Scanning QR Codes With Google Lens

Your camera probably already does this

Before installing or opening anything: point the stock camera at the code and wait a second.

• iPhone — native since iOS 11 (2017), so how to scan a QR code on iPhone is simply this: point, wait for the yellow banner, tap it.
• Android — stock cameras have scanned since roughly Android 9, so how to scan QR code on Android usually means nothing more than opening the camera.

If that works, Lens adds nothing. The reason people search for Lens is usually that the code is not in front of them physically — and that is the case worth explaining.

Where Lens actually wins: codes you cannot point a camera at

A screenshot or saved photo. Someone sends you a QR in a chat, and to scan a QR code from a screenshot you cannot simply photograph your own screen with the same phone.

• Android — open the image in Google Photos, tap the Lens icon, tap the detected code.
• iPhone — open the image in the Google app or Google Photos and use Lens there. The iOS Photos app also detects codes in images on iOS 15+, via Live Text.

A code on your laptop screen. Point your phone at the monitor — this works, but glare and screen refresh often defeat it. Lens tolerates it slightly better than the plain camera.

A code in a PDF or a document. Screenshot it first, then use Lens on the screenshot.

How to scan with Lens, step by step

1. Open the Google app, or Google Photos for an existing image
2. Tap the Lens icon — the camera outline with a dot in the middle
3. Point at the code, or pick the image from your gallery
4. Tap the result banner Lens shows

Lens will show you the destination before you open it, which matters more than convenience — see below.

Read the URL before you tap

This is the habit worth building, whichever tool you use. QR codes are increasingly used for phishing ("quishing"): a sticker over a real code on a parking meter, a restaurant table, or a parcel.

Both Lens and the native camera show the destination before opening it. Look at it:

• Does the domain match the business whose code you are scanning?
• Is it a shortener hiding the real destination?
• Does a payment or login page appear where you expected information?

If you would like to inspect a code without any app at all, our QR code reader decodes an image in the browser and shows you the URL as text — nothing is opened until you decide to.

Lens versus the alternatives

Related pages

For every scanning method across devices, see how to scan a QR code. For a saved image specifically, scan a QR code from a picture. For what Google offers on the creation side, see the Google QR code generator explained.