What is a QR code?

 

You may have recently heard the term QR Code, and you are probably wondering what a QR Code actually is? Well a QR Code (or Quick Response Code to give it its full title) is a kind or 2-D barcode that is easily read by smart phones and devices that have been specifically designed to read QR Codes. When your phone or device scans the code it is sent to a website or email or text and it is a great advertising tool.

Japan and the East is where QR Codes started and they are very popular in that part of the world, but they are now becoming more and more popular in the West too. Before long you will start to notice QR Codes on shop fronts, bus stops, billboards, product packaging, websites and much more besides, as QR Codes become the marketing tool for the 21st century.

With more and more people owning a smart phone, QR Codes are going to have a significant effect on modern society, especially in the marketing and advertising sectors, with a mass of information just a quick scan away. These codes differ from a normal barcode that just has straight horizontal lines because they can be scanned both horizontally or vertically.

In order to scan a QR Code with your smart phone, you will need to download a specialist QR Code scanning app. There are plenty of different QR Code scanner apps available that will enable you to read QR Codes when you come across them, and most of them are actually free of charge. Once installed all you need to do to scan the QR Code is to use your phones camera to scan the code, and the app will then load the data for you.

In layman’s terms a QR Code is an “image based hypertext link” and any URL can be converted into a QR Code so basically any website can be opened automatically from a simple scan of the barcode. If you want to encourage people to your website then just encode the URL into a QR Code. The possibilities are almost endless.

The QR code as a paperless flight boarding pass

 

Frequent flyers are discovering a brand new way to check-in to their flight by using their smart phone and a QR code. If you have not heard of a QR code it is those little black and white boxes that look like a barcode and that are popping up on most things nowadays, from newspapers to food packaging.

Tablet PC’s and smart phone users can get their device to read the information on the QR code just by pointing the camera at the QR code. This then enables the device to decode the information and use whatever program it needs to display the information, such as the devices internet browser.

A lot of new smart phones have a QR code reader already installed, but do not worry if yours is not one of them, as you will be able to download a QR code reader from your phones app store, usually for free.

The smart phone boarding pass basically works as a paperless e-ticket, and this is how it works.

The airline you are using will send your documents for boarding via email direct to your device and this will include a link to your QR code. Then whenever you need to present your boarding pass, you just bring up the QR code on your device and a scanner will read the information.

Of course with any new technology there is going to be one or two teething problems and if you are planning to go down the paperless boarding pass route then make doubly sure that your mobile devices battery has enough charge. It is going to be difficult to say the least to present your boarding pass if the device is dead.

Plus it is always prudent to have a paper copy as a back-up in case there is a fault with the airports QR code scanner, if the scanner cannot read your QR code and you do not have a paper copy, you may be asked to go and get a printed copy from your airline, causing you further delay.

The bottom line is, always have a back-up plan and you can’t go wrong.