Chrome's Built-In QR Code Generator

To find it: click the QR code icon at the right end of Chrome's address bar (it looks like a small square grid), or right-click anywhere on a page and choose "Create QR Code for this page." Chrome generates a code on the spot, encoding the exact URL currently open in that tab, with a download button underneath to save it as a PNG.

This is genuinely useful for the narrow case it's built for: getting the current webpage onto a phone quickly, without emailing yourself a link or using AirDrop. Sharing a product page while browsing on a desktop, or handing a link to someone standing next to you, are both faster this way than typing a URL into a phone by hand.

Where it runs out of road is everything past that single use case. Chrome's generator only encodes the URL of the open tab — there's no way to point it at a different link, no vCard, WiFi, email, or phone-number content type, and no way to open it later for a link that isn't currently loaded in a tab. It also has no styling options at all: no custom colors, no logo in the center, no rounded modules, just a plain black-and-white grid, and no way to export as SVG for print use.

A dedicated generator picks up exactly where Chrome's leaves off: any URL (not just the currently open tab), other content types like WiFi, vCard contact cards, email, or phone numbers, full color and logo customization, and both PNG and vector SVG export for anything beyond a quick digital share. If a code is only ever going to live on a screen for a few seconds, Chrome's built-in option is fine; if it's going anywhere near print, a business card, packaging, or a branded campaign, a dedicated generator is the better tool for the job.