Skip to content
InVintory Help

Understanding barcode scanning

The barcode already printed on a wine bottle — the UPC or EAN a shop scans at the till — is not something InVintory can read. Photograph the text on the label instead, which is what the camera is built for and works on far more bottles.

Why shop barcodes are no use here

Section titled “Why shop barcodes are no use here”

An InVintory barcode is exactly ten characters long, so anything longer or shorter is not one of ours and cannot be looked up. A UPC has twelve digits and an EAN thirteen, which is why pointing the camera at one brings up Trying to scan a barcode? rather than a wine.

Even if we could read them, they would not get you far. Plenty of wine is bottled without a barcode at all, and the ones that have one are often covered by a retailer’s own sticker — so the code on the bottle in front of you frequently belongs to the shop, not the producer.

The label is the opposite: every bottle has one, and it names the producer, the wine and usually the vintage.

What to do instead

Section titled “What to do instead”
Barcode on the bottle What to do
A shop’s UPC or EAN Ignore it — photograph the front or the back label. Back labels carry the importer and appellation, which pin down an awkward wine
An InVintory label you printed Point the camera at it. The bottle opens on its own
A CellarSticker Not a barcode at all — hold your iPhone against it 
Scan front or back of label or InVintory barcode

That line under the viewfinder is the rule in one sentence: label text, or our own barcode.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”