# KoloQR > Create custom QR codes for URLs, Wi-Fi, menus, and more. Add a logo, pick colors and shapes, download as PNG or SVG. Free, no signup, no watermark. Source: https://koloqr.com/ Index: https://koloqr.com/llms.txt The full text of every page on this site, in markdown. Each page below opens with an H1 and its canonical URL. --- # Free Custom QR Code Generator URL: https://koloqr.com/ Create custom QR codes for URLs, Wi-Fi, menus, and more. Add a logo, pick colors and shapes, download as PNG or SVG. Free, no signup, no watermark. Create custom QR codes for URLs, Wi-Fi, business cards, PDFs, menus, and social media. Customize colors, shapes, and logos, then download your code as PNG or SVG. No signup required. ## Create a QR Code for Any Content Generate QR codes for websites, contact details, Wi-Fi networks, and social profiles. Every code is fully customizable and ready to print or share. ## A QR Code Generator for Every Use Case Whether you're building codes for restaurants, retail, events, or education, KoloQR helps you design QR codes that look good and scan reliably. - **Events QR Codes**: Event schedule, Ticket check-in, Venue map, Sponsors - **Restaurant QR Codes**: Digital menu, Online ordering, Reservations, Reviews - **Business QR Codes**: Business card, Company profile, Portfolio, Contact information - **Product Packaging QR Codes**: User manuals, Authentication, Reviews, Promotions - **Hotel QR Codes**: Wi-Fi, Room service, Guest guide, Digital menu ## Why Designers Choose KoloQR Most generators give you a plain black square. KoloQR lets you shape, color, and brand your codes while keeping them reliable to scan - built for designers, agencies, and marketing teams. - **PNG & SVG**: High-quality files for web and print - **Customizable**: Colors, shapes, logos, and eye styles - **Privacy first**: Codes are generated locally in your browser - **No watermark**: Your codes stay clean, always - **No signup**: Start creating right away - **Open source**: The shape library is public on GitHub under the MIT license ## Customize Your QR Code Choose from square, rounded, circle, triangle, and custom module styles. Every design is optimized to stay readable while matching your brand. For a code that is round all the way to its outline, start from the [circle QR code generator](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes). ## How to Create a QR Code in 3 Simple Steps Making a QR code takes less than a minute. Pick your content, customize the design, then download a print-ready PNG or SVG. - **Choose your QR code type**: Select what you want to share: a URL, Wi-Fi, phone, email, social profile, or text. - **Customize your QR code**: Adjust colors and shapes, and add a logo so the code matches your brand. - **Download and share**: Export as PNG, SVG, EPS, or PDF, or copy straight to Figma. ## FAQ ### Is the KoloQR QR code generator really free? Yes. There's no account, no subscription, and no per-code charge. You can create and download as many codes as you like. ### Do I need to sign up to create a QR code? No. You can generate and download codes without an account or email. ### Will there be a watermark on my QR code? No. Your codes are clean, with no KoloQR branding added. ### What file formats can I download? PNG for quick sharing, plus SVG, EPS, and PDF for print and design work. SVG scales to any size without losing quality. ### Can I add a logo to my QR code? Yes. Add your logo to the center of the code. Error correction keeps it scannable even with the logo in place. ### What's the difference between static and dynamic QR codes? A static code stores the content directly and never changes. A dynamic code points to a short link you can edit or track later. KoloQR focuses on high-quality static codes you fully own. ### Do my QR codes expire? No. Static codes never expire and keep working as long as the destination they point to exists. ### Are my QR codes private? Yes. Codes are generated locally in your browser, so your content isn't sent to a server. ### Will a customized QR code still scan? Yes, when it's built correctly. KoloQR keeps the finder patterns and contrast intact, so custom colors, shapes, and logos stay reliable. ### What size should a QR code be for print? A good rule is at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 in), scaling up for greater scan distance. Export as SVG or PDF for crisp printing at any size. ### Is KoloQR open source? Partly. The shape library that draws KoloQR's circular, triangular, and hexagonal codes is public on GitHub under the MIT license, so anyone can read it, fork it, or ship it in their own project. The website around it - the editor, logo handling, and PDF and EPS export - is closed. [More about KoloQR and its license](https://koloqr.com/about). --- # Free Custom QR Code Generator URL: https://koloqr.com/#generator Create custom QR codes for URLs, Wi-Fi, business cards, PDFs, menus, and social media. Customize colors, shapes, and logos, then download your code as PNG or SVG. No signup required. The generator runs in the browser, in three stages: Content → Design → Preview. - No registration required - Unlimited QR codes - No watermark ## Content - URL - Text - Email - WiFi - Phone - SMS - Location - Event - Instagram - Facebook - X (Twitter) - TikTok - YouTube - Twitch - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Reddit - Telegram - WhatsApp - Discord - Spotify - LINE - Snapchat - OnlyFans - Vimeo - Patreon - Linktree - GitHub - Google Forms - Calendly - Zoom - Booking.com - Google Docs - Google Slides - Google Drive - Amazon - Etsy - Shopify - eBay - PayPal - Pix - PromptPay - UPI - PayNow - Google Reviews - Tripadvisor - Yelp - Trustpilot - Bitcoin - Ethereum ### Encryption - **WPA**: Most home and office Wi-Fi today. Pick this if you don't know - it covers WPA, WPA2 and WPA3. - **WEP**: Old Wi-Fi standard from the early 2000s. Only choose this if your router is very old and explicitly uses WEP. - **None**: Open Wi-Fi with no password - anyone nearby can join. Common in cafés, airports, libraries. ## Design ### Shape - Square - Circular - Triangle - Hexagon ### Pattern - Dots - Small squares - Two-size dots - Square - Grouped rounded - Horizontal pills - Vertical pills - Horizontal bars - Vertical bars - Stars - Triangles - Diamonds ### Eyes - Circle - Rounded - Square ### Frame - Simple Frame - Double Frame - Label Frame - Scalloped Frame - Organic Frame - Dashed Frame - Star Frame - Dotted Frame - Hatch Frame - Double Line Frame - Bubble Frame - Crosshatch Frame - Spike Frame ### Colors - Background - Pattern - Eye - Frame - Accent - Center line - Center - Text color - Text - Logo - Transparent background ### Logo - Social - Messengers - Crypto - Utilities Logo: SVG, PNG, JPG • Max 2 MB. ## Download options - PNG - SVG - PDF - EPS - COPY-PNG - Copy to Figma ## Contrast - Contrast ratio - Eye contrast Should scan reliably. / May be difficult to scan. --- # What Can You Use a QR Code For? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for Explore where QR codes earn their place: menus, business cards, weddings, events and packaging. See how each works, then design your own free - no signup. A QR code links something printed to something on screen - a menu, a Wi-Fi network, a contact card, an event ticket. Browse the settings below to see how each one works, where it fits, and how to make a code that scans first time. ## A Closer Look at Each Use Case One real example from every scenario, so you can see exactly where the QR code goes and what happens when someone scans it. ## One Generator, Every Scenario Whatever you're making a code for, the workflow is the same: enter your link, style the code, and download a print-ready file. What changes from one use case to the next is the detail that keeps it scanning. ### Design a Code That Fits the Setting A menu, a business card, and a shop window each ask for something different. KoloQR gives you the control to match the piece the code sits on. - **Custom Shapes and Colours**: Circular, hexagonal, triangular, or square, with a logo and full colour control to match your brand. - **Print-Ready by Default**: Export SVG, PDF, or EPS at any size, and a contrast checker flags a code that won't scan before you print it. - **Free, No Account**: Generate and download without signing up or paying, whether it's one code or a whole set. Every use case here runs through the same free generator, so you can make one code or a matching set in a few minutes. ### Static by Default, Dynamic When You Need It Most codes point at a link that never changes, and a free static code is the simplest, most permanent way to do that - it never expires and depends on no one's servers. You only need a dynamic code when the destination has to change after printing, or when you want to count scans. If that's the case, point a static code at a redirect on your own domain and update that instead, and you keep the flexibility without a subscription or the risk of the code going dark. ## FAQ ### What Can You Use a QR Code For? Almost anything that connects print to a phone: opening a restaurant menu, joining a Wi-Fi network, saving contact details from a business card, checking into an event, or linking packaging to product information. If it lives on paper and points somewhere digital, a QR code fits. ### Which QR Code Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu? For a stable menu link, a free static code is simplest - it never expires and needs no subscription. If you change the menu often or want to track scans, point the code at a redirect on your own domain, or use a dynamic platform, so you can update the destination without reprinting. ### Do I Need an Account to Make QR Codes for My Business? No. KoloQR needs no sign-up: open the generator, create your code, and download a print-ready file. Codes are yours to use on menus, cards, packaging, and signage, with no licence fee and no watermark. ### What File Format Should I Use for Printing a QR Code? Use a vector format - SVG, PDF, or EPS - so the code stays sharp at any size, from a business card to a billboard. PNG is fine for screens and small prints but goes blurry when scaled up. ### What Size Should a Printed QR Code Be? As a rule of thumb, make it about a tenth of the distance people scan from: roughly 2-3 cm on a table menu, and much larger on a poster read across a room. Test the printed size before a full run. ### Will a QR Code on Packaging Still Scan Months Later? A static code will, because the link is encoded directly into the pattern - there's nothing to expire and no service to keep alive. Keep strong contrast and a clear margin around it, and it scans as long as the destination page is live. What kills a pack code is usually the finish rather than time - see [QR codes on product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging). ### Can I Change Where a Printed QR Code Points Later? Not a static code itself, but there's a simple workaround: point the code at a URL on your own domain and change the redirect there whenever you like. One permanent code, no subscription, and you can update the destination as often as you need. ### Do QR Codes Work on All Phones? Yes. The built-in camera on any modern iPhone or Android reads standard QR codes with no separate app. Keep good contrast and a clear quiet zone and a well-made code scans first time on both. ### Can I Add My Logo and Brand Colours to a QR Code? Yes. Add a centred logo, set your colours, and pick a shape to match the piece it sits on. Keep the logo modest and the contrast strong, then test before printing, so styling never costs you a scan. --- # How to Put Your Restaurant Menu Behind a QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus Make a free QR code for your restaurant menu. Add a logo and brand colors, then download a print-ready file for table tents, menus, and takeaway packaging. Create a custom QR code for your restaurant menu in minutes. Add your logo, pick your colors, and get a print-ready file that works on every phone. - No sign-up required - Works on iPhone & Android - Free forever ## Why Restaurants Use QR Code Menus Switching to a QR code menu isn't about following a trend. It solves real, recurring problems that restaurant owners run into every week. - **No Reprinting Every Time Your Menu Changes**: Every time you update a price, add a seasonal dish, or pull an item that's out of stock, a printed menu goes stale. With a QR code pointing at a live link, you update the menu once and every table reflects the change - no reprinting, no crossed-out lines. - **Works on Every Smartphone - No App Required**: Your guests don't need to download anything. Both iPhone and Android scan QR codes straight from the built-in camera app. Point, scan, done - the menu opens in the browser like any other page. - **Cleaner Tables, Faster Service**: Physical menus get handled by dozens of people a day. A table card or tent stand takes up less space, stays cleaner, and gives the table a more finished look - especially in smaller rooms where every inch counts. - **Lower Printing Costs**: A single QR code replaces the recurring cost of reprinting every time a price changes or a dish is added. Instead of paying for a print run each season, you update the linked page and every table shows the current version. ## What You Need Before You Start Creating the QR code itself takes a couple of minutes. Before you do, make sure these two things are ready. ### Your Menu As A Live URL A QR code doesn't hold your menu - it holds a [web address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code). So you need somewhere the menu already lives that anyone can open without logging in. - **A Page on Your Own Website**: the most reliable option. You control the address, the design, and can edit it whenever the kitchen changes something. - **A Hosted PDF**: quick to set up, but check it on a phone first: a PDF laid out for A4 is usually painful to read on a small screen. - **A Link From a Menu Platform**: most menu builders and delivery platforms give you a public link that works fine as a QR code destination. ### A Phone To Test The Scan Before you print anything, scan the code with a real phone - ideally one on each of iOS and Android. It takes thirty seconds and saves you from printing fifty table cards that point at a broken link. ## Generate Your Restaurant Menu QR Code Create a custom restaurant menu QR code in seconds. Add your menu link, customize the design, and download a print-ready file for tables, menus, and takeaway packaging. - **Paste Your Restaurant Menu URL**: Drop the link to your menu into the generator and a restaurant menu QR code appears straight away. - **Customize Your Restaurant QR Code**: Add your logo, set your brand colors, and pick a dot style that suits the room. - **Download and Print Your QR Code**: Export a PNG or SVG and print it on table tents, menus, window stickers, or takeaway packaging. ## Where to Place QR Codes in Your Restaurant Placement decides how often the code actually gets used. - **Counters and Takeaway Packaging**: In a counter-service café, put the code by the register and on your bags and boxes. People waiting for an order have time to browse, and it surfaces the full menu to someone who only came in for coffee. - **Table Tents and Table Cards**: The most common placement, and the one that gets scanned most. Keep the label short - “Scan to view our menu” and a small arrow is enough. - **Receipts and Loyalty Cards**: A code at the bottom of a receipt costs nothing to add and can point at a review page, a feedback form, or next week's promotion. - **Window Stickers**: A code on the door lets people read the menu before they decide to come in. Worth it for lunch spots and anywhere with a queue outside. - **Terrace Tables and A-Frames**: Outdoor seating rarely gets its own run of printed menus. A weatherproof sticker on each terrace table, or a code on the A-frame by the entrance, covers the seats your paper menus never reach. ## Best Practices for Restaurant Menu QR Codes Worth knowing before you print and put the code on every table. - **Match Your Restaurant Brand Colors**: Use colors that match the room and the menu, but keep enough contrast that a phone camera still reads the code instantly. - **Add Your Logo to the Center**: A logo in the middle makes the code recognizably yours. Error correction covers the space it takes up. - **Use High-Contrast Colors**: Dark modules on a light background scan fastest, in daylight and in a dim dining room alike. - **Choose the Right QR Code Size**: Print at least 2.5 × 2.5 cm. For table tents and menus, 4-6 cm is comfortable at arm's length. - **Test Before Printing**: Scan it on both iPhone and Android, from different distances, under your actual lighting - not at your desk. - **Make Sure Your Menu Is Mobile-Friendly**: Avoid anything that asks for a login or a download. The menu should open the moment the code is scanned. - **Keep Your Menu Link Updated**: When the menu moves, update the destination rather than reprinting. A dynamic QR code makes that a one-click change. - **Add a Clear Call to Action**: “Scan to view our menu” or “Scan for today's specials” tells people what they get before they lift their phone. - **Place the QR Code Where It's Easy to Scan**: Flat, well lit, and unobstructed. A code behind a candle or a napkin holder may as well not be there. - **Don't Overcomplicate the Design**: Rounded shapes and brand colors look good. Gradients, patterns, and heavy styling start costing you scans. ## Ready to Create Your Menu QR Code? Creating a QR code for your restaurant menu takes a few minutes. You don't need design experience or any technical knowledge - just the link to your menu and a couple of choices about color and style. It's free, and you can download a print-ready file straight away. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for a Restaurant Menu? Put your menu online as a web page or a hosted PDF, paste that link into a QR code generator, then customize and download a print-ready file. With KoloQR you can add your logo and brand colors and export a PNG or SVG in a couple of minutes, no account needed. ### Are Restaurant Menu QR Codes Free? Yes. KoloQR creates menu QR codes for free with no sign-up and no watermark, including print-ready vector files. You'd only pay if you separately choose a service to host a dynamic, editable menu link. ### Do Customers Need an App to Scan a Menu QR Code? No. Every modern iPhone and Android reads QR codes straight from the built-in camera - point it at the code and the menu opens in the browser. No app, no account, no typing. ### What Size Should a Restaurant Menu QR Code Be? Print it at least 2.5 x 2.5 cm. On table tents and menus, 4-6 cm scans comfortably at arm's length; on a window sticker or A-frame read from further away, go larger. Always test the printed size before a full run. ### Where Should I Put the QR Code in My Restaurant? Wherever a guest has a moment and a clear line of sight. Table tents and table cards get scanned most, but counters, takeaway packaging, receipts, window stickers, and terrace A-frames all reach people a paper menu misses. Keep it flat, well lit, and unobstructed. A counter-service [coffee shop](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops) is the exception: there the till and the cup sleeve matter more than the table. ### Can I Update the Menu Without Reprinting the QR Code? Yes, as long as the code points at a link you control. Change the page or PDF behind that link and every printed code shows the new menu instantly - no reprinting. A dynamic QR code also lets you repoint the link itself later. ### Why Won't My Menu QR Code Scan? Usually low contrast, too little quiet zone, a heavily styled pattern, or a printed size that's too small. Use dark modules on a light background, leave a clear margin, keep the design simple, and test on a real phone under your actual lighting. ### Should a Menu QR Code Be Static or Dynamic? Static is fine when the menu link is stable - it never expires and costs nothing. Choose dynamic if you need to change the destination after printing or track scans; the trade-off is an account and usually a subscription. ### Can I Add My Logo and Brand Colors to a Menu QR Code? Yes. Add a centered logo and set colors to match your room, keeping strong contrast so the code still scans. KoloQR also offers rounded and circular styles - just avoid heavy gradients or patterns, which start costing you scans. --- # A QR Code Designed to Sit on the Card URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards Design a QR code that belongs on the card: 56 frames, 12 module patterns, your own palette and logo, contrast checked, exported as print-ready SVG. A business card is handed over and held at arm's length, which makes the code a graphic element before it is a link. Choose the outline and the frame around it, set the module pattern and your palette, drop your logo in the center, and export a print-ready vector. - 56 frames, 12 module patterns - Contrast checked as you design - Print-ready SVG, PDF, and EPS ## Why the Code's Design Belongs to the Card's A card is the smallest thing you will hand anyone, and the code sits inside a layout that was decided on purpose. What it looks like is as much a decision as where it points. - **It Is Seen Before It Is Scanned**: At arm's length the code reads as a graphic. A default black square beside a considered layout looks like something that arrived afterwards, whatever it opens. - **Fourteen Frames per Outline, 56 in All**: Square, circular, hexagonal, or triangular, each with fourteen frames around it - so the code can carry the card's own geometry instead of a generator's default. - **Twelve Module Patterns and Two Corner Styles**: Dots, bars, pills, diamonds, or plain squares, with rounded or circular finder eyes. The pattern is what makes two codes in the same color look like different designs. - **Your Palette, Checked as You Set It**: Apply brand colors to the code and its background with the contrast measured while you work, so a pale gold that will not survive 2 cm of print is caught before the run, not after it. ## What You Need Before You Start Creating the code takes a few minutes. Before you do, decide two things. ### Something for the Code to Open Your code needs a destination you control - your website, portfolio, LinkedIn, or a link-in-bio page - or a single detail such as your phone number or email address. Pick one clear action so the scan does exactly what people expect. - **Change the Colors**: use your brand colors for the dots and the background. - **Add Your Logo**: drop it into the center so people recognize it at a glance. - **Choose a Dot Style**: rounded, circular, or [classic square](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) dots each give a different feel. ### A Phone to Test the Scan Before you print a batch, test the code on a real device. It takes 30 seconds and can save you from printing hundreds of cards with a broken or hard-to-scan code. ## Design a QR Code for Your Card Three decisions between a link and a print-ready file: what the code opens, what it looks like, and what the printer receives. - **Enter What the Code Opens**: Paste the profile, portfolio, or booking link the code should open - or a phone number or email address when you want one specific action instead. - **Choose the Outline, Frame, and Pattern**: Pick the shape and one of its fourteen frames, set the module pattern and the corner eyes, apply your colors, and place your logo in the center. - **Export a Print-Ready Vector**: Download SVG, PDF, or EPS, place it in the card artwork at 2 cm or larger, and send it to print. ## Where to Put a QR Code on Your Business Card Where you place the code affects how many people actually scan it. A few placements work best. - **The Back of the Card**: Keep the front clean for your name and role, and put the code on the reverse with a short prompt like “Scan to save my contact.” - **Beside Your Contact Details**: Place it on the front next to your name and title so people connect the code with you at a glance. - **Your Email Signature and Slides**: The same code works on screen, so add it to email signatures, presentations, and virtual backgrounds - not just printed cards. - **Name Badges and Lanyards**: At conferences and events, a code on your badge lets people save your details without swapping paper cards. ## Best Practices for Business Card QR Codes Everything you need to know before printing and handing out a business card QR code. - **Match Your Brand Colors**: Use colors from your brand while keeping a strong contrast between the code and its background. - **Add Your Logo to the Center**: A centered logo makes the code recognizable without hurting scanning, when error correction is set correctly. - **Use High-Contrast Colors**: A dark code on a light card scans fastest and most reliably in any lighting. - **Choose the Right Size**: Print the code at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 in) so it stays easy to scan on a small card. - **Test Before Printing**: Scan a proof on both iPhone and Android, at real distance, before running the full batch. - **Add a Clear Call to Action**: Tell people what happens: “Scan to save my contact” or “Scan for my portfolio.” - **Keep the Destination Live**: Make sure the linked page or profile stays online and up to date. - **Use a Vector File**: Export as SVG or PDF so the code prints crisp at any size. - **Give the Code Quiet Space**: Leave a clear margin around the code so nothing crowds or overlaps it. - **Don't Overcomplicate the Design**: Rounded shapes, brand colors, and a logo look great; avoid heavy effects that reduce reliability. ## Ready to Design the Code on Your Card? Enter the link, pick an outline and a frame, set the pattern and your colors, and export a vector the printer can use. No account, no watermark, and nothing to renew - the code is finished when the artwork is. ## FAQ ### How Do I Design a QR Code That Matches My Business Card? Start from the card rather than from the code: take the geometry the layout already uses - the corner radius, the weight of the rules, the palette - and pick the outline, frame, module pattern, and corner eyes that echo it. KoloQR carries fourteen frames for each of its four outlines and twelve module patterns, and measures contrast while you work, so a brand color that stops scanning at card size is caught before the print run. Export SVG or PDF and place it in the artwork. [Branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) covers the same decisions on the surfaces a card leads to. ### What Is a Business Card QR Code? A business card QR code is a scannable code printed on your card that opens something when a phone camera scans it - usually your contact details as a saved contact, or a link to your website, portfolio, or booking page. It lets people reach you or save your information in one tap, without typing anything. ### What Should My Business Card QR Code Link To? A single URL is the most useful destination - your website, LinkedIn, portfolio, or a link-in-bio page - because one page holds everything a card can't and stays editable after printing. A [phone number](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) or [email](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/email-qr-code) code works when you want one specific action instead. Pick one clear destination so the scan does exactly what people expect. ### What's the Difference Between a vCard QR Code and a URL QR Code? A vCard QR code stores contact details inside the code itself, so scanning it adds you to someone's phone contacts instantly, even offline. A [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) points to a web page you control, which you can update later and where you can share much more - a portfolio, calendar, or social links. KoloQR builds URL, phone, email, text, Wi-Fi and social codes rather than vCards, so the usual setup here is a link to a profile page that holds the full details. ### Can I Add My Logo to a Business Card QR Code? Yes. You can place your logo in the center of the code. QR codes use error correction to stay readable, so a logo covering a small central area won't stop it from scanning - just keep it modest and test the result before printing. ### What File Format Should I Use to Print a QR Code on a Business Card? Use a vector format - SVG, PDF, or EPS - so the code stays perfectly sharp at small print sizes. Avoid low-resolution PNGs for print, since blurry edges make codes harder to scan. KoloQR exports vector files ready for your card designer or print shop. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Business Card? Aim for at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 in), with a small margin of blank space around it. That's large enough to scan quickly at arm's length while still fitting neatly on a standard card. ### Can I Change Where My Business Card QR Code Points After It's Printed? Only if you use a dynamic code, which points to a short link you can re-target later. A static code stores its destination permanently and can't be changed once printed. If your details or links change often, a dynamic code or a stable landing page you control is the safer choice. ### Do Business Card QR Codes Expire? Static codes never expire - the data lives inside the code, so it keeps working as long as the destination still exists. A code that encodes a phone number or email address has nothing to expire at all, since the details are stored in the pattern itself. ### Will a Custom or Colored QR Code Still Scan on a Business Card? Yes, when it's built with enough contrast. Keep the code dark on a light background (or the reverse), leave the finder squares and quiet zone intact, and avoid busy gradients. KoloQR keeps these elements reliable, but always scan a printed proof on both iPhone and Android first. ### Is It Free to Make a Business Card QR Code, and Do People Need an App to Scan It? Yes, it's free - no account or subscription - and no app is needed. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read QR codes directly, so anyone can scan your card straight away. --- # How to Add a QR Code to Your Wedding URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/weddings Make a custom QR code for your wedding. Link your website, RSVP, or photo album, add your colors, and download a print-ready SVG - free, no signup. Create a custom QR code for your wedding in minutes. Link your website, add your colors and monogram, and download a print-ready file for invitations, signs, and save-the-dates. - No sign-up required - Works on iPhone & Android - Free forever ## Why Couples Add QR Codes to Their Wedding A QR code puts your whole day behind a single scan. It solves the everyday problems of planning - extra inserts, lost RSVP cards, and details that keep changing. - **Your Whole Wedding in One Scan**: One code opens your wedding website - schedule, directions, dress code, registry, and RSVP - so you don't have to stuff every envelope with inserts. - **Works on Every Phone - No App**: Both iPhone and Android read QR codes from the built-in camera, so every guest can open your details, tech-savvy or not. - **Guests RSVP Faster**: A scan opens your RSVP form or website in a tap, so fewer replies get lost in the mail and your headcount comes in sooner. - **Collect the Photos You'd Miss**: Link a shared album and guests upload their candids from the dance floor - the moments your photographer never saw. ## What You Need Before You Start Creating the code takes a few minutes. Before you do, decide two things. ### Something for the Code to Open Your code needs a destination: your wedding website (RSVP, schedule, directions, and registry in one place), a shared photo album, or a single link such as your registry or a live-stream page. Pick one clear action so the scan does exactly what guests expect. - **Change the Colors**: match your wedding palette for the dots and the background. - **Add Your Monogram**: drop your initials or a small motif into the center so it feels like your stationery. - **Choose a Dot Style**: rounded, [circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), or classic square dots each give a different feel. ### A Phone to Test the Scan Before you print invitations or a batch of signs, test the code on a real device. It takes 30 seconds and can save you from reprinting a whole stationery order with a broken or hard-to-scan code. ## Generate Your Wedding QR Code Create a custom wedding QR code in seconds. Add your monogram, match your palette, and download a print-ready file for your invitations and signage. - **Create Your Wedding QR Code**: Paste your wedding website URL or photo-album link in KoloQR to instantly generate a code. - **Customize Your QR Code**: Add your monogram, choose your wedding colors, and pick a dot style that matches your stationery. - **Download and Print Your QR Code**: Download as SVG or PDF, add it to your invitations and signs, and send it to print. ## Where to Put a QR Code at Your Wedding Where you place the code affects how many guests actually scan it. A few placements work best across the day. - **Save-the-Dates and Invitations**: Place it beside the details with a short prompt like “Scan for our wedding website” so guests find RSVP and directions in one tap. - **Welcome Signs and Programs**: A larger code on the welcome sign or order of service points guests to the schedule, seating, and any last-minute notes. - **Table Cards and Place Settings**: A small code at each seat can link to the menu, a seating chart, or the shared photo album guests upload to during dinner. - **Favors and Thank-You Cards**: After the day, a code on favors or thank-you notes links straight to the photo gallery and your registry. ## Best Practices for Wedding QR Codes Everything you need to know before printing QR codes onto your invitations, signs, and stationery. - **Match Your Wedding Palette**: Use colors from your palette while keeping a strong contrast between the code and its background. - **Add a Monogram to the Center**: A centered monogram or motif makes the code feel like your stationery without hurting scanning, when error correction is set correctly. - **Use High-Contrast Colors**: A dark code on a light background scans fastest and most reliably, even in dim reception lighting. - **Size the Code for Where It Lives**: Print it at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 in) on invitations, and much larger on welcome signs so guests can scan from a step or two back. - **Test Before Printing**: Scan a proof on both iPhone and Android, at real distance, before running the full stationery order. - **Add a Clear Call to Action**: Tell guests what happens: “Scan for our wedding website” or “Scan to share your photos.” - **Keep the Destination Live**: Make sure the linked website or album stays online and up to date through the wedding and afterward. - **Use a Vector File**: Export as SVG or PDF so the code prints crisp on everything from a small invitation to a large sign. - **Give the Code Quiet Space**: Leave a clear margin around the code so florals, borders, or text don't crowd or overlap it. - **Consider a Dynamic Code for Changing Details**: If timing or venue notes might change after invites go out, a dynamic code lets you re-point the same printed code later. ## Ready to Add a QR Code to Your Wedding? Creating a QR code for your wedding takes a few minutes. You don't need design experience - enter your website or link, match your colors, add your monogram, and download a print-ready file. Start free. ## FAQ ### What Is a Wedding QR Code? A wedding QR code is a scannable code printed on your invitations, signs, or stationery that opens something when a guest's phone camera scans it - usually your wedding website, an RSVP form, a shared photo album, or your registry. It lets guests reach the details or reply in one tap, without typing a long web address. ### What Should My Wedding QR Code Link To? The most useful destination is your wedding website, since it can hold your schedule, directions, dress code, RSVP, and registry in one place. Other popular options are a shared photo album where guests upload their pictures, a registry link, or a live-stream page for guests who can't attend. Pick one clear destination so the scan does exactly what guests expect. ### How Do QR Codes Work for Wedding RSVPs? You point the code at your wedding website or RSVP form, and guests scan it with their phone camera to open the page and reply. Because the code just links to a page you control, you collect responses the same way you would from any web form - no app or account for guests, and no paper cards to mail back. ### Can Guests Use a QR Code to Share Their Wedding Photos? Yes. Link the code to a shared album - a Google Photos or Dropbox folder, or a dedicated wedding photo app - and guests scan it to upload their candids straight from their phones. It's a simple way to gather the moments your photographer couldn't be in two places for, all in one collection. ### Can I Add Our Monogram or a Design to a Wedding QR Code? Yes. You can place your initials, a monogram, or a small motif in the center of the code, and match its colors to your palette. QR codes use error correction to stay readable, so a modest centered logo won't stop it from scanning - just keep it small and test the result before printing. ### What File Format Should I Use to Print a Wedding QR Code? Use a vector format - SVG, PDF, or EPS - so the code stays perfectly sharp whether it's tiny on an invitation or large on a welcome sign. Avoid low-resolution PNGs for print, since blurry edges make codes harder to scan. KoloQR exports vector files ready for your stationery designer or print shop. ### What Size Should a Wedding QR Code Be? It depends on where it goes. On invitations and save-the-dates, aim for at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 in) with a small margin of blank space around it. On welcome signs and larger displays, size it up so guests can scan comfortably from a step or two away - a good rule is roughly a tenth of the scanning distance. ### Can I Change Where My Wedding QR Code Points After It's Printed? Only if you use a dynamic code, which points to a short link you can re-target later - useful if timing or venue notes change after invitations go out. A static code stores its destination permanently and can't be changed once printed. If details are still moving, a dynamic code or a stable wedding-website URL you control is the safer choice. ### Do Wedding QR Codes Expire? Static codes never expire - the data lives inside the code, so it keeps working as long as the destination still exists. The thing to watch is the destination: keep your wedding website or photo album online through the day and afterward, and the code will keep opening it. If the code came from Canva with the invitation, see [do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire). ### Is It Free to Make a Wedding QR Code, and Do Guests Need an App to Scan It? Yes, it's free - no account or subscription - and no app is needed. