Getting started
LEGO® Minifigure Scanner: Phone App, Browser, or Extension — Which Should You Use?
The same scan, four places. Which one you want depends on where the figures are — in your hand, in a folder on your desktop, or in somebody else's listing photo.
The short answer
Choose by where the figures are. Use the phone app when they are physically in front of you; use the web scanner when the photo is already a file on a computer; use the Chrome or Firefox extension when the photo belongs to somebody else's web page, such as a marketplace listing you are deciding whether to bid on. One account covers all of them.
Key takeaways
- Figures in your hand → the phone app. Camera scanning, and the collection is with you at a flea market.
- Photos on a computer → the web scanner. Nothing to install, works on any desktop browser.
- Somebody else's listing → the browser extension. Click their photo and scan it in place before you bid.
- One account across all four. Scan on the laptop tonight, have it in your pocket tomorrow.
- Free to try with no account at all; signing in raises the allowance and turns on the cloud collection.
Brick Loupe does the same thing everywhere: find every LEGO® minifigure in a photo, identify each one, show its market value, save it to your collection. What changes between surfaces is how the photo gets in front of it — and that turns out to matter, because "where are the figures right now" has three quite different answers.
The short answer
| Where the figures are | Use this |
|---|---|
| Physically in front of you | The phone app |
| In a folder on your computer | The web scanner |
| In a photo on a web page | The browser extension |
All four surfaces share one account and one collection. You do not choose once; you use whichever fits the moment.
The phone app — iPhone and Android
Use it when the figures are physically present. This is the majority case: a box on the table, a shelf you are cataloguing, a stall at a flea market.
The camera is the whole point. There is no export-import step between the figures and the scan — point, shoot, read. For cataloguing a real collection this is a large practical difference; you work through trays at the speed you can stand figures up rather than the speed you can move files around.
It is also the surface that matters when you are buying in person. At a car boot sale or a flea market, the useful question is "is this £40 box worth £40", and the answer is one photograph away with the phone already in your hand.
Get it for iPhone or Android →
The web scanner — any desktop browser
Use it when the photo already exists as a file. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for to try it.
This is the right surface for:
- Photos you took with a camera and moved to a computer.
- Images somebody sent you — a relative asking what the box in their loft is worth.
- Marketplace photos you have saved.
- Trying Brick Loupe at all, before deciding whether you want an app on your phone.
Drop a photo in, watch the results stream as figures are found, save the lot to your collection. It is the same pipeline the app uses, not a cut-down version.
The browser extensions — Chrome and Firefox
Use them when the photo belongs to somebody else's web page. This is the surface people underestimate, and it is arguably the one with the highest payoff per use.
With the extension installed, you click a minifigure photo on any page and scan it in place. No saving the image, no switching tabs.
What that is actually for:
A listing says "70 minifigures, job lot — £120" and shows one photograph. Click the photograph. Get a per-figure breakdown of the lot. Decide whether £120 is a bargain or a mistake — before you bid.
Job lots are almost always priced by figure count, and value is not distributed by count. Two or three figures usually carry the whole pile. Being able to check that from the listing page changes buying from a gamble into an assessment.
It works on any page, not a fixed list of sites — a marketplace, an auction listing, a forum post, a collector's blog.
One account, everywhere
This is the part that makes the surfaces add up to more than four separate tools.
Sign in with Google or an email address and your collection lives in the cloud, identical on every surface:
- Scan a box on your desktop in the evening; the collection is on your phone at the market on Saturday.
- Check a listing with the extension at work; the figures are in the same collection you scanned with the camera last week.
- Quantities, conditions and values are the same everywhere, in the same currency.
Values are shown in one of 14 currencies, converted at daily reference rates, and the interface is translated into 11 languages.
Do you need an account?
Not to start. You get scans straight away with no account at all, on any surface — enough to find out whether it works on your figures before you are asked for anything.
Signing in does two things: it raises your allowance to a weekly one, and it turns on the cloud collection so your inventory syncs rather than living on one device. Sign-in is Google or an email address and password.
If you change your mind, account deletion is a real button on a public page that performs a real deletion, and the privacy policy sets out exactly what is kept and what isn't.
Which one should you install first?
- If you have a box of figures in the house right now — the phone app. Camera scanning is the fastest route through a real collection.
- If you are curious and want to test it in ninety seconds — the web scanner. No install, no account.
- If you buy lots online — the extension, first. It pays for itself on the first job lot you decide not to bid on.
Most people who stick with it end up using all three, because the surfaces cover genuinely different moments rather than duplicating each other.
Start wherever you are
Scan a photo in this browser, or get the app for iPhone and Android.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a LEGO minifigure scanner app?
Yes. Brick Loupe runs as an iPhone and Android app with camera scanning, as a web scanner at brickloupe.com/scan with nothing to install, and as Chrome and Firefox extensions that scan a photo on any web page in place. All four share one account and one collection.
Can I scan LEGO minifigures without installing an app?
Yes — the web scanner works in any desktop browser. Drop in a photo, and every figure in it is identified and priced. No install and no account needed to start.
What does the Chrome extension do that the app doesn't?
It scans photos that belong to web pages. Click a minifigure photograph on a marketplace listing, auction page or forum post and get a per-figure breakdown in place, without saving the image or leaving the page. That makes it the right tool for assessing somebody else's job lot before you bid on it.
Does my collection sync between my phone and my computer?
Yes, if you are signed in. One account covers the iPhone and Android apps, the website and both browser extensions, and the collection — including quantities, conditions and values — is the same on all of them.
Do I need an account to scan minifigures?
No. You get scans with no account at all on any surface. Signing in with Google or an email address raises your allowance to a weekly one and turns on the cloud collection that syncs across devices.
Is Brick Loupe free?
It is free to try with no account, and free to use after signing in with a weekly scan allowance. You can find out whether it works on your own figures before providing anything.
Scan your minifigures now
Point your camera at a pile of figures, or drop a photo into the browser. Every figure gets identified and priced — free to try, no account needed for your first scans.