The QR codes are very useful for sharing information, such as contact cards or access to the WiFi network. Reading them requires a phone, although an application is not essential: the iPhone has everything you need to capture them on the fly . For QR in a photo, things change, but it is not much more complicated: we recommend a simple app.
Visual codes have been with us for many years. So much so, that they have evolved from (one-dimensional) barcodes to current, and often complex, (two-dimensional) QR codes: a lot of information can be hidden within a set of black and white squares . And it only takes the camera of a telephone to find out what it puts in the code; without making it essential to use apps for basic reading: the iPhone is enough and more than enough for it.
How to read QR codes on the fly on iPhone without installing apps
Apple introduced the ability to read QR codes with iOS 11, almost three years ago. In this way, the mobiles gained a native reading system, but always on the fly and using the camera. That is, you cannot read the QR code of a photograph stored on the reel , you can see what the QR hides if it is pointed at with the iPhone camera.
There are two ways to read QR codes on iOS devices without installing apps: with the native camera option and via the web. Let’s start with the first one:
- Open the iPhone camera app.
- Point the camera at the QR. Keep enough distance for the code to be clearly seen.
- The camera will automatically read the code and print what it hides on the screen. If it is a text, you can search it on the web (also copy it from the search drawer); if it is a link you can click on it to open it in Safari.
This is the simple and fast way to access the reading of QR codes on iOS devices with a camera. With the capture application, you have enough, although you may be looking for an alternative way. And without downloading applications from the App Store:
- Open Safari and access this web page: a QR code reader will open.
- Click on the share icon and then on ‘Add to home screen’. Confirm with ‘Add’: the QR page is a progressive web application. It will be downloaded to your iPhone as one more app, although dependent on the browser.
- Once added to the home, just click on the icon each time you want to read a QR code: the progressive web application will open to scan it.
With the progressive web application you have a true QR code reader on your mobile and without having downloaded anything from the App Store: you always use Safari. The problem is that there is no way to read the QR codes that are in a photo: if they sent you one by message, and you want to read it from your iPhone, you will have to use a separate application. Or capture it from another phone, a cumbersome option that you won’t always have available.
How to read the QR of a photo on iPhone
To read the QR of the images, an application is necessary since there is no way to obtain the functionality natively. There are many apps that are valid for the task, most of them full of ads and even subscriptions (yes, subscription to read QR codes, the absurd). After doing a screening we are left with NeoReader: it is free, it does not have too many ads and it is worth as much to capture QR with a camera as to read them from a photo.
Once you have NeoReader installed, open the application, avoid the location permission (the app works the same) and click on the camera icon, top right. Choose the image you have in the gallery and NeoReader will reveal what is hidden in its QR code. Of course, you will have to go to the ‘History’ section, at the bottom of the app: there is a list of readings.