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read QR codes directly, so any guest can scan your invitation or sign and open the page straight away. --- # QR Codes That Guide Guests From Invite to Entrance URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/events Make a custom QR code for any event in seconds. Link tickets, RSVPs, schedules or maps, then export a print-ready code for invites, posters and signage. Give attendees one scan to reach everything they need - registration, tickets, directions, the schedule or an RSVP. Design a code that matches your event branding and export it print-ready for invitations, posters and on-site signage. - Print-ready PNG & SVG - Custom colors, shapes & logo - Free, no sign-up ## Why Events Run Smoother With a QR Code A well-placed QR code removes the small frictions that slow guests down - retyping links, hunting for the venue, or emailing to ask for the schedule. - **Fewer Questions at the Door**: Point guests to check-in, tickets or directions before they arrive, so your team spends less time answering the same questions. - **One Link for Everything**: Send scanners to a single event page that holds the agenda, map, speakers and RSVP - instead of scattering details across emails. - **Works on Any Modern Phone**: Recent iPhone and Android cameras scan QR codes natively, so guests don't need a separate app to open your link. - **Branding That Looks Intentional**: Custom colors, a center logo and rounded or circular shapes make the code feel part of your invitation, not a sticker slapped on top. ## What to Link Your Event QR Code To The destination matters more than the code itself. Pick the one action you most want guests to take, then send the code there. ### Popular Destinations Match the link to the moment. What helps someone holding an invitation is different from what helps someone standing at the entrance. - **Registration or Ticketing**: send guests straight to your sign-up or ticket page so they can reserve a spot in a tap. - **Event Details Hub**: a single page with date, venue map, agenda and dress code that you can keep updated. - **RSVP or Calendar Add**: link an RSVP form or an add-to-calendar file so the date lands in their phone instantly. ### Keep the Destination Stable KoloQR creates static QR codes, which encode a fixed web address. You can't change the address after printing, but you can change everything on the page it points to. Link to a [URL you control](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) - your site, a form or a shared document - and update the content there anytime without reprinting a single code. ## How to Create an Event QR Code From link to print-ready file in a few minutes. - **Add Your Link**: Paste the web address for your registration, event page, RSVP form or map. Open it on a phone first to confirm it works. - **Design It to Match**: Choose your colors, add a center logo, and pick a square, rounded or circular style so the code fits your invitation and signage. - **Export Print-Ready**: Download a high-resolution PNG for digital use or an SVG for large-format print that stays sharp at any size, then test the final file before you send it to print. ## Where to Put Your Event QR Code Place the code where guests naturally pause and have a moment to scan. - **Invitations & Save-the-Dates**: Add a small code near the details so recipients can RSVP or add the date without typing a link. - **Posters & Flyers**: Give the code room and enough size to scan from a step or two back on a wall or noticeboard. - **Entrance & Welcome Signage**: Speed up check-in by linking to tickets or a registration list right where guests arrive. - **Table Tents & Programs**: Let seated guests open the agenda, menu, speaker bios or a feedback survey during the event. - **Banners & Stage Backdrops**: Use a large SVG code so it scans from a distance across a room or hall without pixelation. - **Badges & Lanyards**: Share contact details or a personal schedule that attendees can scan while networking. ## Best Practices for Event QR Codes Small details decide whether a code scans on the first try - especially in the varied lighting and distances of a live event. - **Test Before You Print**: Scan the final exported file with at least two different phones. A code that works on screen can still fail once it's shrunk, printed or laminated. - **Size It for the Scan Distance**: As a rough guide, a code should be at least a tenth as wide as the distance people scan from. A banner read from 2 m (about 6 ft) away wants a code around 20 cm (8 in) wide. - **Keep a Clear Margin**: Leave a quiet zone - empty space of about four modules - around the code so the camera can find its edges. Don't crowd it with text or graphics. - **Hold Strong Contrast**: A dark code on a light background scans most reliably. Very light codes, low-contrast color pairs, or busy photo backgrounds behind the code often fail. - **Add a Visible Short Link**: Print a readable URL beside the code as a fallback for guests whose camera won't cooperate or who prefer to type. - **Tell People What They'll Get**: A one-line prompt such as “Scan to RSVP” or “Scan for the schedule” lifts scans far more than a bare code on its own. - **Keep the Logo Modest**: A center logo is fine, but keep it small enough that the surrounding pattern stays intact, and re-test scanning after adding it. - **Make the Landing Page Mobile-First**: Guests scan on phones, so send them to a fast, mobile-friendly page - not a heavy PDF or a desktop-only site. - **Point at a Link You Control**: Because the code is static, link to your own domain, form or shared doc. You can update what's there later without reprinting. - **Use Separate Codes for Separate Jobs**: If check-in, the schedule and feedback each deserve their own action, give each its own code rather than overloading one page. ## Design an Event QR Code That Fits Your Brand Create a custom, print-ready code for your invitations, posters and signage in minutes - with your colors, logo and shape. Free, no account needed. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for an Event? Paste the link you want guests to reach - a registration page, RSVP form, event site or map - then customize the colors, shape and logo and export a print-ready file. With KoloQR you can do this in a few minutes without an account. ### What Should an Event QR Code Link To? Link it to the single most useful action for your guests. For most events that's registration or ticketing, an event details page with the agenda and map, or an RSVP form. Pick one clear destination rather than trying to cover everything at once. ### Can I Change Where the QR Code Points After Printing? Not the web address itself - KoloQR codes are static, so the encoded link is fixed. But if you point the code at a page you control, such as your website or a shared document, you can change everything on that page anytime without reprinting the code. ### Do Guests Need an App to Scan the Code? No. The built-in camera on recent iPhone and Android phones reads QR codes automatically. Guests open the camera, point it at the code, and tap the link that appears. ### How Big Should the QR Code Be on a Poster or Banner? Match the size to the scan distance: a code should be roughly a tenth as wide as the distance people scan from. For a poster read from about 1.5 m (5 ft), aim for at least 15 cm (6 in). Go larger for banners and stage backdrops. ### Can I Add My Logo or Brand Colors to the Code? Yes. KoloQR supports a center logo, custom colors and square, rounded or circular shapes. Keep good contrast and a modest logo size so the code still scans reliably, and re-test after any design change. ### What File Format Should I Use for Printing? Use SVG for large-format print like banners and posters, since it stays sharp at any size. PNG works well for smaller items and digital use. KoloQR exports both. ### Can One QR Code Handle Registration, the Schedule and Feedback? It can if you link to a hub page that holds all three. But if each action matters on its own, separate codes are clearer - one to check in, one for the schedule, one for a post-event survey. ### Why Won't My Event QR Code Scan? The usual causes are low contrast, a code printed too small for the distance, a missing quiet zone (margin), or a logo that covers too much of the pattern. Test the exact exported file on more than one phone before printing at scale. A code scanned after dark, at a haunted house or a [Halloween party](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes), also needs light on the front of the sign. ### Is KoloQR Free for Event QR Codes? Yes. You can design and export event QR codes for free, with no sign-up. Print-ready PNG and SVG downloads are included. --- # QR Codes for a Smoother Hotel Stay URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/hotels Create branded QR codes for your hotel - room service menus, guest WiFi, digital check-in and directories. Print-ready PNG and SVG that match your property. Guests reach for their phones the moment they walk in. A well-placed QR code turns that instinct into an easy path to your menu, WiFi, directory or check-in - no app to download and nothing to explain. Design codes that match your brand and print cleanly on everything from key card sleeves to lobby signage. - Branded to match your property - Print-ready PNG & SVG - Free to use ## Why Hotels Use QR Codes The right code removes friction at the exact moment a guest needs something - without adding work for your team. - **Everything in One Scan**: Menus, WiFi, spa bookings and the full guest directory sit behind a single code, so guests find what they need without calling the front desk. - **Fewer Reprints**: Point a code at a page you control and update the content anytime. Seasonal menus and changing hours update instantly while the printed code stays the same. - **On-Brand, Not an Eyesore**: Match your code to your property's colors and add your logo so it looks intentional on a bedside card or acrylic stand, not like a random black square. - **Frees up Reception**: Self-service WiFi, directions and FAQs mean fewer repeat questions at the desk, especially during busy check-in windows. ## What You Need to Get Started A hotel QR code is only as good as where it leads. Sort out the destination before you generate anything. ### A Destination for Each Code Decide where each scan should take the guest: - **A Stable Web Address**: a page, booking form or short link you control, so you can update the content later without reprinting the code. - **Clear Labelling**: a short line like “Scan for the breakfast menu” so guests know what they'll get. - **A Non-QR Fallback**: a phone extension, printed copy or front-desk option for guests who can't or won't scan. ### Ready to Design Yours? Pick your colors, drop in your logo and export a print-ready file in a couple of minutes. ## How to Create a Hotel QR Code Three steps take you from a blank code to something printed and mounted where guests will see it. - **Choose What It Links To**: Point the code at your menu page, WiFi details, booking form or guest directory. Use a stable URL so the same printed code keeps working as content changes. - **Make It Match Your Property**: Set your brand colors, add your logo and pick a shape - including circular - so the code fits your signage and printed materials. - **Export and Print**: Download a high-resolution PNG for cards and small signs, or an SVG for large-format signage that stays sharp at any size, then place it where guests will act on it. ## Where to Place Hotel QR Codes Put each code where the guest is already standing when they need it - not on a single sign in the lobby. - **Guest Rooms**: On the bedside table, desk or a compendium card for the directory, room service and TV or thermostat instructions. - **Reception & Lobby**: At the desk for check-in and WiFi, or on a stand near seating so waiting guests can browse services. - **Restaurant, Bar & Breakfast**: On tables and menus so guests can view dishes, allergens and drinks - and reorder without waving down staff. - **Elevators & Corridors**: For the property map, floor directory and directions to the spa, gym or pool. - **Key Card Sleeves**: A small code on the sleeve links to WiFi and the directory - the one thing every guest holds on arrival. - **Spa, Gym & Event Spaces**: For class schedules, booking forms, equipment guides or conference agendas. ## Best Practices for Hotel QR Codes Small details decide whether a code gets scanned or ignored. These are the ones that matter most in a hotel setting. - **Link to Pages You Control, Not Fixed Files**: A code pointing straight at a PDF locks you into that file. Point it at a web page instead so you can swap the menu or update hours without reprinting a single code. - **Always Add a Short Instruction**: “Scan for WiFi” or “Scan to order” removes the guesswork. A bare code with no context tends to get ignored. - **Keep Contrast High**: A dark code on a light background reads most reliably. Avoid placing codes over photos or busy textures, and keep the clear margin (quiet zone) around them. - **Size for the Viewing Distance**: A bedside card can be small; a lobby or elevator sign needs a larger code so guests can scan from a step back. As a rule of thumb, the further away people stand, the bigger it needs to be. - **Design for Dim Rooms**: Hotel rooms are often softly lit. Test your printed code in low light on both iPhone and Android so it still reads at the bedside. - **Offer a Language Choice**: If you host international guests, send codes to a landing page that offers multiple languages rather than a single-language PDF. - **Keep a Human Fallback**: Not every guest will scan. Leave a phone extension, printed copy or front-desk option so no one is stuck. - **Test After Every Reprint**: Scan each code once it's printed and mounted, not just on screen. Lamination, glare and curved surfaces can all affect a real-world scan. - **Use Vector Files for Signage**: Export an SVG for anything printed large so the code stays crisp on acrylic stands, posters and window graphics. - **Review Which Placements Get Used**: If the destination page has basic analytics, check which codes get scanned and quietly retire the ones that don't earn their place. ## Design a QR Code That Fits Your Hotel Match your brand, add your logo and export a print-ready PNG or SVG in minutes - free to use. ## FAQ ### What Can a Hotel QR Code Be Used For? Almost anything guests currently ask reception about: room service and [restaurant menus](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus), WiFi access, digital check-in, the guest directory, spa and activity bookings, local recommendations and feedback forms. Each can sit behind its own code or share a single directory page. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Hotel? Choose what the code should link to - usually a page you control - then set your brand colors, add your logo and export a print-ready file. With KoloQR you can generate a branded, high-resolution code in a few minutes and place it wherever guests will see it. ### Can I Update a QR Code Without Reprinting It? Yes, if you point it at a stable web address instead of a fixed file. The printed code never changes; you simply update the page behind it. This is the reliable way to keep seasonal menus, hours and directory details current without reprinting anything. ### Do Guests Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. Modern iPhone and Android cameras scan QR codes natively - guests just open the camera and point. There's no app to download, which is a big part of why QR codes work well for short hotel stays. ### Where Should I Put QR Codes in a Hotel Room? The bedside table and desk are the most-used spots, along with a compendium or directory card. Keep each code near where the guest will act on it - a room-service code by the phone, a TV or thermostat guide near those controls. ### What Size Should a Hotel QR Code Be? It depends on scanning distance. A bedside or table card can be small, around 2-3 cm, while lobby and elevator signage should be larger so guests can scan from a step or two away. When unsure, print a test and scan it from the real viewing distance. ### Can I Add My Hotel's Logo and Colors to a QR Code? Yes. Adding your logo and brand colors makes a code look intentional on printed materials and signage. KoloQR supports logos, custom colors and shapes - including circular codes - so the result matches your property rather than clashing with it. ### Are Hotel QR Codes Free to Create? Creating the code itself is free with KoloQR, including branding and print-ready exports. Any content you link to - such as a menu page or booking system - depends on the tools you already use for those. ### Why Won't My Hotel QR Code Scan? The usual causes are low contrast, a code printed too small for the distance, glare or lamination, or a missing clear margin around it. Test the printed version in the actual lighting and from where guests will stand, on both iPhone and Android. ### Should Hotels Use Dynamic or Static QR Codes? For most hotel needs, a static code pointing at a stable URL is enough - you update the destination page, not the code. Dynamic codes add built-in tracking and editable destinations but usually come with a subscription. If you link to pages you already control, a static code avoids that recurring cost. --- # How to Use QR Codes in a Retail Store URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/retail-stores A retail QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scan distance, and at least 2 cm. Sizes for shelf labels, windows and checkout signs. A QR code in a retail store turns a small printed surface into a full product page: specifications, sizes, stock, care instructions or a review form. This page covers what to link, where to place the code, what size to print it, and what usually goes wrong on glass and shelf labels. - Free, no account - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Logo and brand colors ## Why Retail Stores Use QR Codes A shelf label holds about twenty words. A product page holds everything else. QR codes in a retail store exist to close that gap at four specific moments in a shopping trip. - **More Product Detail Than a Label Can Hold**: A shelf-edge label has room for a name, a price and little else. A QR code on that label can lead to full specifications, materials, sizing, allergens, care instructions and customer reviews, so shoppers stop hunting for a staff member to answer a question the packaging never answered. - **A Storefront That Works When the Shop Is Closed**: A QR code on the shop window is readable at 9 p.m. on a Sunday. Passers-by who stop at a closed store can reach the online catalog, opening hours or a booking page instead of walking on and forgetting the shop by morning. - **A Sale That Survives an Empty Shelf**: Out-of-stock sizes and colors are the most common reason a customer leaves a retail store empty-handed. A QR code on the shelf label or fitting-room mirror can point to the same product online, where the missing size is often still available for delivery or click-and-collect. - **Reviews and Sign-Ups at the Moment of Purchase**: Goodwill is highest at the counter, seconds after a purchase. A small QR code at the till leads straight to a Google review form or a loyalty sign-up, which removes the step where the customer has to search for the shop later and never does. ## What a Retail QR Code Needs Before You Print It Two things decide whether a QR code works in a shop: the page it opens, and whether anyone tested the printed code under the store's own lighting. Both are easier to fix before the labels go to print than after. ### A Destination That Behaves on a Phone in Your Store The QR code is never the problem when a scan disappoints someone. The [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) is. Three things matter more than the rest in a retail setting. - **A Mobile Page, Not a PDF Catalog**: a PDF opens in a viewer and forces the shopper to pinch and zoom while holding a basket. - **A Short URL**: fewer characters mean fewer modules, and larger modules survive small shelf labels and cheap printing. - **A Page That Loads on One Bar of Signal**: mobile reception inside shops is often poor, so heavy image galleries and video headers fail exactly where the code is scanned. ### One Test Scan on the Printed Label, Under Store Lighting Test a printed sample, not the file on your monitor. Screens are backlit and perfectly flat, which hides every problem a real label has. Print one label, put it where it will live, and scan it with both an iPhone and an Android phone from the distance a customer will actually stand at. Check it again after closing time, when spotlights and street lights change the reflections on glass and glossy laminate. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Retail Store Making the code takes about a minute. Deciding what it points to takes longer, and that is the part worth thinking about. - **Paste the Link the Shopper Should Land On**: Use the product page, category page, stock checker or review form, not the site's home page. A code that lands on a home page pushes the customer to search again, and most give up at that point. If you may want to change the destination later, point the code at a short URL on your own domain and redirect it from there. - **Match the Code to the Store's Branding**: Choose a shape, set your colors and drop your logo in the center. Keep the modules dark on a light background and keep the logo small. Circular and custom-shaped QR codes fit retail packaging and window decals better than a plain square, and they scan the same as long as contrast and the quiet zone are respected. - **Download SVG for Print, PNG for Screens**: SVG is a vector format, so the same file prints cleanly on a 3 cm shelf label and a 40 cm window decal without soft edges. Use PNG at 300 DPI or higher when a printer or supplier insists on a raster file, and send the file at final size rather than letting someone scale a small PNG up. ## Where QR Codes Work in a Retail Store Each surface in a shop is scanned from a different distance, which changes the size the code has to be printed at. The working rule: a QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, and never less than 2 cm. - **Shop Window and Entrance Glass**: Window codes are scanned from about 1-2 meters away, so print them 15-20 cm wide. Mount the decal on the inside of the glass facing out, at roughly 120-150 cm from the ground, which is where a standing adult's phone naturally points. Matte film beats glossy on glass, because shop spotlights and street lights turn a glossy surface into a mirror after dark. - **Shelf-Edge Labels and Price Tags**: Shelf labels are read from about 30 cm, so a 3 cm code is enough. Keep the URL short at this size: a long link raises the module count, and each module shrinks below the point where a phone camera can resolve it. Leave the empty margin around the code clear of price stickers and the metal shelf rail. - **Checkout Counter and Till Signs**: Counter signs are scanned at arm's length, so 5 cm is comfortable. The checkout is the right place for one single ask - a Google review, a loyalty sign-up or a digital receipt - and the wrong place for three. Two codes side by side at a till slow the queue and usually mean neither gets scanned. - **Fitting Rooms and Service Points**: Fitting-room codes answer the questions customers cannot ask from behind a curtain: other sizes, other colors, stock in nearby stores, or a request for staff help. Print them 5-8 cm and mount them beside the mirror rather than on it, where reflections and fingerprints interfere with the camera. ## Retail QR Code Best Practices Most QR codes that fail in shops fail for a handful of repeatable reasons. These rules cover almost all of them. - **Keep Dark Modules on a Light Background**: Inverted codes - light modules on a dark background - are read reliably by some phones and rejected by others, including older Android cameras. Keep at least a clear light-dark difference, and treat a dark-on-light code as the default for anything printed in a store. - **Leave the Quiet Zone Empty**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard specifies four modules of margin. In practice that means no price sticker, shelf rail, border or fold crossing the edge of the code. - **Size the Code for the Scanning Distance**: Use about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the floor for anything scanned up close. A code read from 3 meters across a shop floor needs roughly 30 cm, which is why a poster code shrunk to fit a corner never works. - **Choose Matte Over Glossy for Anything Under a Spotlight**: Glossy lamination reflects retail spotlights and daylight straight back into the camera, and the phone sees a bright patch instead of a pattern. Matte laminate, matte vinyl and uncoated stock all scan more reliably in shops than gloss, especially on windows and chilled cabinets. - **Keep the Logo Small and Centered**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is covered or damaged. It tolerates a small central logo, not a large one. Keep a logo well under a quarter of the code area, keep it in the middle, and rescan after adding it. - **Write What the Scan Does, Next to the Code**: A bare code in a shop is a guess, and shoppers rarely scan a guess. A short line - "Scan for sizes and stock", "Scan to leave a review" - raises scans because the customer knows what they are getting. Keep it to five words or fewer so it fits on a label. - **Shorten the URL Before Generating the Code**: A short link produces fewer modules, and fewer modules mean each one is physically larger at the same print size. This is the cheapest way to make a small shelf-label code scannable. Trim tracking parameters, or put them behind a short redirect on your own domain. - **Use a Different Link for Each Placement**: Give the window, the shelf labels and the till their own URL or UTM parameter. This is the only way to learn which surface earns scans, and after two weeks the answer is usually surprising - most stores over-invest in window codes and under-use fitting rooms. - **Do Not Print Codes Below Waist Height or on Curved Surfaces**: Floor graphics and low plinth codes make people crouch, and few do. Curved surfaces such as bottles and jars distort the module grid enough to break scans at small sizes. Keep codes on flat surfaces between roughly waist and eye height. - **Know What a Static QR Code Cannot Do**: KoloQR generates static QR codes, which means the destination is fixed at the moment the code is printed. A static code cannot be repointed later and does not count scans by itself. Two honest workarounds: point the code at a short URL on your own domain that you can redirect at any time, and read the scan volume from your own web analytics. If you need per-scan analytics, expiring links or A/B testing built in, a dynamic QR service is the right tool. ## Make a QR Code for Your Store Pick the link, set your colors, drop in your logo and download a print-ready file. No account, no watermark, and the SVG scales from a 3 cm shelf label to a full window decal from one file. Before the print run, print one label and scan it where it will live, with both an iPhone and an Android phone, from the distance a customer will stand at. That single test catches almost every problem that would otherwise reach a thousand printed labels. ## FAQ ### What Should a QR Code in a Retail Store Link To? Link a retail QR code to the page that answers the question the shopper is holding: the product page for a shelf label, a size guide or stock checker in a fitting room, a review or loyalty form at the till, and the online catalog on the shop window. Avoid linking to the site's home page, because it forces the customer to search again. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Shelf Label or Shop Window? Allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the minimum. That means roughly 3 cm on a shelf-edge label read from 30 cm, 5 cm on a counter sign, and 15-20 cm on a window scanned from 1-2 meters away from the pavement. ### Do Customers Need an App to Scan a QR Code in a Shop? No. The built-in camera apps on current iPhones and Android phones detect QR codes and show a tap-to-open link, so no separate scanner app is needed. A small number of older or budget Android devices still need a scanner app, which is one more reason to keep contrast high and the code large enough. ### Can I Change Where the QR Code Points After the Labels Are Printed? Not with a static QR code, which is what KoloQR generates: the destination is encoded in the pattern itself. The standard way around this is to encode a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side, so the printed code stays the same while the destination changes. Set that redirect up before printing, not after. The same setup keeps a [Black Friday QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday) useful after the sale, when the redirect moves on to current offers. ### How Do I Count Scans Without a Dynamic QR Code? Give each printed placement its own URL or UTM parameter and read the traffic in your web analytics. A window code pointing to /window and a shelf code pointing to /shelf tell you exactly which surface works. This measures page visits rather than raw scans, so the numbers run slightly low, but the comparison between placements is reliable. ### Why Won't the QR Code on My Shop Window Scan? Window codes usually fail for one of three reasons: the code is too small for the distance from the pavement, glossy film is reflecting a spotlight or street light straight into the camera, or the decal is mounted too low or too high for a phone held at chest level. Print it 15-20 cm, use matte film, and mount it at 120-150 cm. ### Can I Add My Logo and Store Colors to a Retail QR Code? Yes. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, supports a center logo and custom colors. Keep the modules darker than the background, keep the logo well under a quarter of the code area, and rescan the finished code before printing. Styling does not improve scan performance, so contrast and size still decide whether it works. ### Can I Print a QR Code on a Receipt? Yes, but keep it simple. Thermal receipt printers typically print at about 203 DPI on narrow paper, so a receipt QR code should be at least 2 cm wide and encode a very short URL. Long links produce dense module grids that thermal printing blurs, and faded thermal paper loses contrast within weeks. ### Should Every Product Have Its Own QR Code? Only where the destination genuinely differs. One code per product makes sense for items with real detail behind them - electronics, cosmetics, furniture, wine. For fast-moving basics, one code per category or aisle is cheaper to maintain and rarely scanned less. Every extra code is a label to reprint when the page moves. ### Is KoloQR Free to Use for a Commercial Store? Yes. KoloQR is free to use, including for commercial retail printing, and the generated codes carry no watermark and no expiry. The codes are static, so they keep working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR staying online, because the destination is encoded in the pattern itself rather than stored on a server. --- # How to Use QR Codes in a Clinic, Hospital or Pharmacy URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/healthcare A healthcare QR code needs about 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scan distance, at least 2 cm, and must never encode patient data. Sizes, placement, testing. A QR code in a healthcare setting is a printed shortcut to one page: a booking form, an intake questionnaire, aftercare instructions or a feedback survey. It is not a private channel, so patient data never belongs inside the code. This page covers what to link, where to place the code, what size to print it, and how to keep it readable after the surface has been wiped down a hundred times. - Free, no account - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Logo and brand colors ## Why Clinics and Hospitals Use QR Codes Most QR codes in healthcare replace one of two things: a phone call to reception, or a verbal instruction the patient will not remember by the time they get home. - **Aftercare Instructions Patients Can Re-Read at Home**: Patients forget a large part of what they are told in a consultation, and printed leaflets get lost or thrown away with the pharmacy bag. A QR code on a discharge sheet or prescription label leads to the same instructions as a web page, where the text can be enlarged, read aloud by the phone, translated, or shown to a family member who was not in the room. - **Fewer Routine Calls to Reception**: Reception phone lines fill up with requests that need no clinical judgement: booking, rescheduling, repeat prescriptions, opening hours, directions to the right entrance. A QR code on the door, the appointment card and the waiting room noticeboard sends those requests to the same online forms the practice already runs, which keeps the phone free for the calls that need a person. - **Intake and Consent Forms Completed Before the Appointment**: A QR code on an appointment reminder or the check-in desk opens the intake questionnaire on the patient's own phone. Answers typed by the patient remove a transcription step at the desk, and a form completed at home shortens the queue at reception during the morning peak. - **Accessible and Multilingual Versions of the Same Leaflet**: One printed leaflet fits one language and one type size. A QR code on that leaflet can lead to a page offering large text, a screen-reader-friendly version, several languages and a short video, which is usually cheaper and faster than printing four separate leaflets for the same procedure. ## What a Healthcare QR Code Needs Before You Print It Two things decide whether a QR code works in a clinic: the page it opens, and whether anyone scanned a printed sample in the room where it will hang. Both are far cheaper to fix before a print run of 5,000 leaflets than after. ### A Destination That Behaves on a Phone Inside the Building When a scan disappoints a patient, the [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) is almost always the reason, not the QR code. Three things matter more than the rest in a healthcare setting. - **A Public Page, With Any Login on the Page Itself**: a QR code is readable by anyone who photographs it, so the code should carry a plain public URL and the patient portal should ask for identity after the page opens. - **A URL Short Enough for a Label**: fewer characters mean fewer modules, and larger modules survive small prescription labels, thermal printing and a 3 cm bedside card. - **A Page That Loads Where the Signal Drops**: mobile reception is poor in basements, imaging departments and thick-walled older buildings, so heavy PDFs and video headers fail exactly where the code is scanned. ### One Test Scan on the Printed Material, in the Room It Will Live In Test a printed sample, not the file on your monitor. Screens are backlit and perfectly flat, which hides every problem a real poster or label has. Print one copy, put it where it will hang, and scan it with both an iPhone and an Android phone from the distance a patient will actually stand or sit at. Repeat the scan through the reception glass screen and with gloves on, because a partition adds reflections and gloves change how close people hold a phone. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Clinic or Hospital Generating the code is the fast part. Choosing what sits behind it, and whether that page will still be right in a year, is where the time goes. - **Paste the Link the Patient Should Land On**: Use the booking form, the intake questionnaire, the aftercare page or the feedback survey, not the hospital home page. Never paste a link that contains a patient name, a record number or a one-time access token, because a static QR code cannot be revoked once it is printed. If the destination may move later, encode a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side. - **Match the Code to the Practice's Branding**: Choose a shape, set your colors and drop your logo in the center. Modules stay dark against a light field, and the logo stays modest. Circular and custom-shaped QR codes sit more comfortably on a leaflet or a bedside card than a plain square, and they scan the same as long as contrast and the quiet zone are respected. - **Export SVG for the Print Run, PNG for Screens**: SVG is a vector format, so one file prints cleanly on a 2.5 cm prescription label and a 30 cm waiting room poster without soft edges. If a supplier will only accept a raster file, export PNG at 300 DPI at the exact printed dimensions - a small PNG stretched to fill a poster loses the module edges. ## Where QR Codes Work in a Clinic or Hospital Every surface in a healthcare building is scanned from a different distance, and distance decides the print size. One rule covers all of them: allow about 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of reading distance, and never drop below 2 cm whatever the layout demands. - **Reception and Check-In Desks**: Desk signs are scanned at arm's length, so 5 cm is comfortable. Reception is the right place for exactly one code - self check-in or the intake form - because a patient standing at a desk with a queue behind them will not compare three options. If the desk has a glass partition, use a matte print and check the scan through the glass, since a spotlight reflecting off the screen is the most common failure at this spot. - **Waiting Room Posters and Noticeboards**: Waiting room codes are read by seated patients about 2-3 meters away, so print them 20-30 cm wide and mount them at 140-160 cm from the floor. Keep one topic per poster: booking, repeat prescriptions, the patient portal, guest Wi-Fi and the feedback survey each deserve their own sheet, because a noticeboard with five codes on one page produces almost no scans. Print the plain URL under the code for anyone who cannot scan. - **Treatment Rooms, Bedside Cards and Equipment Labels**: A bedside or chairside card is scanned from about 30 cm, so a 3 cm code is enough. This is the placement most affected by cleaning: unlaminated inkjet prints smear under alcohol wipes within days, so use a laminated card or a synthetic polypropylene label with a matte finish. Staff-facing codes on equipment - cleaning logs, calibration records, instruction manuals - work well here, as long as they point to internal pages and carry no patient identifiers. - **Discharge Paperwork, Prescription Bags and Appointment Cards**: Take-home paper is the strongest placement in healthcare, because it is scanned at home where the signal is good and there is time to read. A 2.5-3 cm code fits an A5 discharge sheet, a pharmacy bag label or an appointment card. Keep the URL very short if the label comes off a thermal printer: thermal receipt printing at roughly 203 DPI blurs dense module grids, and thermal paper loses contrast within weeks. ## Best Practices for QR Codes in Healthcare The rules below are the ones that decide whether a healthcare QR code is safe, scannable and still working in six months. - **Never Encode Patient Information**: A QR code is not encrypted or private: anyone who photographs it can decode its contents in seconds. Names, dates of birth, record numbers, appointment details and direct links to results must never be inside a printed code. Encode a public page and let the patient identify themselves on that page. - **Print the Plain URL and a Phone Number Beside the Code**: A visible web address and phone number keep the information reachable for patients with older phones, low vision, shaky hands or no data allowance. In healthcare, a QR code should be a shortcut to something already available another way, never the only route to it. - **Match the Print Size to Where It Is Read**: Use roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the absolute minimum. In practice that means 2.5-3 cm on paperwork, 3 cm on a bedside card, 5 cm on a desk sign and 20-30 cm on a waiting room poster. