Readit NewsI recently visited Singapore and ran into a specific "walled garden" problem. The country is almost entirely cashless, running on a national QR standard called PayNow (based on EMVCo specifications).
While locals scan these easily, travelers using foreign banking apps (like Wise, or generic banking apps) often hit a wall. Our apps usually reject the local PayNow/SGQR codes as "Invalid" because they don't know how to parse the proprietary fields in the payload, even though the underlying transfer network might be compatible (or at least allow manual transfers).
I got tired of not being able to pay at hawker centers, so I built SnapUEN as a bridge. (Hawker centers / some local shops mostly accept cash or QR payment only. They don't accept cards.)
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What it does: It’s a native iOS utility that scans the raw SGQR code, parses the EMVCo string locally, and extracts the key payment fields:
- UEN (Unique Entity Number) or VPA (Virtual Payment Address)
- Mobile Number (for P2P transfers)
- Transaction Amount (if embedded)
- Bill Reference (if embedded)
You can then copy these fields and paste them into your preferred banking app to initiate the transfer.
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Technical / Privacy:
- 100% Offline: The parsing logic is contained within the app; no data is sent to any server.
- No Tracking: I don't store or collect any transaction logs.
- VPA Support: Added support for proxy types beyond just UENs to handle newer e-wallets.
- It’s a niche utility, but it solves a frustrating "last mile" interoperability problem for digital nomads and tourists.
Happy to answer any questions about the app!
But yea, one big issue is that it would limit how you shoot the video as well. If the camera accidentally catches the sun or a bright surface reflection, the exposure shift could throw off the depth estimation. Maybe locking exposure/white balance settings could help, but it would still be tricky. Definitely an interesting problem to tackle! Thanks for sharing! :)