'Flow Powered by Amazon' Is Dime A Dozen Product ID App

Flow Powered by Amazon is yet another product  identification app, and not the best one. Its main distinguishing feature is for popular products like books, DVDs, and videogames, it can ID a product simply by looking at the cover, without scanning the barcode (although it works best by scanning barcodes). But these products are common enough for barcode scanning technology to work effectively.

After the app recognizes a product by framing it in the iOS device's camera viewer, it automatically provides a link to purchase it on Amazon. The link also has all the usual features of an Amazon product page—shipping costs, product description, buyer reviews, and related products. It’s a quick way to do what many people do already: find a product in a store and then buy it on the internet. But with Flow, you can only buy it on Amazon.

The technology is impressive but unnecessary. Other product identification apps like Scanner and Quick Scan offer price listings for a wide variety of websites (Scanner has local store listings as well) and the ability to buy from any of them. If you’re like me and you use Amazon for most of your internet shopping anyway, this might not matter too much. But among a seemingly infinite number of barcode-scanning apps that offer price comparisons and the ability to buy online, Flow doesn’t measure up. AppPicker Rating: 3 / 5 Stars Pick It Up in the App Store: Flow Powered by Amazon Other apps by Amazon (this app is made by A9 Innovations, an Amazon subsidiary)