8

I know Windows Phone 8.1 moved Bing Vision from being a Cortana feature, to being a Camera Lens. However, I've just upgraded to a Lumia 950 (with Windows Phone 10) and I cannot find Bing Vision anywhere.

I double-checked Cortana and don't see anything there. I checked the Camera app, and found that no Lenses were pre-installed at all.

I followed the link from there to the Store, to hopefully re-install Bing Vision from there. However, while there appear to be some third-party apps which may suffice, I can't find Bing Vision there either.

Is there no longer a Lens app from Microsoft that has OCR and barcode/QR reading capabilities? Or has the feature been moved again to somewhere I just haven't found yet?

Improve this question
1
10

Unfortunately the Bing Vision feature has been removed from Windows 10 Mobile for now. There's currently no official statement from Microsoft whether it will be added later or not.

There are already several requests to bring back Bing Vision in the Windows Feedback app you might want to vote for.

Until then you would have to use a 3rd party app from the store. My current personal favorite is QR Scanner RS.

Improve this answer
2
  • Does QR Scanner RS have a comparable feature set? (See Iszi's answer for Bing Vision's feature set.)
    – Kyle Strand
    Feb 3 '16 at 21:34
  • this app supports Barcodes and QR Codes. Microsoft Tags are basically dead and the Books / CDs / DVDs feature has been removed from Bing Vision quite a while ago (Update to 8.1 i think)
    – Thomas
    Feb 3 '16 at 22:07
2

It appears, after having gradually been pushed into the background and having its functionality reduced, Bing Vision is being killed off. I haven't found any official announcements from Microsoft yet, but Windows Central has a few articles covering the saga.

According to Windows Central, in Windows Phone 8, Bing Vision could scan:

  • Barcodes
  • QR Codes
  • Microsoft Tags
  • Books
  • CDs
  • DVDs

I also personally recall some amount of OCR capability being available as well. Whether that capability persisted into the final version of Bing Vision or not, I'm not certain.

Per the same article, Microsoft Tag scanning was removed in Windows Phone 8.1 Preview but all of the other features listed in the above bullets were retained. By the final release of 8.1 Lumia Cyan, Bing Vision was demoted to just being a QR scanner.

Also (as I mentioned in the question), around the same time, the feature was removed from the phone's primary search app. It used to be a part of the Bing app, but Bing was replaced by Cortana in 8.1 and the Bing Vision functionality was moved to a lens. (Windows Central article here.)

Now, it seems the app isn't available at all in Windows Phone 10. Windows Central confirms this (though not citing any Microsoft announcements), and suggests a couple replacement options. For now, I've gone with QR Scanner+.

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    Someone mind 'splaining the down-vote? I know @Thomas' answer is roughly the same. However, mine was independently researched and drafted without knowledge that his was posted. And, I believe, it contains sufficient information (and references) to qualify as a distinct answer on its own.
    – Iszi
    Feb 3 '16 at 19:23
  • I fixed it :) .
    – Cullub
    Feb 3 '16 at 21:10
  • It's not just the downvote; it's the fact that at least 6 people upvoted the other answer who didn't upvote this one. I don't really get that.
    – Kyle Strand
    Feb 3 '16 at 21:35
  • First off, the downvote wasn't mine ;-) I think this answer is good, but has a lot of unnecessary information to read through when you only want to know "Where's Bing Vision in Windows Phone 10?"
    – Thomas
    Feb 3 '16 at 22:09

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.