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Despite their age, QR codes offer a versatile, convenient, and efficient way to connect the physical with the digital world, making them an essential tool for many industries and applications.
QR codes started as a way to manage inventory and logistics but proved themselves useful in many other areas, like restaurants, tourism, information sharing, marketing and advertising, and more.
They are easy to scan, and you can create yours in less than a minute.
A QR code (quick-response code) is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave for labeling automobile parts. They only became popular after smartphones became able to read them.
QR codes are everywhere and can help you access services by scanning them. They have also been misused, mainly for sending users to dubious sites or rick-roll them.
QR codes act like barcodes, but they encode data in the transverse and longitudinal directions, being able to represent data using approximately ten times less space than a traditional barcode.
Many companies use QR codes for their original purpose, inventory management, as they are easy to generate.
Some retail companies use QR codes to combat counterfeiting, helping customers authenticate their products.
Most of the QR codes are used to share URLs. This can be useful for businesses because their customers can scan the code rather than write down a long URL in their browser.
Another similar usage for QR codes is for getting the menu of a restaurant. This usage case has become more popular during the pandemic.
Many companies add a QR code to the package of their product which would take the user to a web page containing more information about it.
Other companies, like airlines, do the opposite: they provide the QR code in PDF format, which a machine reads off the screen of your smartphone.
If you have a relatively modern smartphone, opening the camera app and pointing your phone at the QR code will automatically scan it. You need to make sure the whole code is visible on your screen and that it is close enough for your phone.
You can also use one of the numerous third-party apps available on the app store for your device. QR code scanner apps are also available for desktop PCs and Macs.
To generate your QR code you can use a third-party app like QR Code Generator. You can find it for Android as well as iOS. There are many options for your new QR code, and you will be able to encode URLs and even add logos or images to them. Some of the features might only be available with the pro version of the web app.
There are many more options available, but for links, I like using qrcode-monkey because of its simplicity and the fact I only need to encode URLs.
I like using complex passwords for my Wi-Fi network, but that makes it difficult when trying to connect a new device or give my Wi-Fi password to a guest.
Fortunately, we have a solution for that. If you go to QiFi, you will be able to generate a QR code, which when others can scan with their smartphones will connect them to your network automatically, without needing to input a password.
The app will ask you to write down the SSID and password key for your network and will generate a QR code with that information encoded. The device scanning the code will know what it is and will use it to connect itself to the Wi-Fi network automatically. This works similarly for Android and iOS.
If you have an Android version 10 or newer device, you can generate a QR code for your Wi-Fi network straight from your device's settings. Find your Wi-Fi network in the network settings and tap share. You will see a QR code that others can scan to join your Wi-Fi network.
For more QR Code facts and trends in 2023 I recommend this article.
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