Chrome now lets you scan QR codes

Chrome comes through with a feature you'll use a few times in your life.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor

Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.

Expertise Laptops | Desktops | All-in-one PCs | Streaming devices | Streaming platforms

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Matt Elliott

Feb. 3, 2017 4:19 p.m. PT

Oscar Gutiérrez/CNET

The iPhone has never had a built-in QR code scanner. That's probably because it's not every day (or every month) you scan a QR code spotted in the wild.

Despite the dwindling popularity of QR codes -- except for app-specific QR codes, like Snapchat's Snapcodes -- Chrome for iOS now makes it extra-easy to scan a QR code, should you ever spot one. The new feature also works for bar codes you find on product packaging.

How to scan QR codes (and bar codes) with Chrome

First, make sure you have the latest version of Chrome. Then, you can access the scanner in two ways:

1. 3D Touch the Chrome app icon and choose Scan QR Code.

2. Pull down to reveal the Spotlight search box, search for "QR" and select Scan QR Code from Chrome's listing.

If you scan a bar code, Chrome will launch a Google search for that product.

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