Every content type, and what each is for

Twenty-three kinds of code, when to use each, and which ones can be dynamic.

The everyday ones

Website — any address. The one most codes are.

Text — a message shown on a page, with nothing to tap.

Email — opens a mail app with the address, and a subject and body if you set them.

Phone — dials a number. SMS — opens a message, optionally pre-written.

Wi-Fi — joins a network. Put it on a card in a guest room and nobody has to type a password.

Location — opens a map at a set of coordinates.

People and events

Contact card (vCard) — name, company, numbers, address; the phone offers to save it.

Event — a calendar entry. Times are floating, which means nine o'clock is nine o'clock where the event is, not converted into the scanner's own timezone.

App download — one code that sends an iPhone to the App Store, an Android phone to Google Play and a Fire tablet to Amazon. Dynamic only, because the destination is a decision made at the moment of the scan.

Money

Bank transfer (SEPA) — a European credit transfer. Many banking apps scan the code itself and fill in the payment.

PayPal and Bitcoin — a payment link and a wallet address. A Bitcoin code lands on a page rather than jumping straight into a wallet, so the address can be read and checked first.

Files, media and business

File — points at anything in your media library. Replace the file later and every printed code follows it.

Audio — an audio file gets a player page rather than a download, with the recording's name on it and a play button.

GS1 Digital Link and Product passport — a product identifier that resolves to whatever you point it at, per batch or per serial.

Zoom, WhatsApp and Google Drive — a meeting, a chat and a document, each written the way that service expects.

Which can be dynamic

Anything with a single destination can be. Wi-Fi, plain text and contact cards are static by nature — there is no sensible way to route a Wi-Fi password through a server — and the designer says so when you pick one.