Help

Magpie is a list of things you meant to keep — not a marketplace, not a dealer tool, and not a social feed. What it is, what you paid, what it’s worth, where it lives, and where it went if it left.

There is no Magpie account and nothing is uploaded. The catalog stays in this browser (or Home Screen app) on this device. That is the point: pretty loot, kept on purpose, and kept here.

Plus in the header starts a new piece. Name is the only required field. Category is yours to type — Watches, Vinyl, or whatever you actually collect. Magpie remembers categories you have used.

Catalog is the list. Search, filter by category or status, and open a piece to edit. Gallery is just the photos. Summary totals value by category, for owned pieces only.

Each piece can hold up to four photos. Take photo opens this phone’s rear camera. From library is the photo roll. On a computer, both usually open a file picker.

Photos are compressed here and stored with the piece. They do not go into Camera Roll, and they are not in a CSV. They only travel in a Magpie backup.

Three money fields, on purpose:

• Acquired — what you paid, or what it was worth when it arrived.
• Current — what you believe it’s worth now.
• Possible — a comparable or asking number, with a note if you want one.

Summary shows the spread, and a gain or loss against what you paid. “Find similar” opens a web search with the name, serial, and category — Magpie does not send that search unless you tap it.

Owned is the default. Sold, gifted, traded, lost, stolen, or destroyed moves a piece out of the live collection. Value totals only count owned pieces; departed ones stay as history.

When it leaves, you can record who received it, sale price, fees, net proceeds, and why. Insured value and a policy number are optional. Storage location and condition are plain text so you can write what you actually mean.

More → Appearance. System follows the phone. Light is linen and sage. Dark is ink. Magpie is dusk: magpie-black, wing-white, and a flash of blue on the add button and the selected chip.

Print report is a paper catalog with photos — save it as PDF from the share sheet if you want a file for insurance or a drawer.

CSV is a spreadsheet of the fields, not the pictures. Import adds rows; it does not replace the catalog and it cannot attach photos. Use it to start from an old list, not to move Magpie to a new phone.

A Magpie backup is the whole catalog: pieces and photos. Save one from More. Restore it on this device or another.

• Merge — incremental. Adds what the other device has, updates pieces that changed (newer wins), keeps anything only here.
• Replace — wipe this catalog and put the backup in its place. For a new or empty device.
• Add as new copies — duplicates. Rarely what you want.

Optional password (at least 8 characters) locks the file on this device before it leaves. Magpie does not keep that password. If you forget it, that backup cannot be opened.

Nothing syncs live. Phone and computer are two catalogs until you move a file. Magpie never signs into iCloud, Drive, or Dropbox — those are only a mailbox you already own.

1. On the phone: optional password → Save backup → put the file in Files / iCloud / Drive.
2. On the computer: open the same Magpie link → Restore backup → Unlock if needed → Merge.
3. Save a fresh backup from the computer, then Merge that file back on the phone.

Use the same published address on both sides. A different link is a different, empty Magpie. Safari and Chrome on the same device are also two catalogs.

It looks like a website. Add it to the Home Screen (iPhone: Share → Add to Home Screen; Android: Chrome menu → Add to Home screen) and it behaves like an app. The catalog still belongs to that address in that browser.

Clearing site data, a private window, or the phone reclaiming storage will delete the catalog. A locked Magpie backup in a folder you control is the copy that survives a new phone.

Storage internals — About Magpie.