PARIKH LABS
Open scanner Contact

Free tool

What’s in
that code?

Reads almost any code on your own device, and tells you what it means.

  • Free, in your browser
  • Personal data never leaves your phone
  • Products and books looked up in open databases

Open it on your phone

Point your phone’s camera at this code.

  1. Point your camera at a code
  2. Your phone reads it. Nothing is uploaded
  3. See what it is, in plain words
Sample data

  1. 1Point your camera at a code

  2. 2Your phone reads it. Nothing is uploaded

  3. 3See what it is, in plain words

Scan a code

Read on this device. For products and books, only the number is looked up.

Point your camera at a QR code or barcode, or choose a photo.

On a computer you can also paste an image (Ctrl+V / ⌘V) or drop one here.

Your result appears here. What it is, whether it’s safe, and one clear next step.

Try it

Try a sample code.

Real codes with sample data. Nothing here is sent anywhere.

How it works

How the scanner works.

Four short answers: what every result gives you, what it reads, what leaves your phone, and where product info comes from.

Every result

Three answers, every time.

  1. What is this?

    Named in plain words: a product, a Wi-Fi network, a link.

  2. Is it safe?

    What to check before you act, shown before the button.

  3. What can I do?

    One main button. The rest sits behind a details button named for what it opens.

What it reads

One main button per type.

Every kind of code the scanner understands, and the action it offers first. Hover or tap a group.

  • Your scan
      • LinkOpen link
      • LocationOpen in Maps
      • Wi-FiCopy password
      • ContactSave contact
      • EmailWrite email
      • PhoneCall
      • SMSOpen in Messages
      • ProductView product
      • BookView book
      • TextCopy text
      • PaymentPay with UPI app
      • EventAdd to calendar

Payments: UPI, Pix, PayNow, PromptPay, DuitNow, QRIS, VietQR, SEPA (EPC), Swiss QR-bill. UPI opens your UPI app on Android. Every payment code can be copied, or saved as an image for your bank app, and you confirm in that app.

Privacy

What happens when you scan.

Pick a code type to see what stays on your phone and what gets looked up.

Pick a code

On your phone

  1. CameraSees the code
  2. ReadDecodes it on the phone
  3. UnderstandWorks out what it is
  4. ResultWhat, safe?, what next

Stays on your phoneEverything except the barcode number

Leaves your phone

  • Open databasesProducts and booksLooked up now
  • Where you choose to goPayment app, websiteNot used for this code

Read on your phone. Only the barcode number is looked up in open product databases, which answer with the product’s record: name, scores, allergens, ingredients.

Read it as a list
  1. Camera: sees the code.
  2. Read: decodes it on your phone, with ZXing-C++ running in your browser.
  3. Understand: works out what the code is.
  4. Result: what it is, what to check, and one main button.
  5. Product barcodes and ISBNs: only the number is looked up in open databases (Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts, Open Products Facts, Open Library; then UPCitemdb and Wikidata for products they don’t have).
  6. Payments, Wi-Fi, contacts, links and everything else: nothing is sent. Your payment app or a website opens only when you tap.
Read the privacy notes

Product info

Where product info comes from.

For a product barcode, the lookup asks these databases in this order and stops at the first that has it. A book’s ISBN goes to Open Library. Tap a stage to see what you get.

Then, asked together

For a book (ISBN)

Title, authors, publisherFirst publication date, page count

What you see

Found in Open Food Facts

Asked first. If it has the product you see its record, and the result names Open Food Facts and links to it. Licence: ODbL for the database, DbCL for the contents.

  • name
  • brand
  • quantity
  • categories
  • labels
  • Nutri-Score
  • NOVA group
  • eco score
  • nutrient levels
  • allergens
  • traces
  • additives
  • diet analysis
  • ingredients

Each answer is cached at the edge for 24 hours (1 hour when a fallback was missing), so a number is asked once.

Lookups are counted per visitor, up to 60 an hour and 200 a day, under a hash of your IP address that is deleted after two days.

Numbers used inside a shop or company, loyalty cards, coupons and refund receipts are never looked up.

Barcode decoding by ZXing-C++ via zxing-wasm. GS1 data parsed with the GS1 Digital Link Toolkit. ISBN ranges from the International ISBN Agency. Product and book data from Open Food Facts contributors (ODbL) and Open Library, then UPCitemdb and Wikidata (CC0) for products they don’t have. Not affiliated with any brand whose codes are scanned.