Comparison of QR Code Scanners

The intent of these lists is to advance development of QR code scanner apps by offering an easy way to compare features. 'If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.' - Lord Kelvin

Feel free to add scanners or otherwise modify the editable copies of the lists - changes will be reflected in the read-only list after review. To suggest new tests or larger changes email felix (ät) qr-code-scanner (dôt) com or visit our discussion forum about QR Code scanners.

News

2012-06-04		June update. A new and very fast scanner entered the scene: SPARQ.me
2012-05-02	iPhone	May update iPhone part. Added market rating. Added Quick Scan and Qrafter. BeeTagg is on a close 4th place.
2012-05-01	Android	May update Android part. Added market rating and number of downloads. I-nigma took over ZXing.
2012-04-03		April update. Small cosmetic modification to score display. No changes in rankings.
2012-03-21	Android	"UTF-8 support" test for Android, too. Pretty much all pass. UTF-8 is the encoding of choice for special characters in QR codes. Much better than both JIS8 and ISO-8859-1.
2012-03-19	iPhone	New test: "UTF-8 support". This is necessary to properly display characters outside the ASCII character set. All pass but Scanlife.
		ShopSavvy requires registration now. :(
2012-03-12	Android	New test: "works from behind firewall" (e.g. DroidWall)
		i-nigma update: direct open, uppercase HTTP fix
		i-nigma overtakes ScanLife

Android Scanners

The best QR code scanner apps for Android systems in June 2012:

i-nigma
Superb scanner. Very good recognition.

ZXing Barcode Scanner
Superb scanner. Open source - verified privacy.

SPARQ.me
Superb scanner. Very fast.

Detailed QR code scanner comparison list: View - edit

iPhone Scanners

The best QR code scanner apps for iPhone in June 2012:

i-nigma
Superb scanner. Very good recognition.

ZXing
Superb scanner. Open source - verified privacy.

Scanlife
Superb scanner. Price comparison features.

Detailed QR code scanner comparison list: View - edit

Privacy

We strongly suggest the use of a firewall (Droidwall on Android, ? on iPhone) to prevent programs from secretly communicating to the outside. Probably a lot of programs (not only scanners) do that without you even noticing: 2d-code.co.uk spying check experiment.