Phone Number QR Code Generator
This encodes a tel link, so scanning it brings up the dialler with your number already entered. It is the right choice when calling is the only thing you want to happen. If the person should keep your details afterwards, a contact card carries the same number plus everything a phone number cannot.
Opens the dialler with your number in it.
Appearance — all of it free
Caption
Print sizing
Both matter. Distance decides how big the code has to look; the printer decides how small a module it can hold. Whichever asks for more is the size to print.
Your code
Fill in the fields above and the code appears here.
What is actually inside this code
One line, and the shortest payload of any type here — which is why these codes stay so easy to scan.
- Number
- +1 555 123 4567
encodes as
tel:+15551234567
16 bytes — a version 2 symbol, 25 modules a side. The phone brings up the dialler with +1 555 123 4567 ready to call.
One number, complete, and nothing else
The payload is `tel:` and the number, which makes this the smallest code the tool produces — the example is a version 2 symbol and will scan off a small sticker from across a forecourt.
Put the country code in it. A sign on a wall feels local right up until someone photographs it, and a number without a country code has nothing to resolve against once it leaves the country it was printed in. It costs two or three characters.
Do not try to put a name in the number. `tel:` takes a dialling target; anything else in there makes it invalid. The name belongs in the caption or in the printed design around the code, where a person reads it anyway.
When a contact card is the better answer
A tel code does one thing well: it turns "call us" into a scan. On a reception sign, a service desk, a taxi window or a for-sale board, where the printed instruction and the encoded action say the same thing, it is exactly right.
What it cannot do is leave anything behind. There is no name in it, no company, no email, no website. The person calls, and if they do not save the number themselves, in a week they have a missed-call entry and no idea whose it was.
- tel: — bytes in the example
- 17
- vCard — bytes for the same number plus name, company, email, site
- 158
- tel: — what the person keeps
- A number
- vCard — what the person keeps
- A contact
Roughly nine times the payload, for the difference between a call and a relationship. On a business card that is worth it; on a car park sign it is not.
The rule of thumb is to follow the action you are actually asking for. "Call reception" wants a phone code. "Here are my details" wants a contact card. Choosing a phone code when the goal was really the second one throws away everything the card would have carried, and nobody notices until the follow-up does not happen.
Frequently asked questions
Why include the country code?
Because printed things travel. A number without a country code only resolves in the country it was printed in, and a photograph of your sign does not stay there. It costs two or three characters in a payload that is already the smallest of any type here, so there is no reason to leave it out.
Should I use a phone code or a contact card?
A phone code when calling is the entire point — a reception sign, a service desk, a for-sale board. A contact card when the person should still know who you are tomorrow, since a tel code leaves them a number and nothing else. The card costs roughly nine times the payload, which on a business card is a fair trade.
Can I put the business name in the code as well?
Not inside the phone number — a tel payload takes a dialling target and nothing else. Put the name in the caption under the code, which this tool can print for you, or switch to a contact card if the name needs to end up saved on their phone rather than just read off the sign.
What happens when the number changes?
The printed code keeps dialling the old one. There is no account behind it and nothing to log into, which is what makes it permanent, and the same thing means there is nothing to edit. Generate a new code and replace the printed copies. It is worth thinking about before committing a number to something expensive.
Other things a QR code can do
Every type, one tool
QR Code Generator
Colours, shapes, a logo, a caption, a print-size check and an A4 sheet — all of it free, none of it behind an account, and the code stays yours because the data is inside it rather than on our server.
Open the full QR code generator →