Help
Getting started
What is CardGrove?
A collection manager for Magic: The Gathering cards. It keeps track of what you own, how many, which printing and where you put it, and it tells you what a deck is missing before you go shopping. The Android app adds what a browser cannot do well: scanning cards with the camera.
How much does it cost?
Nothing. CardGrove is free and today has no ads and no paid features. If that ever changes, you will be told here and in the app before it happens, not after.
Do I need an account?
Yes. Your collection has to live somewhere so you can see it from your phone and your computer, and that somewhere is tied to an account. Right now signing up also needs an invite code, because the project is still in testing.
Can I bring my collection from another app?
Yes. CardGrove imports ManaBox and Cardmarket CSV files, and plain-text deck lists. On import it tells you what does not add up — a card that does not exist in that set, a number that does not match — instead of quietly storing it wrong.
The scanner
How does the scanner work?
You point the camera at the card and the app reads the name and the collector number printed at the bottom left. That number, together with the set code, identifies one exact printing with no ambiguity. When it cannot read it — cards older than 2015, glare, poor light — it matches the artwork against the catalogue instead.
Does it upload my photos anywhere?
The text is read entirely on your phone: no image leaves the camera, only the name and number once read. When artwork matching is needed, a small crop of the card art is sent, used to identify it, and not kept. Your photos are never stored.
Collection and decks
Why were several copies merged into one?
Two identical copies — same printing, finish, condition, language and location — are stored as a single lot with a quantity. When you add, move or edit a copy and it ends up identical to one already there, they merge and the purchase price becomes the average of both. To keep two copies apart, something has to tell them apart: the location, the condition or, for proxies, the artwork.
Why do two proxies of the same card count as one?
A proxy with no artwork assigned has nothing that sets it apart from another proxy of the same card, so they are counted together. Once each one has its own artwork they become different copies, and can be filed and counted separately.
What is the difference between a built deck and a designed one?
A designed deck is a list: it takes up no card from the collection. A built deck has a location of its own, and the cards in it count as taken for the other decks. Moving a card to the deck moves it to that location, and removing it from the deck takes it out of there. A deck is built by creating its location, and that can be done at any time.
What happens to the cards I already had when I import a file?
An import adds up: copies already in the collection in the same condition have their quantity increased, and new ones are added. Nothing is saved until the preview is confirmed, and an import can be undone in full, which removes the copies it brought in. Importing the same file twice doubles the quantities; the preview warns when the file was imported before.
What happens to my games if I leave a group?
Games already played stay in the group's history, also if you are removed. What is lost is your place in the current season's standings. The owner cannot leave the group: it has to be transferred to another member first.
Privacy and data
What data do you keep about me?
Your email, a hashed version of your password, and whatever you put in: cards, decks and locations. There is no third-party analytics and no advertising profiling. The privacy policy spells it out field by field.
How do I delete my account and my data?
Go to Profile → Settings → Delete my account. It asks for your password, because nobody but you gets to ask for this.
Everything of yours goes: the account, your collection, your decks, your locations, your import history and any images you uploaded for your custom cards. It happens right away and there is no undo.
The only thing that outlives it for a while are the backups, which exist so the service can be brought back if the server dies: seven daily on the server and, off it, seven daily plus four weekly. A month at the most, and they are never read for anything else.
Can I delete just some of my data, without closing my account?
Yes, and you don't have to ask us: each thing is deleted where it lives.
- Cards, from Collection, one or many at a time.
- Decks, from Decks.
- Boxes and binders, from Grove.
- Artwork you uploaded, from Custom.
- And if you imported the wrong file, you can undo the whole import.
Your account and everything else stay untouched. What you delete is gone right away, and only lives on in the backups, a month at the most.
About the project
Where does the card data come from?
From Scryfall's public catalogue, synced every night. That is where the names in every language, the sets, the collector numbers and the artwork come from. Prices are indicative and come from there too.
Are you connected to Wizards of the Coast?
No. CardGrove is an independent project with no relationship to Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro. Magic: The Gathering and the card names are their trademarks, used here under their Fan Content Policy.
Does it work offline?
No. The Android app is the same website inside a native shell, so it needs a connection. That was deliberate: with no signal the scanner would work and no other screen would, which is half a feature and confuses more than it helps.
Documents
Last reviewed: 26/09/2026