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR standard specifies four modules. Clinical print is crowded, so check that dosage text, patient labels, folds and staples stay out of that margin. - **Keep the Modules Darker Than the Background**: Phone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. Pale brand palettes, light-on-dark inversion and low-contrast pastels are the most common reason a well-designed clinic poster does not scan. Test any inverted design on several phones before printing, and fall back to dark-on-light if it hesitates. - **One Code, One Action**: Each printed code should lead to a single task with a clear label above it, such as Book an appointment or Read your aftercare instructions. Patients in a waiting room decide in a second or two, and a code offering three destinations usually gets none of them scanned. - **Choose Materials That Survive Disinfection**: Anything in a clinical area gets wiped with alcohol or detergent. Laminated cards and synthetic polypropylene labels with a matte finish keep their contrast, while plain inkjet prints and bare thermal labels smear or fade. Matte also avoids the glare that gloss creates under ceiling lighting. - **Keep the Logo Small and Rescan After Adding It**: A center logo relies on error correction, the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is covered. Keep the logo well under a quarter of the code area and scan the finished file before print. Styling never improves scan performance, so size and contrast still decide whether the code works. - **Plan for the Destination Changing**: A static QR code is a code whose destination is encoded in the pattern itself, which means it cannot be changed or switched off after printing. KoloQR generates static codes, so point them at a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side. Set the redirect up before printing, not after. - **Measure Scans With Per-Placement URLs**: Static codes carry no analytics, so give every placement its own URL or UTM parameter and read the traffic in your existing web analytics. A poster code pointing to /waiting-room and a discharge code pointing to /discharge show which surface actually works, which is the cheapest way to decide what to reprint. - **Get the Code Signed Off Before the Print Run**: A print run of patient-facing material is hard to recall once it is distributed across a site. Three approvals are worth collecting first: information governance on the destination and what the URL reveals, whoever owns accessibility on the printed alternative, and the clinical team on the wording above the code. A single sign-off round costs a day and prevents a reprint of 5,000 leaflets. ## Create a QR Code for Your Clinic or Practice Pick the one page a patient should reach - booking, intake, aftercare or feedback - paste the link, style the code to match your practice, and download an SVG for print or a PNG for screens. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, produces static codes with no watermark, no account and no expiry. Static means the destination lives in the pattern itself, so the code keeps working without a subscription, and it also means the destination cannot be changed after printing - which is why a redirect on your own domain is worth setting up first. If your service needs scan analytics or the ability to switch a printed code off, a dynamic QR code provider fits that requirement better. ## FAQ ### Who Should Own a QR Code Project in a Clinic or Hospital? Generating the code is a one-minute job for whoever produces the printed piece. The decisions around it are not, and they belong to three other people: information governance approves the destination and what the URL discloses, the accessibility or patient-experience lead approves the printed alternative, and the clinical team approves the wording above the code. Agree those three before a design goes to the printer, because a distributed print run is expensive to withdraw. ### Is It Safe to Put Patient Information in a QR Code? No. A QR code is not encrypted, and anyone who photographs it can read its contents in seconds, so patient names, dates of birth, record numbers and appointment details must never be encoded. Encode a public page instead and let the patient authenticate on that page. A printed static code also cannot be revoked if the paperwork is lost. A code that opens the department's [email address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/email-qr-code) or its phone line carries nothing patient-specific at all. ### Can a QR Code Be HIPAA or GDPR Compliant? The QR code itself is neither compliant nor non-compliant: it is a printed pointer, and the obligations attach to the page it opens and the data that page handles. Keep personal data out of the encoded URL, host the destination on a system your organization has already assessed, and involve your data protection or compliance lead before printing. This is general guidance, not legal advice. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Waiting Room Poster? Print it 20-30 cm wide. Seated patients scan from roughly 2-3 meters, and the working rule is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Mount the poster at 140-160 cm from the floor, which is where a standing adult's phone naturally points, and keep the code clear of the poster edge. ### Do We Still Need to Print the Web Address Under the Code? Yes, on anything patient-facing. A QR code assumes a working camera, a data allowance, steady hands and enough vision to aim - assumptions that fail across a large share of a hospital's population, and the groups they fail for are often the ones the leaflet matters most to. Print the plain URL and a [phone number](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) as well, and treat the code as a shortcut to something already reachable another way rather than the only route to it. ### Can I Put a QR Code on a Patient Wristband or Chart? Not with a code made in a public generator. Wristband and chart codes identify a patient, so they must be produced by the patient administration or EPR system that controls those identifiers, inside your own infrastructure. A code generated on a public website is suitable for public destinations only, such as visiting information, ward orientation or a feedback survey. ### Will Disinfectant Wipes Ruin a Printed QR Code? Alcohol wipes smear unlaminated inkjet prints and accelerate fading on bare thermal labels, which is enough to break a scan within days in a busy treatment room. Use a laminated card or a synthetic polypropylene label with a matte finish for anything that gets cleaned, and replace the sample you tested if it shows wear after a week. ### Can One Code Serve Patients Who Speak Different Languages? Yes, and this is where a code earns its place against print. One printed leaflet carries one language at one type size; the page behind a code can offer a language switcher, large text, a screen-reader-friendly layout and a short video from the same sheet of paper. For a procedure leaflet issued across a site, that is usually cheaper and considerably faster than commissioning four printed translations. ### Why Won't the QR Code on Our Clinic Poster Scan? Printed clinic codes usually fail for one of three reasons: the code is too small for the distance patients sit at, the design uses light modules on a dark background or a low-contrast pastel, or something has been placed inside the four-module quiet zone. Reprint at the distance rule, switch to dark modules on light, and clear the margin. ### Is KoloQR Free to Use for a Hospital or Private Practice? Yes. KoloQR is free to use, including for printed materials in commercial and public healthcare settings, and the generated codes carry no watermark and no expiry. The codes are static, so they keep working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR staying online, because the destination is encoded in the pattern rather than stored on a server. --- # QR Codes for Dentists: Booking, Reviews and Recall Cards URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/dentists How dental practices use QR codes at the front desk and chairside: booking links, Google review cards, recall mailers and aftercare slips. Sizes and print tips. Most of what a dental practice wants from a QR code happens in two places: the thirty seconds a patient spends paying at the desk, and the moment weeks later when they find a recall card in a coat pocket. This page is about those moments - which link goes on which printed piece, how big it has to be on a card that fits a wallet, and why the code beside the card machine outperforms the one on the waiting room wall. - Free, no account - SVG for print - Your clinic colors ## What a Dental Practice Actually Gets Out of a QR Code Four jobs where a code beats a phone number, and all four are about the patient acting while they are still in front of you - or long after, from a card they kept. - **Bookings Made Outside Reception Hours**: The patients who most want to book are the ones who cannot phone during surgery hours. A code on the appointment card, the recall letter or the practice door opens your scheduling page at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and the slot is filled before reception opens. Nobody mistypes a long practice-management booking URL along the way. - **Reviews Asked for at the Right Second**: Google reviews are the single biggest lever on how a local practice ranks, and willingness to leave one collapses within hours of the appointment. A small code beside the card machine, handed over while the payment goes through, catches the review in the only window where the patient is standing still, pleased, and holding a phone. - **Recall Cards That Still Work Six Months Later**: A recall or reactivation card sits in a wallet or on a fridge for months before it does anything. A printed phone number needs the patient to call during working hours; a code needs one scan whenever they remember. Point it at a permanent booking page rather than a dated offer, and the same card design keeps working through every recall cycle. - **Aftercare a Patient Cannot Lose at 11 p.m.**: Post-extraction bleeding, an implant that aches on day three, whitening sensitivity - the questions that generate out-of-hours calls all arrive after the leaflet has been thrown away. A code on the aftercare slip opens the same instructions on the phone, and you can correct the wording on the page without reprinting a single slip. ## Two Things to Have Ready Before You Generate the Code A QR code is a shortcut to a web address and nothing more. What it needs is a destination worth arriving at and a printed proof somebody has actually scanned. ### One Code per Job, Each Pointing at a Page You Own Resist the single practice code that leads to a home page. A patient at the card machine and a patient reading a recall card want different things, and each printed piece can only be labelled with one of them. Three destinations cover almost every practice. - **Booking Page**: your scheduling page or the booking link from your practice-management software, never the practice homepage. - **Review Link**: the direct Google review URL for your practice, so the star rating opens rather than the map listing. - **Aftercare or Recall Page**: a mobile-friendly page on your own site, at a web address you are willing to keep permanently. ### Scan the Printer's Proof, Not the File on Your Screen A dental code fails in print for reasons a monitor cannot show you. Appointment cards are the smallest thing most practices print, and designers shrink the code to fit the layout; uncoated card stock spreads ink and thickens the modules; and gloss lamination, which most practices order by default, throws the overhead surgery light straight back into the camera. Ask the printer for a proof, scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone at wallet distance, and only then approve the run. ## How to Make a QR Code for Your Dental Practice Three steps, no account, and a print-ready file at the end. - **Paste the Destination Link**: Copy your booking, review or aftercare URL into KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes. Open the link once in a phone browser first: practice-management booking pages are the usual culprit for a desktop-only layout nobody noticed. - **Match It to Your Practice Branding**: Set the code in your clinic's darkest brand color on a white background and place your logo in the center. Dental palettes tend to be pale blues and mint greens, and a code drawn in the light half of that palette is the most common reason a well-designed card refuses to scan. - **Send Vector to the Printer, PNG to the Website**: Export SVG for anything the printer produces - appointment cards, recall mailers, aftercare slips, window decals - because vector artwork stays sharp at any size. Use PNG for your website, your email signature and the waiting room screen. ## Where to Put a QR Code in a Dental Practice A practice has four printed surfaces worth a code, and they rank in a fixed order: the ones handed to a patient beat the ones hanging on a wall, every time. - **Payment Counter and Card Machine**: A 5 cm code in a small stand beside the card machine is the highest-scanning spot in a practice, because the patient is already standing still with a phone out. Reserve it for the review request and nothing else, and have reception ask out loud as they hand it over - an unmentioned code on a counter is decoration. - **Appointment and Recall Cards**: Print at 2-2.5 cm with one line of text saying what it opens. This is the tightest size constraint in the practice, so keep the URL short: a long practice-management link raises the module count until each module is too fine for the print. Because the card is read months later, it must point at a page that will still exist. - **Chairside Aftercare Slips**: A patient reclined in the chair scans at arm's length and at an angle, so 3 cm is a safer floor here than 2 cm. This is the one placement where the finish decides everything: order aftercare slips on matte stock, because operating lights are the brightest source in the building and gloss lamination reflects them straight across the symbol. - **Practice Window and Front Door**: The only code that works on a wall, and it works because it is scanned when you are closed. Print it 15-20 cm for a 1-2 metre reading distance, mount it inside the glass at about 140 cm, and point it at booking or new-patient registration. Use matte film - a glossy decal under a street light is a mirror after dark. ## Practical Rules for Dental QR Codes Ten rules drawn from where dental codes actually fail: cards too small, slips too glossy, and codes nobody was asked to scan. - **Ask Out Loud, Then Hand Over the Card**: The review code is the one placement where the printed piece does not do the work - the sentence does. A code left on a counter is scanned by almost nobody, while the same code handed over with "would you mind leaving us a review?" converts a large share of a day's patients. Budget for the conversation, not the print run. - **One Code per Job, Not One Code for the Practice**: Separate codes for booking, reviews and aftercare can each be labelled with a single action, and any one of them can be reprinted or retired without touching the other two. A single practice code pointing at the homepage asks a patient to navigate, and at the card machine nobody will. - **Keep Appointment-Card Codes at 2-2.5 cm**: A wallet card is read from roughly 20-25 cm, which the distance rule turns into about 2-2.5 cm of code. Below 2 cm ordinary print variation starts breaking scans, and if you are also placing a logo in the center, take the upper end of that range rather than shrinking the symbol to make room. - **Shorten the Link Before You Generate the Code**: Practice-management booking URLs are long, and every extra character adds modules that have to fit inside the same 2 cm square. A short redirect on your own domain produces a visibly chunkier code at the same print size - the cheapest fix available for the smallest piece you print. - **Order Matte for Anything That Goes Near the Chair**: Gloss lamination is the default at most print shops and the wrong choice for a dental practice. Operating lights, uplighters over the reception desk and the treatment room's ceiling array all reflect off gloss as a white patch, and a camera cannot read the modules underneath one. - **Avoid the Pale End of a Dental Palette**: Contrast is what a phone camera detects, and dental branding runs to mint, sky blue and soft grey. Keep the modules dark on white, and check the artwork in a grayscale preview: if the code looks washed out with the color removed, it is too light to scan reliably in print. - **Keep the Patient's Details Out of the Link**: A QR code is plain text anyone can decode with a phone camera, so a name, date of birth or record number must never appear in the address it carries - not even as a parameter that pre-fills a form. Encode a public page and let the patient identify themselves on it. If your practice is part of a larger provider, the wider guidance on this sits with the healthcare use case. - **Point Recall Codes at Something Permanent**: A recall card is scanned months after it is printed, so a static code on it must lead somewhere that will still be there. Avoid dated offers, campaign landing pages and anything with a season in the URL, and prefer a booking page whose address you are prepared to keep for years. - **Send Vector Artwork to the Printer**: Supply SVG for cards, slips and decals; SVG is a vector format that scales without losing edge definition. When a print shop insists on a raster file, export PNG at 300 DPI at the final printed size, and never let anyone enlarge a small PNG to fill the space. - **Know What a Static Code Cannot Do**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the address is fixed at the moment of printing, and there is no scan counter or dashboard. You can rewrite the destination page whenever you like, but redirecting the code itself means a reprint - unless you aimed it at a short URL on your own domain, which is also how you count scans, from your own web analytics. ## Make the QR Code for Your Practice Paste your booking, review or aftercare link, set it in your clinic colors, and download print-ready SVG. Free, and no account needed. Start with the review code at the card machine: it is the smallest print job in the practice, the fastest to test, and the one with a measurable result within a fortnight. Booking and aftercare codes can follow the next time those pieces are reprinted. If you also run hospital or group-practice signage - ward posters, prescription labels, accessibility duties on printed patient material - the healthcare use case covers that side of the same subject. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Dental Practice? Paste the web address you want patients to reach - your booking page, your Google review link or an aftercare page - into a QR generator, style it, and download SVG for print. It takes about a minute. The decision worth spending time on is which link goes on which printed piece, because each piece can only carry one clearly labelled action. If the action is simply "call us" or "email us", a [phone number QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) or an [email QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/email-qr-code) skips the page entirely. ### Are QR Codes Free for Dentists? Yes. A static QR code is an encoded web address, so generating one costs nothing and carries no license fee, subscription or expiry date. KoloQR is free and needs no account. The paid plans you see elsewhere are for dynamic codes, where a redirect service and scan analytics are hosted on your behalf. ### Do Patients Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. The built-in camera on current iPhones and Android phones recognizes QR codes without extra software - the patient opens the camera, points it at the code, and taps the link that appears. Some older handsets still need a scanner app, which is one reason to keep the practice [phone number](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) printed alongside the code on cards that go home with patients. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Dental Appointment Card? 2-2.5 cm square. An appointment card is read at roughly 20-25 cm, and the working rule is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Below 2 cm ordinary print variation starts causing failures, so if a logo is going in the center, move to the upper end of that range instead of shrinking the code. ### Where Should the Review QR Code Go in the Practice? Beside the card machine, in a small stand about 5 cm wide, and handed over verbally as the payment goes through. That is the only moment when a patient is stationary, finished, and pleased at the same time. Review codes on waiting room walls perform badly, because patients waiting for treatment have nothing to review yet. ### Can I Put a Patient's Name in the Link Behind the Code? No. A QR code is not encrypted, and anyone who photographs a recall card or appointment card can decode the address it carries, so names, dates of birth and record numbers must stay out of the URL - including as parameters that pre-fill a form. Link to a public page and let the patient identify themselves there. ### Can I Change Where a QR Code Points After It Is Printed? Not a static code - the address is baked into the pattern, so pointing it elsewhere means a reprint. You can still rewrite the destination page freely. If a printed piece may need to change target one day, which recall cards usually do, aim the code at a short URL on your own domain and change that redirect instead. ### Why Does the Code Scan on Screen but Not on the Printed Appointment Card? Nearly always size, ink or finish, and in that order. The code was scaled down to fit the card layout, or it was printed on uncoated stock where ink spread thickens the modules, or it came back gloss-laminated and the reception light reflects off it. Ask the printer for a proof, scan that at wallet distance, and fix the size before the full run. ### Can I Add My Clinic Logo and Colors to the QR Code? Yes. A center logo and a brand color are both safe as long as the modules stay darker than the background and the logo covers no more than about a fifth of the symbol. Styling does not improve scan performance, but it does affect whether a patient trusts the code enough to scan it, which in a clinic setting matters more than it sounds. ### Can I Track How Many Patients Scan the Code? Not from a static code itself, which has no counter and no dashboard. Two workarounds cost nothing: add a UTM parameter to the destination and read the visits in your website analytics, or point the code at a redirect on your own domain and count the hits in your server logs. Giving the desk and the recall card different links also tells you which one is working. --- # QR Codes for the Front of House in an Independent Clinic URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/clinics Front-of-house QR codes for an independent clinic: booking at the desk, self check-in, waiting room Wi-Fi and window signage. Sizes, mounting and glare fixes. A small practice has four surfaces worth a code and they are all within a few metres of the front door: the desk a patient checks in at, the waiting room they sit in, the window they walk past when you are shut, and the sheet they carry home. This page is about those four - how to mount a code so it does not sit in its own shadow, what the waiting room Wi-Fi code should point at, and how to keep printed signage working when the booking software changes. - Booking and intake links - Print-ready SVG export - No patient data encoded ## Why an Independent Practice Prints QR Codes Four gains, all of them measured in minutes of reception time and none of them requiring a new system to be bought. - **The Phone Line Freed for Calls That Need a Person**: A booking code on the desk face, the entrance door and the appointment card moves routine scheduling to self-service. In a practice with one or two people on the desk, that is the difference between answering the phone on the second ring and letting it go to a machine at 9 a.m. on a Monday. - **Self Check-In Without a Kiosk**: A dedicated check-in terminal is a capital purchase, a service contract and a device to disinfect. A code on the front of the desk does the same job on hardware the patient brought with them, and it costs the price of an acrylic stand. - **Waiting Room Wi-Fi Nobody Has to Ask For**: Handing out a network password across the desk is one of the most repeated interactions in a small practice. A Wi-Fi code on the waiting room wall connects a patient in one tap, and it is reliably the most-scanned code in the building because waiting time is scanning time. - **A Storefront That Works When You Are Closed**: Most people walk past a practice outside opening hours. A window code linking to booking, registration or the price list catches the person standing on the pavement at 8 p.m., who would otherwise have to remember the name of the clinic in the morning. ## What to Settle Before the Signage Is Ordered One web address the practice genuinely owns, and one scan taken standing where the patient will stand. ### An Address on Your Own Domain, Not the Vendor's This is the decision that outlives everything else on the page. Booking systems get replaced every few years, and a code encoding a vendor's URL becomes a printed dead end the day the contract ends. A code pointing at clinic.com/book keeps working, because you change the redirect rather than the signage. - **A Short, Typeable Path**: clinic.com/book beats a forty-character scheduling link, both in module count and for the patient who types it instead. - **A Page, Not a PDF**: an intake form published as an ordinary mobile page can be completed one-handed; a PDF has to be pinched, zoomed and usually printed. - **A Redirect You Can Edit**: keep the target of that short path under your own control so a change of booking provider is a config change, not a reprint. ### Check for Glare Before You Check Anything Else Reception areas are lit from directly above, and the single most common failure in a small practice is a laminated desk sign reflecting a downlight into the camera. Stand where the patient stands, at the height they hold a phone, and look at the sign before you even scan it: if you can see the ceiling light in it, the code is already failing. Then scan with an iPhone and an Android phone from the same spot. ## How to Create a QR Code for Your Clinic Three steps, no account required, no watermark on the export. - **Paste the Booking or Form Link**: Open KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, and paste the short path on your own domain that redirects to the booking system, the intake form or the price list. - **Set It in the Clinic's Colors**: Choose an outer shape, set the modules to the practice's brand color on a light background, and place the logo in the center. A code on a desk sign is read at a metre or less, so it can carry more styling than a poster and still scan first time. - **Export SVG for Signage, PNG for the Website**: SVG is a vector format, so one file covers a 3 cm appointment card and a 20 cm window decal with no soft edges. Use PNG for the practice website, patient emails and the check-in display. ## The Four Surfaces Worth a Code in a Small Practice All four are within sight of the front door, and each one is scanned by a patient doing something different: arriving, waiting, leaving, or walking past. - **The Front Face of the Reception Desk**: Mount it upright on the vertical face of the desk at about 120 cm, not flat on the counter. A code lying on a countertop puts the patient's own head between it and the ceiling light, and the shadow they cast is enough to break the scan. Upright at chest height, roughly 5 cm wide, is where booking and self check-in belong. - **The Self Check-In Sign Beside the Door**: A separate check-in code just inside the entrance intercepts patients before they queue at the desk at all. Print it 10-15 cm for a 1 metre read, label it with the action rather than the clinic name, and keep it at a different height from the booking code so the two are not mistaken for each other. - **The Waiting Room Wall and Table Tents**: This is where the Wi-Fi code goes, and where a table tent linking to the price list or patient information earns its place, because a seated patient has nothing else to do. Keep wall codes off the wall facing the window: daylight across a laminated poster washes out the symbol for most of the day. - **Aftercare Sheets and Appointment Cards**: The paper a patient carries home takes the follow-up booking code and the aftercare link. Print it at 2 cm or wider: handout codes fail more often than any other kind, almost always because the designer shrank the code to make room in a crowded layout rather than because anything was wrong with the code. ## Front-of-House Rules for Clinic QR Codes The rules below are the ones a small practice gets wrong, in the order they cost you scans. - **Mount It Upright, Never Flat on a Counter**: A flat code makes the patient lean over it, and their own head blocks the ceiling light the camera needs. Every horizontal counter code in a practice should be in an angled or upright stand instead, which also makes it visible from further back in the queue. - **Put the Action Above the Code, Not the Clinic Name**: Patients already know whose building they are in. The line above the code should be the verb: Book your next appointment, Check in for today, Connect to guest Wi-Fi. A code captioned with the practice name and a logo tells a patient nothing about what will happen if they scan. - **Use the Guest Network for the Wi-Fi Code**: A Wi-Fi QR code contains the network name and password as readable text, so anyone who photographs the sign has the credentials permanently. That is acceptable for a guest network with no route to clinical systems, and it is never acceptable for the staff network the practice management software runs on. - **Give the Window Code a Pavement Distance**: A window code is read from 1-2 metres away through glass, which puts it at 15-20 cm - far bigger than anything else in the practice. Apply the decal to the inside of the glass but have it printed for that face, because a decal made for the outside and applied inside comes out mirrored, and phone cameras will not read a mirrored code. - **Keep Any Personal Detail Out of the Address**: A QR code is plain readable text, so a name, date of birth or record number must never appear in the URL it carries. Encode a public page and let the patient identify themselves there. If your practice sits inside a larger provider with formal information governance, the healthcare use case covers that approval process. - **Print the Short Path and the Phone Number Beside It**: Some patients cannot scan: no smartphone, low vision, a tremor, or an unfamiliar handset. A typed clinic.com/book and the practice number beside every code keeps the same service reachable without a camera, and costs a line of type. - **Specify Matte on Anything Under a Downlight**: Matte laminate is the default answer for a reception area, because it resists both the ceiling light and the alcohol wipe. Unlaminated paper at a desk greys and softens within weeks of handling, and gloss reflects a downlight straight back into the lens. - **Send One Code to One Landing Page With Two Buttons**: When the desk needs to offer both booking and check-in, do not print two near-identical squares side by side - patients scan neither. Print one labelled code pointing at a small page with two buttons. The options on that page can be renamed or reordered later without touching the sign. - **Re-Test the First Printed Copy**: Check the first piece off the run at the real distance and angle, on both an iPhone and an Android phone. Ink spread on uncoated stock and last-minute scaling in the layout are the two failures that never appear on a monitor. - **Know the Static Trade-Off Before Printing**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the destination lives in the symbol permanently and cannot be edited after printing. Pointing the code at a short path on your own domain gives you the redirect back, which is why that decision comes first. If the practice needs per-code scan counts or the ability to repoint already-installed signage, a dynamic QR subscription fits that requirement better. ## Create Your Clinic's QR Code Paste a booking link, an intake form or the guest Wi-Fi details, style the code to match the clinic, and download print-ready SVG. No account, no watermark, no expiry date. A sensible order for a small practice: set up the short paths on your own domain first, then print the desk code, then the waiting room Wi-Fi sign, and leave the window decal until last because it is the only piece that has to be ordered at a size you cannot proof on an office printer. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for a Clinic? Set up a short path on the practice domain first - something like clinic.com/book - and point it at your booking system. Then paste that short path into a QR code generator, style it, and download SVG for print. With KoloQR this takes under a minute and needs no account. Doing it in that order is what lets you change booking provider later without reprinting a single sign. ### Can We Use a QR Code for Waiting Room Wi-Fi? Yes, and it will almost certainly be the most-scanned code in the building, because waiting time is scanning time. A [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) encodes the network name, security type and password, so a patient connects in one tap without asking at the desk. Encode the guest network only: those credentials are readable by anyone who photographs the sign, so they must not belong to the network your clinical systems sit on. ### Should the Reception Code Go on the Desk or the Wall? On the vertical front face of the desk, at roughly chest height, in an upright stand. Flat on the counter is the common mistake: the patient leans over the code and their own shadow breaks the scan under a ceiling light. A wall behind the desk works too, provided the code is sized for the extra distance and is not facing a window. ### Can One QR Code Handle Both Booking and Check-In? One code carries one destination, so make that destination a small [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) with two clearly labelled buttons. A single well-labelled code is easier for a patient than a row of near-identical squares, and you can rename or reorder the options on that page at any time without reprinting the sign. ### What Size Should the Code on the Clinic Window Be? 15-20 cm. A window code is read from 1-2 metres away on the pavement, and the working rule is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Mount it at 120-150 cm from the ground, use matte film so street lighting does not turn the glass into a mirror, and check that the decal is printed for the face of the glass it is applied to. ### What Happens to Our Printed Codes if We Change Booking System? Nothing, if the codes encode a path on your own domain and you simply repoint the redirect. Everything, if they encode the vendor's URL: those become printed dead ends the day the contract ends, and every sign, card and leaflet has to be reprinted. This is the single most expensive mistake a small practice makes with QR codes, and it costs nothing to avoid up front. ### Do We Need a Different Code for Each Location? Yes, if the sites have different booking calendars, different phone numbers or different opening hours, because a patient scanning at the branch they are standing in should not land on the other branch's page. It also gives you free measurement: separate paths per site show which building the scans come from, without any analytics product. ### Is a PDF a Good Destination for an Intake Form? No. A PDF opens in a viewer, needs pinching and zooming on a phone, and usually cannot be completed without printing it. Publish the intake or consent form as an ordinary mobile web page instead. The same applies to price lists and aftercare instructions: a page can be corrected in a minute, while a PDF tends to be replaced once a year at best. ### Can We Print the Same Code on Signage and on Paperwork? You can, but it is usually worth two codes with two short paths, because the desk sign and the take-home sheet answer different questions and the difference in scan volume tells you something. If you do reuse one code, export it once as SVG and send that same file everywhere - regenerating it for each piece is how practices end up with codes pointing at three slightly different URLs. ### Can I Add the Clinic Logo and Brand Colors? Yes. KoloQR supports a centered logo, custom module and background colors, and outer shapes including circular, triangular and hexagonal. Keep the modules dark on a light background and the logo small, because every covered module spends error correction. Styling never improves scanning, so test the branded version on a real phone before it goes to the printer. --- # Free QR Codes for Gyms and Fitness Studios URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/fitness-gyms Gym QR codes need the right size for the read distance and a label that survives daily disinfectant. Sizes in cm, placement rules, free SVG and PNG. Gyms use QR codes for four jobs: booking classes, opening machine demo videos, signing up new members and sharing Wi-Fi. Size follows the read distance - roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - and the material matters more than the design, because gym codes get wiped with disinfectant every day. - Free, no sign-up - SVG and PNG export - Logo and custom colors ## What Gyms Actually Use QR Codes For Four jobs come up in almost every gym: booking, equipment guidance, onboarding paperwork and feedback. Each one works best as its own code with its own destination. - **Class Sign-Ups Without a Queue at the Desk**: A code on the studio door or beside the schedule board opens the booking page on a member's own phone. Members can see what is running tonight and reserve a spot while staff are coaching instead of typing at the desk. - **Equipment Instructions on the Equipment**: A small label on a machine frame can open a 30-second video showing seat height, pad position and the first working set. Members get the answer at the machine instead of copying the person next to them or waiting for a free trainer. - **Paperless Waivers and Health Screening Forms**: New members can open the liability waiver and the pre-exercise screening questionnaire from a code at reception and complete both on their phone before the first session. No clipboard, and no re-typing handwriting into your member system. - **Feedback and Reviews Before Members Leave**: A code at the exit or on the water station asks for a review right after a session rather than in an email three days later. The same placement works for a fault-reporting form, so a broken cable gets logged by the member who found it. ## Two Things to Settle Before You Print Anything A gym QR code needs a destination that will still be correct next season, and one real test scan taken in the room where the code will hang. ### A Destination That Survives a Reprint A static QR code stores its data inside the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed later. The address behind the code therefore matters more than the code artwork: point each code at a stable URL you control, and change the content that lives at that URL. - **One Stable URL per Code**: for example /schedule rather than /schedule-autumn, so next term's timetable arrives at the same address. - **One Destination per Code**: the label on a rowing machine should open that machine's demo, not a library of forty videos. - **A Page That Loads in a Basement**: basement weight rooms and metal racks swallow cellular data, so avoid heavy PDFs and autoplaying video. ### Test the Scan From Where the Member Will Stand Scan the printed code from the exact position a member occupies - arm's length from a machine, three meters from a wall poster - using one iPhone and one Android phone, under the room's own lighting. A code that scans perfectly from a monitor can still fail as a matte vinyl label under a studio spotlight, and the only way to find out is the physical test. ## How to Make a QR Code for Your Gym Three steps, no account. