QR code / Web AR

Is anyone else unable to scan the QR triggers with a QR reading app? They work just fine when scanning through my camera but they are throwing an error when trying to get there through a QR App.

Solutions?

Which device/app? What exactly does the error say? My understanding is that the QR code simply encodes a URL, so my initial thought is that it might be an issue with the app.

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This is the app that I’m using. It works with other QR codes that aren’t zappar.

Here is the error…

Technically, I don’t think that’s an error. I see that if I visit a Zappar URL using Chrome browser on iOS. My understanding is that WebAR works only with Safari on iPhone, so that message is simply providing a convenient means to copy the URL so that it can be pasted into Safari and visited using that browser.

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Does it work in Safari as suggested? It looks like you are using a different browser where the WebAR stuff is not supported?

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It was an “In-App Browser” but still safari. Just through the app itself.

Strictly speaking, Safari is an app. Other apps (like QR readers) might leverage the same underlying technology as Safari (a WebView), but such “embedded HTML rendering engines” do not necessarily have all the same capabilities as the fully fledged Safari browser.

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Could be. It could just be this particular app that has this issue. However, it does have over 148k downloads. So the likely hood that one of our customers would struggle with this is an issue I need to address on my end.

I’ll be interested to hear what someone from Zappar has to say.

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I don’t think the in-app browser is a true safari.
I would just give instructions on how to use the iPhone camera app to open the zap.

Steve

Ps. What do you think @Seb or @George?

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Hi Guys,

On iOS, Safari must be used to access the site. Other browsers (e.g. Chrome) or web views in other apps (e.g. Facebook Messenger) do not have access to the camera through the browser.

As of iOS 13 apps that use SFSafariViewController to show web content should work, QR Reader for iPhone obviously does not.

In the meantime, we show a screen encouraging the user to open in Safari, which is the screenshot Molly kindly shared. :slight_smile:

There shouldn’t be a need to download an external QR code scanner when using an iOS device as there is a built in QR scanner in the native camera app.

Hope this clears a few things up.

George

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Hi George ,
In regards to your comment above about the default being safari , why isn’t it the case that when i scan it it goes straight through to safari so rather than trying to open in google chrome , or how can the above screen Molly has referred to be completely avoided when I scan the zapcode ??

Molly’s problem was the QR reader had a built-in browser. So really there is no way around this. They would have to copy the link or if they can change the settings then the QR app to go to Safari.

Now some phones have built-in QR readers that take you to the default browser being Safari for Apple and Chrome for Androids.

Steve

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