trouble scanning QR code in connect on iPhone

[adeebshihadeh]

from discord

kylegreenlaw — 1:49 PM
Is anyone else having issues scanning the QR code (specifically for the Comma 4) to add your device?

I’ve tried multiple times, reloading, 3 separate devices but still won’t scan..
kylegreenlaw — 2:05 PM
Disregard got it.. if this happens to anyone else, just scan the QR code with your default camera app and it’ll link to the website automatically…
adeeb

— 2:14 PM
out of curiosity, how were you trying to do it initially?
kylegreenlaw — 2:15 PM
on connect, add new device, scan QR there

[royjr]

Also had issues with this using a iPhone 13PM (with broken 0.5 lens) and a Pixel 8a using different lighting scenarios. Ended up printing out the url in tmux and pasting into a browser. Made sure debug ui off so the fps counter was not blocking the qr code.

[sshane]

The QR code is already much smaller than it used to be. Can you try to open your camera app and pinch to zoom? The connect QR code reader doesn't allow zoom, and so getting close likely puts it slightly out of focus/doesn't use macro lens. Maybe we can allow zooming, but it's a library without many options afaik

[Zaf9670]

Just got my Comma 4 and experiencing this on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Will try to enlarge it by taking a photo and putting it elsewhere.

May want to look into an alternative method or possibly something like a double-wide 2D barcode. Not sure if QR supports it but I know there are DataMatrix that can. They're used sometimes in pharmaceutical and medical devices for very small cartons.

[drburnsNC]

Same issue with iPhone 17 Pro. No luck after multiple tries

[adeebshihadeh]

Looked into this a bit on my iPhone Air. The camera app is 100% reliable, but connect needs you to get pretty close to scan. @Zaf9670 @drburnsNC Is this your guy's experience too? If you want to test this again to confirm, you can unpair from useradmin then just rescan to pair again

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I'm improving connect's scanner in this PR: commaai/connect#579. Currently, it's downscaling to 400x400px, which I suspect is causing this issue. We should be able to get it just as reliable as the stock iPhone camera app.

[Zaf9670]

I'm not connected yet. I got so close my camera swapped to the wide angle which was much too blurry.

I scan barcodes fairly regular and notice when I have faulty digital barcodes (like a PDF scan of a label) they don't want to scan without enlarging or constantly adjusting angles. Goes for 1D and 2D. But I primarily deal with DataMatrix more than QR code.

[Zaf9670]

So the browser camera is the issue. When I used my default camera app it opened the link to pair successfully.

I suspect to this is one of those Apple turned off/down a setting in their WebKit that creates the subpar experience.

[drburnsNC]

Tried again with the browser camera at various distances…no luck.  Tried with the native camera app and it work quickly without issue.  :-)Thanks...DavidOn Dec 15, 2025, at 5:47 PM, Adeeb Shihadeh ***@***.***> wrote:adeebshihadeh left a comment (commaai/openpilot#36843) Looked into this a bit on my iPhone Air. The camera app is 100% reliable, but connect needs you to get pretty close to scan. @Zaf9670 @drburnsNC Is this your guy's experience too? If you want to test this again to confirm, you can unpair from useradmin then just rescan to pair again I'm improving connect's scanner in this PR: commaai/connect#579. Currently, it's downscaling to 400x400px, which I suspect is causing this issue. We should be able to get it just as reliable as the stock iPhone camera app. —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[adeebshihadeh]

Thanks for confirming. I improved the connect scanner, and it now scans instantly on all devices I could find in the office.

Can you gives give it a try before I ship the update? The preview is at https://579.connect-d5y.pages.dev/, and you can unpair from useradmin to get the QR code to pop up on the device again.

[drburnsNC]

Works now as it should.  Thanks...David919-794-1622On Dec 15, 2025, at 7:12 PM, Adeeb Shihadeh ***@***.***> wrote:adeebshihadeh left a comment (commaai/openpilot#36843) Thanks for confirming. I improved the connect scanner, and it now scans instantly on all devices I could find in the office. Can you gives give it a try before I ship the update? The preview is at https://579.connect-d5y.pages.dev/, and you can unpair from useradmin to get the QR code to pop up on the device again. —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>