QR codes 101
A quick orientation to what QR codes are, where you'll run into them, and every type you can actually create — with links to go deeper on each.
Scan this — it's a real one
The short version
What a QR code actually is
A QR code is a square grid of black and white blocks that a phone camera can read almost instantly — usually to open a link, but it can just as easily carry plain text, contact details, or WiFi credentials. It packs in more data than a traditional barcode because it stores information in two dimensions instead of one.
Read the full explanationA brief history
Denso Wave, a Japanese automotive parts supplier, invented the QR code in 1994 to track components through manufacturing faster than a standard barcode allowed. It stayed largely an industrial tool for years afterward, and only became a fixture of everyday consumer life once smartphone cameras were able to recognise and decode it natively, without a separate scanner app getting in the way.
Where you'll run into them
A handful of places QR codes now show up by default
Restaurant and café tables, in place of a printed menu
Event badges and lanyards, for a one-scan contact exchange
Product packaging, linking to a manual, recipe, or warranty form
Payment terminals, for scan-to-pay checkout flows
Posters and flyers, replacing a URL nobody wants to type by hand
Why now, specifically
Why QR codes went from industrial tool to everyday habit
For most of the QR code's history, actually scanning one required a dedicated app — you had to know one existed, find it, install it, and open it before pointing your camera at anything. That's a lot of friction to ask of someone standing in front of a poster, and it capped how often the format got used outside of factories and warehouses where the same workers used the same scanner every day.
What changed wasn't the QR code itself — the format has been stable since 1994 — but the software already sitting on people's phones. Once Apple and Google built QR recognition directly into their stock Camera apps, the install-an-app step disappeared entirely. Scanning stopped being a deliberate, slightly technical action and became something you could do without thinking about it, the same way you'd glance at a sign.
That's also what made the static-vs-dynamic distinction matter to ordinary businesses rather than just IT departments. Once anyone could scan a code with zero setup, it became worth printing codes on menus, packaging, and posters — and worth being able to change where those codes point after they're already printed, rather than treating a QR code as a one-time, permanently fixed link.
Static vs. dynamic
A static QR code has its destination baked permanently into the pattern — change your mind, and you need a new code entirely. A dynamic QR code instead points at a redirect the creator controls, so the printed code never changes even if where it sends people does.
Read the full comparisonHow to scan one
On both iPhone and Android, you scan a QR code with the regular Camera app — point it at the code and tap the link that pops up. No separate scanner app is needed on any phone in wide use today.
See the full scanning guideEvery type, in one place
QR codes aren't just links — here's everything you can encode
By industry
If you're wondering how QR codes fit your specific business rather than which type to pick, our use cases page breaks it down by industry — restaurants, retail, events, real estate, and more.
Browse QR code use casesPick a type and make one
Free plan includes unlimited static QR codes and 3 dynamic ones — no credit card required.