Do QR codes expire?

A static code never expires

A static code contains its content outright: the full web address, the Wi-Fi details, the text. There is no service in between, so there is nothing to lapse. Scan a static code printed in 2015 and the phone will still decode the address. Whether that address still leads anywhere is another matter, and that is where most "expired" codes come from: the page was moved or taken down, the domain was not renewed, the campaign site was switched off. The code is fine; the destination is gone, and because the code is static it cannot be pointed anywhere else.

A dynamic code lasts as long as its service says

A dynamic code contains a short link on the generator's domain, and the generator redirects each scan to the current destination. That is what makes it editable and countable, and it is also a dependency: if the short link stops resolving, every printed copy stops working at once, however good the destination is.

This is where real expiry happens. Many generators let you make a "free" dynamic code and then expire it after a trial of a couple of weeks, cap it at a number of scans, or switch it off when the subscription ends, and show their own page to whoever scans it afterwards. The code was fine, the destination was fine, and the service pulled the link. Read the terms of any dynamic code provider for the sentence about what happens when you stop paying, and read it before the print run, not after.

What QR Solutions promises

A printed code never expires on any plan, including Free. There is no trial period after which codes stop, no scan cap, and no interstitial page. If you move to a smaller plan or your subscription ends, the codes that no longer fit are frozen, not switched off: a frozen code keeps redirecting to its last destination exactly as you left it, with its rules. You cannot edit it or see its statistics until it fits a plan again, but nobody who scans it is ever sent to a dead page, and nothing is deleted. The Free plan holds three dynamic codes for as long as you like, with no card.

The real reasons a code stops working

• The destination is gone. The page was moved, the site rebuilt, the domain lapsed. A static code is dead; a dynamic code is redirected in a minute.
• The dynamic code service expired the link. Trial ended, scan cap reached, subscription lapsed. The only cure is a provider that does not do that.
• The print is damaged. Scratched, faded by sun, creased, or covered by a sticker. Error correction absorbs a good deal of this; a higher level absorbs more.
• The print was wrong from the start. Too small for the distance, no quiet zone, a light code on a dark background, or enlarged from a blurry PNG. These codes never worked reliably; they just worked on your screen.
• A shortener in the middle lapsed. A static code holding a third-party short link depends on that shortener in exactly the way a dynamic code depends on its generator, without the editing or the statistics.

How to make sure yours keeps working

• For anything printed, use a dynamic code from a provider whose terms say what happens when you stop paying. Then the destination can always be fixed without a reprint.
• Point the code at a page you control, on a domain you will keep. Not a campaign microsite with a six-month life, unless the code is dynamic and you will redirect it.
• Print it right: at least two centimetres, a clear margin, dark on light, from an SVG. A code that scans in the real place on two phones will keep scanning.
• Check the statistics now and then. A code that was busy and goes quiet is the first sign that something behind it broke, or that the poster came down.
• Keep the account. On QR Solutions a Free account costs nothing and keeps your codes editable; a frozen code still works, but editing is more useful than not.

How to check whether a code still works

Scan it. There is no other test. Use the phone's camera app, not a special reader, from the distance a visitor would stand at, and follow it all the way to the page. For a dynamic code on QR Solutions, the code's own page also shows its current destination and its scans per day, so you can see at a glance whether it is still being used and where it leads.

Frequently asked questions