How it works
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Open a room. Pick how long check-in stays open, from ten minutes to a full day. You get a QR code and a PIN on a page you can project or leave on a screen by the door.
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Students scan. The phone camera opens imhere.in with the PIN already filled in. Phones that won't scan can type the PIN at imhere.in instead.
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They add their name. It shows up on your screen a moment later.
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Take the list. From the room screen, copy the names or download a text file with each name and the time they joined. When the timer runs out, check-in closes and the room is deleted.
Stopping check-ins from outside the room
The usual problem with QR attendance: one student photographs the code and sends it to the group chat, and the whole class checks in from bed. With a static QR code there's nothing you can do about that.
Im Here! has an option called Verify presence. With it on, the QR code on the board changes every three seconds. Each version carries a short code built from a secret that only your screen and our server know, and the server accepts only a code from the last few seconds. Students enter the PIN and their name as usual, then the page opens their camera and they point it at the board. A photo sent to a friend has stopped working by the time they open it.
Nobody gets locked out
A student whose camera won't cooperate can still join with the PIN. Their name shows up dimmed on the board, and with "(unverified)" after it in the downloaded list. You decide whether that matters.
What it proves
The phone could see your board within the last few seconds. It can't tell who is holding the phone, and someone pointing a live video call at the board could still relay it. It's built to stop the group-chat photo, and it does.
Compared to a QR generator and a Google Form
The common free setup is to build a Google Form with a name question, paste its link into a QR code generator, and put that code on a slide. It works, and the responses land in a spreadsheet you keep for the semester. The weak spots are the code, which never changes, and the form, which stays open until you close it.
| QR generator + Form | Im Here! | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Build a form, paste its link into a QR generator, print or project the code | Open a room |
| The QR code | Same link forever, so a photo of it works from anywhere | New code for every room, closes with the room; can rotate every 3 seconds |
| Watching check-ins | Refresh the Responses tab or the Sheet | Names appear on the board as people join |
| Late check-ins | Open until you remember to close the form | Impossible once the timer ends |
| Students need | Often a Google sign-in, depending on form settings | A phone browser and their name |
| Records | A spreadsheet that keeps growing | Copy or download the list; the room deletes itself |
| Price | Free | Free |
If you need custom questions or one sheet for the whole term, Forms is the better tool. There's a longer comparison on the Google Forms attendance page.
QR code attendance FAQ
- Do students need to download an app?
- No. Scanning the code with the phone's camera opens imhere.in in the browser with the PIN already filled in. They type their name and tap once. In a Verify presence room they also point the camera at the board once more. There's nothing to install and no account on either side.
- What if someone's phone can't scan the QR code?
- They go to imhere.in and type the four-digit PIN from the board. In a normal room that's all it takes. In a Verify presence room they still get in, but their name shows up dimmed so you can see who skipped the scan.
- How many people can check in to one room?
- Rooms have been load-tested with 500 people joining. As the list grows the names shrink to fit, and past a certain point the list scrolls, so a lecture hall works the same way a 10-person club does.
- What happens to the names after class?
- A room lives on our server only while its timer runs: 10 minutes by default, up to 24 hours. When the timer ends, or you press End Now, the room is deleted. Copy or download the list before then. A copy of your past rooms is kept in your own browser's storage on your device, not on our server.
- Is it free?
- Yes. Hosting, joining and downloading the list are all free.
- Can I print the QR code or reuse it next week?
- Every room gets its own PIN and QR code, and both stop working when the room closes. Open a new room at the start of each class; it takes a few seconds. Because the code dies with the room, nobody can check in to Tuesday's class on Wednesday.
Also compared: Google Forms, the paper sign-in sheet, printable sign-in sheets, Jibble, OneTap