How to scan QR codes with an Android mobile

QR codes have become very popular in recent times. However, this is an invention with more than 25 years of history. The boom that QRs have had lately is due, among other things, to how easy it is to scan them with any mobile device. On Android you have a tool developed by Google that is capable of extracting the URL or the text of a QR code in less than a second. We refer to Google Lens. If you want to learn how to use this application, keep reading.

How to read a QR code with the camera

Google Lens it has been integrated by most manufacturers into their respective camera applications. In most cases, the shortcut to the scan tool is at the top of the screen.

Open Google Lens reader from the camera

Once you have clicked on its icon, you can scan the qr code pointing the camera at him.

Code read from camera

Then, view its content and, if it is a link, click on it to access.

How to read a QR code with Google Lens

If the manufacturer of your device has not included this tool within the native camera application, don’t worry. You can always install it separately. Use the download link that you will see on this page to get the latest version of Google Lens on your device safely.

Download

Once installed, the tool will appear in the application drawer or on the home screen.

Google Lens installed on Android

When you open it, you can choose if you want to use the camera to scan or an image that you have already saved in the internal memory.

Select source of the QR code

As in the previous case, use the different options available according to the content of the QR code.

QR code read with the Google Lens app

How to read a QR code from an image with Google Photos

The last method that we propose is to use Google Photos to extract the content of a QR from an image. As you may have imagined, the engine used by this application is none other than Google Lens.

Download

First, open the photo where the QR appears.

QR code in photo

Next, click on the link.

QR code read from an image

So, copy the content or share it with other users.

Other applications to read QR codes

All the solutions that we have proposed to you went through using Google Lens in one way or another. We have put the article in this way because, in most cases, it is an integrated or pre-installed tool. And that simplifies things a lot. However, you should know that there are a large number of barcode scanning apps and QR codes. You can download them for free from the Malavida servers.