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, builds the code as you type. - **Paste the Destination**: Drop in the booking page, waiver form, machine demo video or Wi-Fi details the code should open. Use one link per code rather than a single code that leads to a menu of everything. - **Match It to Your Brand**: Choose a shape, set your colors and place your logo in the center. Keep the code darker than its background, keep the logo small enough that the surrounding modules stay intact, and leave the margin around the symbol clear. - **Download Print-Ready Files**: Export SVG for anything printed larger than a membership card, and PNG at 300 DPI for the exact final size. Scaling a small PNG up to poster size blurs the module edges and is the most common reason a printed code fails. ## Where QR Codes Belong in a Gym Each surface in a gym has a different read distance, a different cleaning routine and a different light. Size and material follow the surface, not the design. - **Reception Desk and Entrance**: The desk code carries the paperwork: membership sign-up, the waiver and the price list. An A5 counter stand read from about 40 cm needs a code of roughly 4 cm, placed where someone can hold a phone without leaning across the card reader. - **Machine Frames and Racks**: One code per machine type, printed at 2.5-3 cm and fixed at standing eye level on a flat part of the frame. Keep labels off weight stacks, floor plates, grips and any tube narrow enough to curve the sticker, because a code bent around a bar stops decoding. - **Studio Walls and the Schedule Board**: A code read from across a studio needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of distance, so a timetable poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm of code. Matte laminate keeps track lighting and spin-room spotlights from washing the symbol out. - **Locker Rooms and Wet Areas**: Wi-Fi and app-install codes belong in the locker room, printed on waterproof vinyl rather than paper in a frame. Steam and daily cleaning destroy inkjet prints, and a code behind glass picks up glare from overhead lights. - **Windows, Flyers and Member Cards**: A window decal has to be printed the right way round for the face it is applied to: a code stuck on the inside of the glass but scanned from the street comes out mirrored, and most phone cameras will not read a mirrored QR code. Flyers, class cards and water bottles work down to about 2 cm. ## Rules That Keep Gym QR Codes Scannable Most failed gym codes fail for one of ten reasons, and all ten are decided before printing. - **Keep the Code Darker Than Its Background**: Scanners expect dark modules on a light background. Inverted light-on-dark codes read on many modern phones but fail on some scanner apps, so save the inversion for artwork and use dark-on-light anywhere a member scans in a hurry. - **Size the Code for the Read Distance**: Use about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor. A machine label scanned at 50 cm needs roughly 2.5 cm; a poster read from 4 m needs about 40 cm. - **Keep the Margin Around the Code Clear**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins. Keep at least four modules of clear space and do not let a sticker border, price bubble or logo strip touch the code. - **Choose Materials That Survive Disinfectant**: Gym codes are wiped with alcohol or spray cleaner every day. UV-laminated vinyl, polycarbonate labels and engraved plates hold up; unlaminated inkjet paper fades and abrades, usually within weeks on high-traffic machines. - **Keep the Center Logo Small and Retest**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is covered, and it has a limit. Keep a center logo small relative to the symbol, then scan the printed label again - a logo that works on screen can fail at 2.5 cm. - **Say What the Scan Does**: Label every code with its outcome: "Scan for the seat setup video", "Scan to book tonight's class". A bare code beside a logo gets ignored, because nobody scans when they cannot tell what they will get. - **Avoid Gloss Where There Are Spotlights**: Glossy lamination reflects track lighting straight back into the camera. Matte and satin finishes cost the same and stay readable in dim class spaces and spin rooms. - **One Code, One Job**: Split destinations instead of routing everything through one code and a landing menu. A member at a lat pulldown wants that machine's demo; a member at the door wants tonight's timetable. - **Be Honest About Static Versus Dynamic**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the data sits in the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed and cannot count scans. If you need to change destinations after printing or measure scans per machine, use a dynamic QR service - or point the static code at a URL you control and change what lives there. - **Re-Scan After Every Reprint**: Test the physical item, not the file. Print scaling, upscaled PNGs and cheap thermal labels all lose module edges, and that damage only shows up on the sticker in your hand. ## Create Your Gym's QR Codes Paste the destination, style the code, download SVG and PNG. Free, no account, unlimited codes. A practical order of work: make the reception code for sign-up and the waiver first, then the studio schedule code, then machine labels one equipment family at a time. Print a single test label, scan it from where the member stands, and only then order the full batch. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Gym? Paste the link you want members to open - the booking page, a waiver form, a machine demo video or your Wi-Fi details - into a QR code generator, style the code, and download it as SVG or PNG. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, needs no account. Print at the size the read distance requires, then scan the printed copy before ordering more. ### Are QR Codes for Gyms Free? Yes. Generating static QR codes on KoloQR is free, with no account, no limit on how many you create, and both SVG and PNG exports included. Costs only appear if you choose a dynamic QR service, which hosts a redirect so you can change the destination after printing and count scans per code. ### Do Members Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. The built-in camera on iPhones running iOS 11 or later and on Android 8 or later reads QR codes directly - members point the camera and tap the link that appears. Some older Android phones need Google Lens or the Google app. Nobody has to install your gym's own app in order to scan a code. ### What Size Should a QR Code on Gym Equipment Be? About 2.5-3 cm for a label read at arm's length, and never smaller than 2 x 2 cm. The working rule is 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a code read from 50 cm needs roughly 2.5 cm, while a wall poster read from 3 m needs about 30 cm. ### Where Should QR Codes Go in a Gym? At reception for sign-up and waivers, on machine frames at eye level for demo videos, on studio walls for the class timetable, and in the locker room for Wi-Fi. Keep codes off floors, weight stacks, grips and curved tubes: a code bent around a bar will not decode. ### Can I Change the Class Schedule Without Reprinting the QR Codes? Yes, as long as the code points at a stable URL you control. Point it at an address like yourgym.com/schedule and update the timetable on that page - the printed code never changes. What a static QR code cannot do is point somewhere else after printing; changing the address itself requires a dynamic QR service. ### Why Do the QR Codes on My Machines Stop Scanning After a Few Weeks? Usually wear rather than the code. Sweat, chalk and daily disinfectant wipes abrade unlaminated paper and fade inkjet ink until the module edges blur. Print gym labels on UV-laminated vinyl or polycarbonate, keep them off grips and seat pads, and replace machine labels on a schedule instead of waiting for members to report a dead code. ### Will a QR Code Work if There Is No Phone Signal in My Weight Room? The scan itself works offline, because a static QR code is decoded entirely on the phone - but the page it opens will not load without data or Wi-Fi. Basement weight rooms and areas behind metal racks often have almost no cellular signal, so put a [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) at the entrance and keep destinations light: a short mobile page rather than a large PDF or an autoplaying video. ### Can I Add My Gym's Logo and Brand Colors to the Code? Yes. KoloQR supports a center logo, custom colors and circular or custom-shaped modules. Two limits are worth knowing: the code must stay darker than its background, and the logo must stay small enough that the surrounding modules remain intact. Styling never improves scan performance, so test the printed version at its final size. ### Should a Gym Use Static or Dynamic QR Codes? Static codes suit anything pointed at a URL you control: schedule pages, waiver forms, Wi-Fi, machine demos on your own site. Dynamic codes are worth paying for when you need scan counts per code, campaign tests, or the ability to repoint printed codes later. Most gyms use static codes for permanent signage and dynamic codes only for marketing campaigns. --- # How Bars and Pubs Use QR Codes for Menus, Tap Lists and Wi-Fi URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/bars-pubs Bars and pubs use QR codes for drinks menus, tap lists and Wi-Fi. Print dark on white at 3-4 cm on table tents, matte not gloss, and test in low light. A QR code in a bar is a printed shortcut to one page: the drinks menu, this week's tap list, the Wi-Fi password or the gig calendar. Two things decide whether it works - the destination has to be a page you can update, and the printed code has to survive a dim room, a wet table and a phone held at arm's length. Both are covered below, with sizes in centimeters. - Menus and tap lists - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Free, no watermark ## What Bars and Pubs Actually Use QR Codes For A QR code earns its place in a bar when the alternative is a reprint, a queue or a shouted password. These four jobs come up in almost every venue. - **A Tap List That Changes Weekly**: Rotating taps are the strongest case for a QR code in a pub, because the list changes faster than anything can be reprinted. Point one printed code at a tap-list page you edit yourself, and the table tents from January still show tonight's cask and keg lines. The physical code never changes; only the page behind it does. - **Fewer People Waiting at the Bar**: A code on the table that opens the drinks menu lets a group decide before anyone stands up, which shortens the queue at the bar during a rush. In venues that take orders at the table, each table needs its own code carrying its own table number, otherwise the order arrives without a destination. - **Wi-Fi Without Shouting the Password**: A Wi-Fi QR code encodes the network name, security type and password, so a guest joins the network by scanning instead of asking over the music. Keep this code separate from the menu code and label it clearly - a single code cannot do both jobs, because one connects to a network and the other opens a page. - **Turning One Visit Into the Next**: Gig calendars, quiz nights, mailing lists and Google review links are worth a code because the guest is already sitting still with a phone in hand. A code beside the till or on the back of the restroom door reaches people at the two moments they have nothing else to look at. ## Two Things to Prepare Before You Print A QR code cannot store a menu - it stores a short piece of text, usually a [web address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code). So the work happens before the code exists: decide where it points, then prove that a phone can read it in your room. ### A Destination You Control Point the code at a page on your own domain, such as yourbar.com/menu, rather than at a link from a delivery app, a social post or a cloud file. A URL you own can be redirected later; a third-party link disappears when the platform changes it. Prefer a normal web page over a PDF menu, because a PDF opens as a fixed page that a guest has to pinch and drag to read on a phone. ### A Scan Test in Your Own Lighting Print one code at final size, put it where it will live, and scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone with the house lights at their evening setting. Low light is where bar codes fail: the camera drops shutter speed, the image blurs, and a code that scanned perfectly on a bright desk stops working at 9 pm. Test again after lamination, because gloss film reflects downlights straight back into the lens. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Bar in Three Steps Creating the code takes about a minute. The decisions that matter - destination, size, finish - are made before and after this part. - **Paste the Link the Code Should Open**: Paste the full address of your menu, tap list, booking form or review page, including https://. For Wi-Fi, enter the network name, the security type and the password instead of a URL. Check the link on a phone first - a code pointing at a broken page is still a working code. - **Style It to Match the Venue**: Choose the shape, module style and colors in KoloQR, and drop in your logo if you have one. Keep the dark parts genuinely dark and the background genuinely light, and keep the clear margin around the symbol. Styling changes how the code looks, not how well it reads - the contrast and the size do that. - **Download SVG for Print, PNG for the Bar Screen**: Download SVG for anything a printer will handle - table tents, coasters, window vinyl, A-boards - because SVG scales to any size without softening the edges. Use PNG for a screen behind the bar, a social post or an email. Both exports are free and carry no watermark. ## Where to Put the Code, and What Size to Print It Size follows scanning distance. As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of distance it will be read from, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor for any printed code. Each spot below sits at a different distance, so each one needs a different size. - **Table Tents and Table Talkers**: A seated guest reads a table tent from about 30-40 cm, so print the code 3-4 cm wide and mount it vertically at eye level rather than flat on the table where glasses cover it. Rigid acrylic holders outlast folded card in a wet-table environment. Put the code on both faces so nobody has to turn it around. - **The Bar Counter and Till Area**: A code on the bar counter is read from roughly 40-50 cm by someone standing and leaning in, so 4-5 cm is a comfortable size. This is the best position for a review link or a mailing-list signup, because the guest is already paying and pausing. Use a laminated decal or an under-counter mat - bare paper on a bar top has a short life. - **The Window and the Pavement A-Board**: A code read from 1.5-2 m outside needs to be 15-20 cm wide, placed at eye height around 120-150 cm from the ground. Mount window codes on the inside of the glass facing out and expect reflections - move the code away from the brightest reflection rather than making it bigger. On an A-board, print the code on a laminated insert instead of chalking it by hand. - **Restroom Doors and Above the Hand Basins**: A poster on the back of a restroom door is read from about 50-70 cm and works at 5-7 cm wide. This is the highest-attention surface in the building, which makes it the right place for gig calendars, quiz-night signups and staff-hiring pages rather than the menu. Laminate it: this is the spot most likely to get splashed. - **Beer Garden and Outdoor Tables**: Outdoor tables need a code that survives sun and rain, so use UV-resistant laminate or an engraved or printed acrylic plate rather than card. Direct sunlight causes glare on any shiny surface, so choose matte and mount at an angle away from the sun's line. Signal is often weaker outside the building - a lightweight menu page matters more here than anywhere else. ## Practical Rules for QR Codes in a Bar Most failed bar codes fail for one of a small number of reasons: too dark, too glossy, too small, or pointing somewhere that moved. These rules cover all four. - **Keep the Code Dark and the Panel Light**: A QR code scans most reliably as dark modules on a light background, which is the arrangement every phone camera expects. Inverted codes - light modules on a dark or black background - are read by some scanners and refused by others, and they lose most of their remaining margin in a dim room. If the venue's look is dark, put the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Print Matte, Never Gloss**: Matte stock and matte laminate scatter light; gloss reflects a spotlight straight back into the camera and creates a white patch across part of the symbol. Bars are lit by narrow downlights, which makes this a common failure on glossy menu cards and gloss-laminated table tents. Matte lamination still protects against spills. - **Size the Code for the Distance, Not the Layout**: Use about 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the minimum for print. That means 3-4 cm on a table tent, 4-5 cm on the bar, and 15-20 cm on a window read from the pavement. When a designer shrinks a code to fit a layout, the code stops working before the layout looks wrong. - **Keep Taps and Price Text Out of the Margin**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard specifies a quiet zone of four modules - four of the smallest squares - on all four sides. Beer taps, price text and decorative borders pushed into that margin are a frequent cause of a code that reads on one phone and not another. - **Never Draw a QR Code by Hand on a Chalkboard**: Hand-drawn or chalked QR codes almost never scan, because the modules end up uneven, the contrast is low and chalk on black is an inverted code. Print the code on a laminated insert and clip or tape it to the board instead, keeping the chalk for the words around it. - **Say What the Code Opens, in a Verb**: Label every code with the action and the reward: "Scan for tonight's tap list", not "Scan me". A guest who cannot tell what happens next usually does not scan, and staff get asked instead. Tell the bar team what each code does before the codes go out, because they are the people who will be asked. - **Link a Fast Web Page, Not a Heavy PDF**: Link a mobile web page rather than a PDF menu: a PDF loads as a fixed-size document that has to be pinched and dragged, and it is slow to open on a weak connection. Cellar bars and stone-walled pubs often have poor mobile signal, so keep the menu page light and place a Wi-Fi QR code nearby so guests can join the network first. - **Keep a Logo Small and Rescan After Adding It**: A center logo covers modules, and the code survives only because of error correction - the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to stay readable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. The highest level recovers roughly 30% of the symbol, but a bar code has to work in low light too, so keep the logo well under that, around 20% of the area or less, and rescan the printed version before ordering a run. - **Give Order-at-Table Codes a Printed Table Number**: If guests order and pay from the table, each table needs its own code and the table number printed beside it in normal type. When a scan fails or a guest switches to calling the bar, the number is the only way the order finds the table. Number the codes in the same sequence as the floor plan, not the order you printed them. - **Plan for the Destination Changing Before the Print Does**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the destination is encoded in the pattern itself, so it cannot be edited after printing, and the code keeps working without an account or subscription. To keep the option of changing the target later, point the code at a short URL on your own domain, such as yourbar.com/menu, and redirect that URL whenever the menu moves. If you need per-scan analytics or a destination you can swap remotely, a dynamic QR service is the better fit. ## Make a QR Code for Your Bar Paste your menu, tap list, Wi-Fi details or booking link, style the code to match the room, and download SVG for print or PNG for screens. Free, no watermark, no expiry. Print one at final size before ordering a full run, and scan it at the table with the house lights down. A code that reads on a bright screen and fails at 9 pm is the single most common problem in venues, and a two-minute test catches it before 200 table tents do. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for My Bar's Drinks Menu? Put the menu on a page on your own website, copy that address, paste it into KoloQR, and download the code as SVG for print. It takes about a minute and costs nothing. Skip the step of uploading the menu as a PDF to a file-sharing service - those links change and expire, which turns every printed code into a dead end. ### Do Customers Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. The built-in camera app reads QR codes on iPhones running iOS 11 or later and on most Android phones from Android 9 onward, so the guest points the camera and taps the link that appears. A small number of older or budget Android handsets need Google Lens, which is usually already installed. Never ask guests to download an app to see a menu. ### Will a QR Code Scan in a Dark Bar? Yes, if it is dark-on-light, matte and large enough. Dim light makes the camera slower and the image blurrier, which eats the margin that a small or low-contrast code depends on. Print at 3-4 cm on table tents rather than 2 cm, avoid gloss laminate under downlights, and test in the room at night before committing to a print run. ### Can I Change Where the Code Points After the Coasters Are Printed? Not in the code itself - a static QR code stores the address permanently. The workaround is to encode a short URL on your own domain, such as yourbar.com/menu, and change where that URL redirects. Set this up before printing, because retrofitting it means reprinting. Bars that swap destinations weekly may prefer a paid dynamic QR service. ### Should We Replace Printed Menus With QR Codes Completely? No, keep some printed menus. Guests with a dead battery, no data allowance, poor eyesight or an older phone are excluded by a QR-only menu, and screen-reader support on a badly built menu page is often worse than paper. Treat the code as the fast path and a handful of printed menus as the fallback the bar team can hand over without a discussion. ### Why Did My QR Code Stop Working Once It Was Printed on Coasters? Absorbent coaster board is the usual cause: the ink spreads slightly into the fibre, the smallest squares merge, and the pattern loses definition. Ask the printer for a code with fewer, larger modules by shortening the URL, print at 3 cm or more, and check a physical proof rather than a screen mock-up. A wet coaster with a glass on it also has no chance, whatever the print quality. ### Can a QR Code Check a Customer's Age? No. A QR code only carries text, so it cannot verify anything about the person scanning it. If the code leads to an online shop selling alcohol, the age check has to live on the destination page, in the checkout flow or with the delivery driver. A code on a bottle or a takeaway can point to age-restricted content, but the restriction is enforced by the page, not by the code. ### Can I Add My Logo and the Pub's Colors to the Code? Yes. KoloQR supports custom colors, [circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) and custom-shaped codes, and a logo in the center. Two constraints apply: keep real contrast between the dark modules and the background, and keep the logo small enough that error correction can still recover the covered area. Rescan the styled version in the venue's own lighting - styling never improves readability, and it can reduce it. ### Is One QR Code Enough for Every Table if We Take Orders at the Table? No. Order-at-table systems identify the table from the link, so each table needs a distinct code, usually one URL per table number. A single shared code means every order arrives with no table attached. Print the table number in readable type next to each code so staff and guests have a fallback. ### Can We Print a QR Code on Till Receipts to Ask for Reviews? Yes, with two caveats. Thermal receipt printers are low resolution, so keep the code at 2 cm or wider and use the shortest possible URL to keep the modules chunky. Thermal paper also fades in heat and sunlight, so a receipt left in a car for a week may no longer scan. For reviews, a code at the till or on the card terminal usually outperforms one on the receipt. The same holds in a [coffee shop](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops), where the till is the one place every customer stops. ### Is KoloQR Free for a Commercial Venue? Yes. KoloQR is a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, and the exports carry no watermark and no expiry, including for commercial printing. The codes are static, so the destination is encoded in the pattern and keeps working without an account, a subscription or KoloQR staying online. --- # How to Use QR Codes in a Coffee Shop URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops A coffee shop QR code needs about 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scan distance, so 3 cm on a table tent. Menu, Wi-Fi and loyalty setup, sizes and materials. A QR code in a coffee shop is a printed link to one page: today's menu, the Wi-Fi network, a loyalty signup or a review form. The seated scanning distance is short, so a table tent code works at about 3 cm, while a window sign read from the pavement needs 20 cm or more. This page covers what to link, what size to print, which surfaces survive milk and sanitiser, and what usually breaks. - Menu, Wi-Fi, loyalty - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Free, no account ## Why Coffee Shops Print QR Codes A coffee shop changes its menu faster than it reprints its furniture. A QR code that points at a page you control lets the words change without the print run changing. - **The Seasonal Menu Changes, the Printed Code Does Not**: Point the QR code at a fixed URL on your own domain, such as yourcafe.com/menu, and edit the page behind it. Swapping the oat-milk flat white for a winter drink then takes a text edit instead of a new batch of table tents. The printed pattern never changes because the pattern encodes the address, not the menu. - **Guests Join the Wi-Fi Without Asking a Barista**: A Wi-Fi QR code encodes the network name, security type and password, so a phone joins the network from the camera app in one tap. iOS 11 and later and Android 10 and later read this format natively. For a café with one barista at peak hour, it removes the most repeated question of the day. - **Reviews Get Asked for While the Coffee Is Still Hot**: A review request works best in the two minutes after a good drink is served, not in an email that evening. A small code on the receipt, the counter card or the table sends the guest straight to your Google review form. Never offer a discount in exchange for a positive review - Google's policies prohibit incentivized reviews. - **Loyalty and Pre-Orders Without an App Download**: Most guests will not install a café app for a free tenth coffee, but they will scan a code that opens a signup page in the browser. The same applies to pre-orders: a code on the door that opens your order page lets a queue of commuters order while waiting rather than at the till. ## What You Need Before Printing a Café QR Code Two things decide whether a coffee shop QR code works: the page it opens on a phone, and a scan test done on the printed piece rather than on the screen. ### One Mobile Page You Control, on Your Own Domain Give each code a single destination that loads well on a phone: a mobile [menu page](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus), a [Wi-Fi credential](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code), a loyalty signup or a review link. Use an address on your own domain, such as yourcafe.com/menu, and redirect it wherever you need. That redirect is what lets you move from a PDF to a proper page, or from one review platform to another, without reprinting anything. Avoid linking a PDF menu directly - a PDF forces pinch-zoom on a phone, and a guest holding a cup has one hand free. ### A Scan Test on the Printed Piece, in Café Lighting Print one sample at final size and scan it with both an iPhone and an Android phone, seated, at the distance a guest will actually hold it. Test it under your own lighting: cafés are dim, and a glossy laminate under a spotlight produces glare that hides part of the pattern where a matte laminate does not. Check that the page loads on mobile data as well as Wi-Fi, because basements and thick-walled buildings often have one bar of signal. ## How to Create a QR Code for a Coffee Shop Creating the code takes about a minute. The order matters: fix the destination first, because changing it later means regenerating the code. - **Paste the Menu, Wi-Fi or Review Link**: Enter the URL of the page the code should open - your menu page, loyalty signup or review link - or choose the Wi-Fi type and enter the network name, security type and password. Use the full address including https://, and check it on your own phone before generating anything. - **Style It to Match the Café**: Choose a shape, add your logo and set your brand colors in KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes. Keep the pattern dark on a light background and keep the empty margin around it. Styling makes the code fit the room; it does not make the code easier to scan. - **Download SVG for the Print Shop, PNG for Social**: Download SVG for anything a printer produces - table tents, window vinyl, cup stickers, bean bags - because SVG is vector and stays sharp at any size. Use PNG for your own screens and social posts. Then scan the printed proof before approving the run. ## Where to Put a QR Code in a Coffee Shop, and What Size Size follows scanning distance. The working rule of thumb is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance, with 2 cm as the practical floor for any printed QR code. The sizes below apply that rule to the six surfaces a café actually prints on. - **Table Tents and Table Stickers - 3 cm**: A seated guest holds a phone 25-40 cm from the table, so a 3 cm code scans comfortably and 4 cm gives margin for older phones. Print on an acrylic stand or a laminated card rather than plain paper: bare card stock absorbs a coffee ring or a milk splash within a week and a stained code stops scanning. Add a three-word instruction such as Scan for menu - an unlabeled code gets ignored. - **Counter Card at the Till - 5 cm**: A guest at the counter stands 40-60 cm from the card and often has a wallet in one hand, so print at 5 cm and angle the card towards the guest rather than laying it flat. The counter is the right place for the loyalty signup and the review link, because that is where the transaction ends. Keep the counter card to one code: two codes side by side halve the scan rate of both. - **Window and Pavement Sign - 20 cm or More**: A code read from the pavement, roughly 2 m away, needs about 20 cm of width, and 30 cm if people scan it from across a narrow street. Mount it at eye level, 140-160 cm from the ground, and on the inside of the glass so weather cannot lift it. Glass reflects, so avoid placing the code where a bright sky sits directly behind the phone. Window codes work best for opening hours, the menu and hiring pages. - **Takeaway Cups and Cup Sleeves - 2.5-3 cm**: A curved cup bends the pattern, so keep the code at 2.5-3 cm on a standard 8-9 cm diameter cup and place it on the flattest available area, away from the seam. Kraft-brown board lowers contrast against a black pattern, so print the code inside a white patch rather than directly on the brown. A takeaway cup is the one surface that leaves the building, which makes it the best place for a social or brew-guide link. - **Receipts - 2 cm, and Treat It as Short-Lived**: Thermal receipt printers commonly print at 203 DPI, which is enough for a 2 cm code but not for anything smaller, so set the minimum at 2 cm and test it on your own printer roll. Thermal paper darkens in heat and fades in months, so a receipt code suits a same-day action like a review request rather than a loyalty card a guest keeps in a wallet. - **Retail Bean Bags - 2.5 cm on the Back Label**: A 250 g bag of beans has room for a roast date and little else, so a 2.5 cm code on the back label can carry the full origin story, the producer, and a brew recipe with dose, water weight and time. Coffee bought to take home is the case where the code earns the most: the guest is at their own grinder, guessing. Matte labels beat gloss here, because bags are handled and gloss scuffs. ## Rules That Keep a Café QR Code Working Most QR code failures in a coffee shop are physical rather than digital: the wrong size, the wrong surface, or a code nobody was told to scan. - **Keep the Pattern Dark on a Light Background**: A QR code scanner expects dark modules on a light field. Inverted codes - light pattern on a dark background - are read inconsistently by the native iOS and Android camera apps, so a light-on-dark code that works on your phone may fail on a guest's. Brand colors are fine as long as the pattern stays clearly the darker of the two. - **Keep the Clear Margin Free of Decoration**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR code standard specifies four modules of clear space on every side. Decorative frames, price text or a cup illustration crossing that margin is one of the most common reasons a printed café code reads slowly or not at all. - **Tell the Guest What Happens When They Scan**: Print three to five words next to every code: Scan for menu, Join our Wi-Fi, Rate your coffee. A bare code asks the guest to gamble on where it leads, and in a café most guests will not bother. The label also survives being photographed and shared, which a bare code does not. - **Cap the Logo at Roughly a Third of the Width**: A logo in the center covers part of the pattern, and error correction recovers the covered area only up to a point. Keeping the logo within about 30% of the code's width, at level H error correction, works reliably in practice. Always scan the finished code with the logo in place - the only meaningful test is the printed one, not the preview. - **Print From SVG, Never From a Screenshot**: SVG is a vector format, so the same file prints cleanly on a 3 cm table card and a 30 cm window decal. A screenshot or a small PNG scaled up produces soft module edges, and soft edges at small sizes are what make a scanner hesitate. Send SVG to the print shop and keep PNG for your own screens. - **Choose Matte Over Gloss for Anything Under a Light**: Matte lamination scatters light; gloss reflects it into the camera as a bright patch that hides part of the pattern. Cafés are full of spotlights and pendant lamps directly above tables, which makes glare the most likely failure on a glossy table tent. Matte also hides fingerprints, and table cards get handled constantly. - **Test With Both an iPhone and an Android Phone**: The native camera apps on iOS and Android use different decoders, and a code that is marginal - slightly too small, slightly low contrast, logo slightly too large - often works on one and fails on the other. Test both, from the real distance, on the real printed piece, before the print run is approved. - **Escape Special Characters in a Wi-Fi Password**: A Wi-Fi QR code encodes the network name, security type and password as plain text, and the characters backslash, semicolon, comma, colon and double quote must be escaped with a backslash inside that text. An unescaped semicolon in a password is why a Wi-Fi code silently joins the wrong network or fails. Generate it, then forget your saved network and test the join. - **Keep the Menu Page Light Enough for One Bar of Signal**: A guest scanning at a corner table may be on mobile data in a building with thick walls. A menu page that needs several megabytes of images or JavaScript to show a price list will time out there. Plain HTML with text prices, one column, no carousel, loads in poor signal - and stays readable for someone using a screen reader. - **Keep a Printed Menu Alongside the Code**: A QR-only menu excludes guests with an old phone, a flat battery, poor eyesight or no data plan, and it slows down anyone ordering for a table of four. Treat the code as the fast path, not the only path. Several jurisdictions also require an accessible non-digital menu on request, so check local rules before removing print entirely. ## Generate a QR Code for Your Coffee Shop Paste your menu, Wi-Fi or review link, style the code to match the room, and download SVG for the print shop. KoloQR is free to use, adds no watermark, and the codes have no expiry date. KoloQR generates static QR codes, which means the destination is stored in the pattern itself rather than on a server. A static code keeps working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR staying online, but it cannot be edited after printing and it reports no scan statistics. If you need editable destinations or scan analytics, either point the code at a redirect on your own domain - the practical workaround, and the one worth setting up before a large print run - or use a dynamic QR code service instead. