QR Codes have been an integral part of our digital ecosystem. We may not realise it, but on average, a person uses 5-7 times his phone to scan a QR code. Scanning QR codes can be for various purposes like payments, connecting to WIFI networks, or sharing any information like website URLs.

Everything can be done using the QR code. So, it is essential to know how to scan QR codes on your smartphone be it Android or an iPhone. Every phone has a different OS and UI, thus the method of scanning a QR code can vary.

Usually, QR codes are scanned on a smartphone using the camera of the phone, we point our phone towards the QR code and open the respective app through which it can scan and the scanner then simply scans the QR code.

But, often, people send you QR codes via messages or email, in such cases, you won’t be able to point the camera towards the QR code, since it is stored on your phone. One method to do so is, by using another phone to scan the QR code stored on your iPhone.

However, there is a better way to handle such situations, where your iPhone can scan the QR codes stored on the same iPhone. Below are some of the alternate methods through which you can scan QR codes from images that are stored in your iPhone.

Scanning QR Code from an Image using a Third-party App

There are several third-party apps available on the App Store that can be downloaded on your iPhone using which you will be able to scan QR codes. While the iPhone has a QR Code scanner built into the OS, that can only be used to scan QR codes using the camera and not from the stored images.

So, for that, we can use the Qrafter app that can scan the QR codes from a photo as well as using the camera app. First, you need to install the app from the app store on your iPhone. following this you will have to open the app and tap on Scan from photo Albums option, to scan QR codes from an image stored on your internal storage of your iPhone.

Not to mention the Qrafter app also allows you to resize and realign the images for faster and quicker reading and response time of QR codes.

All you need to do is just tap on the image that has the R code and it will directly show you the information beneath that QR code. After which you can proceed with that information if you want to copy the info to your clipboard or send it via text message, email or Whatsapp.

The Qrafter app is very intelligent and it also provides additional options once you have scanned the QR codes. Options given by the app includes an option to open the app linked to the URL, for example, if you got a link through QR cod which is of Youtube, then the app will ask you to redirect you to Youtube or will ask you to redirect to youtube app with that link. The downside of the app is that it has ads for every time you scan the QR code from an image. Not to mention that you will have to manually open the photo inside the app to retrieve the information every time you want to scan the QR code. If you are one of those people who keeps on scanning lots of QR codes, then the alternative method which is right below might be more useful for you.

Scanning QR Codes using Google Photos

Google photos are one of those apps that always have our back. it keeps in sync with our photos and lets us easily find the photos that we are looking for. While Google photos have lots of different features regarding photo search and share, you will be surprised to know that rising Google photos you will also be able to scan QR codes with the help of the Google photos app.

One of the very popular and powerful tools called Google lens is built right into the Google photos app. Google lens can recognize the objects and information which is present inside the images, this includes QR codes as well.

All you have to do is download and install the Google Photos app on your iPhone from the App store. Once you have finished installing the app, open it and grant access to the camera roll of your phone. After which you will be able to see all of your images on Google photos, find the one which you need to scan, and open it.

Tap on the Google lens icon located at the bottom of the image. It will take a few seconds to scan the QR code and will process the image and after that, the app will show you the information fetched from the QR code or the information fetched from the image.

The app is completely free and doesn’t show ads like other third-party apps. The drawback of the google photos app is that you won’t be able to access the features of the google photos app until you log in to the app with your Google account.

Another major drawback is that the app will only let you scan QR codes from the camera roll and not from the entire internal storage of your iPhone. However, we have a solution for the drawbacks of google photos right below.

Using Siri Shortcuts to Scan QR Codes

We all know our beloved Siri assistant from iOS. A few years back Apple added Siri shortcuts, which is more like Siri automation to do certain tasks on your phone. There are certain hidden tricks and hidden shortcuts that can be created by you to take the advantage of its full potential.

So, here we will learn how to scan Qr codes from stored images using the Siri shortcut method. The good thing is that, if you find a QR code while browsing the internet, then you can quickly scan and get the information from that QR code using the Siri shortcut. To start with the step, you first need to install this Siri shortcut from the link.

1. After you have finished installing the shortcut on your iPhone, head to the shortcuts app on your iPhone and then long-press your shortcut to open the context menu. Select Details.
2. The downloaded shortcut will only show up in the share sheet of images. We need to expand it so that it starts showing up in apps like safari, files and other system files. Select ” Share Sheet types and tap Select All.
3. Once you have expanded it to everything, now you need to go back and then tap on done. That’s it now you can start scanning QR codes from your iPhone from anywhere.
4. This Siri shortcut even works with other apps like WhatsApp, Photos, Files etc. All you have to do is, open the image, then press on the share button, then from the share sheet select the Siri shortcut that we just installed, and that’s it, the shortcut will scan that image and the QR code present in it.

So, these were some of the quick and easiest methods through which you can QR codes on your iPhone, even if it is stored on your phone, or within any third-party apps.

Out of all our recommendation would be to use the Siri shortcut option, as it is the easiest and the only hassle is while setting up the shortcut which is only once.

We also recommend Apple devs to implement this feature right within the system to let users scan QR codes from the internal storage or any other image and not only using the camera, although Safari detects the QR codes, but it doesn’t scan and show information to the users.