How to verify that two (version 10) QR codes have the same message?

Question

I'm making an Apple Passbook Pass for a 3rd party, and the QR code that I need to show on the pass is actually made from another QR code by decoding it, because Apple only lets you specify the message for the QR code and not the actual picture of it.

For some reason, the Passbook-generated QR code is different from the original 3rd-party QR code, even though they appear to have the same message upon decoding. Both of them are Version 10 QR codes.

I've already figured out that this is due to different levels of error recovery.

How can I verify that the codes contain the exact same information (same encoding and such)?

Answer 1

You should decode them and compare the strings. There aren't "invisible" characters -- non-printing, maybe, but they would still appear in the string.

Note that encoding can vary by choice of mask pattern and ECI segments.