How to Scan a QR Code on iPhone (iOS 26)
Your iPhone already reads QR codes — there's nothing to download. Point the Camera app at the code, add the Scan Code control to Control Center, or read a code out of a saved photo.
Start here
The Quick Answer
To scan a QR code on an iPhone, open the Camera app, stay in Photo mode, and hold the phone so the QR code appears in the viewfinder. A notification banner slides down from the top of the screen — tap it to open the link. There is no separate scanning app to install and no button to press: the Camera has recognised QR codes on its own since iOS 11 in 2017, on every iPhone from the iPhone 5s onward.
If nothing happens, the setting may be off. Go to Settings > Camera and switch Scan QR Codes on.
On Android, a different phone, or a computer instead? See the full guide to scanning a QR code on every device.
Method 1
How to Scan a QR Code with the iPhone Camera
This is the method Apple documents, and it's the one to use for anything printed — a poster, a sticker, a card, a package label, or a code on someone else's screen.
Three steps, start to finish
Step 1: Open the Camera app. You can launch it from the Home Screen, from the Lock Screen, from Control Center, or with the Camera Control button on the iPhone models that have one.
Step 2: Hold the iPhone so the QR code appears in the viewfinder. Roughly 6–10 inches away works well — the code should fill a good part of the frame, and you don't need to line it up perfectly.
Step 3: Tap the notification that pops up to open the link. You don't take a photo — the Camera reads the code live.
Source for the three steps above: Apple — Scan a QR code with your iPhone or iPad.
One thing that quietly breaks this: the feature can be switched off entirely under Settings > Camera > Scan QR Codes. It's on by default, so most people never touch it — but if the Camera is ignoring codes, that toggle is the first thing to check. Keep the Camera on its standard Photo mode while you scan, too.
Not every QR code opens a web page. A WiFi QR code offers to join the network, a QR code to download an app opens the App Store on that app's listing, a contact code offers to save the contact, and a plain-text code just shows you the text. Your iPhone works out which prompt to show from the code's contents.
Method 2
Add the Scan Code Control to Control Center
If you scan codes often, a dedicated Control Center button is faster than opening Camera. It also has its own flashlight, which helps in a dim room.
The current iOS flow
Step 1: Open Control Center — swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen.
Step 2: Touch and hold the background (anywhere that isn't a control) to enter editing mode.
Step 3: Tap Add a Control, then find and tap Scan Code in the controls gallery.
Step 4: Tap the new control any time to open the Code Scanner, then point it at the code.
If a guide told you to look in Settings, it's out of date. Older instructions say to go to Settings > Control Center and tap a + next to Code Scanner. That list was replaced by the in-place controls gallery in iOS 18, so on a current iPhone there is no + to tap there. Add the control from inside Control Center itself, as above.
One naming quirk worth knowing: the control you add is labelled Scan Code in the gallery, but the screen it opens is Apple's Code Scanner. Same thing, two names.
The tricky one
Scanning a QR Code That's Already on Your iPhone Screen
This is the question people actually get stuck on, and it deserves an honest answer: the Camera can only see what's in front of the lens, so it can never scan your own display. A second phone would work, but you don't need one. iOS gives you two ways to do it on the same device.
Long-press the code where it is
If the QR code is showing in Safari, Messages, or Mail, press and hold directly on it. iOS reads the code in place and offers to open its link, the same way it handles text and addresses in an image.
Screenshot it, then read it in Photos
If long-pressing does nothing — some apps intercept the gesture — take a screenshot, open it in the Photos app, and long-press the code there instead. Photos will surface the link.
On an Android phone, a tablet, or a computer instead? The device-by-device version of this lives in our main guide: scanning a QR code on your own screen.
Method 3
A QR Code Saved in Photos
Someone sent you a code, or you saved one earlier. You don't need the Camera at all.
Step 1: Open the photo or screenshot in the Photos app.
Step 2: Press and hold on the QR code for about two seconds, or tap the Live Text button in the bottom-right corner of the photo.
Step 3: Tap the link that appears.
This is Live Text doing the work, so it needs iOS 15 or later on an iPhone XS, XR, or newer — Live Text requires the A12 chip, so an iPhone X or 8 on iOS 15 won't offer it.
Want the deeper version? Our guide to scanning a QR code from a screenshot or saved image covers the awkward cases — codes that were cropped too tightly, images pasted into a chat, and what to do on Android or a computer.
Troubleshooting
iPhone Not Scanning QR Codes?
Work down this list — it's ordered by how often each one turns out to be the culprit.
- Check Settings > Camera and make sure Scan QR Codes is switched on. It's on by default, but it can be turned off.
- Switch the Camera back to its standard Photo mode before you point it at the code.
- Wipe the lens. A smudged camera is the single most common physical cause.
- Get the distance right: about 6 to 10 inches, with the code filling a decent share of the frame. Too close and it won't focus.
- Add light. In a dim room, use the flashlight — the Code Scanner in Control Center has one built in.
- Hold steady for a second or two. Motion blur stops the code resolving.
- If the code is damaged, printed too small, or low-contrast, no phone will read it — that's the code's problem, not your iPhone's.
- Still nothing? Restart the iPhone, and make sure iOS is up to date.
Looking for the scanner app?
There isn't one, and that trips a lot of people up. iPhones have no separate QR scanning app on the Home Screen — the feature lives inside the Camera, plus the optional Control Center control described above. If the code itself looks like the problem, our QR code not working guide and our notes on the right QR code size cover the rest.
Compatibility
Does This Work on My iPhone?
Almost certainly, and the model number barely matters. What changes the behaviour is the version of iOS, not whether you're holding an iPhone 13, 14, 15, or 16. Camera scanning arrived in iOS 11 back in 2017 and works on every iPhone from the 5s onward. Reading a code out of a saved photo with Live Text arrived in iOS 15 — that one does have a hardware floor, because Live Text needs the A12 chip, so it starts at the iPhone XS and XR. The controls gallery you use to add the Scan Code button arrived in iOS 18. The other model-specific detail is the Camera Control button, which exists on the newer models and just gives you another way to launch the Camera.
Safety
Is It Safe to Scan a QR Code?
Scanning is safe in itself — a QR code is just an encoded string, and your iPhone shows you the destination before it goes anywhere. The risk is what's on the other end. There's a reason iOS shows you the link first: read it before you tap.
Check the domain in the preview banner before opening it, be wary of codes stuck on top of other codes in public places, and never enter payment or login details on a page you reached only by scanning an unfamiliar code. We covered the current scam patterns, with FBI and FTC guidance, in our guide to QR code scams.
No camera to hand
Scanning on a Desktop Instead
On a Mac or a Windows PC you usually have a file rather than a code in front of you, so you decode a saved image instead. QRKIT's free browser tool reads a QR code out of an uploaded image, a screenshot pasted from the clipboard, or the first page of a PDF — and it can use the computer's webcam if you do have a printed code to hand. Either way the decoding happens in your browser rather than on a server.
To be clear about when to use it: on an iPhone, the Camera is faster and better, and this tool isn't a replacement for it. It's for the times you're at a desk with an image file and no phone in your hand. Open the free browser tool.
Scanning QR Codes on iPhone — FAQ
Want to create one instead?
Make a QR Code of Your Own
Scanning and creating are two different jobs. If you landed here wanting to make a code — for a poster, a card, a package, or your WiFi — you can build one free in a couple of clicks and scan it straight off the screen with the Camera to check it works.