Scan · Identify · Collect

Identify Any Brick Set
by Photo

Point the camera at the box and BrickBrain names the set — number, theme, piece count, designer, release year and whether it has retired. It will also work from the built model, from the instruction manual, or from a single minifigure sitting on the desk.

Box, model, minifig or manual Sealed through incomplete Release & retirement dates
Get the App See how it works
Free To download
4 Subjects It can identify
1 Photo Per identification
Set matched Number · Theme
Every tier Sealed to incomplete
Status Retired or available
BrickBrain result screen for set 10188, the 2008 Ultimate Collector Series Death Star, showing the theme, set number and prices for the sealed, NISB, complete and used-complete tiers
4
Things it can scan
5
Completeness tiers
11
Themes in the catalogue
2
Languages in app
Four different things

Not every set still has its box

Most identifier apps assume you are holding the packaging. Half a collection is loose on a shelf, and the interesting half is often a single figure in a drawer. BrickBrain asks what you are pointing at, and checks the photo actually shows it.

Set Box Sealed or empty — the fastest route to a set number
Built Model Already assembled, or loose on the shelf without packaging
Individual Minifigure Named as itself, with the set it originally came from
Instruction Manual The cover alone is enough — useful when the box is long gone

Priced across every completeness tier

  • Sealed
  • NISB
  • Complete
  • Used-Complete
  • Incomplete
How it works

Three steps, one set at a time

No hunting a four-digit number on a battered box corner, then typing it into three different tabs.

1

Say what you are holding

Box, built model, minifigure or manual. Zoom and drag to frame it, or point the camera straight at the four-digit set number printed on the box corner.

2

Read the set

Set number, theme, piece count, minifigure count, designer, dimensions, RRP, release year and retirement status — with a match confidence beside them.

3

Put it on a display

Save it to a display you named yourself, with its tier value and market trend alongside — and a running total for the whole collection.

Everything in the box

More than an identifier — a collector's desk

Scanning is the front door. What keeps builders in the app is everything that happens to the set afterwards.

Scan without a daily quota

No per-day allowance to ration across a loft full of boxes. There is a fair-use ceiling to keep the service up, but ordinary collecting never reaches it.

A minifigure is identified as itself

Point at one figure and it comes back named as the figure — not as whatever set happens to contain it — with the set it originally shipped in noted separately, and left blank rather than guessed when that is not certain.

Five tiers, not one price

Sealed, NISB, complete, used-complete and incomplete — shown together, because the gap between them is the decision.

Displays & collection value

Sort sets and minifigures onto displays you name yourself, and watch the total move as values change.

Ask BrickBrain

Number rubbed off, or nothing left but the bricks? Answer five questions — theme, set type, retirement status, era and completeness — and the catalogue narrows itself down.

Photo enhancer

Clean up a dim or glare-heavy shot before it goes to the identifier — better input, better match.

Browse & search

Look a set up by name or number, or filter the catalogue by theme, and open the same detail page a scan gives you.

Scan history

Everything you have identified stays in recent scans — re-open a set without photographing it twice.

It checks the photo shows what you said it does

Pick "minifigure" and photograph a box and it will tell you so rather than answering the wrong question. On the set-number mode it reads only the printed digits, and refuses to infer a number from how the model looks.

Retirement

The date a set stops being made

Nothing moves this market like retirement. A set that was on a shelf at RRP last year can be the one everybody wants the year after, and the only thing that changed is that you can no longer buy it new. BrickBrain puts that on the page.

  • Release and retirement dates Both shown, so the gap between them is visible at a glance.
  • Original RRP alongside the market price What it cost new, next to what it costs now.
  • Piece and minifigure counts Plus the designer and the built dimensions, where the catalogue has them.
  • Market trend and last recorded sale Movement rather than a single frozen number.
Set detail screen for 10188 showing the theme, set number, market value and the sealed, NISB, complete and used-complete tier prices
Four subjects

It asks what it is looking at first

A photo of a box and a photo of one minifigure are different questions, and answering the wrong one wastes your time. So the subject you pick is carried through to the model, which validates the image against it before it answers at all.

