QR Code - Help Center

Question 1

How do I create a QR code?

Accepted Answer

Open Dashboard › QR Codes, choose Create QR, pick what the code should do, fill in the details and save. The code is ready to download immediately. Step by step Open QR Codes In the left menu of your dashboard. Choose Create QR Or use the Create button at the top right of the dashboard. Pick dynamic or static Dynamic if it points at a web address and you want to be able to change it or count scans. See the difference. Choose the type A website, a vCard, WiFi details, an email, an SMS, a phone number, a location, an event, plain text, a file, an app store link or a social profile. Fill in the details What you enter depends on the type — a web address for a link, a network name and password for WiFi, a name and number for a vCard. Name it For your own dashboard, so you can tell your codes apart later. "Table tent Q4" beats "QR 7". Design it, then save Colours, shape and a logo if you want one. Save, and it appears in your list ready to download. Getting it out Download the finished code from its entry in your list. Use the highest resolution available for anything going to print — a code scaled up from a small image loses the crisp edges scanners rely on. Scan it yourself before it goes anywhereWith a different phone from the one you built it on, at the size it will actually be printed. A code that works on screen at full size can fail at business-card size. Next: customising the design and printing so it scans.

Question 2

How do I customise the look of my QR code?

Accepted Answer

The design panel sets colours, the shape of the pattern and, on paid plans, a logo in the middle and a frame around the outside. A QR code can carry your branding — within limits that are about physics rather than taste. What you can change ColourA single colour, or a gradient across the pattern Gradient directionHorizontal, vertical, diagonal or radial BackgroundThe colour behind the pattern TemplatesReady-made combinations, as a starting point LogoYour mark in the centre — paid plans FramesA border with a call to action — paid plans The rules you cannot design around A scanner finds a code by looking for strong contrast between the pattern and its background. Most codes that fail in the wild fail for one of these reasons: Not enough contrast Dark pattern on a light background. Light-on-dark works in some readers and not others, and a mid-grey on mid-beige works in none of them. The logo is too big A code can lose a modest area in the centre and still be read. Take too much and there is nothing left to recover from. No quiet zone The clear margin around the code is part of the code. Text or artwork crowding the edge stops it being found at all. Inverted colours A light pattern on a dark background is the most common cause of a code that scans on one phone and not another. Test after every design changeColour and logo changes can take a code from reliable to marginal without looking any different to you. Scan it again after each change, and from a normal distance rather than an inch away. A frame with three words on it — Scan for menu — reliably lifts scan rates, because it answers the question a stranger has when they see a square of noise. Related: printing so it scans.

Question 3

What can a QR code point to?

Accepted Answer

A web address is the common case, but a QR code can also hand over WiFi details, save a contact, start an email or a text, open a map, add a calendar event or simply carry text — no website involved. The types available WebsiteAny web address, including your bio page vCardSaves your name, number and details straight to their contacts WiFiJoins your network without anyone reading a password aloud EmailOpens a new message to you, subject and body prefilled SMSOpens a text to your number, message prefilled PhoneStarts a call LocationOpens the map at a point EventOffers to add a date to their calendar AppSends iPhones and Android phones to their own stores FileAn image or PDF you upload — a menu, a manual, a price list SocialStraight to one of your profiles TextPlain text, shown as-is Picking the right one The test is what should happen in the two seconds after the scan. A code on a café table that opens a PDF menu is doing its job; the same code pointing at the café's homepage makes the customer hunt for the menu themselves. One code, one job A code that could mean three things gets scanned by nobody. Point at a page if there is more than one job Your bio page can hold the menu, the booking link and the playlist behind one code. Say what it does next to it "Scan for the wine list" outperforms a bare square every time. Types that hold data rather than a linkWiFi, vCard and text codes contain the information itself, so they work without a connection — and they cannot be changed or counted afterwards, because nothing of yours is involved in the scan. Related: dynamic versus static.

Question 4

How do I print a QR code so that it actually scans?