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for My Coffee Shop Menu? Put your menu on a mobile-friendly page at a fixed address on your own domain, then paste that address into a QR code generator and download the result as SVG for printing. Do not link a PDF: a PDF menu forces pinch-zoom on a phone. Test the printed code on an iPhone and an Android phone before you approve a print run. ### How Do I Make a Secret Menu QR Code for a Coffee Shop? Publish the off-menu drinks on a separate page that nothing else on your site links to, such as yourcafe.com/secret, and put that address in its own QR code. Print it somewhere a regular finds rather than a passer-by - the bottom of a cup sleeve, the back of a loyalty card, a small sticker on the counter - and leave the address itself off the print, so the code is the only way in. Secret here means unlisted, not private: anyone holding the code can open the page, so keep prices and allergens on it as accurate as on the main menu. Because the code points at your own page, you can rotate the drinks every season without reprinting, and the visits to that one address show how many guests went looking. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Café Table? About 3 cm wide, with 4 cm giving extra margin on older phones. The rule of thumb is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, and a seated guest holds a phone 25-40 cm from the table. Below 2 cm, printed QR codes become unreliable regardless of distance. ### Do Guests Need an App to Scan a Café Code? No. The built-in camera app on iOS 11 and later and on Android 10 and later recognizes QR codes without any extra app, so the guest points the camera and taps the link that appears. A small number of [older Android phones need Google Lens](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android) or a scanner app, which is one reason to keep a printed menu available. ### Can I Change the Menu Without Reprinting the QR Code? Yes, if the code points to a page you control rather than to the menu file itself. Encode a stable address such as yourcafe.com/menu, then change the page or its redirect target whenever the menu changes. The printed pattern encodes only the address, so it never needs reprinting. A code pointing at a PDF file name breaks the moment the file is replaced. ### Why Won't My QR Code Scan on the Takeaway Cup? Usually curvature, contrast or size. On an 8-9 cm cup, keep the code at 2.5-3 cm and place it on the flattest area away from the seam, because a code wrapped around a tight curve distorts the pattern. Printing a black code directly on kraft-brown board lowers contrast - print it inside a white patch instead. ### Should the Wi-Fi QR Code Be the Same Code as the Menu? No. One QR code carries one destination, so a Wi-Fi code and a menu code are two separate codes. Keep them physically apart as well: put the Wi-Fi code near the seating or on the wall, and the menu code on the table. Two codes side by side on the same card reduces the scan rate of both, because the guest has to read before acting. For a one-off guest at the counter, staff can also [share the Wi-Fi password from an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone) as a QR code on screen. ### Can I Add My Café Logo and Brand Colors to the QR Code? Yes. A logo in the center and custom colors both work, within limits: keep the logo to roughly 30% of the code's width, and keep the pattern clearly darker than its background. KoloQR also generates circular and custom-shaped codes with a logo. Styling makes a code fit your interior - it does not make it easier to scan, so scan the printed proof. ### Is a QR Code on a Thermal Receipt Worth Printing? For same-day actions, yes; for anything a guest keeps, no. Thermal receipt printers typically print at 203 DPI, so a receipt code needs at least 2 cm to be reliable, and thermal paper fades within months and darkens in heat. Use receipt codes for review requests and put loyalty signups on a laminated card or the counter instead. ### Can One QR Code Work as a Loyalty Stamp Card? A single static QR code can open a loyalty signup page, but it cannot count visits by itself, because every guest scanning it sends the same data. Per-visit stamping needs a loyalty platform that issues a unique code or link per customer. A café running loyalty from a printed code should treat the code as the entry point and let the platform track the visits. ### Is It Legal to Replace Printed Menus With QR Codes Entirely? It depends on where the café operates, and accessibility rules are the usual constraint: several jurisdictions require a menu in an accessible non-digital form on request. Beyond the legal question, a QR-only menu excludes guests with a flat battery, no data plan or poor eyesight. Keeping a few printed menus behind the counter solves both at almost no cost. --- # How to Use QR Codes on For-Sale Signs and Property Listings URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/real-estate A QR code on a for-sale sign needs roughly 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scan distance, so plan 20-30 cm. Sizes for boards, window cards and brochures. A QR code on a for-sale board turns a printed sign into the full listing: the photo gallery, the floor plan, the video tour and a viewing request form. This page covers what the code should link to, what size it needs on a sign versus a brochure, where it belongs on the board, and what happens to a printed code once the property sells. - Free, no account - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Brokerage logo and colors ## Why Estate Agents Put QR Codes on Signs and Brochures A for-sale board has room for one photo, a price and a phone number. The listing behind the QR code has room for everything a buyer actually decides on. - **The Whole Gallery at the Kerb**: A buyer standing in front of the property can open thirty photos, the floor plan, the EPC or energy rating and a video walkthrough without typing an address into a portal search. Interest is highest in the ninety seconds someone spends looking at the front of a house, and that is exactly when a printed sign normally runs out of information. - **Enquiries Outside Office Hours**: Most drive-by and walk-past interest happens in the evening and at weekends, when nobody answers the office phone. A QR code that opens a viewing request form or a calendar booking page captures that enquiry while the agency is closed, instead of relying on the person remembering to call on Monday. - **One Code per Property, Not per Agency**: A QR code on a for-sale board can point at a single property page, so the buyer never lands on a homepage and searches for the listing they were just standing in front of. Every extra tap between the sign and the floor plan loses people, and a property-specific code removes all of them. - **You Can See Which Sign Works**: Give the board, the window card and the brochure each their own URL or UTM parameter, and web analytics will show which printed surface produces enquiries for a given property. Static QR codes carry no analytics of their own, so per-placement URLs are the only reliable way to compare a board against a leaflet. ## What You Need Before You Generate the Code Two things decide whether a property QR code still works in three months: the page it opens, and whether anyone tested the printed version. ### A Property Page You Control Point the code at a property page on your own domain rather than at a portal listing. Portal URLs are usually deleted or redirected to a search page once the property is marked as sold, which quietly kills every board, brochure and window card that was printed with that link inside it. A page on the agency site can stay live, show a sold banner, and offer similar properties instead. ### A Scan Test at the Real Distance Print the code at final size, take it to the property, and scan it from the pavement on both an iPhone and an Android phone. Test it again at dusk, because a board that reads perfectly at midday can be washed out by a low sun or a street light reflecting off laminate. Fixing size or contrast costs nothing before the print run and costs a reprint afterwards. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Property Listing Generating the code takes under a minute. The decisions that matter are the destination URL and the print size. - **Paste the Property Page URL**: Copy the link to the individual property page and paste it into KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes. Shorter URLs produce fewer modules, and fewer modules mean larger, more forgiving squares at the same printed size, so trim tracking parameters down to one short UTM tag before generating. - **Set the Shape, Colors and Logo**: Choose a round or square module style, set the brand colors, and add the brokerage logo in the center if you use one. Keep the modules darker than the background and keep the logo well under a quarter of the code area. Styling changes how the code looks, not how well it scans, so contrast and size still decide whether it reads. - **Download SVG for the Board, PNG for the Listing Email**: Download SVG for anything a printer handles, because a vector file scales to a 30 cm board or a 2 cm brochure corner with no loss of edge sharpness. Download PNG for the listing email, the portal description image or a social post. Both formats are free and carry no watermark. ## Where to Put the QR Code on Property Marketing Each surface is read from a different distance, and distance sets the size. As a working rule, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor for any printed code. - **For-Sale Board or Yard Sign**: Print the code 20-30 cm wide and place it in the lower third of the board, between roughly 120 cm and 150 cm from the ground, so a phone held at chest level sits square to it. Someone on the pavement stands 2-3 m from a front-garden board. Do not size a board code for drivers: a car at 10 m would need a 100 cm code, and a driver cannot hold a camera steady anyway. - **Window Display Card**: Print the code 6-8 cm wide on an A4 window card, which is read from 50-70 cm on the other side of the glass. Mount the card at eye height and use matte laminate, because a glossy card behind shop glass reflects both the street lighting and the phone screen back into the camera. Leave the code near the bottom of the card so a hand can hold a phone against the glass comfortably. - **Property Brochure or Leaflet**: Print the code 2-2.5 cm wide on a brochure or leaflet, held at 20-25 cm in the hand. Put it on the back page next to the contact details, or beside the floor plan if it opens a video tour, and label it with what it opens. A brochure that has been folded through the code stops scanning, so keep it at least 1 cm away from any fold line. - **Open House and Directional Signage**: Print the code 15-20 cm on an open house A-board or rider sign that people approach on foot. An open-house code is worth pointing at a booking or registration form rather than the listing, because the visitor is already at the door and the useful next action is signing in or reserving a viewing slot for a second look. - **Agent Business Card**: Print the code 2 cm wide on a business card and keep the 4-module quiet zone clear of the card edge and of any text. A business card code is better pointed at an agent profile page than at a vCard file, because a page can be updated when the phone number, portrait or agency changes, while a vCard encoded in the pattern is frozen at the moment of printing. ## Rules That Keep a Property QR Code Working Almost every failed property QR code fails for one of the same handful of reasons: the destination disappeared, the code was too small for the distance, or nobody tested the printed version outdoors. - **Link a Page You Own, Not a Portal Listing**: Portal listings are removed or redirected once a property is sold, and a printed board cannot be edited afterwards. A property page on the agency domain can outlive the sale, which is the difference between a dead code and a code that shows a sold banner and three similar properties. - **Size the Code for the Distance, Not the Sign**: A QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, and never less than 2 x 2 cm. A board read from 2.5 m needs about 25 cm; a brochure read from 25 cm needs about 2.5 cm. Measure the real standing distance rather than scaling the code to look proportionate on the artwork. - **Keep the Price Band Out of the Quiet Zone**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and it needs to be at least 4 modules wide. On property boards the quiet zone is usually eaten by a price band, a phone number or the edge of the sign, which is one of the most common reasons a large, well-printed code still refuses to read. - **Print Dark Modules on a Light Background**: Native camera apps on iOS and Android expect dark modules on a light background, and inverted light-on-dark codes fail on a noticeable share of phones. Agency branding often pushes towards a dark board with a white code, so keep the code panel light even when the rest of the sign is dark. - **Use Matte Laminate Outdoors**: Gloss laminate on a for-sale board reflects direct sun and street lighting straight into the camera, and a reflected highlight across the middle of a code blocks the scan completely. Matte film, matte vinyl or an uncoated printed panel avoids the problem. UV-stable ink also matters, because a faded code loses the contrast the scanner depends on within a season or two. - **Shorten the URL Before Generating**: The number of characters encoded in a QR code decides how many modules the pattern contains, and denser patterns need larger printing to stay readable. A short URL such as agency.com/p/1428 produces a sparse, forgiving code; the same listing with a full tracking string produces a dense grid that struggles on a laminated board at 20 cm. - **Tell People What the Code Opens**: A code with a one-line label such as Scan for 32 photos, floor plan and video tour gets scanned far more often than a bare square. The label sets the expectation, and on a for-sale board it also signals that the code leads to the property itself rather than to a generic agency homepage. - **Keep the Phone Number Visible**: A QR code should sit next to the phone number on a property sign, not replace it. A meaningful share of buyers, particularly older ones, will not scan a code at all, and some phones still need a scanner app. The code is an additional route to the listing, not the only contact method on the board. - **Give Each Placement Its Own URL**: Static QR codes report nothing on their own, so use a separate URL or UTM parameter for the board, the window card and the brochure. Web analytics then shows which surface generated the visits for each property. The figures run slightly low because they count page views rather than raw scans, but the comparison between placements is reliable. - **Set Up the Redirect Before the Boards Are Printed**: KoloQR generates static QR codes, which means the destination is encoded in the pattern itself and cannot be edited after printing. The standard way to keep flexibility is to encode a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side, so the printed board stays the same while the destination moves. That redirect has to exist before the print run, not after it. ## Generate a QR Code for Your Next Listing Paste the property page URL, set the shape and brand colors, and download SVG for the board and PNG for the listing email. KoloQR is free, requires no account, and adds no watermark or expiry to the code. Before the print run, scan the final artwork at full size from the distance the buyer will actually stand at, on one iPhone and one Android phone. That single test catches nearly every problem worth catching: a code that is too small, a quiet zone clipped by the price band, or laminate that reflects the afternoon sun. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Property Listing? Copy the [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) of the individual property page, paste it into a QR code generator, and download the result as SVG for print. With KoloQR the whole process is free and needs no account. The only two decisions that matter are pointing the code at a page you control and printing it large enough for the distance it will be read from. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a For-Sale Sign? Print it 20-30 cm wide for a front-garden board read from the pavement, 15-20 cm on an open house A-board, 6-8 cm on an A4 window card, and 2-2.5 cm on a brochure. The underlying rule is about 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the minimum for any printed code. ### Should the Code Link to a Portal Listing or to My Own Property Page? Link to your own property page. Portal listings are removed or redirected to a search page once the property is sold, and a printed board cannot be corrected afterwards, so every code printed with a portal URL eventually leads nowhere. A page on the agency domain can stay live after the sale and show similar properties instead. ### Do Buyers Need an App to Scan a QR Code on a Sign? No, on any current iPhone or Android phone. The native camera app recognizes QR codes and offers to open the link, so a buyer only has to point the camera at the board. Some older and budget Android handsets still need a separate scanner app, which is one more reason to keep the code large and high contrast. ### Can I Change Where the Code Points After the Boards Are Printed? Not with a static QR code, which is what KoloQR generates: the destination lives inside the printed pattern. The usual workaround is to encode a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side, so the printed board stays identical while the destination changes. Set the redirect up before printing, because it cannot be added retroactively. ### Why Won't the QR Code on My For-Sale Board Scan? Board codes usually fail for one of four reasons: the code is too small for the distance from the pavement, gloss laminate is reflecting sun or street light into the camera, the quiet zone is clipped by a price band or the sign edge, or the code is printed light on a dark background. Check those four before blaming the phone. ### Can I Tell Which Sign Produced an Enquiry? Only if you give each printed surface its own URL or UTM parameter, because static QR codes report nothing themselves. A board pointing to /p/1428?src=board and a brochure pointing to /p/1428?src=brochure show up separately in web analytics. The counts sit slightly below real scan numbers, since they measure page visits rather than camera reads. ### Can I Add My Brokerage Logo and Brand Colors? Yes. KoloQR supports a center logo, custom colors and round or square module shapes, including fully circular codes. Keep the modules darker than the background, keep the logo well under a quarter of the code area, and rescan the finished file before printing. Styling never improves scan performance, so size and contrast still decide whether the code reads. ### What Should I Do With the Code Once the Property Sells? Leave the property page live and add a sold banner with links to similar listings, rather than deleting the page. Boards come down slowly, brochures stay in kitchen drawers for months, and a scan that lands on a sold page with three alternatives is a lead. A scan that lands on a 404 page is a lost one. ### Is KoloQR Free to Use for Agency Signage? Yes, including commercial print runs. KoloQR is free, adds no watermark, and sets no expiry on the codes it generates. The codes are static, so the destination is encoded in the pattern rather than stored on a server, which means a printed board keeps working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR remaining online. --- # QR Codes for Schools: Permission Slips, Newsletters and Classroom Links URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/schools Schools use QR codes for permission slips, newsletters, library books and event check-in. Print at 2 cm or larger, dark on white, with the URL below. A school QR code turns a link into something a parent or student opens with the camera already in their hand: a consent form, this week's newsletter, a reading list, a meeting room. Print the code at 2 cm or larger, keep it dark on a white background, and print the plain URL underneath so a family without a smartphone still has a way in. - Free, no sign-up - Print-ready SVG and PNG - No app to install ## Where QR Codes Save a School Real Time Four situations come up in almost every school. Each one needs a slightly different code, a different size and a different destination, which is why one all-purpose school QR code rarely works. - **Slips That Come Back the Same Day**: A permission slip printed with a QR code sends the parent to an online form instead of to the bottom of a school bag. The parent scans it at pickup, signs on the phone, and the office sees the response the same afternoon. Keep the paper version available as well, because a form that exists only behind a QR code shuts out families without a smartphone. - **Long Links Nobody Types Correctly**: Classroom links are the worst thing to read aloud: a video call code, a shared board, a folder of resources. A QR code on the board or in the corner of a worksheet removes both the typing and the typos. Post the same link in the learning platform too, because students working on a Chromebook need something clickable rather than something scannable. - **School Information Parents Can Reach in One Scan**: One QR code on a fridge magnet or a letter home can point at a single parent page that carries the lunch menu, term dates, absence reporting and translated newsletters. A code that points at a page the school updates never needs reprinting, which is why one code for the year beats one code per notice. - **Student Work That Plays Its Own Audio and Video**: A QR code beside a piece of student work lets a visitor hear the child read, watch the experiment run, or open the artist's statement. Codes on art-show labels, project boards and portfolio covers cost nothing to add and let a display work on parents' evening without a teacher standing beside it explaining what it is. ## Two Things to Sort Out Before the Sheet Goes to the Printer A school QR code needs a destination that will still work in six months and a scan test on the devices your families and students actually hold. Both take a few minutes and prevent almost every printed-code failure. ### A Destination the School Controls Point every school QR code at a page the school owns: a page on the school website, a form owned by a school staff account, or the learning platform. Avoid linking to a file in a personal cloud account, because when that teacher moves the file or leaves, every printed copy of the code stops working. A school-owned form also keeps parent and student responses inside the school's own account rather than a private one. ### A Scan Test at the Distance the Code Will Be Read Print the code at its final size and scan it from where it will actually be read: a door sign from about a meter, a hallway poster from three meters, a worksheet from arm's length. Test on an iPhone and on an Android phone, and on a school tablet or Chromebook if that is what students use, since some managed devices open codes through Google Lens rather than the camera app. Then photocopy the sheet once and scan the copy, because the copy is the version most students receive. ## How to Make a QR Code for a School in Three Steps Creating the code takes under a minute. Deciding what it should point at is the part worth thinking about, so start with the destination. - **Paste the Link Families Should Open**: Paste the full address of the consent form, newsletter, parent page or meeting room. If the school website supports short redirect addresses, point the code at one of those instead of at the destination directly. A redirect on the school's own domain lets the office change where an already-printed code leads, which is the only way a static QR code becomes updatable. - **Add the School Crest and Colors**: Drop the crest into the middle of the code and set the pattern color to the school's dark brand color on a white background. Keep the dark part dark: a pale blue or yellow code on white gives a phone camera too little contrast to work with. Circular and custom-shaped codes look better on a printed newsletter masthead than a plain square, and shape does not change how the code is read. - **Download SVG for Print, PNG for Slides**: Download the SVG for anything going to a printer or a print shop, because a vector file stays sharp at any size, from a 2 cm worksheet corner to a meter-wide open-day banner. Download the PNG for slides, screens and email. Both formats are free and carry no watermark, so a school can reprint the same code across the year without regenerating it. ## Where the Code Goes, and What Size It Needs Size follows reading distance. The working rule to measure against: a QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm between the code and the phone, and no printed code should drop below 2 cm even when it is read up close. - **Classroom and Office Doors**: A door sign code read from about half a meter needs 5 cm of width, printed at roughly eye level of the person scanning rather than at the top of the door. Door codes work well for a class page, a room booking form or a substitute teacher's plan for the day. Add one line above the code saying where it leads, because nobody scans an unlabeled square in a corridor. - **Whiteboards, Projectors and Slides**: A projected QR code has to be sized for the back row, not the front. At 6 m the code needs about 60 cm of projected width, which is roughly a third of the width of a 2 m screen. Glare, not size, is what usually breaks a projected code: switch off the lights nearest the screen, and on a glossy interactive whiteboard move the code away from the reflection of the ceiling lights. - **Worksheets, Letters and Handouts**: A code in the corner of a worksheet or letter home needs 2 to 2.5 cm and a clear white margin around it, and it must not sit across a fold, a staple or the punch-hole margin. Do not shrink a code to fit a crowded page: below 2 cm on office paper the small squares start to merge under toner and the code becomes unreliable after a photocopy. - **Library Shelves and Book Pockets**: Library codes work best as 2 to 3 cm labels inside the front cover or on the shelf edge, not on the spine, which is usually too narrow for a reliable code. Use matte label stock rather than glossy, since gloss under fluorescent ceiling lights reflects straight back into the camera. Book-level codes can lead to a review page, an audiobook version or a reading-log form. - **Hallway Displays and Student Work**: Labels on a display board are read from arm's length, so 3 to 4 cm is enough, and the code should sit on the label beside the work rather than on the artwork itself. Display codes are the cheapest way to attach a recording to a piece of work: a child reading their story, a project video, a class podcast episode. Give each code its own short caption so a visitor knows what will open. - **Reception and Visitor Areas**: A counter code read from about half a meter needs 5 cm, and reception is the right place for a visitor sign-in form, a site map or guest Wi-Fi. A Wi-Fi QR code stores the network name and password as plain text inside the pattern, so anyone who photographs the code can read the password: use one only for a guest network, never for the staff or student network. ## Rules That Keep School QR Codes Working Most failed school QR codes fail for one of a small number of reasons, and nearly all of them are decided before the sheet reaches the printer. - **Print the Plain URL Under Every Code**: Print the web address in readable text below every school QR code. A student without a phone, a parent using a desktop computer and a screen reader user all need the typed address, and a short readable address is the fallback when a scan fails at the school gate. - **Never Encode Student Data in a QR Code**: A QR code is not encrypted, and any free scanner app shows exactly what is inside it. Never encode a student's name, ID number, date of birth, address, grades or medical details. Point the code at a page that asks who the person is, and let the destination handle sign-in and permissions. - **Keep Dark Modules on a White Background**: Print the code dark on white, and avoid light-on-dark inversion: some phone cameras read inverted codes and some do not, so an inverted code on a school poster works for part of the audience only. School brand colors belong on the surrounding design, not on the pattern itself. - **Size the Code for the Reading Distance**: Allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm between the code and the phone, and never go below 2 cm on paper. A worksheet corner needs 2 to 2.5 cm, a door sign 5 cm, a three-meter hallway poster about 30 cm. Measuring the distance first is faster than reprinting. - **Leave the Quiet Zone Intact**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins and ends. Keep a margin of at least four module widths clear of text, borders, staples and the edge of the paper, which is roughly the width of four of the small squares in the pattern. - **Say What the Code Opens**: Label every code with the action, not with the word Scan alone: sign the trip consent form, see this week's lunch menu, hear this student read. A labelled code on a letter home is scanned far more often than a bare square, because the parent knows in advance what they will get. - **Choose Matte Over Gloss for Laminated Signs**: Laminate school signs in matte film rather than gloss. Gloss lamination under classroom fluorescent lighting reflects the ceiling lights back into the camera, and the reflection covers part of the pattern at exactly the angle at which most people hold a phone. - **Test the Photocopy, Not Just the Original**: Scan a photocopy of every worksheet or letter that carries a QR code before running the full class set. Copying spreads toner slightly and shrinks the page when it is fitted to a different paper size, and a code that scans on the laser-printed original can fail on the tenth-generation copy. - **Static Codes Cannot Be Edited After Printing**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the destination is encoded in the pattern itself, so the code keeps working with no subscription and no dependency on KoloQR staying online, and it cannot be changed once printed. If the destination may move, point the code at a redirect address on the school domain and change the redirect instead. - **A Static Code Cannot Tell You Who Scanned**: A static QR code carries no analytics, so it cannot record how many students scanned or which parents responded. If the school needs that record, collect it on the destination: a form with a sign-in, an event check-in page, or a class list on the register the code leads to. ## Make the Codes Your School Needs Generate a QR code for a consent form, a newsletter, a library shelf or a display board, add the school crest, and download print-ready SVG or PNG. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, adds no watermark and no expiry date to the files. Start with the two or three codes a school reprints most often, usually the parent information page, the current consent form and the guest Wi-Fi card at reception. Point each one at a stable address on the school domain, scan the printed version on both an iPhone and an Android phone, and the same artwork will carry through the whole school year. ## FAQ ### How Do I Create a QR Code for a School Permission Slip? Create the online consent form first, using an account owned by the school rather than a personal one, then paste the form address into a QR code generator and download the SVG. Place the code in the corner of the printed slip at 2 to 2.5 cm with the plain [web address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) printed below it, and keep a paper version available for families who cannot scan. ### Are QR Codes Safe for Students to Scan? A QR code is only as safe as the page it opens, since the code itself is just an encoded web address that anyone can decode. Two rules cover school use: never encode student data in the code, and only print codes that lead to pages the school controls. Teach students to check the address their phone previews before tapping, the same habit that protects them from any link. ### What if Students Do Not Have Phones, or Phones Are Not Allowed in Class? Print the plain web address beside every code and post the same link in the learning platform, so no task depends on a phone. In classrooms where phones stay in bags, the teacher can project the code for students to scan on school tablets, or open the link on the classroom computer. A QR code should always be the fast path to something, never the only path. ### What Size Should a School QR Code Be? Allow roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with a floor of 2 cm on paper. In practice that means 2 to 2.5 cm in the corner of a worksheet, 3 to 4 cm on a display label, 5 cm on a door sign or reception counter, and about 30 cm on a hallway poster read from three meters away. ### Do Parents and Students Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. The built-in camera on current iPhones and Android phones reads QR codes without any extra app, and Google Lens covers most Android devices where the camera app does not. Older school tablets are the usual exception, so test on the specific devices a class will use before a lesson depends on scanning. ### Can Students Scan a QR Code From a Projector or Interactive Whiteboard? Yes, if the code is large enough for the back row and free of glare. At 6 m the projected code needs about 60 cm of width, roughly a third of a 2 m screen. Turn off the lights nearest the screen, and on a glossy interactive whiteboard move the code away from the reflection of the ceiling lights, which is what usually blocks the scan rather than the size. ### Can I Change Where a Printed School QR Code Points Without Reprinting? Not directly. A static QR code stores the address inside its pattern, so the printed code cannot be edited. The workaround is to point the code at a redirect address on the school domain, for example a short go address, and update the redirect when the destination moves. Decide this before printing, because a code printed with the final address cannot be redirected later. ### Why Will the QR Code on My Photocopied Worksheet Not Scan? Photocopying is the most common cause. Copying spreads toner into the small white gaps in the pattern, and fitting a page to a different paper size shrinks the code below the size it was designed for. Print codes at 2 cm or larger, keep a clear white margin around them, scan a photocopy before running the class set, and print from the original file rather than copying a copy. ### Can I Add the School Crest and Colors to a QR Code? Yes. Place the crest in the center of the code, keep it small enough to cover no more than the middle fifth of the pattern, and rescan after every change. For the pattern itself, use the darkest color in the school palette on a white background, because contrast is what a camera needs. Decorative shapes, including circular codes, do not affect readability. ### Is KoloQR Free for Schools, and Do the Codes Expire? Yes, KoloQR is free to use, including for printed school materials, and the exported PNG and SVG files carry no watermark. The codes are static, meaning the destination is encoded in the pattern rather than stored on a server, so they keep working with no account, no subscription and no expiry date, and they do not stop working if KoloQR ever goes offline. --- # QR Codes for Universities: Campus Posters, Lecture Halls and Lab Equipment URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/universities Campus QR codes sized for the actual read distance: noticeboard posters, lecture halls, lab labels, wayfinding signs and research posters, with free SVG and PNG. A QR code on a campus noticeboard has to work for a student walking past at arm's length, and the same link on a wayfinding sign has to work from two meters away - which means the two codes are printed at different sizes. Point each code at one page on a university domain you control, size it to the distance it will be read from, and print the URL in text beside it so the sign still works when a phone camera does not. - Sized by read distance - Print-ready SVG export - Free, no account ## Why Universities Print QR Codes A QR code is a printed link, so it earns its place on campus wherever someone is standing still with a phone in hand: reading a noticeboard, sitting in a lecture, waiting at a lab bench, or finding a room on an open day. - **Noticeboard Posters Get Scanned, Long URLs Do Not**: A society event or research recruitment poster on a campus noticeboard competes with thirty others, and nobody transcribes a URL with a department path and a form ID in it. A QR code turns the poster into a one-second action, which is the only interaction most passers-by will give it. - **Lecture Material Reaches Students Without a Login Step**: A QR code on a lecture slide or a printed handout sends students to reading lists, slide decks, feedback forms or seminar sign-up sheets in one scan. The destination can still sit behind the university login - the code only carries the address, so the authentication happens on the page, not in the code. - **Open Days and Orientation Work for Visitors With No App**: Prospective students, parents and conference visitors do not have the campus app or a university account. Every current iPhone and Android phone scans QR codes from the built-in camera, so a printed code on a wayfinding sign or an orientation pack reaches a visitor's phone with nothing to install. - **Lab and Workshop Instructions Stay Current at the Point of Use**: A QR code fixed to a centrifuge, kiln or 3D printer links to the standard operating procedure, risk assessment or demonstration video for that exact machine. Updating the page updates what every user sees, which is faster and safer than reprinting a laminated sheet on every bench. ## Two Things to Settle Before You Generate the Code A campus QR code fails for one of two reasons: the link it points at moves at the end of term, or nobody scanned the printed version before five hundred copies went to the print room. ### One Stable URL on a Domain the University Controls Point the QR code at a redirect on your own university domain - for example a short path under your department's site - rather than directly at the deep URL of a booking system, timetable or form. The redirect target can be changed later; the printed code cannot. Avoid links containing session IDs, tokens or query strings copied out of a logged-in system, because those addresses expire and often stop working the moment the printed poster goes up. ### A Test Print Scanned at the Real Distance on Two Phones Print the code at its final size on the final material, then scan it on one iPhone and one Android phone from the distance a student will actually stand - 40 cm for a noticeboard, 2 m for a corridor sign. Test it under the lighting of the room it will live in: lecture-hall spotlights and glossy lamination together produce a reflection that hides part of the symbol. If both phones read it in under two seconds, the artwork is ready for the print run. