Do Canva QR Codes Expire? Which Ones Can Stop Working, and Why

Do Canva QR Codes Expire?

Canva QR codes do not expire unless someone sets an expiry date. Canva's help centre states: "Without an expiry date, your QR code never expires." Canva's QR code generator page goes further and calls both static and dynamic codes "valid forever". Setting an expiry date is limited to Canva Business, Canva Enterprise and Canva for Nonprofit, so a code made on Free or Pro has no date on it.

"Never expires" describes the code, not everything the code depends on. A static QR code is a code whose destination is stored in the pattern itself, so no server sits between the scan and the page. A static Canva code therefore keeps decoding to the same URL forever, and keeps working for exactly as long as that URL does.

A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link belonging to the provider, which redirects to wherever you currently point it. A dynamic Canva code therefore depends on Canva keeping that redirect alive, on the code not being deleted, and on nobody having set an expiry date. Canva's answer covers the third point; the first two are the ordinary terms of any dynamic code.

The general version of this question, for any generator, is answered in do QR codes expire. The rest of this page is what is specific to Canva: which tool made the code, what each tool's code depends on, and what a code pointed at a Canva design or website depends on.

Is My Canva QR Code Static or Dynamic?

A Canva QR code is static if it was made with Static QR codes (Create static) and dynamic if it was made with Dynamic QR codes (Create dynamic). Both tools appear when you search QR code in Apps or Elements. If you no longer remember which one you used, the code itself usually tells you, and decoding it settles the question.

The visual tells come from what each tool allows. Canva's static tool changes the foreground colour, the background colour and the margin, and nothing else. Canva's dynamic tool adds patterns such as dots, stars and hearts, corner styles and a logo, and on Free, Pro and Education plans it places the Canva logo in the middle by default.

Decoding is the reliable test. Upload an export of the code to the QR code scanner and read the text it returns without opening it. If the text is exactly the URL you typed into Canva, the code is static. If the text is a different, shorter address that forwards to your URL, the code is dynamic, and the host name in that address tells you whose redirect it depends on: Canva's, or a marketplace app's.

One limit is worth knowing. Canva states that a static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one, or a dynamic code into a static one, "in either direction". A code that is already printed stays the kind it was made as; changing kind means a new code and a reprint.

What Can Make a Canva QR Code Stop Working

A Canva QR code stops working when the thing at the end of it goes away, and what can go away depends on what was encoded. The decision table below runs from the safest arrangement to the most fragile. Every behaviour in it is one Canva or the app provider documents, except where the row says otherwise.

Two of these rows catch people who did nothing wrong. Reusing a dynamic code is one: Canva's own help suggests updating an event flyer's link once the event is over, and Canva also states that changing the URL updates the code across all designs where it appears, so last year's flyers follow the new link too. Deleting a design is the other: a design in Trash can still be restored for 30 days, but its custom short link stops working the moment it is moved there.

Canva's Dynamic QR Codes: Expiry Dates and What Scanners See

A dynamic Canva QR code only expires if its owner sets an expiry date, and only Canva Business, Canva Enterprise and Canva for Nonprofit accounts can set one. Free and Pro users see an upgrade prompt instead. After the date passes, Canva sends scanners to the URL after expiry if one was entered, or to Canva's generic QR code error page if not.

The expiry date can be changed or cleared afterwards. Select the QR code in the design, open the expiry setting in the left panel, and update or remove the date. That is the fix for a code that stopped working on a date nobody remembers setting: the printed copies start resolving again as soon as the date is cleared, because the printed pattern never changed.

Ownership is the other limit. Canva states that only the person who created a dynamic QR code can edit its link by default, and that "the owner is still the only one who can delete the code". On Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit the owner can turn on Allow collaborators to edit, but ownership cannot be transferred. If the person who made the code leaves the team, the code stays tied to their account.

Canva's QR help page does not say what a scan does after the owner deletes a dynamic code or closes their Canva account. Every dynamic system works by looking the code up when it is scanned, so the safe assumption is that a deleted code stops redirecting. Treat the creator's account as part of the printed material for as long as the print is in circulation.

Canva's QR help page names no scan allowance for either kind of code, which is a real difference from many dynamic QR platforms. Scan Insights, which shows total scans, unique scans, locations and device types, is listed for Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit; the cost and limits of dynamic codes elsewhere are covered in what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys.

Canva's Dynamic QR Codes vs the "Dynamic QR Codes" App

Canva's own dynamic tool and a marketplace app share almost the same name. The Canva Apps Marketplace lists an app called "Dynamic QR Codes" whose description says it is "powered by Hovercode.com". A code made with that app depends on Hovercode's plans, not on Canva's, even though it was made inside the Canva editor.

Hovercode's help centre states the terms for its Canva app: unlimited static codes, 10 dynamic codes free, and 3 dynamic codes before an account has to be connected. Hovercode also states that if you upgrade and later downgrade, "the codes you created above the free limit will expire", while the first free dynamic codes do not. That is a specific, documented way for a code made inside Canva to stop working.

