A pill counting app for the pharmacy bench

Try it on your next tray

The free pill counter works in the browser on any phone at the bench. Spread the fill on your counting tray, take one photo from straight above, and it puts a dot on every tablet or capsule. Unsure spots get an orange ring, so you know where to look.

Nothing is uploaded. The model runs on the phone, so a photo with a patient label in it never leaves the device.

Open the free counter

Where a photo count fits in the workflow

Counting by fives on a tray is reliable but slow, and a miscount is easy when you're interrupted. A photo count is a second, independent method:

• As a second count on a fill. Count your usual way, then photograph the tray. If the two agree, two different methods stand behind the number. If they don't, recount.
• For partial bottles. Returns, stock checks and partial fills where counting a few hundred tablets by hand takes minutes.
• For counts you have to document. A photo with the dots on it is a record of what was on the tray.

It never replaces your pharmacy's procedure or the pharmacist's final check. It is a tool for the technician doing the count.

What the CountPill app adds for pharmacies

• Rx quantity check. Set the quantity (one tap for 14, 28, 30, 60, 90 and so on) and the count shows "Need 4 more", "Matches" or "2 too many".
• More than one tray. + Tray adds the next photo to the same fill and keeps a running total.
• Stock-bottle barcode. The camera reads the UPC or GS1 DataMatrix and names the drug offline from the FDA NDC directory, with lot and expiry. Expired stock is flagged.
• Rx label check. It reads the label's quantity and drug and warns when the stock bottle doesn't match: "Wrong bottle?"
• Double counts for controlled drugs. For Schedule II to V drugs it asks for a recount of the re-spread pills and keeps both counts, including any mismatch.
• Records. Initials on each count, search by drug, NDC or Rx number, a CSV count log and a PDF report per fill with photos, lot and expiry.

Why a double count of re-spread pills? In our testing on 167 photos of test trays the model never trained on, a single photo count was wrong 2.4% of the time, and no double count where both counts agreed was wrong. Two photos of the same unmoved heap don't give that protection, because they tend to make the same mistake.

Get notified when the app launches

Photo routine for the bench

1. Use a tray with a plain, contrasting colour. Green or blue trays work well with white tablets.
2. Spread to one layer with the spatula. No stacking, no pills resting on the tray's chute.
3. Hold the phone flat, high enough to fit the whole tray.
4. Turn the flash off and avoid harsh overhead glare.
5. Check the orange rings first, then the edges of the tray.

More detail: how to count pills with your phone camera and tray vs counting machine vs app.