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Campus Poster or Sign Generating the code takes about a minute. The size and material decisions above are what determine whether it works on the wall. - **Paste the University URL**: Paste the address the code should open - a course page, event registration form, campus map or lab procedure. Use the https:// version and check the page loads on a phone before you encode it, because a QR code cannot fix a destination that is broken on mobile. - **Apply the Faculty Colors and the Crest**: Choose a square or circular symbol, apply your faculty colors, and add the university crest in the center. Keep the code darker than its background: dark modules on white scan reliably, and a light code on a dark poster is the most common reason a campus QR code fails. - **Download SVG for the Print Room, PNG for Slides**: Download SVG for anything going to a printer - a vector file stays sharp whether it is placed at 3 cm on an A4 flyer or 25 cm on a pull-up banner. Download PNG for lecture slides, digital signage and social posts, and export it at least three times the pixel size it will be displayed at. ## Where Campus QR Codes Go, and What Size Each One Needs Size follows read distance. The working rule of thumb is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the practical minimum for any printed code. Every size below is that rule applied to a real campus surface. - **Noticeboard and Corridor Posters**: Print the code 3-4 cm wide on an A4 or A3 poster, placed in the lower third where a standing reader's hand naturally reaches. Students read noticeboards from about 40 cm, so 3 cm is enough - and leave the bottom 2 cm of the sheet clear, because that is where posters get stapled and overlapped by the next one. - **Lecture Slides and Seminar Handouts**: On a projected slide, make the QR code at least one sixth of the slide height and leave it on screen for 20 seconds or more, because students at the back of a raked lecture hall need both size and time. Add the short URL underneath in text: anyone beyond about 10 m from the screen will type it instead of scanning. - **Library Shelf Ends and Study Room Doors**: A 3 cm code at eye level on a shelf end or study room door is read from 30-40 cm and can open a subject guide, a room booking page or a database A-Z list. Mount it at 140-160 cm from the floor so it is reachable from a wheelchair as well as comfortable for a standing reader. - **Lab and Workshop Equipment Labels**: Use a 2.5-3 cm code on a polypropylene or polyester label for equipment, not paper, and expect it to be wiped with ethanol or isopropanol every week. Place the label on the machine body rather than a moving panel or a heated surface, and keep it out of the splash zone of any sink or reagent bottle. - **Wayfinding and Open-Day Signs**: A code read from 2 m - a corridor sign, a building entrance, an A-board on an open day - needs to be about 20 cm wide. Mount it below 170 cm so a phone can be held square to it, and avoid glass-fronted display cases, where the reflection of a window is often enough to defeat the camera. - **Research Posters and Conference Boards**: On an A0 research poster, a 4-6 cm code in the bottom right corner is read from about 50 cm, which is where someone stands to read your methods section. Point it at the preprint, dataset or supplementary material rather than your homepage - the specific artifact is what a reader wants at that moment, and it is what they will cite. ## Campus QR Code Rules Worth Following Most failed campus QR codes fail for reasons visible in the artwork before it goes to print. These are the checks that catch them. - **Keep the Code Dark on a Light Background**: Print dark modules on white or a very light tint, and do not invert a QR code to light-on-dark to match a faculty color scheme. Phone cameras are built to expect a dark symbol on a light field, and inverted codes are read inconsistently across devices even when a test on one phone succeeds. - **Keep Four Modules of Blank Margin**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR standard specifies four modules of clear space. In practice, keep a margin roughly the width of four of the small squares free of text, rules, photos and poster borders. - **Always Print the URL in Text Beside the Code**: A printed URL next to the QR code serves the reader whose camera will not focus, whose phone is out of battery, or who is using a screen reader - a QR code is an image and carries no accessible text. Keep the visible URL short enough to type by hand, which is another reason to use a redirect on your own domain. - **Size the Code to the Distance, Then Add a Margin**: Apply roughly 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of read distance, then round up rather than down. Rounding up costs a little poster space; rounding down means a student holds their phone closer, casts a shadow on the code, and gives up after two attempts. - **Choose Matte for Anything Mounted Under a Downlight**: Matte lamination scatters light, gloss lamination reflects it straight back into the camera. Lecture halls, museum cases and lift lobbies are all lit from above at close range, so a matte finish is the safer choice for any code mounted in them. - **Keep a Logo Under About 30% of the Code Area**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets it stay scannable when part of the symbol is covered or damaged, and level H recovers roughly 30% of the data. A university crest centered over a level-H code is normally fine at that size; a crest covering half the symbol is not, whatever a single test scan suggests. - **Never Encode Personal or Credential Data in the Code Itself**: A QR code is not encrypted - anyone can decode its contents with a phone. Never encode a student number, email address, exam candidate ID or access token in the symbol. Encode a link to an authenticated page instead, and let the login handle identity. - **Do Not Use a QR Code as Proof of Attendance on Its Own**: A QR code displayed in a lecture can be photographed and sent to someone who is not in the room, so it cannot verify presence by itself. If a code is part of an attendance workflow, pair it with something that changes - a rotating code, a per-session token, or a check against seat or device data. - **Use a Redirect So the Destination Can Change Without Reprinting**: A static QR code encodes a fixed URL, so the way to change where it goes is to change what that URL serves. Point the code at a short redirect on the university domain, and you can move the target from the open-day schedule to the enrolment page in September without reprinting the sign. - **Re-Test After Printing, Not Only on Screen**: Scan the physical print, not the PDF proof. Printing at a lower resolution, on textured or recycled stock, or with ink spread on a laser printer can blur module edges enough to break a code that scanned perfectly in the design file - and the difference only shows on paper. ## Generate a QR Code for Your Campus Poster or Sign Paste the university URL, set the size and the crest, and download SVG for print or PNG for slides. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, requires no account and adds no watermark. KoloQR generates static QR codes, which encode the URL directly and never expire. Static codes have no built-in scan analytics and no dashboard for changing the destination later, so if a department needs per-campaign scan counts or the ability to repoint a printed code without touching a server, a dynamic QR service is the better fit. For most campus signage, a short redirect on the university domain gives the same flexibility, keeps the link on a domain students recognize, and leaves the scan data in your own web analytics. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a University Poster? Paste the [destination URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) into a QR code generator, set the colors and logo, and download the SVG for print. For a poster read at arm's length, place the code 3-4 cm wide in the lower third of the sheet, with the URL printed in text beside it. Scan the finished print on an iPhone and an Android phone before the full run. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on an A4 or A3 Poster? 3-4 cm wide is right for an A4 or A3 poster read from about 40 cm. The underlying rule is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a sign read from 2 m needs around 20 cm. Below 2 cm, printed codes become unreliable regardless of distance. ### Do Students Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. Every current iPhone and Android phone scans QR codes from the built-in camera app, with no download required. Very old handsets may need a scanner app, which is one more reason to print the URL in text next to the code so nobody is locked out of the information. ### Can I Change Where a QR Code Points After the Posters Are Printed? Not in the code itself - a static QR code encodes a fixed URL permanently. The workable approach is to encode a short redirect on your university domain and change what that redirect serves. Do this before printing, not after: a code pointing directly at a booking system cannot be repointed once it is on the wall. ### Are QR Codes Accessible for Students With Visual Impairments? A QR code on its own is not accessible: it is an image with no text a screen reader can announce, and locating it requires sight. Always print the URL in readable text beside it, keep that URL short enough to type or dictate, and make sure the destination page itself meets your institution's accessibility standard. ### Can I Use a QR Code to Take Attendance in Lectures? Only as one part of a system. A code shown on a lecture slide can be photographed and forwarded to a student who is not present, so it proves nothing about attendance by itself. Institutions that rely on codes typically rotate them per session or check the scan against device, seat or network data. ### Why Won't the QR Code on Our Printed Poster Scan? The four usual causes are a code printed smaller than 2 cm, a light code on a dark background, text or a border encroaching on the blank quiet-zone margin, and gloss lamination reflecting overhead light. Check those in that order, and always test the physical print rather than the on-screen proof. ### Should a University Use Static or Dynamic QR Codes? Static codes suit campus signage that points at a stable page, and they never expire or depend on a third-party service staying online. Dynamic codes suit campaigns that need scan analytics or a destination changed after printing. A short redirect on the university domain gives most of the dynamic benefit without an external dependency. ### Can I Add the University Crest and Brand Colors to a QR Code? Yes. Keep the crest under roughly 30% of the code area and use error correction level H, which recovers about 30% of the symbol. Use brand colors for the dark modules only and keep the background light - a code in two mid-tone brand colors often has too little contrast for a phone camera to resolve. ### What Should a QR Code on a Research Poster Link To? Link to the specific artifact: the preprint, the dataset, the code repository or the supplementary methods, not your lab homepage. Place a 4-6 cm code in the bottom right corner of an A0 poster, where readers stand about 50 cm away, and use a persistent identifier such as a DOI so the link still resolves years later. --- # How to Use QR Codes in a Beauty Salon URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/beauty-salons A salon QR code needs about 1 cm of width per 10 cm of read distance, so 3 cm at the mirror. Booking, aftercare and retail codes, sizes and materials. A QR code in a beauty salon is a printed link to one page: the booking calendar, the aftercare for one service, a stylist's portfolio or the Wi-Fi. Size follows the read distance - roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - so a mirror station code works at about 3 cm, while a window sign read from the pavement needs 20 cm. The material matters as much as the size, because salon codes live next to acetone, colour and hairspray. - Booking, aftercare, reviews - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Free, no account ## What Beauty Salons Actually Use QR Codes For Four jobs come up in almost every salon: rebooking, aftercare, portfolios and retail. Each one works best as its own code pointed at its own page. - **Rebooking While the Colour Processes**: A client sitting in foils with 35 minutes of processing time is the easiest rebooking a salon gets all day. A code on the mirror frame or the trolley opens the booking calendar on the client's own phone, so the next appointment is made before anyone reaches the desk and before the till is busy with someone else. - **Aftercare That Goes Home With the Client**: Aftercare explained at the chair is forgotten by the time the client reaches the car. A code on the aftercare card opens the instructions for that one service - 48 hours before washing fresh colour, no steam after lash extensions, how to file a chipped gel edge. The client reads it when the question actually comes up, which is at home on day two. - **A Portfolio for Every Chair**: Each stylist can carry a different code on a station card or the back of a business card, opening that stylist's own portfolio rather than the salon's front page. A new client is trying to judge the person holding the scissors, and a code at the station shows exactly that person's work. - **Retail That Explains Itself**: A small code on a shelf edge opens the product page: what the product is for, which hair or skin types it suits, how much to use. Clients answer their own questions, and a stylist who is mid-blow-dry does not have to break off to explain the difference between two bond builders. ## Two Things to Settle Before You Print Anything A salon QR code needs a destination that will still be right after the price list changes, and one real test scan taken at the station where the code will live. ### A Destination That Outlives the Print Run A static QR code stores its data inside the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed later. The address behind the code therefore matters more than the code artwork: point each code at a stable URL you control, such as yoursalon.com/book, and change the content that lives at that address. - **One Stable URL per Code**: for example /book rather than a booking link with this season's offer code in it, so next season's prices arrive at the same address. - **One Destination per Code**: a lash aftercare card should open lash aftercare, not a page that lists every service in the salon. - **A Page That Works One-Handed**: clients scan in a gown, in foils or with wet nails, so avoid PDFs that need pinch-zoom and pages that ask for a login first. ### Test the Scan From the Chair, Not From Your Desk Scan the printed code from where the client actually is - a station card from the chair, a shelf label at arm's length, a window sign from the pavement - using one iPhone and one Android phone, under the salon's own lighting. Mirror strip lights and ring lights bounce off glossy laminate, and a code that scans perfectly on a monitor can still fail as a foil-printed card on a lit station. ## How to Make a QR Code for Your Salon Three steps, no account. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, builds the code as you type. - **Paste the Destination**: Drop in the booking page, the aftercare instructions, a stylist's portfolio, a product page or your Wi-Fi details. Use one link per code rather than a single code that lands on a menu of everything the salon does. - **Match It to Your Brand**: Choose a shape, set your colors and place your logo in the center. Keep the code darker than its background, keep the logo small enough that the surrounding modules stay intact, and leave the margin around the symbol clear. - **Download Print-Ready Files**: Export SVG for anything printed larger than a gift card, and PNG at 300 DPI for the exact final size. Scaling a small PNG up to window size blurs the module edges, and that is the most common reason a printed salon code fails. ## Where QR Codes Belong in a Beauty Salon Each surface in a salon has a different read distance, a different chemical standing next to it and a different light above it. Size and material follow the surface, not the design. - **Reception, the Price List and the Till**: The desk code carries what clients handle standing up: booking, the price list, gift vouchers and the review link. An A5 counter card read from about 40 cm needs a code of roughly 4 cm, placed where someone can hold a phone without leaning across the card machine. - **Mirror Stations and Styling Trolleys**: A station code is read from about 50-70 cm, so print it at 3 cm or slightly more. Fix it to the mirror frame, the trolley or a small standing card - never in a position where the client scans its reflection, because a code seen in a mirror reaches the camera reversed and most phones will not decode a mirrored QR code. - **Nail Desks, Colour Bars and Wash Areas**: Acetone, peroxide, bleach and water sit on these benches all day, and they take unlaminated prints apart within weeks. Print the codes for these stations on UV-laminated vinyl, polycarbonate or an engraved plate, and keep them off the spot where the remover bottle actually stands. - **Windows and Street-Facing Signs**: A window code read from the pavement at 2 m needs about 20 cm of code width. A decal applied to the inside of the glass has to be ordered as a reverse-read print when people scan it from the street: a normal decal seen from the other side of the window is mirrored, and a mirrored code does not decode. - **Aftercare Cards, Gift Vouchers and Shelf Edges**: Small print works down to about 2 cm, which is enough for an aftercare card, a gift voucher or a shelf strip read at arm's length. Keep the code clear of the fold and the trim edge, and leave the blank margin around it intact rather than letting a border or a price bubble touch the symbol. ## Rules That Keep Salon QR Codes Scannable Most failed salon codes fail for one of ten reasons, and every one of them is decided before printing. - **Keep the Code Darker Than Its Background**: Scanners expect dark modules on a light background, and salon palettes push against that: blush on cream, sand on beige and pale grey on white are all too close to read reliably. Keep a clear difference in lightness between the code and its background, and save light-on-dark inversion for artwork nobody has to scan in a hurry. - **Size the Code for the Read Distance**: Use about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor. A station card read at 60 cm needs roughly 3 cm, a counter card at 40 cm about 4 cm, and a window sign read from 2 m about 20 cm. - **Keep the Margin Around the Code Clear**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins. Keep at least four modules of clear space, and do not let a foil border, a price bubble or a decorative frame touch the code. - **Skip Foil, Metallic Ink and Gloss**: Rose gold foil and metallic ink suit a salon price list and scan badly. The finish is mirror-like, so it throws the mirror lights and ring lights straight back into the camera, and the scanner reads a bright patch where dark modules should be. Print the code in flat ink with a matte or satin laminate, and keep the foil for the border. - **Never Ask a Client to Scan a Reflection**: A QR code seen in a mirror is reversed, and most phone cameras will not read a mirrored code. Place station codes so the client's camera points at the printed code itself, and order inside-the-glass window decals as reverse-read prints. - **Choose Materials That Survive Acetone and Colour**: Nail desks and colour bars meet acetone, alcohol and peroxide splashes every day. UV-laminated vinyl, polycarbonate labels and engraved plates hold up; unlaminated inkjet and thermal prints smear or fade, usually within weeks at a nail station. - **Keep the Center Logo Small and Retest**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is covered, and it has a limit. Keep a center logo small relative to the symbol, then scan the printed card again - a logo that works on screen can fail on a 3 cm station card. - **Say What the Scan Does**: Label every code with its outcome: "Scan to book your next appointment", "Scan for lash aftercare", "Scan to see what is in this bottle". A bare code beside a logo gets ignored, because nobody scans when they cannot tell what they will get. - **Be Honest About Static Versus Dynamic**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the data sits in the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed and cannot count scans. If you need to change a destination after printing, or to measure which station brings in rebookings, use a dynamic QR service - or point the static code at a URL you control and change what lives there. - **Re-Scan After Every Reprint**: Test the physical item, not the file. Print scaling, upscaled PNGs and cheap sticker stock all lose module edges, and that damage only shows up on the card in your hand. ## Create Your Salon's QR Codes Paste the destination, style the code, download SVG and PNG. Free, no account, unlimited codes. A practical order of work: make the booking code for the desk and the mirror stations first, then one aftercare code per service that generates questions, then the retail shelf and the window. Print a single test card, scan it from the chair under the salon's own lights, and only then order the batch. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Beauty Salon? Paste the link you want clients to open - the booking calendar, an aftercare page, a stylist's portfolio or your Wi-Fi details - into a QR code generator, style the code, and download it as SVG or PNG. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, needs no account. Print it at the size the read distance requires, then scan the printed copy before ordering the batch. ### Are QR Codes for Beauty Salons Free? Yes. Generating static QR codes on KoloQR is free, with no account, no limit on how many you create, and both SVG and PNG exports included. Costs only appear if you choose a dynamic QR service, which hosts a redirect so you can change the destination after printing and count scans per code. ### Do Clients Need an App to Scan a QR Code? No. The built-in camera on iPhones running iOS 11 or later and on Android 8 or later reads QR codes directly - the client points the camera and taps the link that appears. Some older Android phones need Google Lens or the Google app. Nobody has to install the salon's own app in order to scan a code. ### What Size Should a QR Code at a Mirror Station Be? About 3 cm, because a client in the chair reads it from roughly 50-70 cm. The working rule is 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the floor. A counter card read at 40 cm needs about 4 cm, and a window sign read from 2 m needs about 20 cm. ### Where Should QR Codes Go in a Beauty Salon? At reception for booking, the price list and gift vouchers; on mirror frames and trolleys for rebooking and portfolios; on shelf edges for retail products; in the window for prices and opening hours. Keep codes off wash basins, off the part of a nail desk that holds the remover bottle, and off any surface a towel gets dragged across. ### Can I Put a QR Code on the Salon Mirror? Yes, as long as the client's camera points at the printed code itself - a decal on the glass or a card in the mirror frame both work. What fails is a code positioned so it gets scanned as a reflection: a mirrored QR code reaches the camera reversed, and most phones will not decode it. The same applies to window decals scanned from the street, which need a reverse-read print. ### Why Do the QR Codes at My Nail Stations Stop Scanning? Usually the material rather than the code. Acetone, remover and alcohol wipes dissolve unlaminated inkjet and thermal prints, and the module edges blur before the label looks obviously damaged. Print nail-station codes on UV-laminated vinyl, polycarbonate or an engraved plate, keep them away from the remover bottle, and replace them on a schedule instead of waiting for a client to report a dead code. ### Can I Use My Salon's Brand Colours, Like Blush or Rose Gold? Yes, within two limits. The code has to stay clearly darker than its background, so blush on cream or pale grey on white will not scan reliably - deepen the code colour rather than tinting the background. That is how [aesthetic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/aesthetic-qr-codes) keep a soft look: one deep ink on a pale ground. And print in flat ink instead of metallic foil, because a mirror-like finish reflects salon lighting back into the camera. Styling never improves scan performance, so test the printed card at its final size. A center logo is fine too, as long as it stays small - the [guide to error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) shows how much cover each level tolerates. ### Can Each Stylist Have Their Own QR Code? Yes, and it is one of the better uses of a code in a salon. Give each stylist a code pointing at their own portfolio, booking link or profile, printed on a station card or on the back of a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards). Because static codes are free and unlimited, a salon of eight can print eight different codes without a subscription. ### Should a Salon Use Static or Dynamic QR Codes? Static codes suit anything pointed at a URL you control: booking pages, aftercare instructions, portfolios and [Wi-Fi details](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code). Dynamic codes are worth paying for when you need scan counts per station, campaign tests, or the ability to repoint a printed code after it is printed. Most salons use static codes for permanent signage and dynamic codes only for marketing campaigns. --- # Free QR Codes for Barbershops and Barbers URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/barbershops Barbershop QR codes need the right size for the read distance and a finish that survives hairspray. Sizes in cm, placement rules, free SVG and PNG. Barbershops use QR codes for four jobs: taking bookings from the window, rebooking a client with the same barber, collecting reviews at the till and showing the portfolio behind the chair. Size follows the read distance - roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - so a window code read from 2 m needs about 20 cm, not the 5 cm sticker most shops order. - Free, no sign-up - SVG and PNG export - Logo and custom colors ## What Barbershops Actually Use QR Codes For Four jobs come up in almost every shop: bookings, rebooking, reviews and the portfolio. Each one works best as its own code with its own destination. - **Bookings From the Pavement, Including After Closing**: A code on the window turns a closed shop into an open booking page. Someone walking past at nine in the evening cannot knock, but they can scan the glass and take tomorrow's ten o'clock slot, which is the appointment a shop otherwise loses to whoever answers the phone first. - **Rebooking With the Same Barber**: Clients follow a barber, not a shop. A code at each chair or on each barber's mirror can open that barber's own calendar, so the client books their next fade with the person who just cut it instead of landing on a general booking page and taking whatever slot appears. - **Reviews While the Cut Is Still Fresh**: A code at the till, shown while the client is paying and still happy with the mirror check, asks for a review at the one moment they will actually write one. Point it at the review form itself rather than at a map listing, so nobody has to hunt for the button. - **The Portfolio Behind the Chair**: Walk-ins want to see fades and beard work before they commit to a chair. A code beside the price list opens the shop's Instagram or a gallery page, which answers the question a printed price list cannot: what does a skin fade look like when this shop does it? ## Two Things to Settle Before You Print Anything A barbershop QR code needs a destination that will still be correct after the next price rise, and one real test scan taken where the client will actually stand. ### A Destination That Survives a Reprint A static QR code stores its data inside the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed later. The [web address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) behind the code therefore matters more than the code artwork: point each code at a stable URL you control, and change the content that lives at that URL. - **One Stable URL per Code**: for example /book rather than /book-january, so next season's calendar arrives at the same address. - **One Destination per Code**: a code at Marco's chair should open Marco's calendar, not the shop's homepage with a booking button somewhere on it. - **A Page That Works Standing Up on the Street**: a window scan happens one-handed in the cold, so avoid PDF price lists and booking flows that demand an account before showing a single slot. ### Test the Scan From the Chair and From the Pavement Scan the printed code from the exact position a client occupies - seated at the mirror, standing outside the glass, leaning over the card machine - using one iPhone and one Android phone, under the shop's own lighting. A code that scans perfectly on a monitor can still fail as a window decal at midday or as a small label under a station spotlight, and the only way to find out is the physical test. ## How to Make a QR Code for Your Barbershop Three steps, no account. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, builds the code as you type. - **Paste the Destination**: Drop in the booking page, a single barber's calendar, the review form, your Instagram profile or the shop Wi-Fi details. Use one link per code rather than one code that lands on a menu of everything. - **Match It to Your Brand**: Choose a shape, set your colors and place your logo in the center. Keep the code darker than its background, keep the logo small enough that the surrounding modules stay intact, and leave the margin around the symbol clear. - **Download Print-Ready Files**: Export SVG for window decals, A-boards and anything printed larger than an appointment card, and PNG at 300 DPI for the exact final size. Scaling a small PNG up to window size blurs the module edges and is the most common reason a printed code fails. ## Where QR Codes Belong in a Barbershop Each surface in a shop has a different read distance, a different light and a different amount of product landing on it. Size and finish follow the surface, not the design. - **Shop Window and Door**: The window code carries bookings, because it is the only code that works when the shop is shut. Read from about 2 m on the pavement, it needs roughly 20 cm of code. A decal applied to the inside of the glass has to be printed reversed so it reads correctly from the street: a mirrored QR code will not decode on most phone cameras. - **Mirror Stations and Chair Backs**: One code per station, pointed at that barber's calendar, sized around 5 cm for a seated client reading from about 50 cm. Mount it on the station frame or a small stand rather than on the mirror glass, where the reflection of the room sits on top of the symbol and ring lights blow out the contrast. - **The Till and the Card Machine**: The review code belongs where payment happens, at roughly 4 cm for a 40 cm read. Use an upright counter stand rather than a sticker lying flat on the counter: hair clippings, powder and product mist settle on horizontal surfaces, and a client holding a card in one hand cannot angle a phone over a flat label. - **Waiting Bench, Price Board and Wi-Fi Card**: The waiting area is where a long destination is acceptable, because the client is sitting down with nothing to do. A code on the price board can open the full service list, and a Wi-Fi code on the bench or the wall saves the question at the door. Read from about 1 m, both need around 10 cm. - **A-Boards, Business Cards and Appointment Cards**: A pavement A-board is read from roughly 2.5 m by someone still walking, so it needs about 25 cm of code and one instruction, usually booking. Business and appointment cards work down to about 2 cm, which is the practical floor for any printed code, and the back of an appointment card is the natural home for a rebooking link. ## Rules That Keep Barbershop QR Codes Scannable Most failed shop codes fail for one of ten reasons, and all ten are decided before printing. - **Keep the Code Darker Than Its Background**: Scanners expect dark modules on a light background. Inverted light-on-dark codes read on many modern phones but fail on some scanner apps, which matters for a barbershop because black-on-black and gold-on-black are exactly the palettes shop signage tends to use. - **Size the Code for the Read Distance**: Use about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor. A mirror station code read at 50 cm needs roughly 5 cm; a window read from 2 m needs about 20 cm; an A-board read from 2.5 m needs about 25 cm. - **Keep the Margin Around the Code Clear**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins. Keep at least four modules of clear space and do not let a price bubble, an opening-hours line or the edge of a decal touch the code. - **Print Window Decals the Right Way Round**: Decide which face of the glass the decal goes on before you order it. A sticker applied inside the window but scanned from the street must be printed reversed; if it is printed normally, the passer-by sees a mirrored code, and a mirrored QR code fails on most phone cameras. - **Choose a Matte Finish That Survives Hairspray**: Station codes get a daily film of hairspray, powder and clipper spray, and glossy lamination reflects station lights straight back into the camera. Matte or satin laminated vinyl costs the same as gloss, wipes clean with alcohol, and keeps reading where unlaminated paper hazes over within weeks. - **Keep the Center Logo Small and Retest**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is covered, and it has a limit. Keep a center logo small relative to the symbol, then scan the printed piece again - a logo that works on screen can fail on a 2 cm appointment card. - **Say What the Scan Does**: Label every code with its outcome: "Scan to book with Marco", "Scan to leave a review", "Scan for the price list". A bare code beside a shop logo gets ignored, because nobody scans when they cannot tell what they will get. - **One Code, One Job**: Split destinations instead of routing everything through one code and a landing menu. A client in the chair wants their barber's calendar; a stranger on the pavement wants the next free slot; a client at the till wants the review form. - **Be Honest About Static Versus Dynamic**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the data sits in the symbol, so a printed code cannot be repointed and cannot count scans. If you need to change destinations after printing, or to know whether the window or the A-board brings in more bookings, use a dynamic QR service - or point each static code at a different URL you control and read the difference in your own analytics. - **Re-Scan After Every Reprint**: Test the physical item, not the file. Print scaling, upscaled PNGs and cheap sticker printing all lose module edges, and that damage only shows up on the decal in your hand. ## Create Your Barbershop's QR Codes Paste the destination, style the code, download SVG and PNG. Free, no account, unlimited codes. A practical order of work: make the window booking code first, because it earns money while the shop is closed, then the till code for reviews, then one code per chair for rebooking. Print a single test decal, scan it from the pavement and from a seated position, and only then order the full set. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Barbershop? Paste the link you want clients to open - your booking page, one barber's calendar, the review form or your Instagram profile - into a QR code generator, style the code, and download it as SVG or PNG. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, needs no account. Print at the size the read distance requires, then scan the printed copy before ordering more. ### Are QR Codes for Barbershops Free? Yes. Generating static QR codes on KoloQR is free, with no account, no limit on how many you create, and both SVG and PNG exports included. Costs only appear if you choose a dynamic QR service, which hosts a redirect so you can change the destination after printing and count scans per code. