Gauntlet vs Helvault
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gauntlet
This app helps Magic: The Gathering players track game lives, build and customize decks, and record game history. It offers detailed stats for players and decks, supports multiple players, and includes a powerful hand simulator.
- Life tracking for up to 6 players
- Deck building and importing
- Game history and stats
- Hand simulator
- Deck customization with card art
- Deck organization with folders
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Gauntlet is the most feature packed Magic: The Gathering utility app available. It’s a life tracker, deck builder and record keeper of your games. THE BEST LIFE TRACKER: • Select your deck and the decks your opponents are playing. Player tiles will be updated with the cover art of each deck. • Save the results when the game is over. Select a winner, and each player will have their career and deck stats updated immediately. • Full support for up to 6 players with custom life totals, and a turn randomizer to determine who plays first. • Other features include 21 unique tile colours, 15 unique counters, rolling D6, and a game timer. THE BEST MOBILE DECK BUILDER: • Brew on the go or import your decks from other deck building sites. • Customize your deck with art from any card in the multiverse. • Pick a format and your deck screen adapts to show things like your commander or your signature spell. • Bling out the cards in your deck with foils. • Shuffle up and draw an opening 7 with a powerful hand simulator. • Stay ahead of your competition with deck list data. View your mana curve, pip breakdown, and more. • Export your deck lists as text, or share a link to your profile on social media. • Keep your decks organized with folders, and sort them by name, games played, wins, and format. YOUR GAME HISTORY IN DETAIL: • Every game is saved making it easy to go through previous games and see who played, who won, and which decks came to battle. • Track wins and losses for each deck, and see how your career wins and losses change over time. • Follow your friends to stay up-to-date with their latest brews, deck performance, and game history.
Helvault
Effortlessly manage your Magic: The Gathering card collection with an AI-powered scanner. Organize, filter, and analyze your cards with detailed stats and pricing information. Sync across devices and export your collection.
- AI-powered MTG card scanner
- Unlimited card collection storage
- Detailed collection statistics
- Card pricing and details
- CSV collection export
- iCloud syncing
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Helvault is a collection manager for Magic: The Gathering players and collectors who want to spend more time enjoying their cards, instead of typing names... With a powerful card scanner featuring an exclusive AI, Helvault is capable of identifying cards from all Magic's history without a hassle. Sort, filter, play and understand your card collection like never before! Key features: - Powerful MTG card scanner - Unlimited cards on your collection - Detailed stats about your collection - Card details, including prices - Export your collection as a CSV file - iCloud Syncing between devices - No ads, forever Helvault brings unlimited card collection management to your mobile device, for free. Some features however are unlocked through NON-RECURRING purchases (they are NOT subscriptions).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Gauntlet at 83% against Helvault's 32%. Gauntlet also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 6). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Helvault sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Gauntlet asks for nothing beyond the download.
Gauntlet holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 309 and 293 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Gauntlet's written reviews are positive against 32% of Helvault's.
Gauntlet ships an update weekly, Helvault fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Gauntlet | Helvault |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (309 ratings) — better | 4.2 (293 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 31.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 309 — better | 293 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Scott Campbell | Vitor Cesco |
Customer experience
Gauntlet
Helvault
User reviews
Gauntlet
From 309 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great deck builder
- 👍 Excellent life tracker
- 👍 Covers player profiles and match records
- 👍 Useful for tracking win/loss records
- 👍 Good for looking at card collections
Room to improve
- 🐛 Search engine requires precise typing
- 🐛 General load time for cards is slow
- 🐛 Scrolling on the board can be annoying
- 🐛 App appears small on iPad Pro
- 🐛 Does not track win-rate for non-primary deck in matches
Helvault
From 293 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent scanning and recognition
- 👍 Versatile product for managing collections
- 🚀 Quick and easy to use
- 👍 Dedicated developer with good customer service
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inconsistent card scanning, struggles with certain card types
- 💰 Expensive, especially for users who already paid for the legacy app
- 🔍 Limited search and filtering options
- 🔀 Difficulty moving cards between binders
- 🔒 No way to restore scans/data on new devices
Bugs and requests
Gauntlet
Reported bugs
5 issues- Developers have seemingly given up (according to one review)
- App ruined for jailbroken phones (iOS 14 and up)
- Board scrolls every time life or counters are moved
- Does not track win-rate for the deck not shown as primary in a match
- App is very small on iPad Pro
Requested features
19 requests- Scan cars to make adding decks easier
- More precise search engine
- Faster card loading times
- Display card prices
- Scan cards in deck building
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- Add Android support
- Add tournament bracket functionality
- Deeper stat tracking
- Leave notes about each deck
- Leave notes about individual cards
- In-app purchases for donations
- Add play test cards
- Better layout for exporting decks to text
- Feature to track win/loss ratios without starting a game
- Option for locking board scrolling
- Android release (mentioned as desired)
- Manual change of player names when playing 'against yourself'
- Add friends who don’t use the app to games
- Add full deck lists
Helvault
Reported bugs
4 issues- Keypad issues when searching
- Disappearing settings icons
- Incorrect set identification for some cards
- Missing card prices and details
Requested features
5 requests- Deck building and management tools
- Advanced search and filtering options
- Bulk card management and transfer
- Improved support for special card versions and frames
- Seamless data migration from legacy app
In-app purchases
Gauntlet
No in-app purchases
Helvault
- Common Donation$0.99
- Rare Donation$4.99
- iCloud Syncing$4.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Advanced Card Export/Import$6.99
- MTG Card Scanner - Lifetime$9.99
- Mythic Donation$9.99







