Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Frank Slootweg Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android Subject: Re: Recognising (or not) QR codes Date: 2 Jul 2025 15:44:49 GMT Organization: NOYB Lines: 51 Message-ID: <1043r6a.qj0.1@ID-201911.user.individual.net> References: <457djl-m9c5.ln1@q957.zbmc.eu> <92vejl-bft5.ln1@q957.zbmc.eu> X-Trace: individual.net R6Rb4hLWZBUzpodHZeqmAwBywKk1/7WGLSqOKKHB35lsRZav45 X-Orig-Path: not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:ah06SEfbe3arc8w1Vn2ConR1JyQ= sha256:rSMur48mshXDJDkhlUqqACw54jkycfA1Sjb0G0I1X5k= User-Agent: tin/1.6.2-20030910 ("Pabbay") (UNIX) (CYGWIN_NT-10.0-WOW/2.8.0(0.309/5/3) (i686)) Hamster/2.0.2.2 VanguardLH wrote: > Chris Green 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. [...]