  • The subject changes the question Each mode gets its own instructions rather than one generic prompt.
  • Set numbers are read, never inferred In set-number mode only the printed digits count.
  • Minifigures keep their own names The figure is the answer; its origin set is a separate field.
  • Strict when it is unsure If the photo does not match the subject, it returns nothing rather than a guess.
BrickBrain camera view with a set box framed inside the scan rectangle
A quick tour

Straight from inside the app

Real screens: frame the set, then read what came back.

Camera view with a set box inside the scan rectangle
Frame it Zoom and drag until the set fills the box.
Set detail screen with theme, set number and tier prices
Read it Theme, set number and every tier.

Taken from the BrickBrain App Store screenshots. Set names and figures shown are examples — what the app reports depends on the set and its condition.

The subscription

What you get with BrickBrain

BrickBrain is a subscription app: the download is free, and full access comes with the subscription. Where your store offers an introductory free trial, the purchase screen shows it before you commit.

Start with the app

Price, any introductory offer and renewal terms are set by the App Store or Google Play and are shown on the purchase screen in your region before you buy. If a trial is offered it converts to a paid subscription unless you cancel beforehand, and you can cancel any time from your store subscription settings.

  • Set scans without a daily quota By box, built model, minifigure or manual.
  • Every completeness tier Sealed through incomplete, side by side.
  • Release, RRP and retirement With piece and minifigure counts and the designer.
  • Display tracker Displays and a running total for the whole collection.
  • Ask BrickBrain Five questions when a photo will not do it.
FAQ

Questions, answered

The things collectors ask us before they download.

Four things: a set box (sealed or empty), a built model or loose set with no packaging, an individual minifigure, and an instruction manual cover. There is also a mode that reads the four- or five-digit set number printed on the box corner directly. The catalogue spans eleven themes including Star Wars, Technic, Icons, City, Ninjago, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Architecture, Friends and Disney.
Because the answer changes the question. Asked about a minifigure, the app names the figure and treats its origin set as a separate detail; asked about a box, it looks for a set. Your choice is carried through to the identifier, which first checks the photo actually shows what you said — and returns nothing rather than a guess if it does not.
Sealed, NISB, complete, used-complete and incomplete are five different objects to a buyer, and the spread between them is often larger than the base price. A sealed copy and the same set missing three pieces and a manual are not comparable, so showing one number would hide the thing you needed to know.
It shows the release year, the retirement date and the current status where the catalogue holds them, alongside the original RRP and the current market price. Retirement is the single biggest driver of retro set values, so it sits on the detail page rather than being something you have to go and look up.
Every match comes back with a confidence score. Identification is AI-assisted, so verify anything that matters — re-releases, regional box variants and near-identical figure prints are exactly where a photograph can mislead. If a scan will not land, Ask BrickBrain narrows it down through five questions instead.
From the app's own catalogue pricing, shown with a market trend and the last recorded sale. Set prices move on retirement, exclusivity and completeness, so treat every figure as a guide rather than an offer. Where a set has not been priced yet, the app shows nothing instead of inventing a number.
No. BrickBrain is an independent app built by Apparent Group Limited. LEGO® and the brick and minifigure configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this app. Product names and images are used for identification purposes only.
Yes — an account is what lets your displays, collection and scan history follow you to a new phone. You can sign up with an email address, or continue with Google or Apple.
The app is free to download and full access comes with a subscription. Prices, any introductory offer and renewal terms are set and billed by the App Store or Google Play, so the exact figures are always the ones shown on the purchase screen in your region. Cancel any time from Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions on iOS, or Play Store → Subscriptions on Android.
English and Spanish today, switchable from Settings → Language. More languages are added as the app grows.
Download BrickBrain

Find out what is in the loft

Free to download. Open the first box you find, photograph whatever is inside it, and see whether it retired.

Coming soon on Google Play Soon Coming to the App Store Soon
Free to download Cancel any time Box, model, minifig or manual