QRist
QRistFree to download for iPhone and Apple Watch
QRist puts the QR codes stuck in your screenshots, PDFs and emails on your wrist, ready to scan.
Requires iOS 18 or later. The Apple Watch app requires watchOS 11 or later.
Why QRist
An invoice PDF has a payment QR code, and your banking app wants to scan it with the camera of the same phone the PDF is open on. So you email it to yourself, print it, or go looking for a second screen.
QRist gets the code off your phone: onto your Apple Watch, or into your clipboard.
Gym check-ins, parcel returns, conference badges and library cards often come as a PDF or a screenshot. Digging for your phone and hunting through your email while someone waits behind you is miserable.
With QRist, the code is already on your wrist. Wrist up. Scanned. Done.
How it works
Tap Share in any app, pick a screenshot from Photos or a PDF from Files, or use the camera. QRist finds every QR code, even on page 7 of a PDF.
The new code waits at the top of your Smart Stack as a Live Activity. Tap it and the code fills the screen.
Hold your wrist up to the scanner. A code you need to scan yourself is on your wrist too, or one tap away in the clipboard.
Features
Import screenshots and photos, choose an image or PDF in Files, tap Share in any app, or use the camera for a code on paper.
QRist finds every QR code in an image and searches every page of a PDF. Pages are read at high resolution, so small printed codes work too.
New codes sync automatically, even when the watch app is closed, and QRist shows when they’ve arrived. Your Apple Watch keeps them, so they open without your iPhone nearby.
After an import, a Live Activity sits at the top of your Smart Stack for 5 minutes. On iPhone it’s on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. You can turn it off in Settings.
On Apple Watch every code gets the whole screen, redrawn sharply from its content. Turn the Digital Crown or swipe to the next one.
Keep your newest code on your watch face or in the Smart Stack.
Payment codes show who you’re paying and how much, like “Painting Studio · €84.00”. Other codes take the name of the file they came from.
On iPhone, copy a code’s content, open its link, share it, or delete codes you no longer need.
Your library, imports and code details also work on iPad.
Privacy
Tickets and payment codes are personal. QRist has no network access at all, so what you import stays on your own devices.
QR codes are detected on your iPhone or iPad, never on a server.
Nothing to sign up for, and nothing watching what you do.
The app never connects to the internet. Your Apple Watch gets its copy from your iPhone.
QRist keeps only the text inside each code, never your photos, PDFs or camera images.
App Store privacy label: Data Not Collected
This site uses no cookies and no trackers.
Read the privacy policyFAQ
It can, as one way to import a code you own, such as one printed on a letter. But QRist isn’t a scanner app: a QR app reads codes, and QRist presents codes you own. It gets them out of screenshots, photos and PDFs and puts them on your Apple Watch, so something else can scan them. To open a code you see out in the world, use your iPhone’s Camera app.
For the watch app, yes. Without one, QRist still works as a library on iPhone and iPad: import codes, see who a payment code pays, copy the content or open the link.
No. Your Apple Watch keeps its own copy of your codes, so they open even when your iPhone is somewhere else. Codes you add later reach the watch the next time the two connect.
SEPA transfer codes (EPC, also known as GiroCode) and EMVCo merchant codes show who you’re paying and how much. Every other code is named after the file it came from.
Yes. Turn off “Show new codes on Apple Watch” in QRist’s settings on your iPhone. Your codes still sync to the watch app, where you can open them any time.
Yes, QRist is free to download, and it has no ads.
An iPhone with iOS 18 or later, or an iPad with iPadOS 18 or later. The Apple Watch app needs watchOS 11 or later.
No. The app has no network access at all. Codes are found on your device and stored in the app on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The developer never sees them.
Support
Send an email and I’ll help. QRist is made by one developer, so a clear report makes a real difference.
qrist@palaplu.com
Your email is only used to answer you. See the privacy policy below.
Privacy policy
Last updated: 17 September 2026
In short: QRist collects no personal data. Your QR codes stay on your own devices and the developer never sees them. This website uses no cookies and no trackers.
Bram De Geyter, an independent developer, is the controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the processing described in this policy. Contact: qrist@palaplu.com.
QRist has no account, analytics, advertising or tracking, and it doesn’t connect to the internet. It contains no third-party SDKs or services. The QR codes you add, with the date added and the name of the file they came from, are stored only on your iPhone or iPad and copied to your paired Apple Watch through Apple’s system. Original photos, PDFs and camera images are not kept. The developer receives none of this data.
A code only leaves the app when you copy, share or open it; the privacy policy of the app or website you pass it to then applies. As the platform provider, Apple may process data under its own privacy policy, for example in device backups or, if you’ve opted in, in crash reports and usage statistics it shares with developers.
This website is a set of static pages with no cookies, no analytics and no requests to third parties. It is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS Amplify). To deliver the pages, AWS processes technical request data such as your IP address, your browser’s user agent, the page requested and the time. Access logging is turned off, and the developer doesn’t use this data to identify visitors. The legal basis is the developer’s legitimate interest in running a secure, working website (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).
If you email the developer, your email address, your message and any attachments are used only to answer you. They are stored with the developer’s email provider. The legal basis is the developer’s legitimate interest in answering your request (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). Please don’t send more personal information than your question needs.
Personal data is never sold or shared for advertising. AWS and the email provider process data only as service providers (processors) on the developer’s behalf. AWS may process request data outside the European Economic Area; such transfers are covered by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses. App downloads and updates are handled by Apple under its own privacy policy.
AWS keeps technical request data only as long as it needs to for security and to operate its service. Support emails are deleted once your question and any follow-up have been dealt with.
You have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, and to data portability. To exercise these rights, write to qrist@palaplu.com. Data in the app exists only on your devices, so you manage it yourself: deleting the app from your devices removes it. You can also lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, such as the Belgian Data Protection Authority (dataprotectionauthority.be) or the authority where you live or work.
You don’t have to provide any personal data, but the website can’t be delivered without the request data above, and the developer can’t reply without your email address. There is no automated decision-making or profiling. QRist and this website are not aimed at children. If this policy changes, the date at the top will be updated.