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Barbershop Window? About 20 cm for a code read from the pavement at 2 m. The working rule is 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a 5 cm window sticker only reads from about half a metre - close enough that the client is already at the door. Keep 2 x 2 cm as the absolute floor for any printed code. ### Where Should QR Codes Go in a Barbershop? On the window for bookings, at each mirror station for rebooking with that barber, at the till for reviews, and on the price board for the full service list. A [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) belongs on the waiting bench or the wall beside it. Keep codes off the floor, the mirror glass and any curved bottle or pole, because a code bent around a tube stops decoding. ### Why Won't My Window Sticker Scan From the Street? Usually because it is mirrored. A decal applied to the inside of the glass has to be printed reversed so the pattern reads correctly from outside, and most phone cameras will not decode a mirrored QR code. The other two causes are size - 5 cm cannot be read from 2 m - and direct sunlight on a glossy laminate. ### Can Each Barber Have Their Own QR Code? Yes, and it is the single most useful thing a shop can do with codes. Give each chair a code pointing at that barber's own booking link, so the client rebooks with the person who just cut their hair. Static codes cost nothing, so one per barber, plus one general shop code, is normal rather than extravagant. ### How Do I Use a QR Code to Get More Google Reviews? Point the code at the review form itself, not at your map listing or website. Put it where payment happens, on an upright card at the till, and label it with what it does. Ask while the client is checking the mirror and paying, because a review written in the chair is one you will not get by email two days later. ### Can I Change My Prices Without Reprinting the QR Code? Yes, as long as the code points at a stable URL you control. Point it at an address like yourshop.com/prices and edit that page - the printed code never changes. What a static QR code cannot do is point somewhere else after printing; changing the address itself requires a dynamic QR service. ### Why Did the QR Code at My Station Stop Scanning? Usually the surface rather than the code. Hairspray, talc and clipper spray leave a film that hazes unlaminated paper, and alcohol wipes then lift the ink with it. Print station codes on matte laminated vinyl, keep them off the mirror glass and off horizontal counters where clippings settle, and replace them on a schedule instead of waiting for a client to mention it. ### Can I Add My Shop's Logo and Colors to the Code? Yes. KoloQR supports a center logo, custom colors and circular or custom-shaped modules. Two limits are worth knowing: the code must stay darker than its background, which rules out the black-on-black look shop signage often uses, and the logo must stay small enough that the surrounding modules remain intact. Styling never improves scan performance, so test the printed version at its final size. ### Should a Barbershop Use Static or Dynamic QR Codes? Static codes suit anything pointed at a URL you control: booking pages, barber calendars, price lists, Wi-Fi, Instagram. Dynamic codes are worth paying for when you need to know whether the window or the A-board brought the booking, or when you print codes on flyers whose destination changes. Most single-site shops never need more than static codes. --- # How Photographers Use QR Codes for Galleries, Prints and Albums URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/photographers A photographer's QR code should point at a link you own, not a gallery URL that expires. Sizes for prints, albums, cards and guest photo signs. A QR code lets a photographer hand over a printed object and a digital destination at the same time: the client gallery on a thank-you card, a reorder page on the back of a print, an upload link on a wedding sign. Client gallery URLs are long, token-heavy and impossible to type from a card, which is the problem the code solves. This page covers what to link, what size to print on each surface, why dark packaging and fine-art paper break codes, and how to keep a printed code working after the gallery behind it expires. - Gallery, portfolio, booking - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Free, no account ## Why Photographers Put QR Codes on Printed Work Photography is delivered twice: once as files a client views on a phone, and once as an object they keep. A QR code is the join between the two, and it is the only part of the printed piece that can lead somewhere new. - **A Gallery Link Nobody Can Type**: A client gallery URL usually carries a random token, which makes it 40 to 80 characters long and unusable on a printed card. A QR code removes the typing entirely: the client scans the thank-you card in the print box and the gallery opens. Print the short human-readable address underneath as well, so someone without a working camera still has a route in. - **Printed Work Keeps Selling After Delivery**: A framed print on a wall or an album on a coffee table is seen by people who never hired the photographer. A small code on the back of the mount or inside the album box, pointing at the reorder or booking page, turns that object into a route back to the studio. The print does the marketing; the code makes it actionable months later. - **Wedding Guests Become a Second Camera**: A QR code on a reception sign that opens an upload page collects the guest photographs a hired photographer physically cannot take: the toast from the back of the room, the dancefloor at 1 a.m., the getting-ready shots from a different room. The couple gets the coverage, and the photographer sets the destination, so the images arrive in one place rather than scattered across phones. - **One Card That Opens the Whole Portfolio**: A business card or market-stall sign has room for a name and a phone number. A QR code beside it opens the full portfolio, the pricing guide or a booking calendar with live availability. For a photographer at a wedding fair or a craft market, that is the difference between someone remembering to search later and someone booking a call while still standing at the table. ## What You Need Before Printing a Photography QR Code Two decisions determine whether a photography QR code still works next year: what address is encoded in the pattern, and whether anyone scanned the code on the material it was actually printed on. ### A Short Link on Your Own Domain, Not the Gallery URL Encode a short [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) on your own domain, such as yourstudio.com/g/harper, and redirect it to the client gallery. Client gallery platforms archive or expire galleries after a set period depending on the plan, and a code printed with the platform's own URL dies with it - on a card the client keeps in an album box for a decade. A redirect you control can be repointed to a new gallery, to a reorder page, or to a contact form once the images come down, and none of that requires reprinting anything. ### A Scan Test on the Real Paper, Not the Screen Print one proof at final size on the exact stock the run will use, then scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone at the distance the code will be read from. Photography materials are unusually hostile to scanners: cotton rag and uncoated art papers let ink spread and soften the module edges, gloss laminate on an album box throws a highlight across the pattern, and dark packaging kills the contrast a scanner needs. A screen proof passes all of those and tells you nothing. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Client Gallery Generating the code takes under a minute. Set up the redirect first, because the address is baked into the printed pattern and cannot be edited afterwards. - **Paste the Short Link You Set Up**: Enter the redirect address on your own domain rather than the raw gallery URL, including https://. A short address also produces a sparser pattern with larger modules, and larger modules survive small printing and textured paper far better than the dense grid a 70-character gallery token generates. - **Style the Code to Match the Studio**: Set the shape, colors and center logo in KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes. Keep the pattern clearly darker than its background and keep the margin around it empty. Styling makes the code belong to the brand; it never makes the code easier to scan, so size and contrast still decide whether it reads. - **Download SVG for the Printer, PNG for the Gallery Email**: Download SVG for anything a printer or a die-cutter handles - cards, album boxes, print sleeves, foam-board signs - because SVG is a vector format and stays sharp at 2 cm and at 30 cm from the same file. Use PNG for the delivery email, the client portal and social posts. Then scan the printed proof before approving the run. ## Where to Put the QR Code, and What Size to Print It Size follows reading distance, not the size of the object. The working rule is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor for any printed QR code. The sizes below apply that rule to the surfaces a photography business actually prints on. - **Thank-You Card in the Print Box - 2.5 cm**: A card held in the hand is read from 20-30 cm, so a 2.5 cm code is comfortable and 3 cm is safer on textured stock. Put the code on the back with a one-line label such as Scan to open your gallery, and print the short address below it as a fallback. This is the single most valuable code a photographer prints, because it is the one the client scans on the day the box arrives. - **Back of a Mounted or Framed Print - 2-2.5 cm**: Print the code 2-2.5 cm on a label or directly on the backing board, never on the image side. Pair it with the title, the edition number and the year, and point it at a page holding the print's story, the care instructions and a reorder link. Keep the label at least 1 cm inside the frame edge so it is not covered by the hanging hardware or the tape holding the backing in place. - **Album Box, USB Case and Print Sleeve - 2.5-3 cm**: Packaging is usually the darkest and glossiest thing a photographer prints, so give the code a light panel and print it 2.5-3 cm even though the box is read from arm's length. Avoid foil stamping, metallic ink and spot UV on the code itself: those finishes are chosen for exactly the reflectivity that blinds a phone camera. A debossed or matte-printed code on a light patch is the version that scans. - **Guest Photo Upload Sign at a Reception - 8-10 cm**: A table sign or easel card read from 50-80 cm needs 8-10 cm of code width, and a welcome sign people approach from 2 m needs 20 cm. Receptions are dark, so oversize rather than undersize: a phone camera in low light hunts for focus and a larger code resolves faster. Put one sign on each table rather than a single sign by the door, and state what the code does in three words. - **Exhibition Wall Label - 3-4 cm**: A wall label read from 40-50 cm needs 3-4 cm, printed matte and mounted beside the frame rather than inside it. Glass and acrylic glazing reflect gallery spotlights straight back into the camera, so a code behind glazing frequently fails while the identical code on the label beside it reads first time. Point the label code at the print's page: process, edition size, price and a purchase link. - **Business Card and Rate Sheet - 2 cm**: Print the code 2 cm on a business card and keep the four-module quiet zone clear of the card edge and of any text. Point a photographer's card code at a portfolio or booking page rather than at a social profile, because the page is yours and can be redirected. On an A4 or A5 rate sheet, 2.5 cm on the last page next to the contact details is enough for a document read at 30 cm. ## Rules That Keep a Photography QR Code Working Photography QR codes fail in a few predictable ways: the code sits on top of an image, the packaging is too dark, the paper is too soft, or the gallery behind the code has gone. - **Never Print the Code on Top of a Photograph**: A QR code placed over an image loses both of the things a scanner needs: consistent contrast under the pattern, and an empty margin around it. Even a code over a plain-looking sky fails when a cloud crosses the finder squares. Give the code a solid light panel or place it in the print's border, and keep the photograph itself clean. - **Encode a Redirect You Own, Not the Gallery Address**: Client gallery platforms archive galleries after a set period, and the printed code cannot be edited once the box is delivered. Encoding a short address on your own domain and redirecting it server-side means the printed pattern stays valid while the destination moves from gallery to reorder page to contact form. The redirect has to exist before the print run, not after it. - **Keep the Pattern Dark on a Light Panel**: Native camera apps on iOS and Android expect dark modules on a light background, and inverted light-on-dark codes read inconsistently across phones. Photography branding leans dark - charcoal boxes, black cards, deep grey sleeves - so put the code in a light rectangle on that dark surface rather than reversing it out in white. The panel can be small; it only has to cover the code and its margin. - **Skip Foil, Metallic Ink and Spot UV on the Code**: Foil stamping, metallic inks and spot UV varnish reflect direct light into the camera as a bright patch that hides part of the pattern, and they are common exactly where photographers print: album boxes, presentation folders and luxury cards. Use those finishes on the logo and the type, and print the code itself in matte ink on an unvarnished patch. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Empty**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR code standard specifies four modules of clear space on every side. A hairline frame, a signature, a debossed border or the edge of a die-cut card crossing that margin is one of the most common reasons a well-printed code reads slowly or not at all. - **Add 20% to the Size on Textured or Uncoated Paper**: Cotton rag, uncoated card and textured art papers absorb ink, so module edges spread and the effective contrast drops. A 2 cm code that scans perfectly on coated stock can be marginal on 300 gsm textured cotton. Print the code 20% larger than the distance rule suggests on those papers, or move to a coated label, and test the actual stock before committing to the run. - **Choose Matte Lamination Over Gloss**: Matte lamination scatters light; gloss reflects it as a highlight that can wipe out a section of the pattern. Album boxes, presentation folders and exhibition labels are usually viewed under directional lighting - a window, a spotlight, a lightbox - which is the worst case for gloss. Matte also hides fingerprints, and photographic packaging is handled constantly. - **Label What the Code Opens**: Print three to five words beside every code: Scan to view your gallery, Share your photos, Order a reprint. An unlabelled code asks the client to gamble on where it leads, and clients scan far fewer of them. The label is also what makes a code work in a photograph of the sign, which is how a guest at a reception usually passes it to someone else. - **Keep a Center Logo Under About a Third of the Width**: A logo or watermark in the center covers part of the pattern, and error correction recovers the covered area only up to a point. Keeping the logo within about 30% of the code's width at level H error correction, which recovers roughly 30% of the symbol, works reliably in practice. Always scan the finished file with the logo in place - the preview is not the test, the print is. - **Do Not Put a Gallery Password Inside the Encoded Link**: A QR code is not private. Anyone who photographs the card, the sign or the album box holds the link, so a code that carries a gallery password in the URL hands access to whoever sees the printed piece. Keep the password on the card as text for the client's eyes, or point the code at a login page. This matters most for private client galleries left on a shelf or shared in a photo. ## Generate a QR Code for Your Next Delivery Paste the short link you control, style the code to match the studio, and download SVG for the printer and PNG for the delivery email. KoloQR is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark or expiry to the code. KoloQR generates static QR codes, which means the destination is stored in the pattern itself rather than on a server. A static code keeps working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR staying online, but it cannot be edited after printing and it reports no scan statistics. For a photographer that trade-off is manageable in one specific way: point every printed code at a redirect on your own domain, set it up before the print run, and you keep the ability to move the destination when the gallery expires. If you also need per-scan analytics, add a UTM parameter to the redirect target or use a dynamic QR code service instead. ## FAQ ### What Should a Photographer's QR Code Link To? Point it at a short address on your own domain that redirects to the real destination: the client gallery for a delivery card, a reorder page for the back of a print, an upload form for a reception sign, a portfolio or booking page for a business card. Encoding the platform's own gallery URL is what leaves a printed card pointing at nothing a year later. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on the Back of a Print? About 2-2.5 cm, printed on the backing board or a label rather than the image side. The general rule is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of reading distance, and a print label is read from 20-25 cm. Never go below 2 cm on any printed code, and add 20% on textured or uncoated art paper. See the [minimum size guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) for the full table. ### Can I Put a QR Code Directly on the Photograph? It is a bad idea in almost every case. A QR code needs consistent contrast beneath the whole pattern and four modules of empty margin around it, and a photograph provides neither reliably - a code that scans over a dark corner fails over a bright one. Put the code in the border, on the mount, or on a label on the back instead. ### What Happens to the Printed Code When My Gallery Expires? If the code encodes the gallery URL, it stops working and cannot be fixed, because a static QR code stores the destination in the printed pattern. If it encodes a short link on your own domain, you repoint the redirect and every card, box and print already delivered starts working again. That difference is decided before printing, not after. ### How Do I Collect Guest Photos at a Wedding With a QR Code? Create an upload destination first - a shared album, a form, or an upload page from your gallery platform - then encode a short link to it and print the code 8-10 cm on table signs read from 50-80 cm. Put a sign on each table rather than one by the door, and label it in three words. See the [wedding QR code page](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/weddings) for the rest of the day's signage. ### Why Won't the Code on My Black Album Box Scan? Almost certainly contrast or finish. Scanners expect dark modules on a light background, so a white code reversed out of black reads inconsistently across phones, and foil, metallic ink or gloss varnish reflects light into the camera. Print the code dark on a light panel in matte ink. A [two-minute contrast test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) on the proof catches this before the run. ### Should the Code Link to My Instagram or My Own Website? Link to a page on your own domain, then redirect it wherever you want traffic to go today, including a social profile. A code encoded with a social URL is frozen to that platform and to that username: a rebrand, a handle change or a closed account kills every printed piece. A redirect survives all three and costs nothing to set up. ### Can I Add My Studio Logo or Watermark to the QR Code? Yes, within limits. Keep a center logo to roughly 30% of the code's width, use level H error correction, and keep the modules clearly darker than the background. KoloQR generates circular and custom-shaped codes with a center logo and full colour control. Styling makes a code match the brand - it does not improve scanning, so always test the printed version. ### Can I See How Many Clients Scanned the Code? Not from a static QR code, which records nothing by itself. The practical method is to give each printed surface its own redirect or UTM parameter - /g/harper?src=card versus ?src=box - and read the visits in web analytics. The numbers sit slightly below real scan counts because they measure page loads rather than camera reads, but the comparison between surfaces is reliable. ### Is a QR Code Safe for a Private Client Gallery? Only as safe as the link behind it. A QR code is public: anyone who photographs the card or the album box has the address, so never encode a gallery password in the URL. Use a gallery that requires a login or an emailed access code, and put any password on the card as text rather than inside the pattern. --- # QR Codes for Event Agencies: Client Redirects, Signage Sizes and Badge Runs URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/event-agencies QR codes for event agencies: who owns the redirect, sizes for banners, badges and exhibitor stands, and the proofing step that stops a reprint. An agency prints QR codes for events it does not own, on deadlines set by a print run rather than by the client's website. That changes two things: every code should point at a redirect on a domain the client will still control after the contract ends, and every code should be proofed at final size on the actual substrate before the artwork is released. This page covers the handover question, the sizes for banners, badges, exhibitor stands and A-boards, and the spec sheet worth sending to anyone printing on your behalf. - Sized by read distance - Print-ready SVG & PNG - Free, no account ## Why Event Agencies Standardize Their QR Codes An agency runs several events at once, each with its own client, brand kit, print supplier and deadline. A QR code that is generated ad hoc for one deliverable becomes a support call at the venue; a code produced to a written standard does not. - **One Standard Survives Five Print Suppliers**: A single event can involve a large-format printer for banners, a litho printer for programs, a badge bureau and an exhibitor doing their own stand graphics. Writing down one specification - minimum size, quiet zone, contrast, file format - and sending it with the artwork is what stops four of those five producing a code that scans and one producing a code that does not. - **Codes Outlive the Engagement**: Printed material stays in circulation after the event and after the contract. A code pointing at an agency-owned short link goes dark when that domain lapses or the client moves agency, while a code pointing at a redirect on the client's own domain keeps working and keeps the scan data with the client. - **Attendees Arrive Without Your App**: Delegates, sponsors, contractors and press turn up with the phone they already own. Every current iPhone and Android phone reads QR codes from the built-in camera, so a printed code reaches all of them with nothing to install - which is why check-in, floor plans and session feedback are worth putting behind one. - **The Same Artwork Runs Again Next Year**: Reusable hardware - pull-up banners, A-boards, crew signage, table numbers - is stored and brought back for the next edition. If those codes point at a redirect the agency can repoint, the second edition needs new content, not new print, which is a real line saved on a repeat client's budget. ## Two Decisions to Make Before the First Code Is Generated Almost every failed agency QR code traces back to one of two things: the link was chosen by whoever was fastest, or the code went to print without anyone scanning it on the material it would be printed on. ### Decide Whose Domain the Redirect Lives On Point every event code at a redirect on a domain the client controls, not at a deep link into a ticketing platform and not at an agency short-link domain. A [static QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) encodes a fixed address, so the redirect is the only part you can change after printing - and whoever owns that domain owns the printed material for the rest of its life. Agree the domain in writing at kick-off, before any artwork is signed off. - **Client Domain, Agency Access**: a path such as the client's own site with a short redirect on it, which you are given access to manage for the duration of the event. - **One Path per Deliverable**: separate redirects for check-in, the program, the floor plan and the feedback form, so any one of them can be repointed without touching the others. - **No Session IDs or Tokens**: addresses copied out of a logged-in ticketing or CRM system expire, often before the print run is even delivered. Write the destination URLs into the job sheet alongside the artwork files. An event code is checked months later by someone who was not in the kick-off meeting, and the encoded address is not readable from the printed sheet. ### Proof the Code at Final Size on the Real Substrate Print one physical proof at the exact final size, on the exact material, and scan it on one iPhone and one Android phone from the distance an attendee will actually stand. Vinyl, foamex, fabric and thermal badge stock all reproduce a QR code differently, and a PDF proof shows none of that. Fabric is the one that catches agencies out: a tension-fabric backdrop or a table throw has a weave and a slack surface, and both blur module edges enough to break a code that scans perfectly on paper. Build the proof into the schedule rather than the sign-off email. Large-format signage typically goes to print two to three weeks before doors open, which means the landing page has to exist and be final before that date - not on the morning of the event. ## How to Produce an Event QR Code Set for a Client Generating each code takes about a minute. The naming, sizing and proofing around it are what keep a set of thirty codes straight. - **Paste the Client Redirect**: Paste the redirect URL agreed with the client - one per deliverable, on their domain. Use the https:// version and open it on a phone before you encode it, because a QR code cannot fix a destination that is broken on mobile or that has not been built yet. - **Apply the Client's Brand Kit**: Set the client's brand color on the dark modules, keep the background white or a very light tint, and add their logo in the center. Choose a square or circular symbol to match the event identity, and keep the same treatment across the whole deliverable set so the codes read as one campaign. - **Export SVG for Print, PNG for Screens**: Download SVG for anything going to a printer, since a vector file is placed at 2.5 cm on a badge or 30 cm on a stand fascia from the same file. Download PNG for holding slides, digital signage and social assets, exported at least three times the pixel size it will be displayed at. Name each file after the deliverable and the destination, not after the client. ## Where Event Codes Go, and What Size Each One Needs Size follows read distance. The working rule of thumb is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the practical minimum for any printed code. Every size below is that rule applied to a real event deliverable. - **Registration and Check-In Signage**: A code read from about 1.5 m in a queue needs to be around 15 cm wide, mounted between 120 and 160 cm from the floor so it is square to a held phone and reachable from a wheelchair. Put it on rigid board rather than a fabric banner, and keep it out of the doorway glare that entrance halls almost always have. - **Delegate Badges and Lanyards**: Print badge codes 2.5-3 cm wide with the quiet zone inside the badge area, not running off the die-cut. On a 300 dpi thermal badge printer, keep each module at four printer dots or more, and test a live badge from the on-site printer rather than a proof from the studio - direct-thermal stock and studio laser output are not the same surface. - **Exhibitor and Sponsor Stands**: A fascia code read from about 3 m across an aisle needs roughly 30 cm. Exhibitors usually print their own graphics, so send the specification with the stand pack: minimum size for their read distance, dark on light, four modules of quiet zone, and SVG supplied by you rather than a screenshot of your code. - **Programs, Table Cards and Session Boards**: A 2-3 cm code is enough on anything held or read at arm's length: printed programs, table numbers, seat drops, session boards outside a room. Give each its own destination - the agenda, the speaker bio, the session feedback form - rather than sending everything to one hub page and asking the reader to navigate. - **Pull-Up Banners and A-Boards**: On a pull-up banner or an A-board read from 2 m, use a 20 cm code and place it in the upper half of a pull-up, since the bottom 40 cm of an 85 x 200 cm banner is behind the crowd all day. These are the deliverables most likely to be stored and reused, so point them at a redirect you can repoint for the next edition. - **Stage Backdrops and Auditorium Screens**: Do not put the scannable code on the stage backdrop. An audience sits 5-15 m from it, which by the sizing rule needs a code 50-150 cm wide, and the room is dark. Put the code on a holding slide on the auditorium screen instead, leave it up for at least 20 seconds, and repeat it on the lectern and the session board outside the door. ## Agency Rules Worth Writing Into the Job Sheet These are the checks that catch a failing code while it is still a file. After the print run they cost a reprint, and at an event there is no reprint. - **Keep the Code Dark on a Light Background**: Print dark modules on white or a very light tint, and do not invert a code to light-on-dark because the event identity is dark. Phone cameras are built to expect a dark symbol on a light field, and inverted codes are read inconsistently across devices even when a single test scan succeeds. If the brand is dark, put the code in a light panel inside the design. - **Keep Four Modules of Blank Margin**: A quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR standard specifies four modules of clear space. On event artwork the usual culprits are a sponsor logo strip, a bleed line and a badge die-cut, so check the margin against the trimmed size rather than the artboard. - **Print the URL in Text Beside Every Code**: A printed URL next to the code serves the delegate whose camera will not focus, whose battery is flat, or who is using a screen reader - a QR code is an image and carries no accessible text. Keep the visible URL short enough to type by hand, which is one more reason to use a redirect on a short path rather than a deep platform link. - **Size to the Distance, Then Round Up**: Apply roughly 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of read distance, then round up rather than down. Rounding up costs a little artwork space; rounding down means a delegate steps closer, casts a shadow on the code in a hall lit from above, and gives up after two attempts. - **Specify Matte for Anything Under a Downlight**: Matte lamination scatters light, gloss lamination reflects it straight back into the camera. Registration desks, exhibition halls and hotel foyers are all lit from above at close range, so specify matte for any laminated code and avoid mounting one behind glass or acrylic. - **Keep the Client Logo Under About 30% of the Code**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets it stay scannable when part of the symbol is covered or damaged, and level H recovers roughly 30% of the data. A client logo centered on a level-H code is normally fine at that size; a logo covering half the symbol is not, whatever one successful test scan suggests. - **Give Every Deliverable Its Own Destination**: Check-in, the agenda, the floor plan, the exhibitor list and the feedback form are five different moments, and a single hub code makes every one of them a two-step task. Separate redirects also mean the post-event report can say which deliverable was scanned, instead of reporting one number for the whole event. - **Never Encode Personal Data in a Badge Code**: A QR code is not encrypted - anyone can decode its contents with a phone, and badges are photographed and posted publicly all day. Never encode a delegate's email address, phone number or ticket token in the symbol. Encode an opaque reference or a link to an authenticated page, and let the check-in system resolve the identity. - **Version the Code Set for Each Edition**: Never reprint last year's artwork with last year's code and assume the redirect was updated. Keep a job sheet listing every code, its deliverable, its destination and the date it was last verified, and re-scan the stored hardware during load-in for the next edition before it goes on the floor. - **Scan the Delivered Print, Not the Proof PDF**: Check the physical delivery from each supplier on arrival, at the distance it will be read from, on two phones. Ink spread on uncoated stock, a downscaled raster placed instead of the vector, and a banner printed at 90% to fit a frame all break codes that were correct in the artwork - and all of them only show on the finished item. ## Generate the QR Code Set for Your Next Event Paste the client redirect, apply their brand color and logo, and download SVG for the print supplier and PNG for the screens. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, requires no account and adds no watermark. KoloQR generates static QR codes, which encode the URL directly and never expire. Static codes carry no built-in scan analytics and no dashboard for repointing a printed code, so an agency contracted to report per-code scan counts to a client will need either a redirect it can measure or a dynamic QR service. In practice a short redirect on the client's domain covers both needs: it can be repointed between editions, and the scans land in the client's own web analytics rather than in a third-party account that stops working when a subscription lapses. ## FAQ ### Who Should Own the Link Behind an Event QR Code? The client should own the domain the code points at, with the agency given access to manage the redirect during the event. Printed material outlasts the contract, and a code pointing at an agency-owned short link stops working when that domain lapses or the client moves agency. Agree this at kick-off, before artwork sign-off. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Pull-Up Banner? About 20 cm wide for a banner read from 2 m, placed in the upper half so the crowd does not stand in front of it. The underlying rule is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of read distance, and the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) is 2 cm regardless of distance. ### Can We Put a QR Code on the Stage Backdrop? Not as the scannable one. An audience sits 5-15 m from the backdrop, which needs a code 50-150 cm wide by the sizing rule, and auditoriums are dark. Show the code on a holding slide on the screen for at least 20 seconds instead, and repeat it on the lectern and the board outside the room. ### How Do We Stop Exhibitors Printing Codes That Do Not Scan? Send a one-page specification with the stand pack and supply the SVG yourself. State the minimum code width for their read distance, dark modules on a light background, four modules of quiet zone, and no screenshots or resized rasters. Ask for a photo of the printed graphic during build so a failure is caught at load-in. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Delegate Badge? 2.5-3 cm wide, with the quiet zone inside the badge area rather than running off the die-cut. On a 300 dpi thermal badge printer, keep each module at four printer dots or more, and test a badge produced by the on-site printer on its actual stock - studio laser proofs do not predict direct-thermal output. ### Can One QR Code Serve a Whole Event? It can if it points at a hub page, but it makes every task two steps and reduces the post-event report to a single number. Separate codes for check-in, the agenda, the floor plan and feedback are clearer for attendees and tell you which deliverable actually earned its scans. ### Can We Reuse Last Year's Banners and Their QR Codes? Yes, if the code points at a redirect you can repoint. Update the destination for the new edition, then scan every stored item during load-in before it goes on the floor. Never assume a stored banner's redirect was updated - re-scanning the physical item is the only check that proves it. ### Why Did the Code on Our Fabric Backdrop Stop Working? Tension fabric has a weave and a slack surface, and both blur module edges enough to break a code that scans on paper. Print the scannable code on rigid board, foamex or vinyl beside the fabric instead. If it must sit on fabric, print it substantially larger than the sizing rule requires and proof the finished panel. ### Do We Need Dynamic QR Codes to Report Scans to a Client? Not necessarily. A static code pointing at a redirect on the client's domain gives scan counts in the client's own web analytics and can be repointed between editions. A dynamic service is worth it when the client wants a per-code dashboard they log into themselves, or when no one can manage a redirect for them. ### Can We Add the Client's Brand Colors and Logo to the Code? Yes. Use the brand color on the dark modules only, keep the background light, and center the logo at under roughly 30% of the code area with [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) at level H. A code printed in two mid-tone brand colors is the most common branding failure - a phone camera cannot resolve the contrast. --- # How Agencies Produce Campaign QR Codes That Survive the Print Run URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/marketing-agencies Campaign QR codes sized by read distance, exported as vector for the printer, tracked with per-placement UTMs, and redirected on the client's own domain. An agency generating a QR code is doing it on someone else's behalf, which changes what matters. The code has to be sized for each placement in the media plan, exported in a format the client's printer accepts, styled inside brand guidelines without losing contrast, and pointed at a redirect the client still controls after the retainer ends. This page covers each of those decisions, the sizes for the formats agencies actually buy, and the placements where a QR code should not be sold at all. - Vector export for the printer - Sized by read distance - Free, no account ## Why Agencies Put QR Codes on Client Campaigns A QR code is the only measurable link between a printed placement and a landing page. For an agency that has to report on print, that is most of the reason it is there. - **Print Becomes Attributable**: A printed ad usually reports nothing. Give the bus shelter, the press insert and the direct mail pack each their own URL or UTM parameter, and web analytics separates them for the whole flight. Static QR codes carry no analytics of their own, so per-placement URLs are the only way to tell a client which half of the print budget worked. - **One Landing Page Instead of a Typed Search**: A campaign line and a domain sends the reader to a homepage; a QR code sends them to the campaign page itself. Every step between the poster and the offer loses people, and the QR code removes all of them, including the ones lost to typos in a URL with a campaign path in it. - **The Same Code Across Every Placement**: A campaign usually runs across six or seven printed formats at once, each read from a different distance. One generated code, exported at several sizes from a single vector file, keeps the artwork identical across the set while each placement still gets the physical size it needs to scan. - **The Client Keeps Something That Still Works**: A static QR code has its destination encoded in the pattern and depends on no account, subscription or vendor. Pointed at a redirect on the client's own domain, it keeps resolving after the campaign ends, after the retainer ends, and after the agency's own tooling is switched off - which is not true of a code created inside a dynamic platform the agency pays for. ## What to Settle Before You Generate the First Code Two agency-specific decisions cause almost every campaign code that fails later: who owns the address the code points at, and what file the printer receives. Neither can be fixed after the print run. Both are cheaper than a [reprint](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print). ### A Redirect on the Client's Domain, Not Yours Encode a short URL on the client's own domain - client.com/go/spring - and redirect it server-side to the campaign page. That keeps the printed code editable in the only sense that matters: the pattern never changes while the destination can. Encoding an agency short link instead ties the client's printed material to a domain the agency renews, and campaigns have outlived agency relationships often enough that this is worth a line in the statement of work. Set the redirect live before the artwork goes to print, because it cannot be added to a code retroactively. ### A Vector File and a Scan on the Printer's Proof Send the printer a vector file - SVG, PDF or EPS - so the code holds its edges at any size, and hand over the [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) in plain text alongside it so anyone rebuilding the artwork does not retype it. Then scan the printer's physical proof, not the PDF on your screen, on one iPhone and one Android phone. A proof catches what a screen cannot: ink spread closing the gaps between modules, a varnish reflecting the light back into the camera, and a quiet zone the layout artist trimmed to fit. