The gym barcode keychain thingy worked perfect. It was indestructible! And now I have to have my phone in hand, on, bright, open app, click stupid button, line up phone.
Re: gym, when I signed up I didn't have a phone at all. After being asked twice, I finally lied and said yeah it's um at home.
There was an app called Stocard that I used at one point. I prefer to have minimal keychain items.
The problem with the app barcodes is simply that they are slow to load, nonstandard, and not open source.
I think a common standard, lightweight, open source app would be perfect. Stocard is proprietary, but at least it loads quick and organizes all of the cards in a uniform way.
I don't like these slow, buggy apps that bury their barcodes.
The brightness problem is real, and getting the angle right can also be a challenge, although that seems like an issue with the current quality of barcode/QR readers. I assume that could be solved if anyone cared.
Keychain barcodes are insecure, easy to damage, easy to lose, and provide zero real identity guarantee.
Phones at least can offer the level of identity guarantee that 2FA does, and largely solves those other problems.
Re: gym, when I signed up I didn't have a phone at all. After being asked twice, I finally lied and said yeah it's um at home.