4 ms·

What surprised here is that Android doesn’t have a native QR scanner. I’ve always assumed that iOS was late to the game and that Google Search/Lens handled QRs

What surprised here is that Android doesn’t have a native QR scanner. I’ve always assumed that iOS was late to the game and that Google Search/Lens handled QRs since 1999. Is that not the case (anymore)?

technion 6y ago
My Huawei phone actually does come with a QR scanner. You just have to open the built in camera app, then click this icon[0]. It defaults to the translator camera, which I find really that you can just point at text and it translates it on your screen. Then there's a picture of a square with a line down the center that turns on the QR scanner. As you can imagine, when all the covid checkins started, I couldn't find this. Everyone would say to me "just open the camera on your iPhone it's easy" as though it was a given that every visitor was using an Apple phone. I went through three different QR apps based on what I found on the play store and all of them blasted me with inappropriate ads I kept wishing I didn't open in public. A bit if visibility in the UX would have solved this. [0] https://ibb.co/L5XG21G https://ibb.co/L5XG21G
morsch 6y ago
The versions of Android that vendors ship usually have a QR scanner. For example, Samsung's camera app reacts to them by default. I don't think AOSP has a QR reader, but Lineage OS ships a camera that reads them.
- peteri 6y ago
  It's in the Google Lens app on my Pixel 5.
- morsch 6y ago
  I'll add that even though most phones have some sort of built-in reader, there are many reasons a developer would want to use a standalone reader. The Samsung reader launches URLs (99% of QR codes I encounter), and it understands Text and VCARD as well, but I don't know that it understands all kinds of arbitrary or custom QR codes you might want to define.
rjmunro 6y ago
The issue is that some malware installed itself with the name QR scanner, not that Android does or doesn't have a QR scanner. Most Android camera apps (each phone comes with its own) will recognise QR codes fine, although the UI is sometimes annoying.

technion 6y ago

My Huawei phone actually does come with a QR scanner. You just have to open the built in camera app, then click this icon[0]. It defaults to the translator camera, which I find really that you can just point at text and it translates it on your screen. Then there's a picture of a square with a line down the center that turns on the QR scanner. As you can imagine, when all the covid checkins started, I couldn't find this. Everyone would say to me "just open the camera on your iPhone it's easy" as though it was a given that every visitor was using an Apple phone. I went through three different QR apps based on what I found on the play store and all of them blasted me with inappropriate ads I kept wishing I didn't open in public. A bit if visibility in the UX would have solved this. [0] https://ibb.co/L5XG21G https://ibb.co/L5XG21G

morsch 6y ago

The versions of Android that vendors ship usually have a QR scanner. For example, Samsung's camera app reacts to them by default. I don't think AOSP has a QR reader, but Lineage OS ships a camera that reads them.

peteri 6y ago
It's in the Google Lens app on my Pixel 5.
morsch 6y ago
I'll add that even though most phones have some sort of built-in reader, there are many reasons a developer would want to use a standalone reader. The Samsung reader launches URLs (99% of QR codes I encounter), and it understands Text and VCARD as well, but I don't know that it understands all kinds of arbitrary or custom QR codes you might want to define.

rjmunro 6y ago

The issue is that some malware installed itself with the name QR scanner, not that Android does or doesn't have a QR scanner. Most Android camera apps (each phone comes with its own) will recognise QR codes fine, although the UI is sometimes annoying.