Utilities
Read a QR code, and see what it really says
Add a photograph of a code, or point your camera at one. The result is broken into fields rather than printed as one string, and it is deliberately not a link — reading a code should never be the same action as following it.
Add a photograph or a screenshot of a QR code and it is read here.
Read in your browser. No image and no camera frame is uploaded.
- Runs in your browser
- No account required
- Free to use
- Up to 50 files
How it works
It tells you where you would be going
A decoder hands back a string of characters. Whether that string is a link to your bank or to something dressed up as your bank is exactly the question worth answering, and a wall of unbroken text answers it badly. The host is pulled out and shown on its own.
Lookalike domains are flagged
Cyrillic а renders identically to Latin a in almost every typeface. A domain mixing scripts, or written in punycode, is not necessarily hostile — but the whole point of the trick is that you cannot see it, so it is called out.
The result is never a link
There is no button that opens the destination. That is a deliberate omission: the reason to read a code before following it is to decide whether to follow it, and a scanner that makes both one click makes the check pointless.
What it does
Photo or camera
Drop an image or a screenshot, or use the camera and it reads on its own. The camera stops the moment a code is found.
Every payload type is broken out
Links, Wi-Fi joins, contact cards, calendar events, phone numbers, texts and map locations each get their own fields rather than one blob of text.
Warnings that are worth reading
Plain http rather than https. A link shortener hiding its destination. An open or WEP Wi-Fi network. An @ before the domain, where everything to its left is ignored by the browser.
Nothing is uploaded, including camera frames
The decoder is loaded into your browser and the pixels never leave it. No frame, no photo and no decoded string is sent anywhere.
Practical advice
Getting a better result
- If a code will not read, crop the picture down to the code itself. Decoding fails far more often because the code is small in the frame than because the image is poor.
- A code photographed at a steep angle often fails. Straight on, filling the frame, reads almost every time.
- Treat a code stuck on top of another code as hostile. Overlaying a sticker on a parking meter or a restaurant table is the most common physical version of this attack.
- A Wi-Fi code carries the password in plain text. Anyone who photographs the poster has your network key.
- Check the domain character by character, not by shape. That is what the fields here are for — the host is shown on its own line so there is less to read.
Questions
Things people ask
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The decoder runs in your browser and the image never leaves your device. The same is true of the camera: frames are read and discarded locally, and neither a photo nor a decoded result is ever sent anywhere.
Why does it not just open the link?
Because then there would be no reason to use it. The value of reading a code before following it is the chance to decide, and a button that does both removes the decision.
Are QR codes dangerous?
The code itself is just text. The risk is what the text says and what your phone does with it automatically — open a page, join a network, dial a number. Reading it first is the whole defence, which is what this is for.
Why will my code not scan?
Usually the code is too small in the frame, blurred, at an angle, or partly cut off. Cropping to the code and trying again fixes most of it. Very low contrast or a damaged code may not be recoverable.
Does it work without a camera?
Yes — a photograph or a screenshot is enough, and that path needs no permission from your browser at all.
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Open toolWho builds these
Free tools by day. Websites that earn their keep by trade.
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This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.