Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Barcode Hero?

Barcode Hero is a community where people share and discuss millions of everyday or unique products, from wine to electronics, from baby products to video games.

With your iPhone, scan any product you own to share your opinion with the Barcode Hero community--and with friends on Facebook and Twitter. It's fast, fun, and delightfully easy to help friends discover products you love.

Every time you share, you earn points--which can give you status based on your expertise. Make lots of helpful recommendations to become King or Queen of over 20,000 categories. You could be the King of Camping Equipment or the Queen of Cabernet Sauvignon!

How does it work?

It's easy.

Download Barcode Hero to your iPhone
Find a product you recommend, and scan its barcode (tip: try your favorite bottle of wine or a favorite book or game)
Add your recommendation
Share your recommendation with friends on Facebook or Twitter

Why did you make this?

We enjoy trading product recommendations with friends, whether in person or online, but found it hard to remember those recommendations and pull them all together when it mattered most: on our shopping trips.

Barcode Hero makes it fun and easy to share recommendations with friends—and puts those recommendations at your fingertips when you're shopping.

Do I have to sign up?

Yes, you need an account to use Barcode Hero. Your Barcode Hero account keeps track of things like your recommendations and your wishlist— and having an account makes it easier for your friends and family to find you. We recommend creating your account with Facebook or Twitter; it's faster, easier to connect with your friends, and your profile is set up automatically.

Are you going to spam me, my friends, or post crap on my Facebook or Twitter page?

We hate spam. We also hate those applications that post junk without our permission. Barcode Hero does make it easy to share—but will never post your activity automatically, without your knowledge. For more on how seriously we take this issue, read our no-spam pledge.

We will send you e-mail notifications when someone comments on your activity, follows you, or if you get ousted as King or Queen. If these notifications aren’t working for you, please give us feedback so we can improve them. And of course you can always turn them off, from the Settings screen.

Why does Barcode Hero use my real name and photo?

Barcode Hero is trusted community with authentic product recommendations from real people. It’s important that everyone in the community be able to trust everyone else in the community and real names and photos help us trust each other.

It also makes it easier for your friends to find you on Barcode Hero so they can follow your great product recommendations.

What does it cost to use Barcode Hero?

Barcode Hero is free. But of course you might find something you want to buy... And that could get expensive. :-)

Can I use Barcode Hero on my phone?

Barcode Hero works on any iPhone running iOS 4.0 or later, from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4. iPhone 4 and 3GS are best for scanning barcodes, since they have autofocus cameras. Barcode Hero also works on the newer iPod touches that have cameras.

We plan to bring Barcode Hero to Android and other phones. Please write us and tell us which phone you’re on.

Using Barcode Hero

How do I scan products? Any tips?

Scanning barcodes is easy—and you’ll get faster after a little bit of practice. Tap the "Scan" button and center the barcode image inside the box at the center of the screen. Your phone will beep or vibrate when the barcode is recognized.

Here are some tips:

Hold the product upright, close to your chest. This helps avoids glare, which can interfere with the scanner.
If you see light glaring on the barcode or a shadow, try tilting it in a different direction until the glare goes away.
Try to fill the entire box with the barcode (usually, this means holding your phone about 3 inches from the barcode).
If you can't get a Barcode to scan, you can search by the number—use the search box on the browse tab.
Practice—you’ll get much faster after your first few scans.

Lastly, make sure you’re scanning a UPC, ISBN, or EAN. They look like this:

Barcode Hero doesn’t work with other kinds of codes yet. Avoid ones that look like this:

Can I add pictures of products?

Yes. Simply tap the picture of the product and you’ll be able to use your iPhone’s camera to add a picture. Be sure to add pictures for items that don’t have one yet—you'll earn extra points.

Can Barcode Hero read the price of the products I scan?

Unfortunately, this is not technically possible. Typically, barcodes encode a product ID, but not prices.

How do friends work in Barcode Hero?

In Barcode Hero, like on Twitter, you can follow people. When you follow somebody, their activity will show up in your Recent feed and you’ll see their related purchases each time you scan a barcode.

To find people to follow, just click on "Friends." You can follow people from your Facebook network, search for friends. Our staff also features some of the most interesting folks using Barcode Hero.

How does following people work?

Following people in Barcode Hero enables you to see what products they recommend. Their activity will show up in your Recent feed, and their recommendations and comments will be highlighted on product and category pages. The more people you follow, the better you'll be able to discover cool products.

Follow someone if you think they have good taste in something (like wine), they know a lot about a type of product you’re interested in, or if you’re just curious to see what others buy.

To follow someone, tap their name then tap 'Follow'.

How do I get featured?

We’re always looking for interesting people to feature. If you'd like to be featured, write us at help@barcodehero.com.

Wishlist & Letters to Santa

I can send my wish list to Santa?

