14 DAY TRIAL // One of the features that Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system arrived on devices with a few years ago was the possibility to scan barcodes, QR codes, text, and more via the phone’s camera viewfinder.
This was possible courtesy of Bing Vision, which has seen a series of changes in the operating system lately, one of which moved it to camera lens in Windows Phone 8.1, although it was easily accessible via the search button before.
As it turns out, Microsoft might have just removed the option to scan barcodes from Bing Vision, at least this is what many users with Windows Phone 8.1 devices report.
Back in April, Microsoft announced that the barcode scanning functionality was being moved from Search / Cortana to Office.
Looking at the various reports on the matter, in this Reddit thread, it’s clear that the lack of barcode functionality is related to the Windows Phone 8.1 OS, and not to a specific smartphone. Both Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview and Lumia Cyan handsets appear to be affected by this change.
At the moment, users are still able to scan QR Codes, yet there’s no telling whether that might change too, as WMPoweruser notes. Stay tuned for more on this.