Email QR code generator
Put an address, a subject and a first line into a code. Scanning it opens a new email with all three already filled in — the recipient only has to press send.
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Every character of the subject and message is stored in the code itself, so a long message makes a denser one. Keep it to an opening line.
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Your image is read in this tab with FileReader and drawn straight onto the code — it is never uploaded.
Enter an email address to mint your code.
What happens when someone scans this
The code carries a mailto: address — the same link type a web page uses for an email link. A phone camera reads it, shows the address, and tapping through opens a new draft in whichever mail app is set as the default: Mail on an iPhone, Gmail or Outlook on most Android phones. Your subject and message are already in the draft. Nothing is sent until the person taps send, so a scan can never fire an email on its own, and no message passes through this site — the code is built in your browser and that is where it stays.
Subject lines and message bodies are percent-encoded before they go into the code, so an ampersand, a question mark or an accented character in your text stays part of the text instead of being read as the start of another field. That encoding costs characters: a space becomes %20, three characters where you typed one. It is the reason a long body turns a sparse, forgiving code into a dense one that needs a steadier hand and better light to scan — put the ask in the subject and one opening line in the body, and leave the rest to the person writing the reply.
Where an email code earns its place
The subject line is the part worth thinking about. A code on a trade-show stand whose subject is already "Booth 214 — send me the deck" tells you where every reply came from without asking anyone to type a reference. The same trick works on a repair notice ("Fault report — unit 3B"), on an invoice ("Query on invoice 10428") and on a job ad. If you want the reply to arrive as a text message instead, the SMS QR code does the same job through the messaging app, and a contact card code is the better choice when you want your details saved rather than a message started.
Frequently asked questions
Does scanning it send the email automatically?
No. Every mail app opens the draft and waits — there is no payload that can send mail on its own, on any platform. The person scanning always sees the message before it goes anywhere.
Which app opens?
Whichever one the phone has set as its default mail handler. On a phone with no mail account configured at all, the tap may open the mail app's setup screen instead of a draft — worth knowing if the code is aimed at a general public rather than at colleagues.
Why is my code so dense compared to a link?
Because a QR code stores your text literally. A short link is 20-odd characters; an address plus a subject plus a paragraph can be 200, and each one adds modules. If the pattern is getting too fine to print at the size you need, shorten the body, or raise the export size under Options.
Does it work in every scanner app?
The built-in cameras on iOS and Android both handle mailto:. Some in-app scanners — the ones inside social apps — open links in their own browser instead of handing them to the mail app, and a few drop the body. If the code is going somewhere you cannot control which scanner is used, keep the important part in the subject.