Yes. For the holidays, Barcode Hero has enabled you to create and share a Christmas wish list with Santa Claus. Instead of writing a letter to Santa by hand, children can now create one easily by scanning products in a store with your iPhone and then sending it to Santa Claus directly from your phone. You can also create a wishlist by selected items from our curated gift list in the application. This is an especially fun holiday activity for children.

We’ve designed this with younger folks in mind, but we won’t tell if you’re having so much fun that you decide to send your own wish list off to Santa.

Points, Dukes, Queens and Kings, oh my!

What is this points and titles business all about?

Scan a product, share something you own, or add a recommendation to earn points in related categories. For example, recommending a perfume might earn you points in Beauty.

Your points in a category represent your expertise and influence in that category.

Dukes and Duchesses have proved their interest in a category by earning at least 25 points.

The Queen or King has the most points in a category, so it’s a good bet she (or he) is the local expert.

What do I get for being King or Queen?

Fame, glory, and influence! The King or Queen of a category has earned the most points in that category, so it’s a good bet that she (or he) is the local expert. Recommendations from kings and queens are featured throughout Barcode Hero, so they have the chance to attract more attention and more followers.

Someone’s cheating!

Barcode Hero is all about authenticity – real people sharing their real shopping.

We have mechanisms in place to detect duplicate or fraudulent behavior. If you see something we’ve missed, please alert us at help@barcodehero.com and we’ll get right on it.

Manufacturers, Brands, & Merchants

How do I get my products in Barcode Hero?

We already include millions of common products. If your items are findable via UPC in Google Product Search, you can probably find them already in Barcode Hero.

If you'd like to systematically ensure that all of your products are available or perhaps add special content, the process is pretty simple and we'd love to help you. Write us at business@barcodehero.com.

I'd like to run a promotion for my product or store in Barcode Hero. Can I do that?

Absolutely. We'd love to help. Write us at business@barcodehero.com.

Privacy

How does privacy work in Barcode Hero?

We take privacy very seriously. On Barcode Hero, you’re always in control of your information, and you can always adjust what you’re sharing.

By default, your Barcode Hero profile is visible to other users and to visitors at BarcodeHero.com. Your profile includes:

Your name, profile photo, and gender (these are added to your Barcode Hero profile when you sign in with Facebook)
The items you interact with on Barcode Hero – your scans, purchases, recommendations, and any comments you make
Your titles: any dukeships or kingships
Any comments or discussion threads you have

What are you going to do with my data? Are you going to sell it?

We use your data to make Barcode Hero as awesome and as personal as possible. In the future, we may use your information to connect you with relevant ads, promotions or offers. But your trust is incredibly important, so we will never sell, rent or otherwise give away the information you put in Barcode Hero.

If you want all the details, the full rules are in our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

How can I have more control over my privacy?

In Barcode Hero, simply tap More -> Settings and then choose "Protect My Activity". If you choose this, only people you approve will be able to follow you and see your scans, purchases, recommendations, and titles. Each time someone asks to follow you, you’ll receive an email notification, and you can either approve the request or ignore it.

When you choose to protect your activity, it will not be visible in Barcode Hero’s public feeds. Since you’ll also be removed from public leaderboards, you won’t be able to earn any kingships (but you’re still eligible to be duke or duchess, and your approved followers can see which titles you’ve earned).

Note that even when you choose to protect your activity, your Barcode Hero basic profile will still be visible to all users, including your profile photo and name. (This way, your friends can still find you and request to follow you.)

How do I remove activity from my profile?

It’s easy – from any feed or list view on the iPhone app, you can swipe and delete scans, purchases, recommendations, or comments.

Can I block a specific user from following me?

Yes. If there’s someone following you that you’d like not to, just visit their profile (you can find links to all your followers’ profiles under Friends). Press “block.”

When you block somebody, they won’t be able to follow you. However, your public activity may still appear in public feeds they see, and they’ll be able to see your activity if they specifically visit your profile page.

I got a title I don’t really want. Can I remove that?

Of course. Email us at help@barcodehero.com and we’ll take care of that for you.

Does Barcode Hero track my location or which stores I visit?

Nope. But we have some really exciting ideas for how we could help you, if we knew what store you’re shopping in. Stay tuned.

Misc

I have a suggestion or a feature request.

Great! We love hearing feedback. Please write us at feedback@barcodehero.com. We love to hear from our users, and we read and reply to every mail we receive.

I have a complaint or gripe.

Sorry to hear that—but we definitely want to hear all about it. Please write us at help@barcodehero.com and we’ll do what we can fix the problem you’re having.

Barcode Hero is not for me. I’d like to close my account.

Really sorry to hear that. Please write us at help@barcodehero.com and we’ll take care of that. If you can, please tell us a little bit about why you weren’t interested or what turned you off. This will help us enormously in improving our service.