Technology journalist Jean-Baptiste Nicolet has highlighted a series of built-in smartphone functions that allow users to scan documents, read on-screen QR codes and measure physical distances without downloading third-party software. Speaking on the French morning television show Bonjour ! La Matinale TF1, Nicolet explained that while mobile devices are used daily, most owners exploit only a small fraction of their technical capabilities.
Nicolet noted that adopting these underused built-in tools can help users save money, save time and avoid common daily hassles. He drew a comparison to the common saying that humans use only a small portion of their brains, suggesting that the same principle applies to modern mobile phones.
Bonjour ! La Matinale TF1 is the flagship national morning news and magazine program broadcast by TF1, France's largest private television network. The show regularly features consumer advice and technology segments aimed at helping viewers make better use of everyday devices.
Document scanning through native apps
In his broadcast segment, Nicolet demonstrated how users can transform a phone or tablet into a digital scanner. He explained that opening the native Notes application and pressing the small paperclip icon near the top of the interface opens a document scanning function. Nicolet described the automatic framing feature as remarkably effective, emphasizing that users do not even need to align or center the page manually before capture.
The columnist emphasized that using this built-in utility removes the necessity of traveling to a workplace or a commercial print shop simply to scan a basic physical document.
Native document scanning has become a standard feature in mobile operating systems like Apple iOS and Android. Using optical character and edge recognition, smartphone cameras automatically detect document borders, adjust exposure, and correct perspective angles to create clean PDF files without needing external scanning hardware.
Reading QR codes displayed on screen
Another frequently overlooked feature is the ability to read a QR code that appears directly on the user's own screen. Nicolet observed that while scanning external QR codes printed on restaurant tables, television screens or street posters is straightforward, users often struggle when a code is displayed inside a mobile web browser or message on their device.
To resolve this, Nicolet detailed a simple shortcut: pressing and holding down on the QR code image displayed on the screen prompt opens an option to navigate to the destination link on the internet. He added that any clickable web link embedded within a QR code can be accessed through this method.
Quick Response codes, developed as two-dimensional matrix barcodes, store data such as web links and contact details. Modern mobile platforms integrate optical barcode reading into system software, allowing context menus to extract web addresses directly from image files held in phone memory or displayed on screen.
Long press shortcuts and LiDAR distance measurements
Nicolet stressed that the general action of pressing and holding displayed information remains widely forgotten, despite providing fast access to useful features. As an example, he explained that taking a photograph of a concert poster and long-pressing the printed date allows users to create an event alert directly within their device's calendar application.
Finally, Nicolet highlighted the native Measure application included on mobile devices, which allows users to measure physical distances, objects, and even people's height. He explained that as a user measures a distance, a graduation scale appears on the screen. Nicolet concluded that the feature offers high precision because it relies on Light Detection and Ranging sensors, known as LiDAR, which emit tiny infrared laser dots to accurately gauge spatial distances across both smartphones and tablets.
LiDAR technology uses invisible pulsed laser light to map physical environments by measuring the time it takes for light signals to reflect back to the sensor. In modern smartphones and tablet computers, micro-LiDAR sensors provide depth mapping for augmented reality applications, photography focusing, and precise spatial distance calculations.
