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Top 20 Scanners and OCR SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play
Last update: 6 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, 79.92% have integrated ZXing. This accounts for 70.09% 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
456.72k
Google Play
App Share
79.92%
Google Play
Apps
410.29k
Games
46.44k
Total Downloads
352.91b
Google Play
Download Share
70.09%
Google Play
App Downloads
208.55b
Game Downloads
144.36b

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 22.53% have integrated ML Kit by Google. This accounts for 37.85% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
128.75k
Google Play
App Share
22.53%
Google Play
Apps
128.27k
Games
484
Total Downloads
190.59b
Google Play
Download Share
37.85%
Google Play
App Downloads
189.04b
Game Downloads
1.55b

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 19.53% have integrated ZXing Android Embedded. This accounts for 7.29% 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
111.63k
Google Play
App Share
19.53%
Google Play
Apps
111.29k
Games
336
Total Downloads
36.72b
Google Play
Download Share
7.29%
Google Play
App Downloads
35.91b
Game Downloads
813.98m

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
29.38k
Google Play
App Share
5.14%
Google Play
Apps
29.31k
Games
74
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, 4.69% have integrated Barcode Scanner Views. This accounts for 1.25% 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
26.79k
Google Play
App Share
4.69%
Google Play
Apps
26.71k
Games
83
Total Downloads
6.31b
Google Play
Download Share
1.25%
Google Play
App Downloads
5.85b
Game Downloads
460.78m

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

Among all apps utilizing scanners and ocr SDKs, 3.23% have integrated Code Scanner. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the scanners and ocr SDK category.

Total Apps
18.47k
Google Play
App Share
3.23%
Google Play
Apps
18.45k
Games
26
Total Downloads
3.22b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
3.22b
Game Downloads
4.78m

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
7.59k
Google Play
App Share
1.33%
Google Play
Apps
7.57k
Games
24
Total Downloads
2.43b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
2.36b
Game Downloads
74.98m

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

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
2.60k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.60k
Games
2
Total Downloads
1.16b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.16b
Game Downloads
151.30k

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 <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
2.59k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.58k
Games
15
Total Downloads
1.05b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.04b
Game Downloads
4.75m

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 <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
2.48k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.46k
Games
15
Total Downloads
1.01b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.01b
Game Downloads
4.75m

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
1.39k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
1.38k
Games
1
Total Downloads
678.50m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
678.45m
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
855
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
855
Games
0
Total Downloads
89.25m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
89.25m
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
781
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
780
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
363
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
363
Games
0
Total Downloads
10.88m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
10.87m
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
273
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
273
Games
0
Total Downloads
121.75m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
121.75m
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
215
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
215
Games
0
Total Downloads
28.00m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
28.00m
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
134
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
134
Games
0
Total Downloads
40.18m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
40.18m
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
116
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
116
Games
0
Total Downloads
729.09m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
729.09m
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
23
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
20
Games
3
Total Downloads
765.93k
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
763.50k
Game Downloads
2.43k

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
6.45m
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
6.45m
Game Downloads
0

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

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    Analyze installation and removal trends for SDKs. Discover which apps have removed or integrated specific SDKs in a given timeframe.

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    See which app categories or genres are most likely to use specific SDKs. Detect SDK market share per category.

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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.