Before you print
How big should it be?
Rule of thumb: printed width ≥ scanning distance ÷ 10. Pick the surface above and the studio sizes the code for you, then checks the printed module size against what a press can actually hold.
Questions people actually ask
Up to 2,953 bytes — roughly 2,900 characters of plain English, less if you use emoji or non-Latin scripts. The counter under the box shows exactly where you stand, and long text makes a denser code that is harder to scan, so shorter is always better.
Their phone shows the text on screen — nothing opens, nothing downloads. Most camera apps offer to copy or search it. It works offline too, because the text lives entirely inside the code.
No. The code is generated entirely in your browser — the text never leaves your device. UseQR is free with no signup, so there is no account to store it in either.
More text means more, smaller squares packed into the same code. If your printout is small or the camera is far away, that density defeats scanning. Trim the text, or host it at a URL and make a URL code instead.
Want the detail? How plain text QR codes work — the payload format, what scanners do with it, and where it breaks.