Installing the React Native Document Scanner SDK

To install the SDK, run the following in your root project folder:

npm

npm install react-native-scanbot-sdk

Yarn

yarn add react-native-scanbot-sdk

Expo

npx expo install react-native-scanbot-sdk

Android

Since your application will work with high-resolution images, we strongly recommended to add the property android:largeHeap="true" in the <application> element of your android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file, especially for Android <= 7.x. Processing high-resolution images is a memory-intensive task and this property will ensure your app has enough heap allocated to avoid OutOfMemoryError exceptions.

<application ... android:largeHeap="true">
  ...
</application>

Integration with Expo

Integration with Expo is possible only when using a Development Build, not Expo Go. The project is configurable using our config plugin or by manually configuring the native projects.

To utilize the plugin, add the following in your app config file:

"plugins": [
  [
    "react-native-scanbot-sdk",
    {
      "iOSCameraUsageDescription": "Document & Barcode Scanning permission",
      "largeHeap": true,
      "mavenURLs": true,
      "ocrBlobsDirPath": "./ocr_blobs",
      "addTesseractGradleDependency": false,
      "podfileSPMHookEnabled": false
    }
  ]
],

• iOSCameraUsageDescription: Adds NSCameraUsageDescription in Info.plist. The permission can also be added via Expo Permissions.
• largeHeap: Adds android:largeHeap property in <application> element in AndroidManifest.xml.
• mavenURLs: Adds Scanbot SDK Maven URLs for Android local development. These URLs are already included in the package's build.gradle, but need to be added due to how Expo starts the Android app.
• ocrBlobsDirPath: Adds ocr_blobs for Android and iOS. Specify a path of a directory that contains only .traineddata files.
  • For Android, the files are copied over from the specified path in android/app/src/main/assets/ocr_blobs.
  • For iOS, a ScanbotSDKOCRData.bundle is created and added as a resource, and the files are copied over from the specified path.
• addTesseractGradleDependency: Adds the Tesseract OCR Gradle dependency for Android. This is required if you want to use the TESSERACT OCR features of the SDK.
• podfileSPMHookEnabled: Adds a hook to your Podfile that enables Swift Package Manager (SPM) support on older React Native versions. Defaults to true. Set it to false to use CocoaPods instead. On React Native 0.87 or newer, you can remove this hook from your Podfile.

For more details about OCR, please refer to the OCR section.

iOS SPM Support

The CocoaPods trunk repo is being deprecated, so the Scanbot iOS SDK is installed through Swift Package Manager (SPM) by default. React Native 0.87+ supports SPM out of the box, so no additional configuration is needed for these versions.

Podfile hook

For React Native < = 0.86, add the scanbot_spm hook to the post_install block of your Podfile:

  post_install do |installer|
    react_native_post_install(
      installer,
      config[:reactNativePath],
      :mac_catalyst_enabled => false,
    )
    scanbot_spm(installer)
  end

Opting out of SPM (CocoaPods fallback)

You can opt out and use the CocoaPods dependency instead. This only applies for versions that have a CocoaPods fallback.

Bare React Native projects

To install the Scanbot iOS SDK through CocoaPods instead, set the $ScanbotSDKUseSPM flag to false at the top level of your Podfile, before the first target block:

$ScanbotSDKUseSPM = false

target 'MyApp' do
# ...
end

With the flag set, the scanbot_spm hook skips its work, so you can leave it in post_install. Run pod install again after changing the flag.

Expo

The Scanbot config plugin always adds the scanbot_spm hook to your Podfile. To opt out of SPM, set podfileSPMHookEnabled to false in the plugin config. The plugin then also adds $ScanbotSDKUseSPM = false to your Podfile, and the hook skips its work.

{
    "plugins": [
        [
            "react-native-scanbot-barcode-scanner-sdk",
            { "podfileSPMHookEnabled": false }
        ]
    ]
}

Want to scan longer than one minute?

Generate a free trial license to test the Scanbot SDK thoroughly.

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Scanbot SDK is part of the Apryse SDK product family

A mobile scan is just the start. With Apryse SDKs, you can expand mobile workflows into full cross‑platform document processing. Whether you need to edit PDFs, add secure digital signatures, or use a fast, customizable document viewer and editor, Apryse gives you the tools to build powerful features quickly.

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