You almost certainly do not need an app. Both iPhone and Android have read QR codes from the native camera for years, and any app in a store promising to do it is offering something the phone already does — often with advertising attached.
iPhone
- Open the Camera app.
- Point it at the code. Fill maybe a third of the frame; you do not need to fill it entirely.
- A notification banner slides down from the top. Tap it.
If nothing appears, check Settings → Camera and make sure Scan QR Codes is switched on. It is on by default but can be turned off, and when it is off the camera simply looks at the code and does nothing, with no explanation.
There is also a Code Scanner in Control Centre, which you can add under Settings → Control Centre. It is slightly faster than the camera and does not try to take a photo.
Android
On most modern Android phones the camera does it directly:
- Open the Camera app.
- Point it at the code.
- Tap the link that appears.
If your camera does not offer it, Google Lens will — it is built into the Google app, the Photos app and, on many phones, the camera itself as a Lens or Modes button. Some manufacturers also put a dedicated scanner in the quick settings panel you pull down from the top of the screen.
Scanning a code that is already on your screen
This is the case people usually get stuck on, because you cannot point a phone at its own display.
iPhone: take a screenshot, open it in Photos, and either tap the Live Text icon or press and hold the code — iOS detects it in the image and offers the link. From iOS 17 onward you can also long-press a QR code directly in a photo.
Android: take a screenshot, then open it in Google Photos and tap the Lens button. Lens reads codes out of saved images the same way it reads them through the camera.
The same trick works for a code someone has sent you in a message, or one on a page you are reading — screenshot it, then scan the screenshot.
When nothing happens
In rough order of likelihood:
- Too close. The most common one by far. The camera cannot focus and the whole code has to be in frame. Pull back to about 20–30cm and let it focus.
- Too dark, or too bright. Glare from a laminated menu or a glossy poster washes out the contrast the reader needs. Change your angle rather than your distance.
- The code is damaged or partly covered. QR codes tolerate some damage, but the three large corner squares are how a reader finds and orients the pattern. Cover one and it is not a QR code any more.
- It is too small for the distance. A code the size of a stamp on a wall two metres away will not read no matter how good the phone is.
- QR scanning is switched off (iPhone, see above).
- The code is fine and the destination is broken. If the phone shows you a link but the page fails, the code did its job — the problem is at the other end.
Why isn’t my QR code working? goes through this from the other side, for people whose own code is failing.
Before you tap
A QR code is unreadable to humans, which is precisely what makes it useful for fraud. Your phone shows you the destination before opening it, and that preview is worth actually reading — especially for a code on a sticker in a public place, where the sticker may have been applied over the original. If a code in a car park or on a payment terminal leads somewhere that is not the operator’s own domain, stop there. Are QR codes safe? covers how those scams work.
Do you ever need an app?
Rarely. A dedicated scanner is worth it if you are scanning in volume — checking tickets at a door, or stock-taking — where a purpose-built reader is faster and can keep a record. For everyday use, the camera is the answer.