Ask HN: Does anyone still use QR codes?
These seemed to be big a few years ago, but I haven't heard much about QR codes recently. What is the preferred way of sharing a link in the physical world? NFC?
And in answer to your question, yes, their usage has grown and expanded. While traditional barcodes remain for basic UPCs, a lot of manufacturers are utilising QR codes for expanded product information.
The way that QR codes failed is that marketers and technologists wanted to use them for everything. Website URLs, business cards, phone numbers, etc. You name it, they wanted to QR-codify it.
This failed because: (A) nobody wanted that information regardless, (B) QR codes were never well integrated into smartphones, (C) they abused them too soon and everyone got distrustful.
I'm glad "social" QR codes are dead. I'm also glad to have QR codes as a better barcode alternative for the medium to long term.
The fact that not many people cares to scan them (citation needed) is a different thing... still they are quite popular.
It is odd though, I always imagine QR codes to be this magical static method to share information, but then I rarely ever use it. I believe that since it took so long to be developed as a native feature in phones, people never really adapted to scanning all the time.
I saw a well meaning nonprofit put a QR on their bumpersticker. Most dangerous QR in history.
I use this bookmarklet to quickly generate a qr code that is either 1) the url of the page, 2) the text that is currently selected, or 3) the text entered into the popup:
javascript:(function(){var stext = window.getSelection().toString(); text = stext == "" ? window.location : stext; text = window.prompt("Enter Text to Make QRCode", text); window.open("https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=500x500&chl="+encodeURI(text)+"&chls=H","qrlink","width=500,height=500");})()I never understood the point of using them to share links, it's almost always faster to just type in the URL or Google it (unless, I suppose, you wanted to share a very long or unique URL)
In the UK they are here and there in a half-hearted and desultory fashion. When they are on something that looks interesting I scan them, and about half the time they lead to useful things, the rest of the time it just duplicates stuff already there.
As with so many other things, the technology is divorced from everyday design. The designers of the visuals don't know what to do with a QR code, and the people who do know what's possible aren't involved in the design of the objects we see. Complete disconnect, and so the technology - which could see so much imaginative use - languishes.
I found this article[1] that talks about alternatives, namely augmented reality, NFC, iBeacons, clickable paper, Google Goggles, and SnapTags. Nothing seems as straightforward as QR codes promised to be.
1. https://econsultancy.com/blog/64891-six-mobile-marketing-alt...
I think they're great. They're very fault tolerant and can contain a ton of information. It's a great way to scan stuff from you computer (or anywhere else) and import it into your phone.
One time, on an American flight, the scanner at the gate was somewhat of a C shape and my watch + wrist wasn't able to fit inside of it, which was quickly resolved by pulling out my phone and sliding it into the scanner.
On another positive note, TSA agents love it and always accuse me of being James Bond. Makes the screening process much more fun.
Just the other day I saw a full poster add in the subway that was just a QR code.
I still don't understand why QR readers don't come out-of-the-box on smartphones.