Go to Settings from the navigation drawer.
- Under AI Features, turn on Enable AI Recognition.
- Optionally, turn on Auto-Identify to have new items identified automatically upon Save in the background.
You can enable AI during onboarding or anytime in Settings.
How It Works
- Images are sent briefly to Google's Gemini AI.
- The AI returns a name and 1–3 tags.
- Processing happens in the background.
- A small sparkle badge appears on identified items.
Privacy & Credits
- Images are sent for processing only — they are never stored by the AI service.
- No API keys or accounts needed — identification works through the app.
- 50 free AI identifications are included. After that, you can purchase additional AI credits or unlock Premium for 100 bonus IDs.
- See Premium & Credits for full pricing details.
When AI Can't Identify
AI needs an internet connection. If you're offline:
- A red warning icon appears on the item's image.
- If you tap Identify while offline, a message tells you to check your connection.
- Items waiting for identification work normally — you can still browse, search, and move them.
Finding failed items: Use the AI Failed filter in the Search screen's filter panel.
folder_open Organising with Locations
Locations are how you group your items — think "Garage", "Kitchen", "Office Desk", or "Cable Drawer".
Creating Locations
- Tap the Locations tab.
- Tap the + button or the dashed "New Location" tile.
- Give it a name and optionally a parent location (e.g. "Shelf A" inside "Garage").
- Optionally add a photo for visual reference.
Location Hierarchy
Locations can be nested. For example: Garage → Shelf A → Toolbox
When you filter search by "Garage", you'll see items from Garage AND all its sub-locations.
Moving Items
- Single item: Open the item, tap Edit, and change the Storage Location.
- Multiple items: Long-press an item to enter selection mode, select multiple items, then tap Move or Tag.
Deleting Locations
Deleting a location does not delete your items. All items inside the location (and any of its sub-zones) are moved to Unsorted, where they remain fully searchable and editable. Use the Unsorted quick filter on the Search screen to find them and reassign them to new locations.
Sub-zones are removed along with the parent location — the entire branch of the hierarchy is deleted. Only the items survive.
search Searching Your Collection
Text Search
Type anything — the item name, a tag, or even a partial word. The search is typo-tolerant: typing "camra" will still find "Camera" thanks to fuzzy matching.
Filters
Tap the tune icon next to the search bar to open the filter panel:
- Tags — faceted tag filtering
- Location — filter by zone, includes sub-locations
- Unsorted, AI-named, AI Failed, Unnamed — quick cleanup filters
- Last 7 / 30 days — recently added items
Grid Density
- grid_view Extra Compact (4 columns): Image only
- view_comfy Normal (2 columns): Image with name, location, tags
- view_list Expanded (list): Full details with image strip
Multi-Select & Bulk Actions
Long-press any item to enter selection mode, then tap additional items to select them. From the bottom action bar: Delete, Move, Tag, or AI Identify.
settings_backup_restore Backup & Restore
Access this from the navigation drawer → Backup & Restore.
Creating a Backup
- Tap Share Backup to send it via messaging apps or save to cloud storage.
- Or tap Save to Device to pick a folder.
The backup is a single ZIP file containing your database, all photos, and a manifest file with checksums to verify integrity.
Restoring a Backup
- Tap Import Archive.
- Select the ZIP backup file.
- Confirm the import — this will replace your current data.
- The app validates the backup before restoring anything.
- After a successful import, close and restart the app.
bar_chart Statistics
Access from the navigation drawer → Statistics (Archive Insights). This screen shows total items, locations and hierarchy depth, total images and storage size, and a breakdown of your most-used tags.
notifications Notifications
The bell icon in the Home screen's app bar shows a badge when there are new notifications. These are tips, offers, and announcements from the app developer.
- Unseen notifications are shown at full opacity and are tappable.
- Tapping a notification marks it as seen (dims to 60%).
- Swipe a notification left to dismiss it.
- Clear all removes all displayed notifications.
settings Settings
Access from the navigation drawer → Settings.
AI Features
- Enable AI Recognition: Turn AI identification on or off.
- Show AI Badge: Show or hide the sparkle icon.
- Auto-Identify: Auto-identify new items in the background.
App
- Replay Onboarding: Show the intro screens again.
- Purge Orphaned Tags: Remove unused tags.
- About / Licenses: View open-source licenses and version info.
wifi_off Offline Use
Hoard Hero is built to work without internet access:
- Camera, search, locations, backup — all work fully offline.
- AI identification — requires connectivity. Items save normally when offline and can be identified later.
- Notifications — fetched from the web.
- No error popups — features that need the internet degrade quietly.
lightbulb Hoard Hero Tips
- You don't need photos. Items can be created with just a name — tap the + FAB on the Capture screen with an empty reel. Items without photos are fully searchable and can have photos added anytime.
- Enable AI early. It's the app's biggest time-saver — let it name and tag items for you.
- Be consistent with locations. A little hierarchy goes a long way.
- Use tags liberally. Tags make cross-location searching powerful.
- Use quick filters for cleanup. Filter by "Unnamed", "AI Failed", or "Unsorted".
- Backup regularly. Export a backup after big capture sessions.
- Use multi-select for batch operations. Long-press to select multiple items.
- Try different search densities. Pinch to switch between visual scanning and detailed browsing.
- Use the image viewer to browse. Swipe through your entire collection item by item.