How to Build an iOS QR Code and Barcode Scanner with SwiftUI on Apple Silicon

SwiftUI is a robust UI framework designed for constructing native applications across all Apple platforms. This article will guide you through developing an iOS QR code scanner utilizing SwiftUI, Dynamsoft Camera Enhancer and Dynamsoft Barcode Reader on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4).

What you’ll build: A native iOS app that opens the camera, detects barcodes and QR codes in real time, and overlays decoded text on the preview — all built with SwiftUI, Dynamsoft Camera Enhancer, and Dynamsoft Barcode Reader.

Key Takeaways

  • SwiftUI apps can integrate a full-featured barcode and QR code scanner by wrapping Dynamsoft’s CameraView in a UIViewRepresentable struct.
  • Dynamsoft Camera Enhancer manages the camera session while Dynamsoft Barcode Reader decodes QR Code, DataMatrix, PDF417, and 20+ other symbologies from each frame.
  • The CapturedResultReceiver protocol delivers decoded results asynchronously, making it straightforward to update the SwiftUI view in real time.
  • This approach works on all Apple Silicon Macs (M1 through M4) and deploys to any iPhone or iPad running iOS 13+.

Common Developer Questions

  • How do I scan QR codes from the camera in a SwiftUI iOS app?
  • What is the fastest way to add barcode scanning to an iOS project using CocoaPods?
  • How do I wrap a UIKit camera view in SwiftUI with UIViewRepresentable?

This article is Part 1 in a 6-Part Series.

Demo Video: iOS SwiftUI Barcode and QR Code Scanner

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following tools and resources:

  • Xcode: The integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, required for iOS app development.

  • CocoaPods: A dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects. Follow these steps to install:

    1. Install Homebrew (if not already installed) by running the following command in your terminal:

       /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

    2. Install CocoaPods using Homebrew with the command below:

       brew install cocoapods
  • A Trial License Key for the Dynamsoft iOS Barcode SDK. Get a 30-day free trial license to unlock the full capabilities of the SDK for development and testing.

Build an iOS QR Code Scanner with SwiftUI Step by Step

Dynamsoft Camera Enhancer provides a camera view that simplifies starting a camera session with just a few lines of Swift code. The SDK can work alongside Dynamsoft Barcode Reader to decode various barcode types, including QR codes, DataMatrix, PDF417, and more, directly from the camera frame. The following sections will guide you through integrating the camera view and barcode reader into a SwiftUI project step by step.

Step 1: Initialize CocoaPods and Install Dependencies

  1. Create a new iOS SwiftUI project and name it qrscanner.
  2. Navigate to your Xcode project directory in the terminal.

  3. Execute the following command to create a Podfile file, which will manage your project’s dependencies:

     pod init

  4. In the Podfile, include the DynamsoftCore, DynamsoftImageProcessing, DynamsoftLicense, DynamsoftBarcodeReader, DynamsoftCaptureVisionRouter and DynamsoftCameraEnhancer modules:

     target 'qrscanner' do
     use_frameworks!
    
     pod 'DynamsoftCore','3.0.20'
     pod 'DynamsoftImageProcessing','2.0.21'
     pod 'DynamsoftLicense','3.0.30'
     pod 'DynamsoftBarcodeReader','10.0.21'
     pod 'DynamsoftCaptureVisionRouter','2.0.21'
     pod 'DynamsoftCameraEnhancer','4.0.2'
 end

  5. Install the specified dependencies:

     pod install

  6. To proceed, open the qrscanner.xcworkspace file in Xcode:

     open qrscanner.xcworkspace

Step 2: Configure Camera Access Permission

Navigate to TARGETS > Info tab in Xcode and add the key Privacy - Camera Usage Description:

Privacy - Camera Usage Description

iOS camera access permission

Step 3: Set the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader License Key

The official sample code for the Dynamsoft iOS Barcode SDK is written using Storyboard and UIKit, initializing the license key in the AppDelegate.swift file. Unlike UIKit, SwiftUI does not use an AppDelegate.swift file by default for app lifecycle management. However, you can still implement similar functionality in SwiftUI using the App protocol and the @UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor property wrapper to integrate UIKit AppDelegate functionality.

  1. Add an AppDelegate.swift file to your project and configure the DynamsoftBarcodeReader license key within the application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method:

     import UIKit
 import DynamsoftLicense
    
 class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate, LicenseVerificationListener {
    
     func onLicenseVerified(_ isSuccess: Bool, error: Error?) {
         if !isSuccess {
             if let error = error {
                 print("\(error.localizedDescription)")
             }
         }
     }
    
     func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
         // Request a trial license: https://www.dynamsoft.com/customer/license/trialLicense/?product=dcv&package=cross-platform
         LicenseManager.initLicense("LICENSE-KEY", verificationDelegate: self)
         return true
     }
 }

    Remember to replace LICENSE-KEY with your actual Dynamsoft Barcode Reader license key.

