Brickit App vs Gybio: Two LEGO® Apps, Different Jobs
The Brickit app and Gybio both point a phone camera at your LEGO® bricks, so it is fair to ask which one you actually need. The short answer is that they do different jobs. The Brickit app looks at a pile of loose bricks and suggests new things to build from them. Gybio looks at a loose brick and tells you which of your own sets it belongs to, so you can put that set back together. Same bricks, opposite goals.
So this is not a case of one being better than the other. It is a case of knowing which question you are asking. Here is what each one is for, in plain terms, and how to tell which is the tool for your tub.
What the Brickit app does
The Brickit app is a brick scanner with a genuinely clever idea behind it. You scatter your bricks on a table, take a photo, and it works out roughly what you have in front of you. From there it does a few things, and it does them well.
It suggests builds. Brickit shows you ideas for things you can make from the bricks you own, such as animals, robots and vehicles, and gives you step-by-step instructions to follow, much as a set booklet would. If you are after one particular part, it can highlight where that piece is sitting in your photo. It also lets you keep a digital inventory of your collection in numbered "Pockets", so you can search what you own. It is free, with a paid Pro version, and runs on iPhone and Android. You can see the full list on Brickit's own site.
That first feature is the heart of it, and it is the thing Brickit does better than anything else I have used. If you have a box of mixed bricks and no plan, Brickit turns it into something to make on a wet afternoon. It is a creativity tool. It answers the question, what can I make with this.
What Gybio does instead
Gybio starts from the opposite place. You are not hunting for something new to build. You have sets you already own, the pieces have all ended up in one box, and what you want is the sets back.
So you add your sets to Gybio, then scan a loose brick. It identifies the piece and tells you which of your sets need it, in the right colour, and how many. You tap to allocate the brick to a set, and it keeps a running tally of what each set is still short of, so you can watch a set climb back towards complete. The recognition itself is handled by Brickognize, the service Gybio uses to name a part from a photo. Gybio's own job is the step after that. Not what is this brick, but whose set does it belong to.
That is the whole difference in one line. Brickit answers what could I build. Gybio answers where does this piece go.
Same pile, two goals
The honest way to choose is not really about the apps at all. It is about what you are trying to do with the pile.
You know the moment. You pick up a brick, and you know it came from one of about nine boxes, but you could not say which. If your plan is to rebuild those nine sets, that is Gybio's job. If your plan is to forget the sets and make something new from the heap, that is the Brickit app's job. Plenty of people want both, at different times, from the same tub.
So if you are looking for a LEGO idea generator to get you unstuck on a rainy day, Brickit is the better fit, and I would point you straight at it. If you are staring at a pile of LEGO and what you really want is your Millennium Falcon whole again, that is the job Gybio was built for.
Where each one runs out of road
Both apps have a clear edge, and a clear limit. It is only fair to say both.
Gybio will not help you invent a new build. It has no idea what you could make from a random pile, and it does not try to. If that is what you are after, close Gybio and open Brickit. Gybio also leans on you having added your sets first, because the whole thing rests on matching a brick to a set you actually own.
Brickit, for its part, is not trying to put your original sets back together. It reads the pile as raw material for something new, not as nine sets waiting to be reassembled. And neither app does much with a poor photo of three grey bricks under a kitchen light. Recognition is good, not perfect, in any app that does it.
There is also a third case that neither app is the first answer to. If a set of yours has ended up with gaps, working out what is genuinely gone is a separate job, and there is a fuller guide to LEGO missing pieces on this blog. Sorting the tub in the first place is its own task too, covered in how to sort a loose pile.
Can you use both?
Yes, and plenty of people should. One tub of bricks, two apps, two jobs. Use Gybio to pull your owned sets back out of the pile, and Brickit to build something new from whatever is left over. They are not rivals so much as two tools for two different afternoons.
FAQ
Is the Brickit app free?
Brickit is free to download, with a paid Pro version for extra features, and it runs on both iPhone and Android. Check the current details on Brickit's own site and its App Store and Google Play listings.
What does the Brickit app do?
You scatter your loose bricks and photograph them, and Brickit suggests things you can build from what you have, with step-by-step instructions. It can highlight where a particular piece is in your photo, and it lets you keep a digital inventory of your collection in numbered Pockets.
Can the Brickit app rebuild the LEGO sets I already own?
No. Brickit reads a pile as raw material for new builds, not as sets to be reassembled. To put a set you own back together you want a tool that matches a loose brick to your sets, which is the job Gybio does.
Brickit app or Gybio: which should I use?
It depends on the goal. If you want to make something new from a random pile, the Brickit app is the better fit. If you want to rebuild the sets you already own, Gybio tells you which of your sets a loose brick belongs to, in the right colour. Many people use both, at different times, on the same tub.
What can I build from a pile of loose LEGO?
With the bricks you already have, apps like Brickit suggest builds such as animals, robots and vehicles, and walk you through them. If instead you want the original sets those bricks came from, that is a matching job rather than an ideas job, and it is where Gybio fits.
The short version, then. The Brickit app is for making something new out of a pile. Gybio is for getting your own sets back out of it. Pick the one that matches the afternoon you are having.
Gybio is a LEGO® piece identifier that works against the sets you own. Free for up to three sets and it runs in your browser, with no app store. Gybio Pro is £3.99 a month, or £39.99 a year, for unlimited sets.