Gather from a Photo - User Manual

A few things you just brought home are sitting on the table, and you don’t want to fill in a form for each. Gather lets you take one photo: a pencil traces each thing, cuts it out onto a notebook page, and writes its name and category in pencil. Look it over, change what’s wrong, stamp where it lives, and plant them all together.

When to Gather

Several things at once: a parcel you just opened, one drawer, a table of groceries. A page holds up to 5.
Clean item photos: each thing is cut out on its own, so you don’t photograph them one by one.
Names you’d rather not type: AI pencils the names in and you only check them. If you’d rather not use AI, the cutouts are made anyway and you write the names yourself.

For a single thing with no photo at hand, writing its name on the stake in Add Item is quicker.

Opening Gather

Tap + at the bottom to open A New Sprout.
Tap the Gather card under the wooden stake (“Snap a photo — I’ll cut them out and write the names”). Once you have started writing on the stake, it shrinks to a small slip in the corner: Gather instead.

If you started adding from inside a grove, each gathered thing starts out in that grove, and its stamp comes first in the tray.

Step 1: Photograph the Whole Table

Put what you want to bring into the forest in the frame. Up to 5 at once; a little apart and on a plain background is easiest to recognize.
Tap Photos at the bottom left to use a photo you already took.
Name language at the bottom right sets the language the names are written in: System, or Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German or French. It changes only the names, not the app’s language.

The first time, allow MononoMori to use the camera. If you declined before, follow the prompt to open Settings.

Step 2: Strike Out, Circle In

Once the photo is developed, a pencil traces what it found and numbers each one. Below it reads “Found N”.

Not wanted: tap it to strike it out. Tap again to bring it back.
Missed: draw a loop around it with your finger and it is added.
Too many: a page holds 5. Anything beyond that is left for the next page; once the page is full, strike one out before you circle or bring back another.
Nothing found: try another angle or come a little closer, or circle it with your finger. Fill it in myself takes you back to the plain Add Item form.

Gather screen with five items traced in pencil and numbered, Found 5 and the Gather these 5 button below — The pencil traces five things and numbers each one

When you’re happy, choose one of three buttons:

Button	What happens
Gather these N	Cuts them out onto the notebook page and asks AI to pencil in the names. Below it: “Names can be written N more times this month”
I’ll write the names	Cuts them out the same way and leaves the names for you. No connection needed, nothing counted
Retake	Back to the camera for a new photo

Tracing and cutting out happen on your iPhone, offline, and don’t count against anything. Only writing the names needs a connection; see AI-Assisted Item Identification.

Step 3: Look Over the Notebook Page

Each thing is cut out and pasted onto a notebook page dated today. The names come in one by one (“Writing the names…”); when they are done the title reads “N written”.

Pencil is a guess: each row’s name and category are written in pencil. Tap the row to change it; what you change turns to ink. Everything left in pencil is inked when you plant.
A question mark means “Not sure about this name”. Write the real name and it will be easier to find later.
“Couldn’t make this one out”: AI didn’t recognize it. Write its name and it’s done.
Use-by dates: when a clear use-by date can be read off the packaging, the row shows “Date on it …” and Record. The date is saved only when you tap Record.

Notebook page with 5 written: Cat Figure, Star Badge, Bird Acrylic Stand with a question mark, and more, all in pencil — 5 written: pencil can be changed any time; a question mark flags a name it isn't sure of

Grocery page where the milk row now shows Use by 11/2/2026 — After Record, the row shows the use-by date

The Label: One Thing at a Time

Tap a row to open its label. It holds much the same as adding an item by hand:

Field	What it’s for
Cut out / Whole photo	Use the cutout, or keep this item’s original photo. The button beside it rotates the picture
Name	Required. Pencil turns to ink once you change it
Category	Required. AI picks from your own categories; if it couldn’t, it reads “Choose one”
Lives in	Grove and location. Left empty, it says “Not yet — nursery for now”
Use by	”No need” by default; when a date was read, choose “Read off it · Record”
Quantity, Tags, Notes	Fill in as needed
Item Profile	Usage status, purchase date, and the category’s own attributes (such as brand, model, price, warranty)

Tap Done when finished. To leave one out, tap Not this one to take it off the page; an Undo appears briefly at the bottom.

Stamp a Grove

Stamp a grove at the bottom of the page holds your groves (pinned ones first). Pick one up, then tap the mark on the right of a row to stamp that row with the grove. Tap the stamp in your hand again to put it down.

To put things in a particular spot inside a grove, tap Exact spot, choose it, then stamp the same way.
Groves that aren’t in the tray are also under Exact spot.
Anything left unstamped is planted in the nursery for now and shows as “Unassigned” in Items. Give it a place from its item page later.

Write for the Whole Page

When a page holds the same kind of thing, tap the Whole page tape beside the title (or “Write for the whole page…” in the … menu at the top right). Fill in only what they share; anything left blank stays as it is:

Category, Lives in: written on each one. Leave a field on “Leave as is” to keep it.
Tags: added to each one.
Notes: replaces each one’s note.
Category attributes: when they share a category you can fill its attributes together. If their categories differ, choose one above to write its attributes too.

Then tap Write on all N.

Plant

Tap Plant N at the bottom. If any are still missing a name or category, the button says “N still need a name or category” and opens that one’s label. Once everything is written, the pencil is inked over and each thing lands in the tree it lives in; unstamped ones go to the nursery.

One Gather is one page. To record more, plant this page and open Gather again for the next.

When the Names Don’t Come Through

If AI couldn’t write the names, the cutouts stay on the page and the names wait for you:

Message	Why	What you can do
Not connected. The cutouts are all here	Writing names needs a connection	Write them now, or connect and tap Try again
The names didn’t come through. The cutouts are all here	The service had a problem	Write them yourself, or tap Try again
This month’s names are used up. The cutouts are all here	This month’s allowance is used	Write them yourself, or tap Become a Forest Guardian

Try again only fills in names that are still blank; names you wrote yourself are never replaced.

Leaving or Retaking

Retake this page (in the … menu): the cutouts and names on this page are erased and you’re back at the camera.
Close: if the page isn’t planted yet, you’ll see “This page isn’t planted yet”. Leave without planting discards the cutouts and names; Keep gathering takes you back.

AI-Assisted Item Identification
Continuous Add Mode, for recording things one by one by hand.
Manage by Lots, for one kind of thing kept in several places.