When to use it
App launch posters, packaging for a product with a companion app, a conference slide, the back of a business card, a table tent in a venue that takes orders through its app. Anywhere you want a phone owner to install something without searching the store by name and picking the wrong result.
How it behaves on phones
iPhone: the Camera app shows a banner naming apps.apple.com. Tapping it opens the App Store app directly on the listing, because Apple registers the domain as a universal link. The person taps Get and is done.
Android: the phone has no App Store, so the same link opens Apple’s web page in the browser. It shows the listing with an Apple badge that does nothing useful on Android. Most Android scanners give no warning first.
The reverse is true of a Google Play link on an iPhone.
Common mistake
Printing a single App Store code on a poster because “everyone has an iPhone”. Depending on the country, half or more of the people scanning will be on Android, and each one lands on a page they cannot use. Print two codes, or one code to a page that redirects.
Gotchas
Two stores, one poster. The simplest fix is two codes side by side with the store badges above them. It works, but people scan the wrong one more often than you would think, and it takes twice the space.
One code, a download page. Point one code at a page on your own site, such as /download, that reads the phone’s user agent and redirects: iPhone to the App Store, Android to Google Play, desktop to a page with both badges. This is the approach QR Studio uses. It also lets you change the destination later and count scans by platform.
Apple’s own tools. Apple lets you generate a QR code for an App Clip from App Store Connect. Those codes are for App Clips specifically; for an ordinary listing, a URL code is what you want.
Length. https://apps.apple.com/app/id123456789 is 39 characters and fits version 3 at level M, 29 modules wide. Adding the app name slug and a country code can push it to 70 or more; strip them out.
Campaign tracking. Apple’s ?pt= and ct= parameters record where installs came from. They add length, so put them on the redirect page rather than in the code.
Try it in QR Studio
QR Studio has an App Store type. Paste the listing URL or the ID and it builds the shortest working link, with matching Google Play and download page options.
Print advice
Level M for posters and cards, Q if the code carries the app icon as a logo. A poster read from 2 m needs a 20 cm code; a table tent needs about 3 cm. Put the app name and the store badges near the code, and a plain text search term such as “Search for QR Studio” for people who would rather do that.
Try it yourself
Paste your App Store and Google Play links and see how much smaller a short download page URL is.