QR code from text

A QR code from text stores any string right inside the picture: a note, a coupon, a Wi-Fi password, a short instruction or a greeting. A person points the camera and reads the text on the screen — no internet or apps needed, the data is baked into the code.

What you can encode

• A note, instruction or recipe
• A promo code or campaign terms
• A serial number, article code or ingredients
• A short greeting or a quest riddle

The code encodes plain text with no links or redirects: on scanning, the phone simply shows the content, and the person can copy it.

Works offline

The main advantage is independence from the internet and servers. Such a code reads in a basement, on a plane and deep in the woods. That makes a text QR handy for instructions on equipment, signs and museum exhibits.

Keep the text short

The more characters, the denser and smaller the modules become, and the worse cheap cameras scan the code. The practical limit is a few hundred characters. If there is a lot of text, encode a link to a page rather than the whole text.

Cyrillic is encoded as UTF-8 and takes more space than Latin — keep that in mind for long Russian strings.

How to check

1. Scan the code on iPhone and Android — your text should appear without garbled characters.
2. If the code got too dense, shorten the text or increase the print size.
3. Print dark on light, with margins, as a 1024-pixel PNG or SVG.

Length examples

A short note or a promo code under 100 characters gives a sparse, easy-to-read pattern. A paragraph of 300–500 characters is already noticeably denser. Anything longer is better replaced with a link: the code stays simple and the person reads the full text on a page.