WeChat QR codes

What their code contains

A WeChat QR code holds a link that only WeChat can turn into a person, such as u.wechat.com/ or weixin.qq.com/r/ followed by a code. It doesn’t hold their name. So it gives met.cards a link only: a link that opens them in WeChat.

Ask them to show it

On an iPhone or an Android phone:

1. Open WeChat and tap Me.
2. Tap their name, then My QR Code.

Apps move these screens between versions. If the steps don’t match their app, look for a QR code icon on their profile or in their settings. Scan it from Capture in QR mode.

Last checked: not yet on a phone. These steps follow the app’s own help and may differ in their version.

What met.cards saves

met.cards shows WeChat contact and explains: “WeChat keeps the contact inside its own app, so we can’t read the name or number from this code. We’ll save a link that opens them in WeChat.” Then choose:

• Type their name, to save the link with a name you type.
• Photograph their screen, to read the name from their phone. Ask them to open their WeChat profile first, so their name is on the screen. met.cards reads the photo the way it reads a paper card, and keeps the WeChat link.

Either way, the person’s page shows WeChat under Profiles, with Open in WeChat. An info icon next to it says “Contact code: opens in WeChat, the name was added by you.”

Name and photo

WeChat keeps the contact inside its own app, so met.cards can’t fill in the name or photo, and no setting changes that.

Troubleshooting

• The link doesn’t open. A WeChat link opens only inside WeChat.
• The saved link no longer opens them. Their code can change, for example when they change its style. Ask them to show it again.
• Nothing happens. Ask them to turn their screen brightness up, and tilt your phone so their screen doesn’t reflect the lights. Or take a photo of the code and pick it with the gallery button in QR mode.
• You already have them. A WeChat code hides who it is, so met.cards can’t match it on its own. After you select Type their name and start typing, it suggests people you already have whose name matches what you typed, under Already in your connections? Select Add to on the right person, for example Add to Olena Koval, to add the WeChat link to them. See When you already have them.