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Phone Number QR Code Generator

Point a camera at it and the phone shows your number and offers to call. No app, no typing a number off a van door at a traffic light.

Type it with the country code. The number as printed on your shopfront works for everybody standing in your country and quietly fails for everybody else.

Add your link or content

Start with a plus and the country code. Without one the code only dials for people already in your country.

Customize your QR code

Finder squares stay square whichever you pick. They are what a scanner locates the code with.

The blank margin scanners need. 4 is the standard minimum.

Download your QR code

Your code appears here as you type.

The Country Code Is the Whole Job

A phone code contains one line of text: tel: followed by the number. The spec, RFC 3966, prefers the global form, a leading plus and then digits with no spaces or brackets. A number without the plus still dials for anybody already on that national network, which is exactly what makes it dangerous: you test it, it works, and it fails for the visitor from abroad who is the reason you printed it.

Separators are dropped rather than encoded. Enough scanners mishandle a bracket that the safe form is digits and a plus. Here is the same London number four ways.

What you enterWhat the scanner readsVersionModulesPrint at least
Typed the way it is printedBrackets and spaces are dropped. Dials at home, fails abroad.tel:0207946001815 characters12911.6 mm
With the country codeThe RFC 3966 global form. Dials from anywhere.tel:+44207946001817 characters12911.6 mm
Written with the 00 prefixRewritten to a plus, which is the form phones outside your region understand.tel:+44207946001817 characters12911.6 mm
A US number in fullSeparators removed. Note the module count barely moves: a phone code is tiny.tel:+1415555013216 characters12911.6 mm
One number, four ways of typing it. Measured at error correction level M by the same encoder the tool above uses, and every row decoded back before it was published.

This Is the Smallest Code You Will Print

A tel link is about fifteen characters, so it encodes at a very low version with few modules, and few modules means it stays readable when printed small. That makes it the payload that fits where nothing else does: a business card corner, a badge, the side of a tool, a sticker on a meter.

If you want the number to arrive in somebody's contacts rather than just be dialled, the contact card tool does that instead. It carries far more, so it prints considerably larger, which is the trade. For a written reply rather than a call, the SMS code can carry a prefilled message, and the email code can carry a subject line.

What This Does Not Do

  • It does not dial on its own. Every phone shows the number and asks first, which is the behaviour you want.
  • No extensions. The syntax exists and handling is inconsistent enough that a code with one often dials the main number and drops the rest. Print the extension as text.
  • Up to 15 digits, which is the E.164 limit rather than ours.
  • On a laptop it opens whatever calling app is installed, or nothing. Phones are the target here.
  • Static, so the number is fixed once printed. Reprint if it changes.

Phone QR Code Questions

What happens when someone scans a phone number QR code?

The phone shows the number and asks whether to call it. It does not dial on its own. On a laptop the same code usually opens whichever calling app is installed, or nothing if there is none.

Do I need the country code in a phone QR code?

Yes, if anybody outside your country will scan it. Without a leading plus and the country code the number only resolves for people already on that national network. The tool warns you when the number has no country code, and rewrites a 00 prefix to a plus.

Can a QR code dial an extension?

Not reliably. RFC 3966 has syntax for it, and handling across phones is inconsistent enough that a code with an extension often dials the main number and drops the rest. Print the extension as text next to the code instead.

Why is my phone QR code so much smaller than my other codes?

Because there is almost nothing in it. A tel link is about 15 characters, so it encodes at a very low version with few modules, which means it stays readable at a small printed size. It is the cheapest payload on this site apart from a short URL.

Should I use a phone code or an SMS code?

A call code for anything urgent, an SMS code when you want a written record or the person is unlikely to want to talk. The SMS version can also prefill the message, which is useful for a reference number or a table number.

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