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From: Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: Recognising (or not) QR codes
Date: 2 Jul 2025 15:44:49 GMT
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VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
> 
> > OP here. Yes, I've installed Google Lens (easiest option) and now I
> > can scan QR codes.
> 
> I have an 8-year old old Android 8.0.0 phone that has the Google search
> bar as a widget on the home screen.  At some point, it got updated to
> add a camera icon.  I tap on that icon, and use it to take a snapshot of
> something.  I've used it to identify plants.  It can also read QR codes.
> 
> My concern is a QR code can contain a URL.  Those are sometimes used to
> prevent typos by users to define a URL to a web site, or, I suppose, to
> add convenience of not having to enter a string into an address bar of a
> web browser.  In any case, the QR scanner could just open a web browser
> to the URL without prompting the user to tell them to where the QR code
> points.  You could end up going somewhere you don't want to go, or
> somewhere malicious.  QR codes can be produced by anyone, and I've seen
> them online, too.  

  Why the FUD!? *Does* your (built-in) camera app/icon "just open a web
browser to the URL without prompting"? If so, name it (with details) and
get rid of it.

> I use a QR scanner app that shows the content of the QR code BEFORE ever
> going anywhere; i.e., you get told what is the content, and if a URL
> then you see it before you choose to use it.  Since the app focuses on
> scanning QR codes instead of taking pictures of anything and then trying
> to identify what's in the pic, it auto-focuses on a QR image.  I just
> tried it: load the QR scanner, point the camera at something with a QR
> code image, and the app detects where is the image, locks in on it, and
> captures it.  Then it shows the content.  Makes it easier to get the
> phone at the right distance for its camera to get the image in focus,
> and then takes a pic without me having to move the phone a bit while my
> fingers manage to tap a button to take a pic.  Auto-locking onto the QR
> image also lets me know it found one rather than taking a pic and hoping
> the QR image was fully within view and right-distanced to be in focus.

  Nothing special. The (Samsung) Camera app of my Samsung Galaxy A51
(Android 51) also does all of that.

> While Google Lens got embedded into the Google search bar widget, so
> that is also usable for scanning QR codes, and taking pics of other
> stuff to identify, a dedicated QR scan app might be more convenient, and
> perhaps safer.

  I think for the majority of people, the built-in Camera app of their
phone will do everything they need and will be safe, because QR scanning
is a basic functionality since many years.

[...]