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Top 15 Scanners and OCR SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play
Last update: 16 Aug 2023 CET
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Top 15 Scanners and OCR SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play

We at 42matters have identified the 15 most popular Scanners and OCR SDKs leveraged by Android apps available on the Android app market.

Scanner and OCR SDKs enable apps to scan and process texts and QR codes from images and documents. While Scanner SDKs provide apps with the ability to scan, crop, rotate, and color correct documents and QRs, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) SDKs recognize text in scanned images and documents and convert them into machine-readable texts. These SDKs may also provide tools for language detection, spell checking, and formatting.

This list is based on our analysis of the millions of mobile applications – and the 2,300+ SDKs they use – that constitute the vast inventory of the Google Play Store. The accompanying data provides readers with a glimpse into the rich mobile application insights generated by the 42matters technology. This data is also available via our APIs, file dumps, Explorer, and SDK Explorer.

The intended purpose of this article is to assist app builders in their search for the perfect Scanners and OCR SDK to leverage in their app, as well as to give SDK developers insight into their biggest competitors and potential customers. This data collected by our technology may also serve as a useful tool for folks researching the wider mobile app market.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 93.61% have integrated ZXing. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

ZXing ("zebra crossing") is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode image processing SDK implemented in Java, with ports to other languages.

Total Apps
674.08k
Google Play
App Share
93.61%
Google Play
Apps
587.49k
Games
86.59k
Total Downloads
301.86b
Google Play
Download Share
97.33%
Google Play
App Downloads
182.53b
Game Downloads
119.32b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ZXing.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 12.47% have integrated ZXing Android Embedded. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

ZXing Android Embedded is a barcode scanning SDK for Android, using ZXing for decoding.

Total Apps
124.10k
Google Play
App Share
12.47%
Google Play
Apps
123.73k
Games
377
Total Downloads
27.98b
Google Play
Download Share
9.02%
Google Play
App Downloads
25.76b
Game Downloads
2.21b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ZXing Android Embedded.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 6.88% have integrated Phonegap Barcode Scanner. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Phonegap Barcode Scanner is SDK that enables barcode scanning.

Total Apps
50.64k
Google Play
App Share
6.88%
Google Play
Apps
50.37k
Games
271
Total Downloads
1.08b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.06b
Game Downloads
11.96m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Phonegap Barcode Scanner.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 7.16% have integrated Barcode Scanner Views. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Android library SDK that provides easy to use and extensible Barcode Scanner views based on ZXing and ZBar.

Total Apps
49.95k
Google Play
App Share
7.16%
Google Play
Apps
49.73k
Games
221
Total Downloads
5.64b
Google Play
Download Share
1.82%
Google Play
App Downloads
5.19b
Game Downloads
449.84m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Barcode Scanner Views.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 1.82% have integrated Code Scanner. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
19.92k
Google Play
App Share
1.82%
Google Play
Apps
19.89k
Games
32
Total Downloads
2.41b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
2.41b
Game Downloads
3.08m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Code Scanner.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 4.99% have integrated ZBar. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

ZBar is an open source software suite for reading bar codes from various sources, such as video streams, image files, and raw intensity sensors.

Total Apps
12.38k
Google Play
App Share
4.99%
Google Play
Apps
12.30k
Games
81
Total Downloads
2.31b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
2.24b
Game Downloads
72.28m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ZBar.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 2.05% have integrated QRCodeReaderView. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

The QRCodeReaderView SDK is a modification of the ZXING Barcode Scanner project for easy Android QR-Code detection and AR purposes. This project implements an Android view which shows the camera and notifies users when there's a QR code inside the preview.

Total Apps
7.75k
Google Play
App Share
2.05%
Google Play
Apps
7.74k
Games
10
Total Downloads
1.36b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.36b
Game Downloads
137.06k

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use QRCodeReaderView.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Tesseract OCR. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

The Tesseract OCR SDK contains an OCR engine — libtesseract and a command line program — tesseract. Tesseract 4 adds a new neural net (LSTM) based OCR engine which is focused on line recognition, but also still supports the legacy Tesseract OCR engine of Tesseract 3 which works by recognizing character patterns.

