Scanning: OCR and QR
Scan text and QR with the viewfinder, capture modes (instant/quality), torch, zoom, and focus.
The viewfinder is the heart of QCR Scanner: you point the phone at your target, size the rectangle in the middle of the viewfinder to the area you want to read, and tap to scan. Every scan looks for both text (OCR) and QR codes at the same time. The recognition engine runs entirely on your device with Google ML Kit and uses no network connection for OCR or QR. This page explains how to aim the viewfinder, how the two capture modes differ, and which camera controls you have at hand.
Aiming the viewfinder
A rectangle (rect) in the center of the camera preview defines the area to be scanned. Only the content inside this rectangle is read, which keeps surrounding noise out and improves accuracy.
- Sizing — use the width and height sliders at the edge of the viewfinder to tighten or widen the rectangle around your target. Keep it narrow and short for a single serial number; use a wider window for a whole label.
- Aiming — hold the phone so the text or QR you want to read falls inside the rectangle.
- Scanning — tap the screen and OCR and QR detection run in parallel.
Tip: Fit the viewfinder as snugly around the target as you can. The tighter the rectangle, the less noise the engine has to deal with and the more accurate the result.
OCR and QR at once
When you tap, QCR Scanner looks for both text and a QR/barcode in a single pass. If a QR code is found in the same frame, QR takes priority and the QR content becomes the value; otherwise the text read by OCR is used. This means you never have to switch into a separate mode for targets with or without a QR.
The recognized value is added to the active list after it passes your enabled validation rules. You can also see the value above the viewfinder before you even tap — see Live preview.
Capture modes: instant and quality
QCR Scanner offers two capture modes. You switch between them with a single tap using the lightning (⚡) / HD button on the left arm. Your choice is stored on the device, so your preferred mode is ready every time you open the app.
| Mode | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Instant (default) | Grabs the latest frame from the warm 1080p camera stream and runs OCR + QR in memory. No shutter, no JPEG encoding, no writing to disk. | Fast, back-to-back scans; legible, normal-sized text and QR codes. |
| Quality (HD) | Takes a full-resolution capture and processes the image with on-device native decoding. | Small or dense text: serial numbers, tiny digits, cramped labels. |
Instant mode is on by default and, as the name suggests, returns results immediately: the moment you press the button, the current frame from the stream is processed — there is no separate photo-taking step. The bulk of everyday scans complete fastest in this mode.
Quality mode uses the full resolution, which makes a clear difference when reading small print and digits that sit close together. The trade-off is that each scan takes a little longer.
Tip: When reading a small serial number or cramped digits, switch to quality mode and magnify the target with the zoom slider. Together they noticeably improve accuracy on tiny text.
Camera controls
Around the viewfinder sit controls that make scanning easier even in difficult conditions:
- Torch — turns on the phone’s light to illuminate the target in dim surroundings.
- Focus lock — fixes the focus, so you don’t wait for refocusing each time while scanning many items at the same distance in a row.
- Zoom slider — moves closer to distant or small targets; especially useful together with quality mode on tiny text.
- Viewfinder sliders — adjust the width and height of the scan rectangle.
- Tap to focus — tap a point in the preview to focus on that spot.
Note: The app uses the CAMERA permission for the torch and camera access. The permission is requested the first time you open the camera; without it, scanning is not possible.
Extracting a value from noisy text
When a label contains several lines or extra characters instead of one clean value, you don’t have to clean up the OCR output by hand. Smart Extract splits the recognized text into tokens by whitespace and uses a sliding-window method to automatically pull out the parts that match your validation rules, making it easier to capture the right value from noisy scans.
Next steps
- Live preview — the live value above the viewfinder before you tap.
- Validation rules — define which values are accepted with regex.
- Smart Extract — automatically pull valid parts out of noisy text.
- Quick start — take your first scan in under a minute.
Made by ReviseTouch.