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How to Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot or Photo
The QR code is in an email, a PDF or a chat, on the same phone you would normally scan it with. The camera cannot see its own screen. Every current phone and computer has a way around this, and the quickest one depends on the device.
On a computer
Take a screenshot of the code, then read it with a scanner that accepts images:
- Capture the code. On Windows, Win+Shift+S lets you drag a box around it and copies the result to the clipboard. On a Mac, Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+4 does the same.
- Open the QR scanner and press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac) to paste the image. You can also drag an image file onto the page or choose one from a folder.
- Read what it found. The scanner shows the decoded text and waits. Nothing opens until you press Open.
The image is decoded in your browser; it is not uploaded anywhere. That matters when the code came from a document you would not want to send to a stranger's server.
On an iPhone
Open the screenshot in the Photos app. On recent versions of iOS, when Photos recognises a code in a picture, a Live Text indicator appears in the corner. Tap it, or touch and hold the code itself, and iOS offers to open the link. Menus move between iOS versions, so if you don't see the indicator, open the scanner above in Safari and choose the photo from your library instead.
On Android
Use Google Lens. In Google Photos, open the image and tap the Lens button. From the Google app, start Lens and pick the image from your gallery. Some manufacturers put a Lens or "scan" button straight into their own gallery app. As on the iPhone, the web scanner works in any browser if the built-in route has moved.
When a screenshot will not read
- Crop to the code. A large screenshot with a small code in one corner gives the decoder very little to work with. Crop to the code and its white margin.
- Zoom in before capturing. A screenshot of a tiny preview can have fewer pixels than the code has modules. Enlarge the code on screen first, so that each square is several pixels wide.
- Ask for the original. Chat apps compress forwarded images, and each forward softens the edges a little more. The original file almost always reads when a forwarded copy does not.
- Dark mode and inverted codes. Not every phone reader tries both polarities, so some refuse a light code on a dark background. This site's scanner tries both on images, so it reads inverted codes that some camera apps will not.
- Transparent backgrounds. A code exported with a transparent background can appear black-on-black in some viewers. The scanner here fills a white background in before decoding.
- Several codes in one image. A screenshot of a whole page may hold more than one code. The scanner finds all of them and lists each result.
If a code still will not read from a clean original, the problem is the code itself rather than the screenshot. Why a QR code won't scan lists the usual causes.
Check before you open
A screenshot someone forwarded to you is exactly the case where you cannot see where a code came from. Read the address the scanner shows before you open it. QR code scams, and how to scan safely covers what to look for.
Paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V. It is decoded on your device, never uploaded.
Test a code in the scanner →