Free Email QR Code Generator

🔒 Runs in your browser — nothing is sent to a server

Generate a QR code that opens a pre-filled email when scanned. Enter the recipient address and, optionally, a default subject and body — the generator builds a `mailto:` payload that any phone's default mail app recognises. The user taps the QR, the email composer opens with everything pre-populated, and one more tap sends the message. Ideal for business cards, customer-feedback posters, in-store help requests, lead-capture forms at trade shows, and product manuals that need to invite a quick reply. Everything is built locally — your address never leaves the browser.

1. Choose what to encode

Encode a pre-filled email

2. Enter content and adjust style

Auto-updates on change

Style

300 px
4 modules

Design

3. Preview and download

Enter data and click Generate to preview

Copied!
Copied!

Where email QRs deliver value

Email QRs work best where the user already has intent to send a free-form message and the friction is the typing. Common deployments: a "Got feedback?" sticker by the restaurant exit, a support QR on a SaaS product's onboarding email printed for a workshop, a contact QR on a real-estate sign that pre-fills "I am interested in [property address]", a trade-show booth banner that captures leads with a pre-filled "Tell me more about [product line]". Each removes one or two manual steps from a flow the user wants to complete anyway.

Subject and body length recommendations

Treat the subject and body as defaults the user will edit, not as a finished message. A short subject (under 60 characters) is the email-client norm and avoids the "[Truncated]" indicator in inbox previews. A short body — one or two sentences setting up the request — gives the user a clean starting point without feeling presumptuous. Long pre-filled drafts read as spammy and many recipients delete them unread.

FAQ

What is an email QR code?

An email QR code encodes a `mailto:` URI — a long-standing web standard that any browser, mail client, or phone OS knows how to handle. When scanned, the phone offers to open the default mail app with the recipient (and any pre-filled subject and body) already populated. The user only needs to tap Send, removing the friction of typing an email address from a printed material into a tiny on-screen keyboard.

Can I pre-fill the subject and body?

Yes — both fields are optional. The subject becomes the default subject line; the body becomes the initial draft text. Pre-filling is especially useful for support requests ("Re: order #" so the customer just has to add the order number) and lead capture ("I would like more information about [product]"). The user can edit either field freely before sending.

Which email app opens when the QR is scanned?

Whichever app the user has set as the default mail handler on their phone — Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook, Spark, ProtonMail, and any other registered mail client all work. The OS routes the `mailto:` link through the default-app system; the QR has no way (and no need) to specify a particular client.

How long can the body text be?

The mailto: URI in this generator caps the body at 1,000 characters — enough for a paragraph or two of pre-filled context. Keep the body short for two reasons: long bodies make the QR denser (harder to scan at small sizes) and long pre-filled drafts feel intrusive to the recipient. Use the body for a one-line prompt, not a full message.

Do special characters work in the subject and body?

Yes — the generator URL-encodes special characters (spaces, ampersands, accented letters, emoji) automatically before building the mailto string. Line breaks in the body are preserved. The mail app decodes everything correctly when it opens the composer, so the user sees the subject and body exactly as you typed them in the generator.

Can I use this for newsletter signups?

Indirectly — a `mailto:` QR is a poor fit for newsletter signups because it requires the user to send an email rather than fill a web form, and the resulting message has to be parsed by a human or a custom inbox-to-list pipeline. For newsletter signups, encode a URL QR pointing to your signup page instead. Email QRs shine for one-off, free-form messages: support requests, RSVPs, feedback, contact inquiries.

Why does my email QR not open Gmail?

The mailto link routes to whatever the user has set as their default mail app — if Gmail is not the default on that device, it opens the system default instead. iOS users have been able to set Gmail as default since iOS 14; before that, only Apple Mail handled mailto links. There is no way to force Gmail (or any specific app) from the QR side; the user controls that setting on their device.

Glossary

mailto: URI

A standard URI scheme defined in RFC 6068 that encodes an email message as a link: `mailto:to@example.com?subject=Hello&body=Hi%20there`. Browsers, mail clients, and operating systems all recognise mailto links and hand them to the user's default mail handler.

URL encoding

The process of replacing reserved characters in a URI with `%`-prefixed hexadecimal escapes — spaces become `%20`, line breaks `%0A`, ampersands `%26`. The generator URL-encodes the subject and body automatically when building the mailto payload, so you can paste plain text without worrying about escaping.

Default mail app

The application registered with the operating system as the handler for `mailto:` links. iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows all let the user pick a default mail app from their settings. The QR has no influence over this choice — the OS routes the link to whichever app is currently registered.

vCard

A more comprehensive contact-card format (`BEGIN:VCARD … END:VCARD`) that encodes name, organisation, phone, email, address, and other contact fields in a single QR. vCard is a richer alternative to the email QR for full business-card use cases — though the email QR remains the right choice for one-tap message composition.

Email client

Any application that sends and receives email — Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird, Spark, ProtonMail, and dozens of niche clients. All major email clients respect the mailto schema and pre-fill the composer correctly when launched from a QR scan.

Related tools

QR Code Generator
Create QR codes for URLs, Wi-Fi, email, phone, and plain text
Phone QR Code Generator
Generate QR codes that dial a phone number when scanned
URL QR Code Generator
Generate QR codes for any URL or website link, scannable on every phone