I use Google Lens very frequently and for all sorts of things, like translating texts in apps or from photos. Also I used Lens, I used to scan QR codesbecause it is accessible and comes with the cell phone, even if it doesn’t work quite well.
Google Lens can be used to scan QR codes, but it’s slow and clunky. Then I realized that my Android phone brings another QR code scanner from Google and it works much better. Goodbye, Google Lens. At least for scanning QR codes.
Google Lens is fine, but not for QR codes
I love Google Lens and use it for everything. It’s on my phone integrated into the camera app
Open the camera app, switch to Lens, point at the QR code… and hope for luck. Using Lens to scan QR codes is not very stable: sometimes it is slow or refuses to recognize the codeshowing you similar QR code photo results instead.
Not only that, but We need to make it easier for them by aiming correctly. if you want to maximize the chances of success. In my case, it is normal that I have to waste a few seconds to scan a QR code with Lens and sometimes several attempts. It also happened to me that it simply did not work and I had to find another application to scan the code.
Android QR reader is wonderful
That’s when I remembered this Android 13 included its own QR code reader in Quick Settings. Considering that this is a QR code reader “powered by Google”, I initially thought that the result would be the same as with Google Lens. Wrong.
QR code reader built into Android It’s much faster and more accurate.find QR codes at full speed, even if they are at an impossible angle and with the camera moving. Recognition is successful even in cases where it would never be in Google Lens.
The test is easy to reproduce. Scan a QR code with Google Lens This requires getting in close, framing and focusing the QR code perfectly, and then praying that the result is a reading of the code and not similar images.
In comparison, the Android Code Reader 13 and up It’s so fast that you almost don’t see the QR code until it’s located and read. The reader himself ends up formulating it.
If you have Android 13 or later and are using Google Lens to scan QR codes, my recommendation is as follows. manually adjust the player’s quick settingsomething that won’t take you long. Google Lens is good for a lot of things, but not this one.
In Xataka Android | How to read QR codes on an Android mobile: with the camera and from a photo
