Add items to your moving inventory with just the camera

The photo is the only required field

In a household move, the hard part isn’t remembering you own a coffee maker. It’s knowing which box you put it in. So the app asks you for just one thing per item: a photo. Description, category, notes and owner are all fields you can fill in, but none of them holds you up.

In practice, packing a box comes down to this: set the item down, take the photo, save, set down the next one. The box’s contents list builds itself, with a photo of each thing. Across all your moving boxes, that adds up to your moving inventory list — made as you pack, instead of a checklist you have to type up later.

Packing with photos, without leaving the camera

The app’s camera was made for filling a whole box, not for one photo at a time:

• The viewfinder is square. Only what’s inside the red rectangle ends up in the photo, so what you see is what you save.
• Up to five photos per item. They show up as thumbnails at the top; tap one to see it full size or delete it.
• «Save and add another» saves the item and leaves the camera ready for the next one. The category you picked carries over from one item to the next — in a kitchen box, you don’t choose it twenty times.
• «Save and go to the box» saves and takes you back to the box, when you’re done.

When you want to say more

Some items are worth a few words. Without leaving the same screen, you can add:

• Description — the words you’ll search for it by: “aluminum stovetop coffee maker”.
• Category — from a list of sixteen (kitchen, clothing, electronics, tools, documents…), or one of your own.
• Attributes — the ones that make sense for the category: color, material, size, condition.
• Notes and owner — “the 6-cup one”, “it’s Emily’s”.

All of it goes into search. Type “aluminum” or “Emily” and the coffee maker shows up.

AI suggestions and dictated notes

Two switches on the new item screen, both optional and off to begin with:

• AI suggestions — the description, category, color and brand are suggested from the photos. The item stays flagged for review until you approve them.
• Dictate notes — hold down a button and say what you want to remember, up to ten seconds.

Both need a connection: the suggestions send the item’s photos to Google, and dictation sends Google the recording, to turn it into text. It’s all explained in AI suggestions.

Without a connection, too

Garages and storage units rarely get good signal. You can photograph and save items offline: they stay on your phone and upload when the connection comes back, without you having to do anything.

Photos you already have

If you photographed your things before installing the app, «Choose from device» lets you pick several images at once instead of taking them again.

Photos are shrunk on your phone before they’re uploaded, and the location and camera data are stripped at that point.

On iPhone, Android or a computer — and free to start

HomeItemFinder runs in the browser of any phone or computer — an iPhone (iOS), an Android phone or a laptop — and you can install it on your home screen to use it like an app. There are no versions in the app stores yet. You can start for free, with no credit card; the free plan’s limits are on the pricing page.