Scan Barcode

Barcodes are older and less forgiving than QR codes. The information is in the width of the bars, so a crease, a scratch, a glare spot or a label printed slightly too small can defeat a camera that would read a QR code without complaint. ScanMint AI reads the twelve barcode types you actually meet — Code 128, Code 39, Code 93, Codabar, Data Matrix, EAN-13, EAN-8, ITF-14, UPC-A, UPC-E, PDF417 and Aztec — which between them cover retail packaging, warehouse labels, ID cards and shipping documents.

Hold the label flat and fill the viewfinder with it. Unlike a QR code, a barcode carries no error correction to speak of, so the camera needs a clean run across all the bars rather than a general impression of the label.

When the camera cannot manage it, type the number printed underneath instead. That line of digits is the same data the bars encode, which is precisely why it is printed there — and typing it works on a label that is scratched, folded, wrapped in cling film or lit from the wrong angle. Every retail scanner in the world has the same fallback for the same reason.

There is deliberately no option to decode a barcode from a photo in your gallery. A still rarely holds the bar edges cleanly enough to be read reliably, so that button would mostly return “no barcode found” and feel broken. Manual entry solves the same problem and cannot fail.