diff --git a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SettingsScreen.kt b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SettingsScreen.kt
index e99820c..88ef4c3 100644
--- a/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SettingsScreen.kt
+++ b/app/androidApp/src/main/kotlin/com/example/aiapp/SettingsScreen.kt
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.example.aiapp
 
+import android.Manifest
+import android.content.pm.PackageManager
 import android.net.Uri
 import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Column
 import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Row
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalContext
 import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
 import androidx.activity.compose.rememberLauncherForActivityResult
+import androidx.activity.result.contract.ActivityResultContracts
 import com.google.zxing.client.android.Intents
 import com.journeyapps.barcodescanner.ScanContract
 import com.journeyapps.barcodescanner.ScanIntentResult
@@ -62,6 +65,17 @@ fun SettingsScreen(
         }
     }
 
+    val requestCamera = rememberLauncherForActivityResult(
+        ActivityResultContracts.RequestPermission()
+    ) { granted ->
+        if (granted) {
+            scanLauncher.launch(enrollmentScanOptions())
+        } else {
+            error = "Scanning needs the camera. Grant it in the system settings, " +
+                "or type the host, port and token in below."
+        }
+    }
+
     Column(Modifier.fillMaxSize().padding(16.dp)) {
         Row(verticalAlignment = Alignment.CenterVertically, modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth()) {
             Text(
@@ -84,23 +98,21 @@ fun SettingsScreen(
 
         OutlinedButton(
             onClick = {
-                scanLauncher.launch(
-                    ScanOptions()
-                        .setDesiredBarcodeFormats(ScanOptions.QR_CODE)
-                        .setCaptureActivity(EnrollmentScanActivity::class.java)
-                        // Follow the phone, not the library's landscape pin.
-                        .setOrientationLocked(false)
-                        // Decode both polarities: ZXing otherwise looks only for a
-                        // dark code on a light ground, and ai-server's QR is block
-                        // characters in the terminal's foreground colour -- so on a
-                        // dark-themed terminal it comes out as a photographic
-                        // negative that the scanner silently never matches. Which
-                        // way round it renders is the terminal's business, not
-                        // something this app should depend on. MIXED_SCAN alternates
-                        // normal and inverted frames, so it costs half the frame
-                        // rate at each polarity and nothing else.
-                        .addExtra(Intents.Scan.SCAN_TYPE, Intents.Scan.MIXED_SCAN)
-                )
+                // Hold the camera permission before the scanner starts.
+                // Letting its activity ask on our behalf is what the
+                // library does by default, and it opens the camera without
+                // waiting for the answer: the first-ever scan comes up as
+                // a live preview with "Sorry, the Android camera
+                // encountered a problem" over it, and works on the second
+                // try. Nothing is wrong with the camera, so nothing should
+                // say there is.
+                if (context.checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
+                    == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
+                ) {
+                    scanLauncher.launch(enrollmentScanOptions())
+                } else {
+                    requestCamera.launch(Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
+                }
             },
             modifier = Modifier.fillMaxWidth(),
         ) { Text("Scan QR code") }
@@ -152,3 +164,24 @@ fun SettingsScreen(
         }) { Text("Save") }
     }
 }
+
+/**
+ * How the enrollment QR is scanned, in one place because two callers reach
+ * it -- straight from the button when the camera permission is already
+ * held, and from the permission result when it has just been granted.
+ *
+ * MIXED_SCAN is the load-bearing part: ZXing otherwise looks only for a
+ * dark code on a light ground, and ai-server's QR is block characters in
+ * the terminal's foreground colour, so on a dark-themed terminal it comes
+ * out as a photographic negative the scanner silently never matches. Which
+ * way round it renders is the terminal's business, not something this app
+ * should depend on. The mixed decoder alternates normal and inverted
+ * frames, costing half the frame rate at each polarity and nothing else.
+ */
+private fun enrollmentScanOptions(): ScanOptions =
+    ScanOptions()
+        .setDesiredBarcodeFormats(ScanOptions.QR_CODE)
+        .setCaptureActivity(EnrollmentScanActivity::class.java)
+        // Follow the phone, not the library's landscape pin.
+        .setOrientationLocked(false)
+        .addExtra(Intents.Scan.SCAN_TYPE, Intents.Scan.MIXED_SCAN)