URL
Should show the link https://example.com and offer to open it.
Contents
https://example.com
Sample & Test QR Codes
Free test codes for a link, Wi-Fi, a contact card, text and email.
Five ready-made QR codes for testing a scanner, an app or a print run. Each holds a different kind of content (a link, a Wi-Fi login, a contact card, plain text and an email), so you can check that a reader handles every common format, not just links.
Point your phone's camera at the screen, or download a code as PNG or SVG. Every sample uses example data that is safe to scan, and its contents are printed underneath, so you can compare what your scanner reads with what the code holds.
Wi-Fi network
Should offer to join the network “Example-Guest”. The network doesn't exist, so the connection fails; that's expected.
Make a code for your own Wi-Fi →Contents
WIFI:T:WPA;S:Example-Guest;P:test-password-123;;
Contact card (vCard)
Should offer to save a new contact, Jane Doe at Example Ltd, with a phone number, email address and website. Cancel if you don't want to keep it.
Contents
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Doe;Jane;;; FN:Jane Doe ORG:Example Ltd TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1-202-555-0143 EMAIL:jane.doe@example.com URL:https://example.com END:VCARD
Plain text
Should show the sentence as text, without trying to open it as a link.
Contents
Hello from Tools-Bench! If you can read this, your QR scanner works.
Should open a new email to test@example.com with the subject “QR code test” filled in. Nothing is sent until you press Send.
Contents
mailto:test@example.com?subject=QR%20code%20test&body=This%20email%20was%20started%20by%20a%20sample%20QR%20code%20from%20Tools-Bench.
How to test a QR code scanner
Start with the URL code. Almost every scanner handles links, so if this one fails, look at the camera, the light or the distance before the format. Then work through the others: a reader that only understands links shows the Wi-Fi and contact codes as raw text instead of offering to join the network or save the contact.
- With a phone camera: point it at the screen. The built-in camera app on most phones reads QR codes. If glare from the screen gets in the way, lower the brightness or tilt the phone slightly.
- From an image: download a PNG and drop it into the QR Code Scanner, which decodes it in your browser. That works on a laptop, with no second device.
- On paper: print the page or a PNG and scan the printout. Try it small as well; as a rule of thumb, a printed code should be at least 2 × 2 cm.
- In your own app: use the PNG or SVG files as test fixtures. The Copy button copies each code's contents exactly, line endings included, so a test can compare the decoded text character for character.
What's inside each code
A QR code stores nothing but text. What makes a code a Wi-Fi code or a contact code is the format that text follows, which the scanner recognises:
- Links are plain URLs. These samples use example.com, a domain reserved for documentation, so a test scan never leads anywhere unexpected.
- Wi-Fi codes use the WIFI: format, with the security type (T), the network name (S) and the password (P). A ; or : inside the name or password has to be escaped with a backslash.
- Contact cards use vCard, the format address books import and export. The sample's phone number is in the 555-0100 to 555-0199 range set aside for fiction, and its email address is at example.com.
- Email codes are mailto: links, which can carry a subject and a message. Scanning one only opens a draft; nothing is sent until you press Send.
- Plain text is stored exactly as written. A good scanner shows it as text instead of trying to open it as a web address.
Make your own QR codes
When your tests pass, make the real code with the QR Code Generator: type your link or text, pick a size and download PNG or SVG. The codes are static, which means the content lives in the pattern itself, so they never expire and work without any service in between.
The generator also has forms for a Wi-Fi network, a contact card and an email: fill in the details and it writes the format for you, backslashes included. For a guest Wi-Fi code, the Wi-Fi QR Code page opens straight on that form.