Re: Recognising (or not) QR codes

Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

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.
 
[...]

Not in my camera app ... of many years.  I don't have Android 11, and
whatever phone and model the OP has.  Mine is an old Android 8.0.0
phone, and, nope, no QR code scanning it the embedded camera app.  And
why I mentioned getting a QR scanning app.  Android 8.0 was released
back in 2017.

The OP's camera app also doesn't, according to his description, include
QR scanning, and he's on Android 11 which was released in 2020.  Doesn't
seem to be the pervasive feature you think it is.

Neither the OP or I have a Samsung phone.  What you experience with
Samsung is not incumbent on every other phone brand and model.

My LG phone has not only the navbar at the bottom, but a 2nd navbar (aka
shortcut bar) at the top).  That is also not prevalent amongst other
phones back then, or ever since.