Total Apps
3.15k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
3.12k
Games
35
Total Downloads
892.74m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
888.21m
Game Downloads
4.53m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Tesseract OCR.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated tess-two. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

tess-two offers a fork of Tesseract Tools for Android (tesseract-android-tools) that adds some additional functions. Tesseract Tools for Android is a set of Android APIs and build files for the Tesseract OCR and Leptonica image processing libraries.

Total Apps
3.09k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
3.05k
Games
35
Total Downloads
968.10m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
963.57m
Game Downloads
4.53m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use tess-two.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Scandit. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Scandit develops software for mobile enterprise apps with the highest quality barcode scanning, text and objects recognition, and augmented reality solutions.

Total Apps
1.59k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
1.59k
Games
2
Total Downloads
572.60m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
572.55m
Game Downloads
54.58k

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Scandit.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Scanbot. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
267
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
267
Games
0
Total Downloads
103.71m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
103.71m
Game Downloads
0

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Scanbot.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Anyline SDK. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Anyline is a mobile OCR SDK that enables you to scan numbers and short text within your application.

Total Apps
236
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
235
Games
1
Total Downloads
29.59m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
29.59m
Game Downloads
327

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Anyline SDK.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated ABBYY. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Mobile document capture and on-device text recognition. Create smooth self-service experiences for customers.

Total Apps
206
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
206
Games
0
Total Downloads
705.24m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
705.24m
Game Downloads
0

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ABBYY.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Cortex Decoder. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
196
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
196
Games
0
Total Downloads
36.06m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
36.06m
Game Downloads
0

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Cortex Decoder.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Dynamsoft Barcode Reader. This accounts for 88% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
49
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
48
Games
1
Total Downloads
890.20k
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
684.92k
Game Downloads
205.27k

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Dynamsoft Barcode Reader.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does 42matters collect this data?'

We’ve developed a number of machine learning algorithms that scan millions of mobile and connected TV (CTV) applications on a regular basis. In addition, we collect ground truth app performance intelligence and use this data to build statistical models that estimate the performance of apps for which we do not have ground truth data.

What SDK data does 42matters collect?'

We track over 2,300 of the most popular SDKs integrated in iOS and Android apps. We collect a variety of SDK insights (title, platform, ID, category, and developer website); performance metrics (the number of apps that have installed each SDK, installation and removal trends, and app downloads); market share statistics (including market share per app category); and more!

How can I access 42matters’ SDK data?'

The most direct way is to use our SDK Explorer, which is a visual, web-based research platform that enables you to peruse all 2,300+ SDKs that we track. It’s great for market research, lead generation, competitor analysis, etc. However, more technically-inclined folks might prefer our APIs and File Dumps, which enable you to query info for specific apps or SDKs. You can also use our other research platforms (the Explorer and App Watchlist) to view integrated SDKs by app.

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to generate app publisher leads?'

Absolutely! We actually wrote about this on our blog. We focused on ad network SDKs, but the examples are applicable to most SDK types. To summarize, you can use the Explorer’s advanced filtering capabilities to home in on best-fit app publishers, leverage the SDK Explorer to see which apps use your competitors’ SDKs, and use our APIs and file dumps to build custom lead generation processes.

What data does 42matters provide on mobile apps?'

A ton! We track 17+ million apps across Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent MyApp, and Huawei AppGallery. Our solutions provide access to app details (developer insights, metadata, ASO keywords, contact information, etc.); performance metrics (downloads, MAUs, ratings, reviews, top chart rankings, etc.); technical insights (integrated SDKs, permissions, required capabilities, etc.); content details (categories, genres, IAB categories, content ratings, etc.); compliance information (app-ads.txt, privacy policies, store status, etc.) and much, much more!

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to find SDKs for my app?'

Definitely. The SDK Explorer enables you to sort SDKs by category, identify similar SDKs, analyze SDK reliability, and more. In addition, you can use the App Watchlist and Explorer to monitor your competitors, including which SDKs they add and remove, their current tech stacks, and SDK changelogs. This means you use our solutions not only to find the right SDK for a particular purpose, but also which SDKs you might need to keep up with your rivals.