Hi @MikeMueller,
@UCantBcereus is correct. the Apps library is and always has been a collection of functions that are identical on the hsl level to commonly used functions in other default libraries. I think it was just made for ease of use and finding some of the most common functions all within a single library. Another benefit of using it is that you can get the one function you need from a handful of libraries without having to include all of those libraries and thus add to the size of the entire method otherwise.
Have you considered just using the step return library? Check out this thread where I showed how to use that library to retrieve barcodes from a load step:
When parsing the bound return variable you can then just place each read barcode into an array as a variable.
Matt