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Mobile Capture ​

What this guide covers ​

The three-step mobile workflow for scanning a box, photographing its items, and uploading them — all from a phone.

Prerequisites ​

  • A smartphone with a camera and a browser pointed at your ItemChaos instance
  • At least one box with a QR label printed (or know the Box ID to type it)
  • Camera permissions granted in your browser

Opening the page ​

Tap Mobile Add Items in the nav menu (tap the hamburger ≡ on mobile). The page opens at Step 1.

Step 1 — Scan Box QR Code ​

The page shows a QR scanner viewfinder (or a "Start Scanner" button, depending on your browser's auto-launch behavior).

Option A — QR scan: Point your camera at the QR label on the box. When the code is read, you hear a beep and see:

  • "Box {ID} selected!" — box already exists in the system
  • "New box {ID} will be created!" — box ID not in the system; it will be created on upload

Option B — Manual box selection: Use the BoxAutocomplete field below the scanner to pick a box by ID or name. Tap a result to select it.

Once a box is selected the page advances to Step 2.

Step 2 — Capture Item Photos ​

Tap the camera shutter button (or the file picker, depending on your device) to photograph each item. After each capture:

  • The image appears in the list with its MD5 hash
  • A beep plays confirming the capture

Repeat for each item in the box. You can capture multiple items before uploading.

To remove a photo before uploading: tap the remove/trash icon next to it in the list.

Step 3 — Review & Upload ​

When you are done capturing, tap Upload (or the upload button). The system:

  1. Computes the MD5 hash of each photo.
  2. Skips photos with a hash already in the database (duplicate detection).
  3. Uploads the rest and creates items in the selected box.

The page shows a completion screen listing how many photos were uploaded successfully.

Tap Start Over to go back to Step 1 and scan another box.

Troubleshooting ​

Camera not working / scanner doesn't start Grant camera permissions when the browser prompts. On iOS, this requires Safari; Chrome on iOS may not support camera access. On Android, Chrome works.

"Box not found" and no new box is created If the scanned QR does not match the $BX@ prefix format that ItemChaos boxes use, the text is used as-is for the Box ID. A new box will be created. If this is unexpected, check the label format.

Photos upload to the wrong box Only one box is active at a time in Step 2. If you switch boxes mid-session, tap Start Over and rescan the correct box.

Duplicate photos skipped unexpectedly The same photo file (identical bytes, same hash) taken twice in the same session will be deduplicated. This is by design.

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