Shortcut to Bing Vision makes it easier to scan QR codes again in Windows Phone 8.1

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By Daniel Rubino
last updated

While the vast majority of changes to Windows Phone 8.1 have been a welcome gust of fresh air to our phones, there are some things that take getting used to. The fact that Cortana doesn’t have Bing Vision may be chalked up to it being in ‘beta’, although we hope Microsoft at some point brings the feature back to search. The Bing service is used by many people on this site for scanning our app QR codes at the end of articles, so not having it readily available is a turnoff.

We’ve already touched upon how to get QR and barcode scanning back easily in 8.1, and as it turns out, Bing Vision is still there but under the Camera Lenses. It works, but it’s a multi-step process to get to it.

Now, DreamTeam Mobile has released a free, shortcut app that streamlines things a bit. Called ‘QR for Cortana’, the app only creates a Start Tile that hops directly to Camera Lenses. From there, you can quickly choose Bing Vision and start scanning away. It’s a bit of a kludge, but it works. Plus, it’s free for those of you who really prefer Bing Vision.

Bonus: Tell Cortana “Cortana, open QR” to voice-launch the app.

Pick up QR for Cortana here in the Store. Windows 8.0 and 8.1 supported.

Source: DreamTeam Blog

QR: QR for Cortana

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.