Android QR codes are finally being used regularly by people (not just geeks) and they are a really innovative twist on the normal way of doing things. QR stands for Quick Response and if you see a QR code somewhere, whip out your smartphone, snap a picture of it with a QR code reader app and go to the link that it points to.
My colleague Tim Lenahan wrote a really informative article on how to create Android QR codes, if you’re interested.
These innovative QR codes are a really good way to get things done and can be used for a number of fun purposes. Today, we’ll take a look at 4 such ways of using Android QR codes to simplify our lives.
Note: In order to read QR codes on an Android, you need to use an app such as Barcode Scanner.
Fun Uses For Android QR Codes #1. A Business Card
Generally, you have information like your contact numbers, and address on your business card. Using this free online QR code generator, you can generate a QR code that will display all this information. The output of this generator will be an image containing your very own personalised QR code. Anyone that scans the QR code will automatically retrieve your contact information on their phone!
If you are a really radical character, you can actually go ahead and print the QR code on your t-shirt for that added bling.
Fun Uses For Android QR Codes #2. A Brand Promotion Tool
Another use for a QR code is promoting your brand or cause to the masses. If you own a blog, you can create a QR code which points to your website and go about distributing that QR code across the web or real world to give your blog some visibility. Some non-profits have also used QR codes to bring attention to environmental issues.
Fun Uses For Android QR Codes #3. A Shortcut To Download Apps
If you’ve ever used an Android device (which you obviously have), you’ll be all too familiar with app developers using Android QR codes to point users to the download of their apps on the Android Market. Not only is that a quick way to get the user to the download of an app, it’s also a much more secure way of doing so. You are more likely to trust a QR code on the developers web site than some random link somewhere on the big, bad Internet. The QR code below points to the Dropbox Android app.
Fun Uses For Android QR Codes #4. To Connect To Wi-Fi Networks
This however, beats all the other use cases for QR codes. You can actually create a QR code containing authentication details of the Wi-fi network at your home/office/business. Your customers/guests can then come in, and scan the QR code to get access to the free Wi-fi you’ve so graciously provided. Use the awesome QR code generator here and click the the Wi-fi tab to the extreme right to generate one for your network.
Alternatively, Tim Lenahan published a post about Wifi Joiner, which is an Android app that helps you to create an Android QR code with your Wi-Fi login credentials and allows the user to scan and join your Wi-Fi network easily. Click here to read the post How To Join WiFi Networks By Scanning An Android QR Code
Other Ideas
As evident from the QR Zilla website, you can also use QR Codes to link to a ton of other websites, bookmarks, phone numbers, and even directions to a place on Google Maps. The possibilities are endless really and limited only by how far your are willing to push your imagination. Tell us about any interesting uses for QR codes that you may have come across or have implemented in the comments.
