Android users will soon start to read QR codes from a distance. If it is that you have previously had issues scanning QR codes in your Android device, maybe perhaps from a wall across the room, then you should know that Google is at the moment testing out a new feature with developers that could literally make scanning from a distance very much easy.
Android QR Codes from Distance
You just might soon not have as much trouble when reading far-away QR codes on your Android phone. Google is at the moment working on a new code scanner that will detect a QR code in the camera frame, zoom in, and then read it automatically. The feature in question is not quite making its way to devices as of yet, but it is however in the latest APIs that Google is making available to developers.
Specifically, it is Google’s code scanner API that has been updated with the new ability. And it works in the QR Code Scanner system app of Google, but it can also be implemented into other apps.
How the Feature Will Work If It Sees the Light of Day
If it is that developers get to implement the code scanner API, users will no longer have to grant camera permissions thus saving developers time just by not having to build a custom experience. The API in question leverages the on-device machine of Google learning to interpret QR codes, and as you should know it only outputs a Barcode object to the app in order to maintain privacy for users. (It is still not clear as to what exactly is happening just under the hood, but just so you know AI upscaling is a thing for other kinds of media.)
Expert Analysis of the New Development
And as pointed out by Mishaal Rahman, an Android expert, the new auto-zoom function is now available in the new bundled ML Kit Barcode Scanning API library version 17.2.0 that can easily be built into apps (as well as the unbundled version 18.3.0, which Google Play Services can effectively download). It is also included in version 16.1.0 of the code scanner API alone.
Expert Rahman wrote that it is possible that the easy QR code scanning feature could very much make its way onto devices running Android 13 or newer since their QR code scanner makes use of the same ML Kit Barcode Scanning library where this feature is now being added. And it just may already be rolling out via GMS, which is the proprietary part of Android that Google licenses to select manufacturers, as per a screen recording from AssembleDebug, a user of X (formerly Twitter).
How Effective Will the Feature Be On Android Devices
It is still not clear as to just how effective the new feature will be on Android smartphones that are outfitted with sub-par cameras, or if it will get to make it to devices other than Google’s very own Pixels if it broadly arrives at all. But the feature as you should know is kind of neat, and just hopefully it gets to show up in developers’ apps and widely-released devices soon enough.
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