23 replies

1. Charis Rooda 🌿 8 min later

   @zachleat I think this is something cultural, the Chinese are very into QR codes.

   1. Zach Leatherman 17 min later

      @charis well that seems very plausible 😅

   2. Chris Finazzo 44 min later

      @charis @zachleat https://dragontrail.com/resources/blog/how-china-gave-new-life-to-the-qr-code

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3. Nathan Gathright 41 min later

   @zachleat They’re obfuscating that this doesn’t link directly to one platform’s app store, but rather a landing page that sniffs out your OS and redirects to the platform-appropriate app store.

   1. Zach Leatherman 51 min later

      @nathan a ha — sneaky. A QR code without a link/URL shown is a big red flag for me

4. Patrick H. Lauke 57 min later

   @zachleat if the primary use case is "bridge the analogue gap between desktop browser and the actual mobile device where you're going to install it" i don't necessarily see it as a problem (but yes an accompanying link would be nice)

   1. Zach Leatherman 1 hr later

      @patrick_h_lauke look — I couldn’t decide which one to use so you get both

      1. Patrick H. Lauke 2 hr later

         @zachleat "QR codes are like a box of chocolate..."

         1. Zach Leatherman 3 hr later

            @patrick_h_lauke yes, thank you.

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6. Phy 11 hr later

   @zachleat This is most Chinese websites. If you are already on the phone they just redirect you to the appstore; there is no remote installing app through the web (like Google Play). Everyone pays offline through QR-code based apps. It is quite a hassle to find a non-searchbar and type some English in. As long as you put a QR code up people know to take out the phone, which gets more used than whatever this got scanned from. Just unfortunate that shortlink isn’t a priority.

7. Now with 25% more charisma 1 day later

   @zachleat why is it "smartphone-first"? You should be able to click the right click QR code and your OS should recognize it as a link
   1. Denpa mode 1 day later

      @feld @zachleat not really
   2. Zach Leatherman 1 day later

      @feld you’re confident that my OS can do this without knowing what my OS is? 😅

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   3. Johnny Peligro 1 day later

      @feld @zachleat thank you, based apple
8. Phantasm 1 day later

   @zachleat Do you guys not have phones?!
9. Zach Leatherman 1 day later

   if they had used this web component from @scottjehl, it would have solved the problem quite nicely! https://scottjehl.com/posts/q-r/