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Google just added a feature we always wanted for Chrome on iPhone

About time!

Manish Singh

on February 2, 2017

Google just added a feature we always wanted for Chrome on iPhone

Mandatory Credit: Photo by STR/EPA/REX/Shutterstock (8137900a) A photo illustration of a WeChat user scanning a QR code to retrieve a digital red envelope on the WeChat app on a mobile phone during the Chinese New Year period in Beijing, China, 30 January 2017. Digital red envelope, a service provided by the mobile phone app WeChat to represent 'hongbao' envelopes filled with money that Chinese traditionally gift each other for good luck during the Chinese Lunar New Year, have gained popularity. According to reports, 32 billion packets have been sent and received by 516 million people over the six-day celebration of the Lunar New Year in 2016 through the app, ten times more than in 2015. Around 100 billion envelopes are expected to be sent during the celebration period of the year 2017, according to forecasts. WeChat digital red envelope gains popularity in China, Beijing - 30 Jan 2017 Credit: STR/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

Google is adding a much requested feature to its Chrome browser.

A new update to Chrome’s iPhone app — v56.0.2924.79 — introduces a built-in QR code scanner to the mobile browser. The feature can be accessed from the 3D Touch menu of Chrome, or by simply writing QR in Spotlight.

The addition of QR scanner in Chrome — something that many have longed for years — comes months after Google added this feature to Now on Tap, an extension of Google Now available exclusively on Android smartphones.

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At the time, Google had positioned the new feature as an ability to quickly learn about products using their QR codes. And rightly so, QR codes are a great way to exchange information.

In India, mobile wallet companies like Paytm and MobiKwik are onboarding merchants with their unique QR codes that users can scan and make payments, which has finally made QR codes mainstream.

Though perhaps it’s China which has truly tapped the potential of QR codes. Popular instant messaging app WeChat supports the feature and lets users do a plethora of things with it, including pay for food. Such is the significance of QR codes that WeChat founder Allen Zhang recently mentioned QR codes 22 times in a 90-minute speech.

Topics Google

Manish Singh

Manish Singh was a Mashable's senior correspondent in India. He has previously freelanced with CNET, NDTV Gadgets, BGR India, and MediaNama.