Barcode Scanner (application)

{{Short description|Android app}}

{{distinguish|Barcodes|Scanners}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{Notability|Products|date=December 2020}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2018}}

}}

{{Infobox software| name = Barcode Scanner

| logo = Barcode Scanner icon.png

| logo_size = 64px

| developer = Sean Owen, Daniel Switkin, ZXing Team

| released = {{Start date|2008|03|01|df=y}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 4.7.8{{cite web|url=https://github.com/zxing/zxing/releases|title=Releases - zxing/zxing|accessdate=30 September 2018|date=11 September 2018|via=GitHub}}

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2018|9|11|df=yes}}

| programming language = Java

| operating system = Android

| license = Apache License 2.0

| website = [https://github.com/zxing/zxing Main site]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android Google Play]

}}

File:Scanning QR codes on business cards.jpg]]

The application Barcode Scanner is an Android app, from the open-source project ZXing (short for Zebra Crossing), that allows an Android device with imaging hardware (a built-in camera) to scan barcodes or 2D barcodes and retrieve the data encoded.{{Cite web|last=Francis|first=William|date=2014-02-19|title=Generate scannable barcodes in Android apps by using ZXing|url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/generate-scannable-barcodes-in-android-apps-by-using-zxing/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302092141/http://www.techrepublic.com:80/article/generate-scannable-barcodes-in-android-apps-by-using-zxing/ |archive-date=2014-03-02 |access-date=2021-01-28|website=TechRepublic|language=en}} Information encoded often includes web addresses, geographical coordinates, and small pieces of text, in addition to commercial product codes. This Android-based system has similar functionality to a hardware barcode reader.

This application supports many different types of barcodes, including those used to identify products in commerce. The Barcode Scanner can automatically search the Web to identify a product with a barcode and use, for example, price-comparison information between vendors.

The application can decode several 2D barcodes including the widely used QR Code and Data Matrix. QR codes are often embedded in websites; Barcode Scanner can open a browser at the encoded site, for example, facilitating the download of an application.

{{As of|2016|May}}, this is one of the most downloaded Android applications as listed by Google Play, with over 600,000 ratings and over 126 million user installs.{{cite web |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android |title=BarcodeScanner |publisher=Google Play}}{{cite web |url=https://www.appannie.com/apps/google-play/app/com.google.zxing.client.android/ |title=Barcode Scanner App Ranking and Store Data |publisher=AppAnnie}}

Detection performance of ZXing was assessed on close to 2 million synthetic images for three types of barcodes: QR Code, MaxiCode, and EAN-13 1D barcode. Problematic angles where decoding often fails were found, for example 45, 135, 225 and 315 degrees for QR Codes.Scheuermann, C., Werner, M., Kessel, M., Linnhoff-Popien, C., & Verclas, S. A. W. (2012). Evaluation of Barcode Decoding Performance using ZXING Library. In Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Smart Mobile Applications (SmartApps’12)