Sports card scanner for Mac.
Point your iPhone at a card and Card Curator extracts brand, year, set, player, and card number into a clean SwiftData record — instantly, on-device, with no monthly fee. Built on Apple's Vision and CoreML frameworks, optionally enhanced by AI for the messy edge cases.
How card scanning works.
The scan pipeline is a six-strategy crop sequence: a card-boundary detection model finds the card, multiple text-recognition passes read the labels, and a deterministic field-extractor maps the recognized text into your collection's brand, year, set, and player fields.
Scan with Continuity Camera
Hold your iPhone over the card. Card Curator uses Continuity Camera to pull in a high-resolution photo from any iPhone signed into the same Apple ID — no app on the phone, no Bluetooth pairing.
On-device card boundary detection
A CoreML model crops the card out of whatever background it's sitting on. Graded slabs, sleeved raw cards, and toploaders are all detected automatically and cropped to the card itself, not the holder.
AI field extraction
Apple's Vision framework reads every word on the front and back. A field-extractor maps the recognized text into structured fields. Optional Claude API integration handles ambiguous parallels and uncommon set names.
Confirm and save
Review the extracted fields, fix anything ambiguous, and save. The card lands in your SwiftData collection and syncs to your other Macs through iCloud immediately.
Built on Apple's on-device intelligence.
Card Curator's scanner is built on Apple's first-party frameworks. No third-party SDKs, no analytics, no telemetry. The on-device pipeline works offline; the optional AI enhancement uses your own Anthropic API key and runs straight from your Mac.
- Vision — text recognition, rectangle detection
- CoreML — custom card-boundary model
- AVFoundation — camera capture pipeline
- Continuity Camera — iPhone as scanner
- SwiftData — structured card storage
- CloudKit — private sync between your Macs
- Keychain — secure API key storage
- Claude API (optional) — ambiguous-field cleanup, your own key
Frequently asked.
Can I scan graded cards in slabs?
Yes. The scanner detects graded slabs (PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC) and reads the cert number, grade, and label data alongside the card itself. Slab glare is handled by the multi-strategy crop pipeline — six different crop attempts run in parallel, and the best one wins.
Does the scanner work without an internet connection?
The on-device pipeline — text recognition, card-boundary detection, and field extraction — runs entirely offline using Apple's Vision and CoreML frameworks. Optional AI enhancement that calls the Anthropic Claude API requires an internet connection and your own API key.
Can I scan multiple cards in a row?
Yes. Bulk Scan mode lets you rapid-fire photograph card after card; each is processed in the background, and you review and save them all at once when you finish a session. See bulk import →
What does the scanner extract from a card?
Brand, year, set, subset, player name, card number, parallel name, serial number, and a guess at the sport. Front-vs-back is detected automatically. Anything ambiguous is left for you to confirm — the scanner never silently guesses.
Can I use my iPhone as the camera?
Yes. Card Curator supports Continuity Camera, so any nearby iPhone signed into the same Apple ID becomes a high-resolution scanner for your Mac with no setup. The built-in webcam works too if Continuity Camera isn't available.
Are my card photos sent anywhere?
Photos are stored locally on your Mac. EXIF and GPS metadata are stripped on import. If you enable AI enhancement, the image and a structured prompt are sent directly from your Mac to Anthropic using your own API key — we never see or proxy your data.
What about landscape cards?
Landscape cards — tennis, racing, panoramic backs — are detected and preserved in their native orientation. The scanner never silently rotates a landscape card to portrait.
One price. Every feature. Forever.
Card Curator launches publicly in October 2026 at $59.99 USD — one-time purchase, perpetual license. Email [email protected] with "Notify me at launch" and you'll get a single email when the store opens.
Get notified at launch