AssetCenter
One label, one record
A scan is matched against both the asset tag and the serial number, so whichever code is on the item finds it.
Barcode asset tracking software: Point the camera. Get the record.
Scan a printed barcode or QR label with the phone already in your pocket and land on that asset’s record, ready to change who has it, log a repair, or note the damage you are looking at.
Free for 25 assets with no time limit · No scanner hardware required
A barcode is an answer to one question: which record is this?
Everything useful happens in the seconds after the scan. The value is in the update that follows, not the label itself.
Update where the work is
Reassign, move, log a repair, or record condition standing in front of the asset rather than back at a desk.
Nothing overwritten
Each scan-driven change joins the timeline instead of replacing what the record said before it.
After the scan
The scan opens the record, not a search box.
Hold the camera to the code and the record opens as soon as it resolves — there is no shutter button to press. From there the actions button logs an event, changes an assignment, or adds a note.
If the code matches nothing yet, AssetCenter offers to create the asset with that code already in the asset tag field. Receiving becomes: unbox it, scan the manufacturer barcode, fill in the category and name. The record starts life with its real tag attached rather than one typed in from memory a week later.
A barcode identifies an item; it does not report where the item is. The location on the record is the one a person last recorded. For assets that must report their own position, optional GPS tracking covers that separately.
Read the barcode scanning manualHow it fits together
How a barcode asset tracking system works
Every barcode asset tracking system has the same four parts. The first three are easy to buy. The fourth is the one that decides whether the records stay true.
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1
A label on each asset
A barcode or QR code carrying a unique asset tag, printed on a material that survives where the asset lives. The manufacturer's serial-number barcode can serve too.
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2
Something to read it
A phone or tablet camera for most teams. Dedicated scanners only earn their cost when scan volume or the working environment demands them.
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3
A record behind the code
The asset's identity, current person and location, condition, costs, documents and history, so the scan lands on answers rather than a bare ID.
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4
An update at every handoff
Checkouts, returns, transfers, repairs and counts recorded at the moment they happen. Without this step, the labels are only decoration.
What you actually need to buy
Labels. That is the whole shopping list.
Most teams are quoted scanners, docks and a rugged handheld before anyone has scanned a single asset. Start with printed labels and the phones your team already carries, and let real volume decide whether hardware is ever justified.
The phone in the pocket
Scanning runs through the device camera on any phone or tablet, iPhone or Android. Add AssetCenter to the home screen and it opens like an app.
Labels you print yourself
Barcode or QR, on the material the environment demands. Durability and placement matter far more than which symbology you pick. Our free asset tag generator prints them on standard label sheets.
A plan for failed scans
Labels get painted over, peeled off and worn illegible. Serial-number matching and search cover the gap, and a reprint route keeps the exception from becoming a lost asset.
What AssetCenter barcode tracking covers
Camera-read labels wired into the asset record, so a scan starts an update rather than a search.
Camera scanning
Printed barcode and QR labels read through a phone or tablet camera, matched on asset tag or serial number.
Scan-driven updates
Assignments, transfers, maintenance, repairs, condition changes and notes recorded at the point of work.
Create on scan
An unrecognised code can open a new asset form with the scanned tag already filled in.
Scope: The scan button appears at phone and tablet widths, because it works through the device camera. AssetCenter does not provide RFID portals, BLE locating, quantity-based warehouse stock control, or a self-hosted open-source edition.
Label the working set first
Do not label everything you own.
A rollout that starts by tagging every asset in the building usually stalls halfway through, leaving half a system nobody trusts. Label the equipment that actually moves, prove the workflow, then widen it.
- Import the register from Excel before a single label is printed
- Tag as you verify, so labelling doubles as a first inventory count
- Let receiving create records by scanning the manufacturer barcode
- Decide who reprints a damaged label before you need the answer
A practical first rollout
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1
Pick the category that moves
Whatever gets borrowed, shared or lost most often earns its label first.
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2
Choose material before symbology
Match the label to heat, solvents, sunlight and handling. Barcode or QR matters far less.
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3
Scan-test in the real place
Try it in the dim corner of the store room and the back of the van, not at a desk.
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4
Agree the exception path
Name who handles an unreadable label, an untagged item and a code that matches nothing.
Barcode asset tracking software FAQs
It is four parts working together: a barcode or QR label on each asset, a device that reads it, a software record behind each code, and a habit of updating that record at every checkout, return, transfer, repair and count. The labels and scanners are the easy part; the update routine is what keeps the records accurate.
A phone or tablet is enough. The scan button opens the device camera and reads the code as soon as the camera resolves it, with no shutter button and no separate hardware. The button appears only at phone and tablet widths, because it is meant to be used while standing in front of the asset. Buy dedicated scanners later if volume or the working environment justifies them.
AssetCenter matches a scanned code against both the asset tag and the serial number, so either one finds the record. If nothing matches, it offers to create the asset with the scanned code already filled into the asset tag field. That is what makes receiving quick: unbox the equipment, scan the manufacturer barcode, and the record starts with its real tag rather than one typed in later.
Yes. The Free account covers up to 25 assets with no time limit, and scanning is not held back for paid plans. Printing your own labels and scanning them with phones you already own means a first rollout can cost nothing beyond the labels themselves.
AssetCenter runs in the phone's browser and installs to the home screen of an iPhone, iPad or Android device, where it opens like an app and scans through the camera. There is no App Store download yet; the home-screen version gives the same scanning and record updates.
Either works, and AssetCenter reads both. QR codes scan from any angle and fit more easily on small or curved items; linear barcodes are what most manufacturer serial labels already use. The label material and where you place it matter far more than the code type.
No. A barcode identifies an item; it does not report position. The location on the record is the one a person recorded at the last scan or assignment. For assets that must report their own position, optional GPS tracking adds reported positions and route replay for compatible trackers.
No. AssetCenter reads printed barcode and QR labels through a device camera. It does not provide RFID portals, BLE locating, or quantity-based warehouse stock control, and it is a managed product rather than an open-source application you host yourself.
Plan the workflow before the labels arrive
Choose durable identifiers, design the update that follows each scan, and decide how exceptions get resolved.
Scanning guide
Barcode asset tracking software
How labels, phone cameras, records and operating updates fit into one scanning workflow.
Labeling guideAsset tags for equipment
Choose label materials, barcode or QR formats, numbering and placement for the real environment.
Counting guidePhysical asset inventory checklist
Run a scan-based count, record discrepancies and approve corrections without erasing the evidence.
Cost guideRFID asset tracking
When radio tags justify their readers, and when printed barcode labels are the better buy.
Migration guideMove off the asset spreadsheet
Clean and import the records you already have so every new label points at a trustworthy record.
Scan it, and the record is already open.
Import the register, print labels for the equipment that moves, and start recording each handoff from the phone already in your pocket.
Free for 25 assets with no time limit · 14-day trials on paid plans