Ask HN: Why are QR codes not clickable links on browsers?

19 pointsobilgic4mo ago14 comments

14 comments

I guess it is mostly because of the reason that QR codes are not always a URL! It might be something related to a payment or a wifi conf. Plus I don't think that browsers scanning every image for QR codes by default would be very great for it's efficiency and overall user privacy. But I think it could always be a good option to have especially for QR codes which are link. You can always use a extention though! :)

Leftium4mo ago

iOS Safari has a special "QR" menu if you long-tap a QR code.

And this is built in to Android OS: "Search your screen" or "Circle to Search."[1]

[1]: https://www.android.com/ai/circle-to-search/

daemonologist4mo ago

Wow it even lets you copy the URL! (This is a gripe I've always had with Lens - it can read QR codes but doesn't let you copy the URL, so if you got redirected there's no easy way to get the original link.)

zzo38computer4mo ago

The HTML file that has them does not make it a link, I suppose.

A browser extension perhaps could add a command to decode a QR code (and possibly other barcodes), or an external program could do so from a screen capture or file or camera or any other video source (allowing it to work independently of the web browser).

killingtime744mo ago

If they were then you'd have to do one of two things: 1) ocr all images to check if they are QR codes 2) embed metadata saying that this image is a QR code and a link. If you were betting on the metadata then why not just create a link directly...

jimmydin74mo ago

i think using embeded metadata would be the way to go, but we would somehow need to inform every dev in the world to do so

al_borland4mo ago

I would hope the developer would add a link the user could simply click, instead of needing to translate a QR code to get the link.

The assumptions made around a lot of QR codes don’t make much sense to me.

paulwilsonn4mo ago

Because browsers treat QR codes as images, not data. They don’t natively parse or extract links unless you use a camera or scanner API.

It’s mostly a UX and security choice-automatically turning any image with a QR into a clickable link could be abused for phishing or tracking.

That said, it’d be cool if browsers offered a “Scan QR in page” option like mobile OSes do.

gethly4mo ago

They would require some kind of built-in OCR. And I can easily see this having a strong potential for security bugs. On the other hand, I'd like to have such support, especially on mobile phone in order to bypass the need to use the phone's camera for that OCR step.

muzani4mo ago

I'm guessing you could use something like this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/BarcodeDete...

But the compatibility chart is colorful.

gethly4mo ago

Looks good! I hope FF and Safari will catch up soon.

phyrex4mo ago

It's a good idea. Obviously you can't preemptively OCR all images but having "context menu -> follow link" which works on QR codes and images with links in them seems totally doable do me

zzo38computer4mo ago

I think that a separate program might be better, which could be used with any video source in any program, including a QR code made up from multiple pictures or from CSS, or a video, etc. Furthermore, it is not necessarily a URL.

However, it might also be made as a browser extension in case you do not want to use a separate program, or if you want to be able to follow such links directly without going through another program.

fouc4mo ago

sometimes youtube videos show QR codes somewhere on the screen now, and it sure would be nice to be able to easily click on those.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

14 comments

_dwivedi4mo ago

Leftium4mo ago

iOS Safari has a special "QR" menu if you long-tap a QR code.

And this is built in to Android OS: "Search your screen" or "Circle to Search."[1]

[1]: https://www.android.com/ai/circle-to-search/

daemonologist4mo ago

zzo38computer4mo ago

The HTML file that has them does not make it a link, I suppose.

killingtime744mo ago

jimmydin74mo ago

i think using embeded metadata would be the way to go, but we would somehow need to inform every dev in the world to do so

al_borland4mo ago

I would hope the developer would add a link the user could simply click, instead of needing to translate a QR code to get the link.

The assumptions made around a lot of QR codes don’t make much sense to me.

paulwilsonn4mo ago

Because browsers treat QR codes as images, not data. They don’t natively parse or extract links unless you use a camera or scanner API.

It’s mostly a UX and security choice-automatically turning any image with a QR into a clickable link could be abused for phishing or tracking.

That said, it’d be cool if browsers offered a “Scan QR in page” option like mobile OSes do.

gethly4mo ago

muzani4mo ago

I'm guessing you could use something like this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/BarcodeDete...

But the compatibility chart is colorful.

gethly4mo ago

Looks good! I hope FF and Safari will catch up soon.

phyrex4mo ago

It's a good idea. Obviously you can't preemptively OCR all images but having "context menu -> follow link" which works on QR codes and images with links in them seems totally doable do me

zzo38computer4mo ago

However, it might also be made as a browser extension in case you do not want to use a separate program, or if you want to be able to follow such links directly without going through another program.

fouc4mo ago

sometimes youtube videos show QR codes somewhere on the screen now, and it sure would be nice to be able to easily click on those.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse