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Top 20 Scanners and OCR SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play
Last update: 15 Sep 2024 CET
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Top 20 Scanners and OCR SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play

We at 42matters have identified the 20 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, 79.64% have integrated ZXing. This accounts for 70.06% 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
453.19k
Google Play
App Share
79.64%
Google Play
Apps
407.24k
Games
45.95k
Total Downloads
353.59b
Google Play
Download Share
70.06%
Google Play
App Downloads
208.61b
Game Downloads
144.99b

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 22.86% have integrated ML Kit by Google. This accounts for 37.89% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
130.06k
Google Play
App Share
22.86%
Google Play
Apps
129.58k
Games
483
Total Downloads
191.25b
Google Play
Download Share
37.89%
Google Play
App Downloads
189.69b
Game Downloads
1.56b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ML Kit by Google.

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 19.60% have integrated ZXing Android Embedded. This accounts for 7.33% 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
111.53k
Google Play
App Share
19.60%
Google Play
Apps
111.20k
Games
328
Total Downloads
36.98b
Google Play
Download Share
7.33%
Google Play
App Downloads
36.17b
Game Downloads
816.82m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 5.14% have integrated Phonegap Barcode Scanner. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Phonegap Barcode Scanner is SDK that enables barcode scanning.

Total Apps
29.24k
Google Play
App Share
5.14%
Google Play
Apps
29.16k
Games
73
Total Downloads
1.16b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.15b
Game Downloads
12.13m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 4.65% have integrated Barcode Scanner Views. This accounts for 1.26% 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
26.44k
Google Play
App Share
4.65%
Google Play
Apps
26.36k
Games
80
Total Downloads
6.36b
Google Play
Download Share
1.26%
Google Play
App Downloads
5.90b
Game Downloads
460.94m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 3.24% have integrated Code Scanner. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
18.45k
Google Play
App Share
3.24%
Google Play
Apps
18.42k
Games
26
Total Downloads
3.16b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
3.16b
Game Downloads
4.79m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 1.33% have integrated ZBar. This accounts for <1% 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
7.57k
Google Play
App Share
1.33%
Google Play
Apps
7.54k
Games
24
Total Downloads
2.43b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
2.36b
Game Downloads
75.00m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated Tesseract OCR. This accounts for <1% 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
2.58k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.57k
Games
16
Total Downloads
1.05b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.04b
Game Downloads
5.46m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated QRCodeReaderView. This accounts for <1% 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
2.56k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.56k
Games
2
Total Downloads
1.17b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.17b
Game Downloads
151.56k

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, <1% have integrated tess-two. This accounts for <1% 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
2.47k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.45k
Games
16
Total Downloads
1.01b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.01b
Game Downloads
5.46m

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 <1% 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
1.38k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
1.38k
Games
1
Total Downloads
680.28m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
680.23m
Game Downloads
54.62k

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

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

Total Apps
857
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
857
Games
0
Total Downloads
89.58m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
89.58m
Game Downloads
0

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

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

PSPDFKit is the best framework for working with PDF files. The PSPDFKit SDK provides first-rate PDF solutions for your application with features like annotating, signing, and form filling.

Total Apps
798
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
797
Games
1
Total Downloads
1.45b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.45b
Game Downloads
6.11k

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

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

Total Apps
366
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
366
Games
0
Total Downloads
10.95m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
10.94m
Game Downloads
14.20k

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

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

Total Apps
278
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
278
Games
0
Total Downloads
122.15m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
122.15m
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 <1% 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
214
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
214
Games
0
Total Downloads
28.11m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
28.11m
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 Cortex Decoder. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
133
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
133
Games
0
Total Downloads
40.38m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
40.38m
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 ABBYY. This accounts for <1% 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
114
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
114
Games
0
Total Downloads
729.18m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
729.18m
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 Dynamsoft Barcode Reader. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
24
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
20
Games
4
Total Downloads
768.41k
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
765.56k
Game Downloads
2.86k

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

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

Total Apps
14
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
14
Games
0
Total Downloads
6.53m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
6.53m
Game Downloads
0

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

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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 platform (the Explorer) 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 Appstore, 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 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.