Introducing Scannables

Joel Oliveira
Joel Oliveira
Oct 4 2017
Posted in Product Updates

Enabling your users to unlock new content

Introducing Scannables

It's here! A whole new way of unlocking content in your app: we're proudly announcing the official release of our latest product... Scannables.

More Contextual Than Ever!

For a long time we've recognized that Near-Field Communication tags could enable a new type of interactions in your app. However, due to lack of support in iOS we could only do this in Android devices which dramatically reduced the reach of these features. With the launch of iOS 11 and iPhone 7, Apple joined the game and opened the door to a whole new way of unlocking content for physical objects. Simply by adding a printable NFC tag to your products, you will allow your store or venue visitors to unlock content with your app by simply tapping (if device supports NFC) or scanning a QR Code (for older devices without NFC support) printed on those tags.

How does it work?

In our dashboard you can now create Scannable Tags which may or may not contain content. If you choose to add content to your tags (which works pretty much the same as creating rich and actionable notifications), you will be enabling your users to unlock new content.

If you use our latest SDK, your iOS and Android app will already have this feature built-in. Your app can either start a NFC scanning session or use the device camera (when NFC not supported) to scan a QR Code. If the code embedded in those tags is found, users will be presented with the content attached to it, or if you choose to not add any content, your developer can also enable other types of interactions for these scannable moments.

Tap or Scan

The best part is that, one way or the other, all these interactions will be tracked and stats will be computed and presented in our dashboard allowing you to measure the usage of this functionality.

What can I do with it?

There's several use cases for this kind of functionality. By taking advantage of our rich and actionable content you can now offer the following whenever users tap or scan a tag:

  • Ask and collect feedback for a product
  • Unlock a product data sheet with information about a physical object
  • Impress your users with rich media like video content without expensive in-store displays
  • Distribute Wallet passes on-the-fly
  • Provide directions using the Map native capabilities of your app
  • Request your users to rate your app or promote new apps

And if you're planning to build your own interactions you can trigger any functionality in your app or back-end with a simple tap or scan interaction.

Can I use it?

These features are included in all our plans and you can start using them today without any extra cost. Follow our dashboard guides located here to start creating Scannables and learn how to implement it in iOS or Android.

What are you waiting for, download our latest SDK and start creating your Scannables today!

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