How to Scan a QR Code From a Photo or Screenshot on iPhone

The native way: Live Text in the Photos app

Your Camera only reads a code that is in front of the lens. For a code that is already a picture on your phone — a screenshot, a saved photo, an image someone texted you — the tool is Live Text, built into the Photos app.

Open the image in Photos. If iOS recognizes the code, tap the Live Text button on the picture, then tap the code. (You can also touch and hold the code itself.) A menu shows what the code contains and offers an action — Open in Safari for a link, join the network for Wi-Fi, add the card for a contact. Apple’s Live Text is designed to let you act on content inside a photo this way, including opening a website from an image.

That is the whole trick. No extra app, no upload, no trying to photograph your own screen.

Does it work on screenshots?

Yes. A screenshot is just an image in your Photos library, so the same Live Text steps apply. This is the common case: someone shares a code in a chat, you screenshot it, and later you want to open it. Open the screenshot, tap the code, done. The same Live Text steps work whether the picture is a screenshot, a saved photo, or a downloaded image.

Check where a code goes before you tap

One quiet benefit of scanning from a saved picture: you see the destination before you commit. When Live Text reads a code, it shows the link or content first. Take the extra second to read it. If a “missed delivery” or “pay for parking” code points to a misspelled address or a random-looking domain, do not tap through. Scanning from an image is a calmer way to check than a rushed scan on a busy street — the picture is not going anywhere, so there is no pressure to tap fast. More on this in our QR code safety guide.

Which iPhones and iOS versions support this

Live Text arrived with iOS 15 and works on supported iPhone models. Apple notes that Live Text is not available in every region or language, so if you do not see the option, that is the likely reason. If your iPhone is older or set to an unsupported language, use the fallback below.

If Live Text does not pick up the code

Sometimes a code will not detect — it is blurry, low-contrast, cropped, or partly hidden. Two reliable fallbacks:

• Scan it with a second device. Open the image full-screen on one phone or your Mac, then point another device’s Camera at the screen. A camera does not care whether the code is on paper or glass.
• Use the Code Scanner. Add the Code Scanner control to Control Center, open it, and aim it at the code on the other screen.

Before you retry, make sure the code is fully visible, in focus, and not covered by a caption or a crop.

The after-story: stop screenshotting codes to save them

Here is a pattern worth noticing. If your camera roll is filling with screenshots of codes — your gym check-in, a parking sign, a friend’s Wi-Fi, a lunch menu — the screenshot is a workaround, not a home. Photos buries them, and Live Text only helps if you can find the picture again.

Inkcode is where those codes can actually live. To be clear about the boundary: Inkcode reads codes live through the camera, not out of your photo library. But the moment you scan one, you can save it. Saved codes go into a private library that stays on your device — no account, no server, nobody tracking what you scan — and you can lock the whole thing behind Face ID or Touch ID. Open it, and the codes you reach for again and again are one tap away, instead of buried under a thousand photos.

Scanning in Inkcode is ad-free, and it stays that way. The codes you create there are static, so they never expire. And because everything stays on the phone, the code that opens your front gate or joins your home Wi-Fi is not sitting in a shared cloud album — it is behind your face.