On Scanning QR Codes With Your iPhone
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/06/19/qr-codes-iphone

@daringfireball a thing that irks me is that you still need a separate app if you want to scan a qr code in an image in your phone. afaik there is no equivalent of “tap to ocr” for qr codes

@daringfireball The iOS 17 update is nice, but iOS 16 has had a more convenient button in the Camera app in the bottom-right. It’s just not super noticeable. It even provides a bunch of options for the QR code link!

@daringfireball oh thank god

@daringfireball I wish the QR scanner in control center would support automatic macro. For small QR codes I often have to switch to the camera app.

@daringfireball I’ll add that you can easily invoke the Control Center with double-tap on the back of the phone. Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap.

Or you can grope for the corner of your massive phone or two-hand it like a savage. 😜

@daringfireball The big problem with the dedicated QR scanner is that it opens links in an in-app browser that goes away if you switch apps.

So, e.g., if you want to use it for a restaurant menu, and then go to Messages, the menu is gone.

I used it for a while but ended up going back to the Camera app, which properly directs links to Safari...

@daringfireball my iPhone X (running iOS 16.5) still has the push-notification style interface. I had no idea there was a new interface.

@daringfireball Instead of hunting the floating yellow target you can just tap the QR code itself once the yellow label shows up.

@daringfireball TIL - thank you!

@daringfireball I did not know that, that was really the most helpful thing I read on the Internet all day!

@daringfireball You can also get to the code scanner from spotlight. Even though I have it in my control centre, I find myself often searching for "scan”.

Another curiosity: During the beta a couple of years ago, the Code Scanner would work on lots of codes, including Datamatrix. For some reason, when the final version was released, it only included QR Code support. It's a bit of shame. It might be because GS1 recommends QR for data meant to be read by the consumer and datamatrix for other.

@daringfireball you used to be able to ask Siri to “Scan a QR code*”, and would open the QR Scanner app, but that broke in iOS 16. Hopefully it will also be restored in iOS 17…

*In Spanish, “Lee un código QR”.

@daringfireball @gruber

Scanning a QR code from the Photos app is still a pain.

In India, we have payment apps that allow scanning QR codes from the Photos and the same would have been a nice addition in the iOS 17 Code Scanner app.

@daringfireball You can always just point the camera away from the code (after it’s scanned) and the link will float to the bottom.

@daringfireball @gruber the problem with using the control center QR scanner is that if the phone goes to sleep, you simply lose the page you were in and what you were doing.

@daringfireball I check QR codes quite a bit at work and had no idea there was this better way…

@janakj @daringfireball yes this is unfortunate

@janakj @daringfireball Also, the dedicated QR scanner seems to automatically open the URL without previewing it and letting you decide if you want to go to site, which, in some cases, might be a thing you very much do not want to do.

@mgiraldo @daringfireball they’re recognized in photos.app though! i discovered that this year when we kept getting them texted or emailed to us for school things

@nsfmc @daringfireball iOS? desktop?

@mgiraldo @daringfireball ios, haven’t tried desktop 😬