What can you put into a QR Code?

Any kind of binary data, thanks for reading my article.

Wait, hold up, don't hit the back button. Theres more to this story because we are not really talking about QR Codes but QR Code readers. QR Code readers programmed to interpret the data in a QR Code in different ways and we'll go over them here.

URIs

The most common way information is encoded into QR Codes is is URIs. A URI, Uniform Resource Indentifier, is a way of referring to something using plain text.

One of the most common types of URIs are used to refer to web pages. You probably know these as URLs.

But URIs can do a lot more than take you to blog posts where bored developers wax poetic about esoterica. They can be used to send emails,

make phone calls,

send text messages,

and take you places.

Specialized apps can also read Bitcoin addresses

and authenticator keys.

[breakdown of authenticator link]

But thats not all, QR Codes can also contain more kinds of data.

Sharing contact information

Maybe a phone number or an email address isn't enough. Sometimes you want to share all of the details at once, enter the VCARD.

VCARD is a format for sharing contact information thats been in use since the 90s. VCARDs can contain names, addresses, telephone nubmers, email addresses, photos, and more.

Sharing events

VCARD's cousin, VCALENDAR, is a format for sharing events. If you've ever been to a meeting you've probably used VCALENDAR. A VCALENDAR invite contains all of the who, what, when, where, and why needed for your meeting.

WIFI: sharing internet access information

In IT there is one eternal burning question that no one has an answer for: "Whats the WIFI password?" Instead of writing on a white board you can put it in a QR Code.

Wrap up

QR Codes are becoming more and more common and can be used to share all kinds of data.