QR codes: It’s finally hip to be square

After a decade of mockery and dismissal in the West, QR codes—those little black-and-white square patterns you scan with your phone to pull up a website—are finally having their moment. During a pandemic, it turns out, nobody wants to touch anyth After a decade of mockery and dismissal in the West, QR codes—those little black-and-white square patterns you scan with your phone to pull up a website—are finally having their moment. During a pandemic, it turns out, nobody wants to touch anything. Reopened restaurants have [replaced paper menus with QR codes]( (and used the digital patterns to [rescue soda machines](. PayPal and Venmo rolled out a [touchless payment option for businesses powered by QR codes]( and CVS quickly announced plans to [roll them out at 8,200 stores]( by the end of the year. Pharmaceutical companies are even developing Covid-19 testing apps that [display users’ health status via QR codes]( which could determine whether they can go back to work, walk into a building, or [board a plane](. Of course, these developments aren’t so novel within places like China, where QR codes are a ubiquitous tool for digital payments. But for much of the rest of the world, the sudden proliferation of little black squares marks the unexpected vindication of a widely maligned technology. Open your camera app—we’re going to scan the history of a tool far ahead of its time. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] QR codes November 18, 2020 How do you like me now? --------------------------------------------------------------- After a decade of mockery and dismissal in the West, QR codes—those little black-and-white square patterns you scan with your phone to pull up a website—are finally having their moment. During a pandemic, it turns out, nobody wants to touch anything. Reopened restaurants have [replaced paper menus with QR codes]( (and used the digital patterns to [rescue soda machines](. PayPal and Venmo rolled out a [touchless payment option for businesses powered by QR codes]( and CVS quickly announced plans to [roll them out at 8,200 stores]( by the end of the year. Pharmaceutical companies are even developing Covid-19 testing apps that [display users’ health status via QR codes]( which could determine whether they can go back to work, walk into a building, or [board a plane](. Of course, these developments aren’t so novel within places like China, where QR codes are a ubiquitous tool for digital payments. But for much of the rest of the world, the sudden proliferation of little black squares marks the unexpected vindication of a widely maligned technology. Open your camera app—we’re going to scan the history of a tool far ahead of its time. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [47%:]( Fraction of US and UK consumers who said they’ve noticed QR code usage on the rise since the start of the pandemic [31,329:]( Maximum number of tiny squares you can cram into the largest QR code [>65%:]( Share of the Chinese population using QR codes for mobile payments in 2017 [$143,000:]( Sum one Chinese hacker stole by pasting malicious QR codes on top of real ones [55%:]( Share of the global population that doesn’t own a smartphone Reuters/Luisa Gonzalez EXPLAIN IT LIKE I’M 5! How do QR codes work? --------------------------------------------------------------- QR codes are a lot like the [barcodes]( you see on product packaging and store shelves, except that they store information with squares instead of lines. That makes a big difference. Using a series of one-dimensional lines, a standard barcode [contains 20 characters of information](. But the squares of a QR code store data in two dimensions, allowing them to [fit thousands of characters of data](. The other key difference is that you can read a QR code [using a camera instead of a laser](. Barcode scanners bounce a line of bright light off of a thin sliver of the code and then interpret the light that bounces back. By contrast, a camera takes a picture of the entire QR code and then uses clues embedded within the pattern to make sense of it. A standard QR code has three big squares, each occupying one corner. Those are alignment targets that help your phone’s camera see where the edges of the pattern are. A slightly smaller square in the remaining corner helps your phone make sense of the scale of the image and the angle at which you’re holding your phone. The other itty bitty squares contain all the actual data. If you get bored enough during the pandemic, [you could teach yourself to decode them by hand]( you could just leave the work to a computer. Watch this! ...But can you fit a video game on it? --------------------------------------------------------------- Short answer: yes! The largest QR codes can store about 3 KB of data, which, with a little finagling, is enough storage space to cram in a simplified version of the game Snake. Watch one programmer’s full journey to QR glory…or [skip to 18:35]( to see him hold the code up to his laptop’s camera and pop open the game. Brief history [1952:]( Grad students at Drexel University patent the original barcode. [1967:]( Barcodes achieve widespread use as part of a system for tracking railroad cars, dubbed KarTrak. [1971:]( An IBM engineer designs the Universal Product Code, which standardizes barcodes for groceries and other goods, allowing stores to begin using barcodes at checkout. [1994:]( The QR code is born in the laboratories of Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, to help the automaker track car parts as they move down the assembly line. [2000:]( A company called CueCat mails hundreds of thousands of cat-shaped barcode scanners to consumers so they can scan magazine ads to open companies’ websites. It fails within a year and is named to PC World’s list of the [25 worst tech products of all time]( and Time’s list of the[50 worst inventions](. [2010:]( Smartphones become smart enough to read QR codes—but only if you download one of several specialized scanner apps. Marketers once again place codes in magazine ads and expect consumers to scan them to reach a corporate website. [2011:]( Alipay introduces QR code payments to Chinese consumers (pdf). [2014:]( WeChat Pay launches its own QR-powered mobile payment system (pdf). Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel visits China and is so impressed by the technology he immediately forms a team to [create a proprietary version for his app]( dubbed SnapCodes, which makes it easier to add friends. Copycats from [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Spotify]( and [Amazon]( soon follow. [2017:]( Software updates on iPhones and Android devices allow virtually all smartphones to scan QR codes using just their native camera apps. Reurers/Jason Lee MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION Why did QR codes catch on in China and fail everywhere else? --------------------------------------------------------------- Shortly after QR code scanners debuted on smartphones, Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent used the codes to [launch mobile payments systems]( that now dominate the country’s retail experience. Unlike alternative technologies—such as radio-powered near field communication systems—QR codes require no special equipment. Anyone from a street vendor to a major corporation could print a pattern on a sheet of paper and be in business. So why didn’t the codes spread outside China? Writing for the South China Morning Post, Karen Chiu posits that [increasingly prosperous Chinese consumers]( had more of a need for mobile payments. The largest banknote was 100 yuan (about $16) and carrying around wads of cash was becoming cumbersome. Elsewhere, mobile payments didn’t take off; instead, the main use for QR codes became [ill-conceived marketing campaigns]( from brands that wanted to [position themselves as tech savvy](. The QR divide is on full display during the pandemic. In China, Alibaba and Tencent once again [rolled out a QR system for contact tracing]( via their widely used apps. Centralized databases track citizens’ Covid risk and display their status via a QR code, which they must scan before entering buildings or boarding public transportation. Some countries, including [Singapore]( [South Korea]( and [New Zealand]( have followed its lead. Even [American companies are trying to replicate the system]( on a purely voluntary basis. Giphy Pop quiz Which of these is NOT a real (and absurd) use of QR codes? A cornfield planted to form a QR pattern, linking to a farm’s websiteA QR code attached to a melon to tell you when it’s ripeA QR code you can put on your child’s body with a temporary tattoo, to help find them if they get lostA QR code baked into a pie crust, linking to a bakery’s website Correct. We made that up, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been done. Incorrect. Unbelievably, someone really thought that was a good idea. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Morbid fact! A growing number of [tombstones feature QR codes]( which link to websites where mourners can upload photos, videos, and memories in a digital tribute to the dead. take me down this 🐰 hole! In 2012, a fed up netizen [created a Tumblr account]( to document the worst applications of QR codes in the wild (including codes affixed to [bananas]( [sneakers]( and [employee uniforms](. The blog was crowned the “[definitive compendium of a sad and horrible technology]( by tech reporters at Gizmodo. Giphy Poll Have you scanned a QR code since the start of the pandemic? [Click here to vote]( Yes, they’re everywhere now!Maybe once at a restaurantI reject this sad and horrible technology Giphy Membership What’s cooler than being cool? --------------------------------------------------------------- We know. You desperately want to say “ice cold,” but the real answer is “nothing.” At least, that’s true for sellers, who recognize that the coolness factor is something consumers take very seriously. Aesthetic appeal, originality, and high status all play a part, but being pleasing or positive and oozing autonomy are at cool’s core. This autonomy has to follow some rules, though. It means differing from the norm in a way that isn’t too extreme, or it risks losing its positive spin, and specifically a norm the perceiver considers illegitimate. It’s complicated, but that’s cool. [Read more about cool.]( 💬 let's talk! In last week’s poll about [subway maps]( a surprising 39% of you who ride subways said you use old-school maps. You know we meant, like, actual printed maps you hold in your hand, right? 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20QR%20codes%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Nicolás Rivero]( edited by [Susan Howson]( and produced by [Jordan Weinstock](. [facebook]( The correct answer to the quiz is A QR code baked into a pie crust, linking to a bakery’s website. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! 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