Among these tools is one particular app you may not be aware of, but which has long existed for your convenience nonetheless: and that is the Code Scanner App. It used to be called QR Code Reader prior to iOS 14, as BGR mentions. You won’t find Code Scanner on the home screen of any modern iPhone you buy, but it’s been there all along and very easily accessible.
If you’re an iPhone owner, you may have already discovered the QR code scanner function that is built right into the iPhone camera as well.
Why the app is better than the camera scanner
This feature had been introduced with iOS 11, and lets you look up QR codes by opening the camera, pointing it at the code, and then clicking on the notification banner that pops up at the top of the screen, revealing the info in the QR code. To quickly access available data such as contact info, you can swipe down on the banner to reveal more of it before you tap.
Story Highlights
Apple is known for trying to make its iOS experience as easy to navigate and foolproof as possible, with all the tools for everyday use you could think of right at your fingertips.
If you simply open Spotlight—which is the search function accessed by swiping down from the home screen, which can search both your entire phone and the web—and type in Code Scanner, the app will pop up below.
All iPhones come with one hidden app that may come in handy
If it’s so easy to scan codes directly from the camera, then, what’s the benefit of having a specialized Code Scanner app, you may ask?