Text to QR code
Turn any text into a QR code: a message, instructions, a serial number or a note. Works in any language and needs no internet to read.
Fill in the details and the code appears here.
What happens when someone scans it
Scanning a plain text code shows the text on screen and most phones offer to copy it or search the web for it. Nothing is opened and nothing is fetched, so the text is readable with no connection at all. That makes a text code the right choice for serial numbers, asset tags, instructions and anything that shouldn’t depend on a website still being online.
Text that looks like something else
Phones guess what a code contains from how it starts. Text beginning with a web address is treated as a link, a string of digits may be offered as a phone number and anything starting with a known prefix such as mailto: or WIFI: triggers that action instead. If the text must be shown exactly as written, start it with a word rather than a number or address.
Short text, bigger modules
A few words produce a small, coarse code that scans instantly from a distance. A paragraph produces a fine one that needs a steady hand and good light. If people will scan it from a wall, keep the text to a line or two. If it is a label read up close, such as an asset tag, you have more room.
Error correction for labels that take a beating
Codes on equipment, crates and outdoor signs get scratched, faded and splashed. Raising error correction to Quartile or High lets a code survive a damaged patch, at the cost of a denser grid for the same text. For a code that lives indoors on paper, Medium is the right balance.
Offline by design
A plain text code is the only kind that does its whole job without a network, another app or a service at the far end. For an inventory label that has to be readable in ten years, that independence is the point.
Checking what phones will do with it
Scan the downloaded code with your own phone and see how it is presented. If the camera offers to open a website or dial a number instead of showing your text, reword the start of it. The raw contents shown under the preview are exactly what every scanner will receive.
Common questions
How much text can a QR code hold?
Up to 2,953 bytes at the lowest error correction level, which is about 2,900 characters of English text. Accented letters take two bytes each and many Asian scripts take three, so the character limit is lower for those. Long text produces a very dense code that needs to be printed large.
Does text in other languages work?
Yes. The text is stored as UTF-8, which modern phone cameras read correctly in any script, including emoji. The scan-back check confirms the characters survive before you download.
Does reading a text code need internet?
No. The text is inside the code, so it appears on screen with no connection. Only the optional web search that some phones offer afterwards needs data.
What is a good use for a text code?
Asset tags, equipment serial numbers, shelf locations, short instructions on a machine, a message hidden in a gift or a treasure hunt clue. Anything that should be readable on the spot without depending on a website.
Guides
QR codes for a specific job
Each opens the generator set up for that kind of code.