QR codes don’t only live on posters. People send them in WhatsApp chats, emails, boarding pass screenshots and PDFs. And when the code is already on your phone, you can’t point that same phone’s camera at it.
The fix is simple: read the code from the image itself. Here’s how on every device.
On iPhone: Photos and Live Text
Live Text lets the Photos app find text and codes in your pictures. It works on iPhone XS, XR and newer.
- Take a screenshot (press the side button and volume up together) or save the photo.
- Open it in Photos.
- Tap the Live Text button in the corner of the image (a small square with lines). If you don’t see it, touch and hold the QR code itself.
- Tap the link or the “Open” option that appears.
If nothing happens, crop the picture so the code is bigger, or make sure the code is sharp. Live Text is built for reading text, so a small or blurry code can be missed.
On Android: Google Lens
- Open the image in Google Photos.
- Tap Lens at the bottom.
- Tap the link Lens shows.
You can do the same from the Google app: tap the camera icon in the search bar and pick the image from your gallery. The Google app is also on iPhone, so this works there too.
On a computer: an online scanner
When the code is on your laptop (in an email, a PDF or a website), you have two options:
- Point your phone’s camera at the screen. Lower the screen brightness if you see stripes.
- Or save the image and drop it into an online QR code scanner. Ours reads the code in your browser, so the picture is never uploaded.
With a scanner app
A scanner app reads codes from your photo library directly, so you skip the Photos and Lens steps. It also handles barcodes, which Live Text and Lens don’t always read.
In QR Code Scan Kit, tap Photos in the scanner and pick the image. The app finds the QR codes and barcodes in it and shows each one with the full address. It can read many photos in one go, which helps when you’ve saved a batch of tickets or labels.
Check the link before you open it
A code in a screenshot is just as easy to fake as a sticker on a parking meter. Scammers send QR codes by email and text precisely because many people scan them without thinking. The US Federal Trade Commission advises not to scan a QR code in an email or text you weren’t expecting, especially one that pushes you to act fast (FTC consumer alert).
Before you tap, read the whole web address. Our guide on how to spot a fake QR code shows what to look for.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission: Scammers hide harmful links in QR codes to steal your information (6 December 2023)
- Apple Support: Scan a QR code with your iPhone or iPad
