My iphone 15 won't scan QR codes

There's no issue to be fixed.

The camera has a minimum focus distance, and once you are farther away from the bar code than that, it will scan instantly without issue.

Do not try to fill an area of the screen set aside for the bar code, just back away from it until it is in sharp focus and it will scan.

I scan bar codes and QR codes almost daily.

Have you tried the procedure I reference?

I have never been able to make a scan of a bar code or QR code fail on an iPhone 14 Pro Max or now the 15 Pro Max, it's always been a matter of the code being too close to the phone for the camera to be able to focus on it.

What kind of code are you scanning?

Do not get exceptionally close to the code - you do not need to fill any box drawn on the screen for the code to go into - and you do not need to tap and focus unless you want to .

Simply back the phone away from the code until it is in sharp focus and it will scan immediately, no extra work required.

There is nothing for Apple to fix.

The normal camera has a minimum focus distance of approximately eight inches and holding it closer than that will not work for apps which use the normal camera.

I can scan any bar or QR code I like with my 15 Pro Max, just as I could with my 14 Pro Max, and can pay with the Walmart app using Walmart Pay which works by scanning a custom-generated QR code on the register's screen.

I thought the same. It does work, just need to do the following:

point camera at the bar code/QR - it will be out of focus. Draw back slightly until the bar code comes into focus. It will ping & a green tick will appear.

It takes a little practice.

I have the same problem, I have always scanned my bar codes in my kroger, walmart etc apps. Also scanned bar codes on prescriptions, foods etc. now it wont scan.

I am very disappointed in my iphone 15, i am tempted to go back to my iphone 11. it took better pictures and i did not have as many problems as i am having with this phone.

It doesn't take "practice," and when you say "all previous iPhones" that's demonstrably not true as this is the same way things have worked since the introduction of the iPhone 14.

Moving the camera until the code you want to scan is in focus seems like an obvious skill.

I’ve had the same issue, except the app I was using needed me to ID verify and it will not let you take a picture of your drivers license from the distance that the iPhone 15 Pro camera needs to take it out without being blurry. I also have to take a picture of the back of my ID and it wants the barcode up close to fit in it’s transparent barcode, which it will not do without being blurry. I use this app for a side gig and because I couldn’t ID verify I couldn’t use the app. I called Apple. She advised me to go to the Apple Store. I went to the Apple Store. He said my camera failed to meet the requirements and they replaced the camera. I tested it out later and it still won’t scan anything up close in 3rd party apps. It has to be a certain distance away from it. At some point with a lot of people having the same issues, I would hope they would fix it. They can’t say it’s third-party issues because my previous iPhone worked fine doing it. And they can’t expect a million other apps to accommodate to apples new issue with the camera.

This is an issue that apple needs to address with their machine learning algorithms or hardware (or software). Not the app developer…

Expecting app changes for specific phones cameras reminds me of now having to develop for many different configurations of android devices… (fragmentation) yikes.

https://youtu.be/s2vlKvmf3pU?feature=shared

8:14 into the video…

You need to be 8 inches or greater away.

Lots of comments in the video reflect the issue

Iphones minimum focus distance on the “main lens” used to be 150mm 5.9 “ on the new iphones 15 pro its 200mm or 7.87” thats quite a difference in minimum focus distance… with the older hardware it got use the higher quality main lens for close up photos inside these parameters…

That's incorrect.

The greater focus distance has nothing to do with lens quality, it's because of the larger sensor (leading to higher photo quality) used in the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max and 15 Pro/Pro Max.

Code reading apps can read the code perfectly, you don't need to get close to the code as you are doing when you cause the Camera app to switch to macro mode.

The switch to macro mode is being performed by the Camera app because it doesn't know you are trying to focus on a code, just something too close for the normal lens as if you were taking a photo of it.

There's zero need for a code reader app to do that.

This is false. If the phone goes into a photographic mode on its own that doesn't like close up photos and there is no way to tell the phone to get OUT of that mode, then that's not the app. That is the phone choosing that mode. Even if I have never chosen that mode prior, nor is the camera app IN that mode... Right now all my 3rd party apps that read QRs internally, like lastpass, google authenticator, lastpass authenticator, discord, do not focus on the QR unless I move like 4 feet away. Kind of crazy.

ok so what you are saying is that when the app has perfectly chosen the right camera mode for ALL previous phone models perfectly, and then the new phone comes out that does not require a new app, and all the apps are suddenly choosing the wrong mode, that's not the phone developers doing... ok.

Also, when scanning a QR code, there is no version that makes sense to have to back the phone away 4 feet to get it in focus and the size of a postal stamp. We're sitting at a desk but have to get up from the desk and stand back to scan the QR on our screen. But this is "fine".

Apple is blaming the app developers and stated I should cont them. I contacted the developers and they recommend I perform a Google search for a fix. What they are really saying is Apple missed the boat on the new iPhone 15 when it comes to the camera because all of the Google searches state it’s the phone; leaning hard on hardware not software. I am so disappointed with Apple and the new phones. Since a few friends of mine own a SE and none of them have focus issues I will training mine in for a SE second generation.

FYI….Eligible products at the Apple Store Online that were purchased between November 3, 2023 and December 25, 2023, may be returned through January 8, 2024.

Google searches are not a source of technical truth.

Any developer whose apps have not been updated to work with newer devices in over 2.5 years is not one whose apps you should use, that's the bottom line.

If you have no use for the enhancements and greater quality of the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max camera system, then the SE may be a better choice for you, which is the precise reason Apple has a refund policy.