Accepted Answer

Print it big enough for the distance people will stand at, keep the clear margin around it, use a dark pattern on a light background, and test the real printed thing before you order a thousand of them. Size The working rule is that a code needs to be about a tenth of the distance it will be scanned from. Someone holding a flyer is 30cm away and needs roughly 3cm of code. Someone reading a poster across a room is 3m away and needs 30cm. Business card, flyer, menu2–3cm across, minimum Window or A4 poster5–10cm Across a room25cm and upwards The margin around itRoughly four modules of clear space — in practice, do not crowd it Where it goes Somewhere a phone can reach A code above head height or behind a counter cannot be scanned however well it is printed. Off the fold and off the curve A code across the fold of a leaflet or around a bottle is distorted before anyone tries. Away from glare Gloss laminate under a spotlight defeats a camera. Matt if you have the choice. With a line of text People scan a code when they know what they will get. Test the printed article, not the filePrint one at final size on the actual material, and scan it with an ordinary phone, at the distance and in the light people will really be in. Printing shrinks and softens edges in ways a screen never shows. Use a dynamic code for anything you cannot reprintIt is the difference between fixing a mistake in thirty seconds and paying for the print run twice. See dynamic versus static. Related: customising the design.

Question 5

How do I see how many times my QR code has been scanned?

Accepted Answer

Dynamic codes count every scan, with the time, country and device. Open Dashboard › QR Codes and select the code. Static codes cannot be counted at all. What you get Total scansAnd how they are distributed over time CountryWhere the scan happened DeviceWhat was used to scan it ReferrerWhere it is available Making the numbers mean something A single total across every code tells you almost nothing. The value appears when you can attribute a scan to a place, which means one code per place. A separate code per location Window, table tent, receipt, flyer. Same destination, different codes — now you know which one works. Name them after where they went Not "QR 4". You will not remember in March. Watch the shape, not the total Scans cluster around whatever prompted them. A flat line after a launch spike usually means the code has stopped being seen, not that it stopped working. What a scan is notA scan means a camera opened your link. It does not mean the person read the page, and one curious person scanning three times counts three times. Treat it as a measure of attention, not of customers. How far back it goesThe free plan keeps 30 days of statistics; paid plans keep a year. Related: changing where a code points.

Question 6

Can I change where a QR code points after it has been printed?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if it is a dynamic code. Edit the code in your dashboard, change the destination, and every copy already printed starts going to the new place. A static code cannot be changed at all. How to change it Open QR Codes Dashboard › QR Codes. Edit the code Choose the code you want to repoint. Change the destination Put in the new address. Save It takes effect immediately, everywhere, including on everything already printed. The printed pattern does not change, because the pattern never contained the destination — it contains a link you control, and you have just changed where that link goes. What this is good for Seasonal changesThe same table code pointing at a different menu each season Campaigns that endSend an expired offer somewhere useful instead of nowhere Fixing mistakesThe wrong address on a print run stops being a disaster Moving a pageRepoint rather than reprint Deleting a code cannot be undoneEvery printed copy stops working the moment it is deleted, and there is no way to bring it back. If a code is out in the world, repoint it somewhere useful rather than deleting it. Point it at a bio page for maximum room to manoeuvreA code pointing at your page can be changed without touching the code at all — just edit the page. See what a bio page is. Related: dynamic versus static.

Question 7

What is a dynamic QR code, and how is it different from a static one?

Accepted Answer

A static QR code has the destination printed into the pattern itself, so it can never be changed or counted. A dynamic one encodes a short link you control, which means you can repoint it after it is printed and see how often it is scanned. The difference that matters StaticThe destination is the pattern. Change the destination, change the pattern DynamicThe pattern points at a link you own, and that link can point anywhere Static scansCannot be counted — nothing of yours is involved when someone scans it Dynamic scansCounted, with time, country and device The editor says so plainly when you pick: static QR codes cannot be tracked. Why this decides itself in practice The cost of a wrong static code is reprinting. If a code goes on a menu, a label, a poster or a vehicle, the destination will eventually need to change — a campaign ends, a page moves, a product is renamed. A dynamic code turns that into a thirty-second edit. A static one turns it into a print run. Use dynamic for anything printed Anything you cannot easily take back and replace. Use dynamic if the number matters If you would like to know whether the poster worked, it has to be dynamic. Static is fine for what is not a link WiFi details, a phone number, a vCard, a block of text. There is no destination to change and nothing to count. A static code is permanentOnce it is printed, the only way to change where it goes is to reprint it. If there is any chance the destination will move, make it dynamic before you send it to the printer. Next: creating a QR code.

How can we help you? Search our knowledge base or browse topics below.

QR Code. Create QR that never expires.