QR Code Scanner

A QR code on your own screen can't be scanned with the same phone's camera. Take a screenshot instead and open it here, or on a computer press Print Screen or use the snipping tool and paste the picture with Ctrl+V. The scanner reads codes even when they are small, rotated or white on black, as long as the code is sharp and complete.

A QR code is just text, but some kinds of text follow a pattern that phones understand.

Criminals stick fake QR codes on parking meters, posters and restaurant tables, or send them by message, to lead people to fake payment or login pages. Before opening a link, check that the website name is the one you expect. For UPI codes, remember that you never need to scan a code or enter your UPI PIN to receive money; a code that asks you to do that to get a refund or a prize is a scam. This scanner never opens anything by itself.

Allow the camera when the browser asks. Hold the code about 15 to 30 cm away, inside the frame, with good light and no glare. On phones the back camera is used; on a laptop, choose another camera from the list if you have several. Turn on Keep scanning to read several codes one after another. The camera picture is processed on your device and nothing is recorded.

Most failures come from the picture rather than the code. Make sure the whole code is visible, including the quiet white border around it, and that it is in focus; move the camera back a little if it cannot focus close up. Avoid glare from glossy paper or screens by tilting the code slightly, and add light in dark rooms. Very small or blurry codes in screenshots can be enlarged before saving. Damaged or partly covered codes can often still be read, because QR codes contain extra error-correction data. If a code still cannot be read, it may be a different kind of code, such as a barcode on a product, which needs a barcode scanner instead.