Amy Gahran for CNN:

Archrival, a research group that focuses on youth marketing, surveyed 500 students at 24 colleges and universities across the United States. They found that although about 80% of students owned a smartphone and had previously seen a QR code, only about 20% were able to successfully scan the example QR code they were shown.

QR codes certainly solve a problem – entering URLs on mobile devices can be a pain, and the idea of quickly scanning something using your phone’s camera seems to make sense. But until the kinks are worked out, especially when it comes to security, they’re destined to remain little more than a curiosity.