Everything about QR Code and its Great Uses

QR code to define simply is a machine-readable code that typically consists of black and white squares and lines typically used to store URLs that can be scanned by the camera of a smartphone. The world has moved so much towards the technological side. It is insane how much these past 2 decades have impacted our lives with technology. It seems very unbelievable that the things people used to dream about in the early 2000s are possible now and in fact, some things weren’t even in the possibility spectrum of human thinking back then. One such thing is the QR code.

The concept of the QR code was surprisingly introduced in the early 1990s. In 1994, DENSO WAVE which was a subdivision of the huge corporation: DENSO CORPORATION, announced the concept and released their very own QR code. QR code stands for quick response code which can provide the idea that QR codes’ entire purpose was to provide a form of code that was quickly readable and be accessed easily. In this article, we would be studying how these QR codes work and what are the various uses that it provides to humankind and whether are there any cons.

How do QR codes work?

The concept of a QR code is very similar to that of a barcode. The black and white squares, dots, and lines, have information encoded in them especially the URLs to the site or document that is being accessed and when your smartphone scans the QR code, it translates the information that is encoded and signals which in turn helps you access the thing that you desire to. QR codes can have a variety of codes encoded in them. Some of them can include numeric, alphanumeric, binary, or even Kanji.

Whenever you try to access these QR codes through your smartphone scanner, the code triggers an action on your phone resulting in the site being opened or the document that you were trying to access. These transactions of data and actions between the code itself and the phone scanner happen within seconds and data gets interpreted between devices.

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Advantages of QR code

Although QR codes were very neglected after their introduction, in recent years when everything was surrounded by being contactless all the time, QR code had their re-birth. The pandemic had enforced this rule where we had to be so safe that we couldn’t even share a physical touch whatsoever and with that obviously, a QR code was the solution as you pretty much had access to anything at any time within seconds. It provided you with information in almost an instant and hence, it’s told that the pandemic gave a second chance to QR codes.

Some of the key usages of QR code has been:

• Payments: The most famous reason why QR code is being used is to make payments and transactions. This not only encourages contactless transactions but it also is great as you wouldn’t have to carry huge wallets filled with cash and you can also track your usage better. This also provides security as the chances of your money being stolen reduces to almost zero.
• Business Details: Just by scanning a QR code, you can pretty much have someone access your business details. This although defeats the traditional ritual of exchanging introductions and business cards but is much more efficient and better in terms of sustainability as well.
• Downloading Applications: You can scan QR codes from anywhere and have apps downloaded on your phone without you having to search for the entire app store by typing and then selecting the app to download.
• Direct access: Sometimes we see some sort of website that we want to access but are unable to as the website might not be as popular to be ranking among some of the famous ones. In that case, these QR codes can lead us up to the site itself without having to go through the hassle of navigating your way through the web.
• Location Tracking: The places that we look for sometimes are not featured on the maps and that can cause serious confusion when someone wants to visit the place. In that case, you can add a QR code of the location to your place on your website so that people know the exact pinpoint of your location.

Conclusion

QR codes have been very useful and with that, we conclude our article. Although they are of great use, remember, no technology is perfectly safe in terms of privacy invasion and security credentials leak. Make sure to scan trusted websites and have your phone lined up with an anti-virus and security setup.