Other QR providers publish Canva apps too, including Uniqode QR and QrDy: Dynamic QR, and each follows its own provider's plan rules. Uniqode's documentation for its Canva integration states that "Deleted QR Codes will stop working immediately", and Uniqode states elsewhere that dynamic codes go inactive when a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled. The Uniqode comparison has the detail.

Every marketplace listing carries the line that the app is "free to use with any Canva plan". That sentence is about installing the app in Canva. It says nothing about the provider's own free tier, code limit or trial, which are what decide how long a dynamic code from that app lasts.

Does Deleting or Unsharing a Canva Design Break Its QR Code?

Yes, if the QR code points at that design. A QR code made for a Canva share link encodes a canva.link short link or a canva.com design address, and Canva documents that a permanently deleted design makes its short links show a 404 page. Deleting the QR code's own design, the flyer the code is printed on, changes nothing.

A Canva short link is a canva.link address that Canva creates automatically when a design, public view link, folder or comment is shared. Canva states that short links "follow whatever settings you choose in the Share menu". A code that pointed at a design shared as Anyone with the link stops opening it for strangers when the access is changed to Only people added: the link still resolves, but scanners hit a permission screen.

• Moved to Trash: the design can be restored for 30 days, but a custom short link stops working while the design is in Trash.
• Deleted from Trash: the short links show a 404. Canva says Support may be able to restore a design within 14 days of permanent deletion.
• Public view link deleted: Canva states that deleting a public view link also deletes the URL, and that a new public view link gets a new URL, so printed codes cannot be reconnected.
• Paid plan cancelled: custom canva.link slugs are removed at the end of the billing cycle. Auto-generated short links keep working while the design exists.

Canva websites follow the same pattern. Canva states that unpublishing a website "unlinks it from your domain so it can't be visited anymore", and that deleting a design that is live on a domain unpublishes it. A QR code on a Canva wedding or event website stops working the day the site comes down, which is often a tidy-up months later rather than a decision about the printed invitations.

Plan limits matter for websites too. Canva Free allows five live websites on the free my.canva.site domain and Canva Pro allows unlimited ones, and custom domains need Pro, Teams or Education. Canva's pages read for this article do not say what happens to a sixth website or a custom domain when Pro ends, so check with Canva before printing a code for a Pro-only site on long-lived material.

How to Check a Canva QR Code Before You Print It

Decode the code, read the address inside, and open that exact address in a private browser window. The check takes about five minutes and tells you which rows of the decision table apply. Run it on the exported file, not on the editor preview, because the export is what goes to the printer.

1. Export the Design the Way It Will Be Printed. Download the design as PDF Print or a large PNG. A screenshot of the editor is not the same file and can decode differently.
2. Decode the Code Without Opening It. Upload the export to a scanner tool that shows the stored text. The text is the address every printed copy will open, for as long as the print exists.
3. Classify the Address. Your own domain means a static code that depends only on your site. A canva.link or canva.com design address means it depends on a Canva design staying shared. Any other short address means a dynamic code and a provider account.
4. Open It in a Private Window. Paste the decoded address into a private or incognito window, where you are signed out of Canva. If it asks for a sign-in or shows a permission screen, strangers will see the same thing.
5. Check the Account Behind a Dynamic Code. Confirm who owns the code, that no expiry date is set or that a URL after expiry is entered, and, for a marketplace app, how many dynamic codes the current plan allows.

For a fuller look at the decoded payload, the QR code decoder also shows the version and error correction level. If the code decodes but will not scan from paper, the problem is size, contrast or export rather than expiry, and why a QR code is not scanning covers those causes.

How to Make a Canva QR Code That Will Keep Working

For a destination that will not change, use Canva's Static QR codes and point the code at a page you own. For a destination that will change, use Canva's Dynamic QR codes, never set an expiry date you do not need, and keep the code in an account that will outlive the print. Avoid encoding a Canva design share link on anything printed to last.

• If the page is permanent, choose static. A static code has nothing to expire and no account to lose. The step-by-step Canva guide covers making one and exporting it as PDF Print.
• If the link must change after printing, choose dynamic, and make one code per printed piece. Reusing one dynamic code across designs re-points every one of them at once.
• If the content lives in Canva, publish it as a website rather than encoding a share link. A website address survives changes to a design's sharing settings; it does not survive unpublishing or deleting the design.
• If you want editability without any account, encode a short path on your own domain. Point example.com/menu at the real page with a 302 redirect, and the printed code never depends on Canva or any QR provider. Static vs dynamic QR codes explains when this beats a dynamic code.
• Print a short, readable URL beside the code. It rescues every printed copy if anything in the chain fails.

KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, makes static codes only, so a code from it cannot expire or be switched off, and it downloads as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG without an account. KoloQR cannot re-point a printed code or count scans; if you need either, Canva's dynamic codes or a dedicated dynamic platform fit better. The KoloQR vs Canva comparison sets the two side by side, and a code from the KoloQR generator can be uploaded into any Canva design.