SMS, Email, and Phone QR Codes in Snapkit

Three homepage tabs look like “contact us” and do three different jobs. Phone fills the dialer. SMS fills Messages. Email fills a mail draft. None of them transmit anything by themselves. If you pick the wrong tab, the scan “works” and the person still does the wrong action.

This is the Snapkit implementation, not a catalog of every URI scheme on the internet.

Side-by-side

Tab	Form fields	Payload	Opens	Sends / calls?	Dynamic toggle?
SMS	Number, optional message	SMSTO:{phone}:{message}	Messaging app	No — user taps Send	No
Email	Address, optional subject, optional body	mailto:{email}?subject=&body= (params omitted if empty)	Mail / Gmail / Outlook	No — user taps Send	No
Phone	Number	tel:{phone}	Dialer	No — user confirms the call	No

The dynamic checkbox on the homepage is for URL destinations only. You cannot remotely change a printed tel: or SMSTO: later. Local generation: how Snapkit generates codes.

SMS tab

Type a number. Optionally type a body. Snapkit concatenates SMSTO: + number + : + message.

Use it for a keyword (JOIN DOWNTOWN), a table number, “on site.” Do not paste a brochure into the body. Long strings make a dense QR; Snapkit warns near 1,000 characters and gets unreliable past about 1,200 for the whole payload.

iPhone: Camera preview, then Messages with a thread to that number. Existing threads may append.

Android: Stock Messages, Samsung Messages, and Google Messages disagree on rare sms: variants. Snapkit uses SMSTO:, which is the usual working form. If one OEM camera shows the raw string, try the built-in Camera / Lens path before assuming the PNG is bad.

Print the human-readable number next to the code. Dual-SIM phones may pick the wrong SIM; a QR cannot fix that.

Marketing texts have consent rules. A scan is not automatically legal opt-in. That is your compliance problem, not a Snapkit setting.

Email tab

Fields: address (the useful one), subject, body. Subject and body are passed through the browser’s URLSearchParams, so you type normal spaces—you do not hand-write %20.

Not in the form: CC, BCC, attachments. mailto: cannot attach a photo of the broken latch. If you need a file, use a URL to a form.

iPhone: Opens Mail (or the default mail app). Users with no mail account see a setup wizard. That is iOS, not a failed QR.

Android: Gmail vs Samsung Email vs Outlook-for-work. The first scan may ask which app owns mailto:.

Common self-owns

• Putting hello@shop.com in the URL tab (https://hello@…) → browser error. Use Email.
• Pasting an already-encoded subject so the draft shows %20.
• A body so long the client truncates it.

The address on the print is public. Anyone with a decoder reads To / Subject / Body.

Phone tab

One field. Encoded as tel: plus your digits. Include + and country code if travelers will scan it.

Snapkit does not add ext=, WhatsApp links, or FaceTime. If you type “Call us 555-…” the extra words become part of the number and the dialer looks possessed.

The OS still asks before placing the call.

iPhone vs Android in one pass

Check	iPhone	Android
SMS draft appears	Usually Camera → Messages	Camera or Lens; app picker possible
Email draft appears	Mail / default	Gmail / OEM / Outlook
Phone	Dialer with confirm	Dialer with confirm
No SIM / airplane	Draft or dialer still opens; send/call fails	Same
Wrong tab (Text)	Shows +1555… as text	Same — no tap-to-call

If the camera never locks, that is print/contrast, not SMSTO. Use QR code won’t scan and test the PNG.

What to print beside the code

• SMS: “Text us — scan, then tap Send.”
• Email: “Opens a draft — tap Send.”
• Phone: hours, because a 2 a.m. ring trains people not to scan you again.

Staff the number or mailbox you encoded. Snapkit will happily generate tel: for a line nobody answers.

Build list

1. Homepage → SMS, Email, or Phone.
2. E.164 numbers. Real inbox. Short SMS body.
3. Download PNG (not a screenshot).
4. Scan on one iPhone and one Android. Complete Send or Call once to yourself.
5. Print the fallback digits in ink.

These three tabs are honest: they start a conversation on the scanner’s phone. They are the wrong tabs for menus, Wi‑Fi, and vCards—those are URL, Wi‑Fi, and Contact.