QuickMark Blog

Although our app reads more than 3 barcode formats, we actually don’t speak as many languages. Therefore we are glad that our friends at AndroidPIT are kind enough to post reviews of our Android app in 3 new languages: French, Portuguese, and Russian. Please check it out!

On a related note, here’s a guest entry from AndroidPIT about their new App Center service, which is another great way for to help you find the best apps.

AndroidPIT App Center Tutorial

The AndroidPIT App Center can be quickly and easily downloaded on your smartphone or tablet PC and gives you access to AndroidPIT’s in-house Android market, test reports, news and forum.

You can also buy apps via PayPal, Click&Buy or credit card. Here is how to download the App Center:

1. Register at AndroidPIT
2. Login to AndroidPIT, Europe’s largest Android market community
3. Download and open App Center

That’s it and you are on your way!

Several Android users have expressed their concerns about the increasing number of Permissions required to run our app, so we decided to give our end users a choice and released a Lite version for Android as well. 

The Lite version is virtually identical to the original except it will require less Permissions, but as a result has less features. 

How Lite differs is as follows:

1) No READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS Permission —> Cannot create QR Codes from bookmarks to share with friends

2) No READ_CONTACTS Permission —> Cannot create QR Codes from existing contacts to share with friends

3) No READ_PHONE_STATE Permission —> There is no difference in terms of user functionality at this time. It is currently used by ad networks that require it in the original app. The Lite version uses the AdMob ad SDK, which does not yet require this Permission. We do not know if they will require it in the future.

If you still have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Preview and Cloud Sync are two of the features that we are most excited about in our recent app update for iPhone. And today, they are available on our Android version as well.

Preview & Cloud Sync

Preview works pretty much in the same way as on the iPhone and you can watch a short video demo of it to get the general idea.

Cloud Sync however, would not have been complete if we do not introduce it to Android. But now that we have, it means that you can switch between Android and iPhone devices and always have access to your same Scan History. You can either sign up for a quick account or use your Facebook login to start using this feature.

In-App Purchase

Until now, QuickMark for Android has been a free app supported by ads. But with Google’s recent launch of in-app purchase, we are able to offer you the option to remove the banner ads with an in-app purchase of US$ 0.99.

When you remove the banner ads, you will also enable a new option in Settings to launch the app in camera view, so you can go straight into scanning.

We’ve also inserted a purchasable item called Support QuickMark, which as its name suggests, doesn’t add any functionality to the app but will help us continue to improve the app.

New Permission Requests

We know that some users may become a little nervous when they see the long list of permissions that our app requires, so here is a quick explanation of why and how we are using the requested Permissions.

This app update is requesting two new Permissions: your location and your device info. The location info is currently used to log where you were when you scanned a barcode and this information is displayed in your Scan History. It is optional and you can easily turn off this feature in Settings.

As you know, we are now providing the service to sync your Scan History across multiple devices, and the device info is part of the equation for us to perform this.

5/20/11 Update: Our latest v4.0.2 to the Android Market will use Read Phone State as we are experimenting with different ad networks for a 3 month period. These ad network SDKs require the stated Permission. For users who have expressed concern about this, we will also simultaneously release an update to all other download channels (our website, GetJar, Amazon, etc.)  that does not require Read Phone State. 

Get The Update

So if you would like to give our app a try, the easiest way to get it is via Android Market. Or you can head to our website and download the apk for any Android phone and install it with 3rd party app installers.

We hope you enjoy the update and let us know how you like it!

Thanks For Your Support

Some time earlier today our QuickMark app for Android officially surpassed the 250,000 downloads threshold according to Android Market’s count.

As Android users know, there is no higher bracket to publicly keep track of the download count of a particular app via the Android Market. This means that QuickMark is heading into a more mysterious territory, and we’re pretty excited about that. 

We rely on words of mouth a lot for marketing and we must take this opportunity to say thanks to all of our wonderful users who have downloaded our app and supported us by leaving comments, sending in bug reports, or even occasionally clicking on ads. You are the best. 

New Features In v3.8.5

Coincidentally, we also have a couple new features to introduce today with QuickMark v3.8.5 for Android. On the initial screen of the latest v3.8.5, you will see 2 new functions:

1) Scan Files - If you like to take photos or if you happen to have downloaded or received an image of a barcode, you can use this function to try to decode the image.

There is also a shortcut available if you go directly into your photo albums instead of QuickMark. Just find the ‘Share’ button and look for our ‘QuickMark - Decode Barcode’ shortcut to scan the selected image file.

2) Scan Webpages - This might seem strange and perhaps not happen too often, but suppose you are browsing a webpage on your mobile phone and come across a QR Code, what do you do?

Well, now you can either copy & paste that URL into QuickMark for decode. Or if you launched the browser first, find the ‘Share Page’ menu option and again find our ‘QuickMark - Decode Barcode’ shortcut to scan that QR Code. 

The above functions are actually easier done than said, so please do give it a try and let us know how you like it. 

More Places To Download

Most of our current Android users downloaded our app via the Android Market, but that isn’t the only place to get QuickMark for Android. If for some reason Android Market is unavailable for your Android device, you may want to check out these other sources. 

In order of likelihood to be the first to have the latest versions:

1) QuickMark (naturally)

2) Android Market

3) GetJar

4) Camanji Market (this is a Market app for tablet devices) 

Until next time, keep downloading and happy scanning!