  2. In your qrscannerApp.swift file, utilize the @UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor to designate your AppDelegate class as the delegate for UIApplication. This step integrates your AppDelegate with the SwiftUI app lifecycle.

     import SwiftUI

 @main
 struct qrscannerApp: App {
     @UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate
    
     var body: some Scene {
         WindowGroup {
             ContentView()
         }
     }
 }

Step 4: Integrate the Barcode Reader with Camera Enhancer

  1. Create a CameraManager.swift file:

     import Foundation
 import UIKit
 import DynamsoftCameraEnhancer
 import DynamsoftCaptureVisionRouter
 import DynamsoftBarcodeReader
 import DynamsoftCore
    
 class CameraManager: NSObject, ObservableObject, CapturedResultReceiver {
     @Published var results = "No QR Code found"
     private var cameraView:CameraView!
 }

    The CapturedResultReceiver protocol is utilized to receive captured results from the camera frame.

     func onDecodedBarcodesReceived(_ result: DecodedBarcodesResult) {
     var message = ""
        
     if let items = result.items, items.count > 0 {
         let layer = cameraView.getDrawingLayer(DrawingLayerId.DBR.rawValue)
         layer?.clearDrawingItems()
         for item in items {
             message += String(format:"\nFormat: %@\nText: %@\n", item.formatString, item.text)
             let quadDrawingItem = QuadDrawingItem.init(quadrilateral: item.location)
             let textDrawingItem = TextDrawingItem.init(text: item.text, topLeftPoint: item.location.points[0] as! CGPoint, width: 100, height: 10)
             layer?.addDrawingItems([quadDrawingItem, textDrawingItem])
         }
     }
        
     DispatchQueue.main.async {
         self.results = message
     }
 }

  2. Instantiate DynamsoftCameraEnhancer and bind it with a CameraView instance. The CameraView is a UIView subclass that contains the camera view and drawing layers for displaying the barcode results. The DynamsoftCaptureVisionRouter wraps the barcode reader to process the camera frames and decode the barcodes:

     private var dce = CameraEnhancer()
 private var cvr = CaptureVisionRouter()
    
 init(frame: CGRect) {
     super.init()
     setUpCamera(frame: frame)
     setUpDCV()
 }
    
 func setUpCamera(frame: CGRect) {
     cameraView = .init(frame: frame)
     cameraView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
     let layer = cameraView.getDrawingLayer(DrawingLayerId.DBR.rawValue)
     layer?.visible = true
     dce.cameraView = cameraView
 }
    
 func setUpDCV() {
     // Set the camera enhancer as the input.
     try! cvr.setInput(dce)
     // Add CapturedResultReceiver to receive the result callback when a video frame is processed.
     cvr.addResultReceiver(self)
 }
    
 func getCameraView() -> CameraView { 
     return cameraView
 }

  3. Manage the view lifecycle to switch the camera session on and off:

     func viewDidAppear() {
     dce.open()
     cvr.startCapturing(PresetTemplate.readBarcodes.rawValue) { isSuccess, error in
         if (!isSuccess) {
             if let error = error {
                 self.showResult("Error", error.localizedDescription)
             }
         }
     }
 }

 func viewDidDisappear() {
     dce.close()
     cvr.stopCapturing()
 }

Step 5: Create a SwiftUI Camera View for QR Code Scanning

Since CameraView is a UIView subclass, it needs to be wrapped in a UIViewRepresentable struct for use in SwiftUI.

import Foundation
import SwiftUI
import DynamsoftCameraEnhancer

struct DynamsoftCameraView: UIViewRepresentable {
    var cameraManager: CameraManager
    func makeUIView(context: Context) -> CameraView {
        let dceView = cameraManager.getCameraView()
        return dceView
    }

    func updateUIView(_ uiView: CameraView, context: Context) {
        
    }
}

Step 6: Construct the SwiftUI View Hierarchy

In the ContentView.swift file, create a ContentView struct containing a DynamsoftCameraView instance.

import SwiftUI

struct ContentView: View {
    @ObservedObject private var cameraManager = CameraManager(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: UIScreen.main.bounds.width, height: UIScreen.main.bounds.height))
    
    var body: some View {
        ZStack() {
            DynamsoftCameraView(cameraManager: cameraManager).onAppear() {
                cameraManager.viewDidAppear()
            }.onDisappear(){
                cameraManager.viewDidDisappear()
            }
            VStack {
                Text("iOS QR Code Scanner").font(.title).foregroundColor(.orange)
                Spacer()
            }
        }
    }
}

struct ContentView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
    static var previews: some View {
        ContentView()
    }
}

Step 7: Deploy and Test the Scanner on iPhone or iPad

Configure the signing settings for your Xcode project, then deploy and test the app on a physical device.

ios swiftui camera qr code scanner

Common Issues and Edge Cases

  • Camera permission denied at runtime: If the user taps “Don’t Allow” on the camera prompt, the preview stays black with no error. Check AVCaptureDevice.authorizationStatus(for: .video) and show an alert directing the user to Settings > Privacy > Camera.
  • CocoaPods install fails on Apple Silicon: Running pod install in a Rosetta terminal can produce architecture mismatches. Always use a native ARM terminal and ensure you run arch -arm64 pod install if you encounter CDN: trunk or linker errors.
  • Barcode overlay misaligned on different screen sizes: The CameraView frame is set from UIScreen.main.bounds at init time. If the device rotates or the view resizes, the overlay coordinates may drift. Handle rotation by updating the frame in updateUIView or locking the orientation in your target settings.

Source Code

https://github.com/yushulx/ios-swiftui-barcode-mrz-document-scanner/tree/main/examples/barcode