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Client Campaign Generating the code takes under a minute. The decisions worth the time are the destination, the contrast and the export format. - **Paste the Redirect URL, Not the Full Campaign URL**: Paste the short redirect on the client's domain into KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, and keep the UTM parameters on the redirect's far side rather than inside the code. Fewer characters means fewer modules, and fewer modules means larger, more forgiving squares at the same printed size - which is what lets a code work on a flyer as well as a poster. - **Apply the Brand, Then Check the Contrast**: Set the client's colors, add the logo in the center and choose a module shape that suits the artwork - square, round, or a fully circular code. Keep the modules clearly darker than the background and the logo well under a quarter of the code area. Styling changes how a code looks, never how well it scans, so contrast and size still decide whether it reads. - **Export EPS or PDF for Print, PNG for the Deck**: Download EPS or PDF for the printer and SVG for the design file; all three are vector and scale from a 2 cm flyer corner to a 30 cm exhibition panel without softening. Download PNG for the client presentation and the digital placements. KoloQR also copies a code straight into Figma, which is usually where the artwork already is. ## Sizes for the Formats a Media Plan Actually Buys Read distance sets the size, not the size of the placement. As a working rule, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the practical floor for any printed code. - **Bus Shelter and Standee, 15-20 cm**: A six-sheet in a bus shelter is read from 1-2 m by someone who is standing still with nothing to do, which makes it the best-performing outdoor format for a QR code. Print the code 15-20 cm wide and place it between roughly 120 cm and 150 cm from the ground, so a phone held at chest height sits square to it rather than at an angle across the panel. - **Press and Magazine Ad, 3-4 cm**: A full-page press ad is held at 30-40 cm, so a 3-4 cm code is enough. Keep it at least 10 mm inside the trim edge and at least 1 cm clear of the gutter: a code that crosses the spine of a saddle-stitched magazine bends away from the camera at exactly the moment the reader tries to scan it, and a code trimmed into on press loses its quiet zone. - **Direct Mail and Flyers, 2.5-3 cm**: A DL flyer or mail pack is held at 20-25 cm, so print the code 2.5-3 cm wide. Keep it 1 cm away from every fold line, because a crease through a code breaks the module grid the scanner is measuring. On a reply device or a coupon, keep the code away from the perforation for the same reason. - **Product Packaging and Labels, 2-3 cm**: Print the code 2-3 cm on a pack read at arm's length, and put it on the flattest panel available. Curvature is the constraint nobody budgets for: on a bottle or a can, keep the code inside roughly a third of the visible curve so the modules at its edges are not turned away from the lens. Substrate matters too - a code printed on kraft or uncoated stock spreads, so add a little size rather than relying on the artwork proof. - **Exhibition Stands and Event Graphics, 20-30 cm**: A stand graphic or pull-up banner is read from 2-3 m across an aisle, so print the code 20-30 cm wide and keep it above waist height where bodies and furniture do not block it. Point an event code at something the visitor can complete on the spot - a demo booking, a sample request, a follow-up form - rather than at a corporate homepage they will not read while standing up. - **Vehicle Livery and Window Vinyl, 20 cm Minimum**: A code on a parked van or a shop window is read from 1-2 m, so print it 15-20 cm and use matte vinyl. A code on a moving vehicle cannot be scanned at all and should not be sold as if it can. Behind glass, matte film also stops the street lighting and the phone's own screen reflecting back into the camera, which is the usual reason a large window code refuses to read. ## Rules That Keep a Campaign QR Code Scanning A campaign code fails for a small number of repeated reasons, and almost all of them are decided in the studio rather than at the printer. - **Give Every Placement Its Own URL**: Static QR codes report nothing on their own, so attribution has to be built into the destination. Point each placement at its own redirect or UTM parameter - src=shelter, src=press, src=mail - and web analytics separates them for the whole flight. The figures run slightly below true scan counts because they measure page views rather than camera reads, but the comparison between placements is reliable. - **Own the Redirect on the Client's Domain**: A short URL on the client's domain, redirected server-side, is the only way a static printed code stays editable. It also survives the end of the engagement. An agency-owned short domain, or a dynamic code on the agency's subscription, makes the client's printed material dependent on a bill the agency keeps paying. - **Build the Dark Modules as 100% K**: In CMYK print, build the code's dark modules from black alone rather than as a four-color rich black. A rich black needs all four plates to register perfectly, and any misregistration softens every module edge in the symbol at once. Pure K also keeps the code sharp on presses and substrates where the other plates spread. - **Do Not Let a Brand Palette Set the Contrast**: Native camera apps on iOS and Android expect dark modules on a light background, and a code printed light-on-dark fails on a noticeable share of phones. Brand guidelines regularly specify a mid-tone on a mid-tone, which is legible to a designer and invisible to a scanner. When the palette will not give enough separation, put the code in a light panel inside the layout rather than recoloring it. - **Protect the Quiet Zone From the Layout**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and it must be at least 4 modules wide. On campaign artwork it is usually the first thing lost - to a strapline crowding the corner, a legal line, a bleed edge or a partner logo lockup. Lock the code and its margin as one object in the artwork so nothing can be nudged into it. - **Do Not Sell a Code Where It Cannot Be Scanned**: A roadside 48-sheet read at 25 m would need a code roughly 2.5 m wide, and a driver cannot hold a camera steady anyway. The same applies to a moving vehicle, a code on screen for four seconds, and anything above the second floor of a building. Recommending against those placements is cheaper than reporting on them afterwards. - **Raise Error Correction Only When Something Covers the Code**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets it still read when part of the symbol is damaged or covered, at four levels - L, M, Q and H - recovering roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30%. Level H is worth the extra modules when a logo sits in the middle or the code goes on packaging that scuffs. Everywhere else it makes the pattern denser, which is the opposite of what a small printed code needs. - **Send Vector, and Never a Screenshot**: Hand the printer SVG, PDF or EPS. A PNG dropped into a large-format layout is resampled up and the module edges go soft, which is the single most common way a well-designed code arrives at print already broken. If a raster file is unavoidable, export it at final print size at 300 dpi rather than scaling a screen-sized file. - **Test on the Proof, Not on the Screen**: Scan the printed proof at final size, from the distance the audience will stand at, on one iPhone and one Android handset. A code that reads on a monitor can fail on paper because of ink spread, varnish gloss, substrate texture or a laminate the studio never saw. Build the scan test into the approval step so it happens before the plate, not after the delivery. - **Label the Code and Print the URL Beside It**: A code with a one-line label - Scan for the full range, Scan to book a demo - is scanned far more often than a bare square, because it tells the reader what they are agreeing to open. Printing the short URL in text next to it costs one line and keeps the placement working for readers who will not scan a code and for phones that cannot. - **Keep the Landing Page Alive After the Flight**: Printed material outlives a campaign by months: mail packs sit in drawers, magazines sit in waiting rooms, packaging sits in cupboards. When the campaign page comes down, redirect it to the nearest evergreen page rather than deleting it. A late scan that lands on a product page is a visit; one that lands on a 404 is a complaint about the agency. - **Name the Files by Placement, Not by Version**: A campaign ships six or seven codes that look identical and point somewhere different, and qr-final-v3.svg is how the shelter code ends up on the mail pack. Name each export for the placement and the parameter it carries - spring-shelter-src-shelter.eps - so the wrong file is obvious in the artwork folder rather than at press. ## Generate the Codes for Your Next Client Campaign Paste the client's redirect URL, apply their colors and logo, and export EPS or PDF for the printer, SVG for the design file and PNG for the deck. KoloQR is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark or expiry - including on commercial client work. The codes are static, so the destination lives in the printed pattern rather than on a server. Pointed at a redirect on the client's own domain, that is a feature rather than a limitation: nothing to renew, nothing to expire, and no platform between the printed placement and the page it opens. ## FAQ ### How Do Agencies Track QR Code Scans Across a Campaign? Give each placement its own URL or UTM parameter and read them in the client's web analytics, because a static QR code reports nothing itself. A shelter code pointing at /go/spring?src=shelter and a mail code pointing at /go/spring?src=mail appear as separate sources. The counts sit slightly below real scans, since they measure page visits rather than camera reads. ### Should the QR Code Point at Our Short Link or the Client's? The client's. A printed code cannot be edited, so whoever owns the domain in the pattern controls whether the campaign still resolves in two years. An agency short domain ties the client's print run to a registration and a redirect service the agency maintains. Put the redirect on the client's domain and hand over the mapping with the artwork. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Billboard or Poster? Size it to the read distance, not the poster: roughly 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of distance. A bus shelter six-sheet read at 1.5 m needs about 15 cm; an exhibition banner read at 2.5 m needs about 25 cm. A roadside 48-sheet read at 25 m would need a 2.5 m code, which is why QR codes do not belong on them. ### Which File Format Should We Send to the Printer? Send vector - EPS, PDF or SVG - so the code stays sharp at any size, and build the dark modules as 100% K rather than a rich black. Avoid PNG in large-format artwork: scaling a raster code up softens the module edges and is the most common reason a well-designed code fails on press. KoloQR exports all three vector formats and also [copies a code straight into Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma), which is usually where the layout already lives. ### Can We Match a QR Code to the Client's Brand Guidelines? Yes, within one hard constraint: the modules have to stay clearly darker than the background. KoloQR supports custom colors, a center logo and square, round, hexagonal or fully circular codes, so most guidelines can be honoured. Where the palette gives too little separation, place the code in a light panel rather than recoloring it lighter. ### Do We Need Dynamic QR Codes for Client Work? Only if you need scan analytics from the code itself, or need to change the destination without touching the redirect. For everything else, a static code pointed at a redirect on the client's domain gives the same editability with no subscription and no vendor that can take the campaign offline. Dynamic platforms are the right answer when per-code dashboards are contracted deliverables. ### Can We Use KoloQR Codes in Paid Client Campaigns? Yes, including commercial print runs and work you bill for. KoloQR is free, applies no watermark, sets no expiry and imposes no licence fee on the codes it generates. The codes are static, so a printed placement keeps working without a subscription and without depending on KoloQR staying online. ### Why Did the QR Code Fail on Press When It Worked in the PDF? Print introduces four variables a screen does not: ink spread closing the gaps between modules, gloss varnish or laminate reflecting light into the camera, substrate texture on uncoated or kraft stock, and misregistration softening a rich black. Check all four on a physical proof at final size, and rebuild the dark modules as 100% K if they were not already. ### How Many QR Codes Should One Campaign Have? One per placement you want to measure separately, not one per campaign. Six placements with six redirects cost nothing extra to generate and turn print into six reportable lines. The codes can look identical if the artwork requires it - the difference lives in the URL, so name the export files by placement to stop the wrong one reaching the wrong layout. ### What Happens to the Codes When the Campaign Ends? Redirect the campaign page to the nearest evergreen page instead of deleting it, and leave the redirect in place. Mail packs, magazines and packaging keep being scanned for months after a flight ends. A late scan that lands on a live product page is a free visit for the client; one that lands on a 404 is a support ticket with the agency's name on it. Seasonal retail campaigns are the sharpest case, and [QR codes for Black Friday](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday) lays out a redirect plan from early access to the weeks after the sale. --- # Free QR Codes for Nonprofits and Charity Fundraising URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/nonprofits Donation QR codes sized for the surface they sit on: appeal letters, collection tins, banners and shop windows, plus the fraud and accessibility rules. A donation QR code works when it is big enough for the distance it is read from, printed into the artwork rather than stuck on afterwards, and pointed at a page that takes a card payment in one hand. Size follows read distance - roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - so a 3 cm code on an appeal letter is right and the same 3 cm code on a gala banner raises nothing. - Free, no sign-up - SVG and PNG export - Logo and brand colors ## What Nonprofits Actually Use QR Codes For A QR code is a printed link, so it earns its place wherever a nonprofit already makes an ask: in the post, on a collection tin, on a banner behind a speaker, or on the last page of an impact report. - **The Donation Happens While the Ask Is Still in Front of Them**: Most people who intend to give later do not give later. A QR code beside the ask closes the gap between reading an appeal and paying it, because the donation page opens in the same few seconds the reader is still holding the letter, standing at the stand, or listening to the speaker. - **Card and Wallet Payments Replace the Cash Nobody Carries**: A collection tin only takes what is in someone's pocket. A QR code on the same tin opens a donation page that accepts a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, which is the only money most passers-by are carrying. Set the page to offer two or three preset amounts so giving takes one tap rather than a typed figure. - **Every Donation Page Collects What a Bucket Cannot**: A donation page can capture an email address, a Gift Aid declaration in the UK, and the written receipt that US donors need for gifts of $250 or more, all at the moment of giving. Cash dropped in a bucket arrives anonymous, unclaimable and impossible to thank. - **Volunteering, Legacies and Impact Updates Use the Same Route**: Fundraising is not the only ask a nonprofit makes. Separate codes can open a volunteer sign-up form, a legacy giving page, a food bank's current shopping list or a service referral form, each pointed at one page rather than at a homepage the reader then has to navigate. ## Two Things to Settle Before You Print a Donation Code A donation QR code fails in one of two ways: it points at a page that asks too much of someone standing in the street, or nobody completed a real donation through the printed version before 5,000 letters went out. ### One Stable Donation URL on a Domain Donors Recognize Point the code at a [web address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) on your own domain - yourcharity.org/donate - rather than at a shortened link or a deep URL inside a fundraising platform. A donor who is about to enter card details reads the domain that appears after the scan, and an unfamiliar one is where giving stops. Keep the printed URL short enough that someone can type it instead of scanning. - **One Ask per Code**: a donation code, a volunteer code and a newsletter code, rather than one code landing on a page of choices nobody reads in the cold. - **A Page That Works One-Handed on a Phone**: wallet payment enabled, two or three preset amounts, no account required, and no PDF anywhere in the path. - **An Address That Outlives the Appeal**: /donate rather than /winter-appeal-2026, so next year's campaign arrives at an address that is already printed on 5,000 pieces of paper. ### One Real Donation Made Through the Printed Piece Scan the printed code on one iPhone and one Android phone, then complete an actual donation of the smallest amount the page allows and refund it afterwards. A test scan proves the code decodes; a test donation proves the payment step works on a phone, the receipt email arrives, and the Gift Aid or acknowledgment box appears where a donor expects it. Do this on the physical print, under the light the piece will live in, before the print run rather than after. ## How to Make a Donation QR Code Generating the code takes about a minute. The size, surface and trust decisions below are what decide whether it raises anything. - **Paste the Donation Page URL**: Paste the address the code should open - your donation page, a specific appeal, a volunteer form or a legacy giving page. Use the https:// version, and open it on a phone first: a QR code cannot rescue a donation form that needs pinch-zoom to fill in. - **Apply Your Charity's Colors and Logo**: Choose a square or circular symbol, set your brand colors and place your logo in the center. Keep the code darker than its background - dark modules on white or a very light tint scan reliably, and a light code on a dark appeal photo is the most common reason a printed donation code fails. - **Download SVG for Print, PNG for Screens**: Download SVG for anything going to a printer, because a vector file stays sharp at 3 cm on a reply slip and at 50 cm on a stage banner. Download PNG for slides, email footers and social posts, exported at least three times the size it will be shown at. ## Where Donation QR Codes Go, and What Size Each One Needs Size follows read distance. The working rule is roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the practical minimum for any printed code. Every size below is that rule applied to a real fundraising surface. - **Appeal Letters and Reply Envelopes**: Print the code 2.5-3 cm wide beside the ask, not on the reverse of the sheet, because a letter read at about 30 cm needs 3 cm of code and a reader who has to turn the page usually does not. Keep the reply slip and the freepost envelope in the pack: the donors who respond best to direct mail are often the ones least likely to scan. - **Collection Tins, Buckets and Donation Boxes**: Use a 3 cm code on a flat, rigid panel on the front of the tin, read from about 30 cm. Never wrap a code around the curve of a bucket or a tube - a QR code bent around a cylinder distorts its module grid and stops decoding. Add the charity name and the donation URL in text on the same panel so the tin still identifies itself when the phone fails. - **Charity Shop Windows and Counters**: A window code read from the pavement at 2 m needs about 20 cm. A decal applied to the inside of the glass must be printed reversed so it reads correctly from the street, because a mirrored QR code will not decode on most phone cameras. At the counter, a 4 cm code on an upright stand beats a sticker lying flat, which nobody can angle a phone over while holding a bag. - **Fundraising Event Banners and Table Cards**: A stage or backdrop banner read from 5 m needs roughly 50 cm of code; a table card read at 40 cm needs about 4 cm. Gala lighting is dim and banner fabric creases, so keep the code on a flat panel of the design away from seams and folds, and print it dark on a pale block rather than over a photograph. - **Noticeboards, Posters and Church Service Sheets**: A 3-4 cm code works on an A4 or A3 poster read at arm's length, placed in the lower third where a standing reader's hand reaches. On a projected slide, make the code at least one sixth of the slide height and leave it up for 20 seconds or more - a congregation or an audience needs time to find a phone, not just to scan. - **Annual Reports, Newsletters and Thank-You Letters**: A 2.5-3 cm code in a report or newsletter should open the specific thing the page is about: the full accounts, the impact story, the volunteer form. A thank-you letter is the one place to point a code at something other than a donation page - a story about what the last gift paid for is what earns the next one. ## Rules That Keep Donation QR Codes Working and Trusted A donation code carries money and a charity's name, so it has two failure modes that other QR codes do not: it can stop scanning, and it can be tampered with. These checks cover both. - **Print the Code Into the Artwork, Not as a Loose Sticker**: A QR code printed as part of the poster, tin or banner design is far harder to cover than a sticker, and fraudulent stickers placed over legitimate codes are a known problem on unattended signage. Where a sticker is unavoidable, use tamper-evident labels and check unattended codes on a schedule rather than waiting for a donor to report it. - **Always Print the Donation URL in Text Beside the Code**: A printed URL serves the donor whose camera will not focus, whose phone is old, or who is using a screen reader - a QR code is an image and carries no accessible text. It also lets a cautious donor check the domain before scanning, which is the simplest defense against a swapped code. - **Keep the Required Charity Details on the Same Panel**: A QR code carries a link and nothing else, so any statement your regulator requires on fundraising material has to appear in the printed text around it. In England and Wales, for example, registered charities above the £10,000 income threshold must state their registered charity number on documents that ask for money. - **Keep the Code Dark on a Light Background**: Print dark modules on white or a very light tint, and do not invert the code to light-on-dark to sit on an appeal photograph. Phone cameras expect a dark symbol on a light field, and inverted codes read inconsistently across devices even when a test on one phone succeeds. - **Size the Code to the Read Distance, Then Round Up**: Apply roughly 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of read distance: 3 cm for a letter, 20 cm for a shop window read from 2 m, 50 cm for a banner read from 5 m. Rounding up costs a little space on the design; rounding down means a donor steps closer, casts a shadow on the code, and gives up. - **Keep Four Modules of Blank Margin**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR standard specifies four modules of clear space. In practice, keep a margin about four small squares wide free of text, rules, photographs and the edge of the tin. - **Keep the Code Flat, Rigid and Out of the Fold**: Curves, creases and folds break the module grid a scanner has to read. Keep codes off the round of a bucket, off the seam of a fabric banner, and away from where a leaflet folds or a letter is creased for the envelope - a code across a fold line is one of the few failures a proof will never show you. - **Label the Code With What Happens Next**: Write the outcome beside every code: "Scan to give $10, $25 or $50", "Scan to volunteer", "Scan to read our accounts". A bare code beside a logo gets ignored, and a donation code that does not say it takes payment reads as a risk rather than an invitation. - **Give Every Appeal Its Own URL**: Static QR codes cannot count scans, but distinct destinations can. Point the letter at /donate/mail, the banner at /donate/gala and the shop window at /donate/shop - each redirecting to the same form with its own campaign parameter - and your existing web analytics tells you which piece raised the money, at no cost. - **Never Encode Payment or Donor Data in the Code Itself**: A QR code is not encrypted, and anyone can decode its contents with a phone. Encode a link to a secure donation page rather than bank details, a donor reference or anything from a supporter record. Bank-standard payment codes such as SEPA EPC, UPI or Pix are a different payload generated by your payment provider, not by a URL generator. - **Re-Test After Every Reprint, on the Printed Piece**: Scan the physical item, not the PDF proof, and complete one real donation through it. Print scaling, upscaled PNGs, textured stock and ink spread all blur module edges enough to break a code that was perfect in the design file, and the damage only shows on paper. ## Generate a QR Code for Your Next Appeal Paste your donation URL, apply your colors and logo, and download SVG for print or PNG for screens. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, requires no account and adds no watermark. KoloQR generates static QR codes, which encode the URL directly and never expire - useful for material that stays in circulation for years, such as legacy giving leaflets and plaques. Static codes have no built-in scan analytics and cannot be repointed after printing, so a nonprofit that needs per-appeal scan counts in a dashboard, or the ability to change a printed code's destination mid-campaign, should look at a dynamic QR service. For most fundraising, a set of short redirects on your own domain gives the same flexibility, keeps your charity's name in the address a donor reads, and leaves the data in your own analytics. ## FAQ ### How Do I Make a QR Code for Donations? Paste your donation page URL into a QR code generator, apply your charity's colors and logo, and download the SVG for print. Print it 2.5-3 cm wide on a letter, larger on anything read from further away, with the donation URL in text beside it. Then complete one real donation through the printed code before the full run. ### Are QR Codes for Nonprofits Free? Yes. Generating static QR codes on KoloQR is free, with no account, no limit on how many you create, and both SVG and PNG exports included. Costs sit elsewhere in the chain: your donation platform's transaction fees, and a dynamic QR service if you specifically need scan analytics or editable destinations. ### What Size Should a Donation QR Code Be? About 3 cm on an appeal letter or reply slip read at 30 cm, 20 cm on a shop window read from 2 m, and roughly 50 cm on a stage banner read from 5 m. The rule underneath all three is 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Below 2 cm, printed codes become unreliable at any distance. ### Can a QR Code Take a Donation Payment Directly? No. A QR code carries data, not money - a donation code encodes the address of a page that takes the payment. Bank payment codes such as SEPA EPC in Europe, UPI in India or Pix in Brazil are a separate payload with its own standard, generated by your bank or payment provider rather than by a URL QR code generator. ### How Do We Know Which Appeal a Donation Came From? Give each printed piece its own destination. Point the letter at /donate/mail and the banner at /donate/gala, redirect both to the same form with a campaign parameter, and read the split in your own web analytics. Static codes cannot count scans themselves, so the distinct URL is what makes attribution possible. ### Can Someone Replace Our QR Code With Their Own? Yes, if the code is a sticker on an unattended surface - covering one code with another is trivial. Three things make it much harder: print the code into the artwork rather than applying it separately, print the donation URL in text so donors can check the domain, and inspect public-facing codes on a regular schedule. ### Why Do Some Supporters Say the QR Code Doesn't Work? The four usual causes are a code printed too small for the distance, a light code on a dark background, text or a border encroaching on the blank margin, and glare on a laminated or glazed surface. Older handsets are a fifth: a small number still need a scanner app, which is why the URL beside the code matters. ### Can We Claim Gift Aid on a Donation Made Through a QR Code? The code itself is irrelevant to Gift Aid - what matters is that the donation page collects a valid declaration from a UK taxpayer at the point of giving. That is a practical argument for a QR code over a cash bucket: a form can capture the declaration and the donor's details, and loose cash cannot. ### Where Should QR Codes Go at a Fundraising Event? Put a large code on the stage or backdrop banner for the appeal moment, a 4 cm code on each table card for auction lots and raffles, and one at the exit for newsletter sign-up. See the [events page](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/events) for check-in, ticketing and wayfinding codes, which follow different sizing rules from a donation ask. ### Should a Nonprofit Use Static or Dynamic QR Codes? Static codes suit anything pointed at a stable page on your own domain, and they never expire or depend on a third-party service staying online - which matters on a legacy leaflet or a memorial plaque. Dynamic codes are worth paying for when a campaign needs scan counts per piece or a destination changed after printing. ### Can We Put Our Charity's Logo in the QR Code? Yes. Keep the logo under roughly 30% of the code area and use error correction level H, which recovers about 30% of the symbol - see the [error correction guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) for what that trade-off costs. Use brand colors for the dark modules only and keep the background pale: two mid-tone brand colors rarely give a camera enough contrast. ### Do We Still Need Cash and Contactless if We Have QR Codes? Yes. A QR code assumes a smartphone, a working camera and enough confidence to enter card details in the street, and a share of every donor base has none of those. Street and door collections generally convert better with a contactless terminal, and older supporter bases still respond to a reply envelope. --- # How to Use QR Codes for a Black Friday Sale URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday A Black Friday QR code should point to a short URL on your own domain, so one printed sign can switch from the sale to regular pages after the weekend. A Black Friday QR code takes a shopper from a printed sign, flyer or parcel insert straight to the deal, the stock or the Cyber Monday preview. This page covers what each code should link to, where to put it in a crowded store, what size to print it, and how to keep the code useful after the weekend, when most sale codes are still on display. - Free, no account - Print-ready SVG and PNG - Logo and brand colors ## Why Shops Use QR Codes on Black Friday Black Friday puts more people in front of printed material than any other weekend in retail, and printed material cannot change once it is out. QR codes on Black Friday signage exist to bridge four specific gaps that paper leaves open. - **A Price Sign That Can Show Live Stock**: A printed Black Friday price sign cannot say which sizes are left. A QR code on that sign can open the product page, where stock and sizes are current, so shoppers stop queuing for a staff member to check the back room on the busiest day of the year. - **A Flyer That Reaches the Online Deal**: Black Friday flyers, posters and direct mail land days before the sale. A QR code on a flyer opens the deal page, the early-access sign-up or the store-hours page directly, which removes the step where a reader has to type a web address from paper. - **A Sale That Survives a Sold-Out Shelf**: A sold-out doorbuster is the most common Black Friday disappointment in a physical store. A QR code on the shelf or the sign can open the same product online, where delivery or click-and-collect may still be available, so the sale is kept instead of lost. - **A Customer You Can Reach on Cyber Monday**: Black Friday brings customers who may never come back. A QR code at the till, on the receipt or in the parcel insert leads to a newsletter, loyalty or Cyber Monday early-access sign-up while the shopper is still pleased with the purchase. ## What a Black Friday QR Code Needs Before It Goes to Print Two decisions make a Black Friday QR code work: the address encoded in the code, and a test scan of the printed piece in a store that looks like Black Friday. Both are cheap before the print order and expensive after it. ### A Short URL on Your Own Domain, Not the Sale Page Itself The best Black Friday QR code encodes a short address on the shop's own domain, such as yourshop.com/bf, that redirects to the sale page. A static QR code cannot be re-pointed once it is printed, but a redirect can be changed at any time, which is what lets one printed code work through the whole season. The [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) page covers the link itself. - **Before the Sale**: point the redirect at an early-access or countdown page, so flyers and posters printed in early November already have somewhere useful to go. - **During the Sale**: point the redirect at the deal page, then at Cyber Monday on the Monday, without reprinting anything. - **After the Sale**: point the redirect at the current offers or the regular range. Inserts, flyers and leftover signs keep being scanned for weeks, and an expired-offer page is a worse experience than no code at all. - **A Mobile Page That Loads on One Bar**: a full store means a busy mobile network, so the page behind the code should be light: no autoplay video, no heavy carousel, no PDF catalogue. ### One Test Scan of the Printed Sign, in Store Conditions Test a printed Black Friday sign, not the file on a monitor. Print one copy at final size, put it where it will hang, and scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone from where a customer will stand, including from the back of a queue. Check it again with the store lights at full brightness, because the spotlights that make a sale display look good also turn glossy signs into mirrors. Run the colours through the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) as well: a pair under 7:1 should be fixed before the run, not after. ## How to Make a QR Code for Black Friday Making the code takes about a minute. Setting up the short redirect behind it takes a few minutes more, and that is the part that decides how long the printed code stays useful. - **Create a Short Redirect on Your Own Domain**: Set up an address like yourshop.com/bf in your shop platform or web host and point it at the Black Friday page. Use a separate address per placement - /bf-window, /bf-flyer, /bf-insert - so your web analytics can tell you which printed piece was scanned. - **Paste the Short Address and Style the Code**: Paste the short address into the generator, add your logo, and set the colours. Black Friday branding is often black and red: keep the pattern dark on a light background, and put the red on the frame, the label or the eyes, where it does not cost contrast. - **Download SVG for Print, PNG for Screens**: SVG is a vector format, so one file prints cleanly on a 3 cm shelf label and a 30 cm aisle banner. Use PNG for email headers, social posts and digital screens in store, and send print shops the file at final size rather than a small PNG to enlarge. ## Where Black Friday QR Codes Work Each Black Friday placement is scanned from a different distance and in a different hurry, which changes the size and the destination. The working rule for size: about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, and never less than 2 cm. - **Shop Windows and Sale Posters**: Window posters are scanned from 1 to 2 metres on the pavement, often before opening, so print the code 15 to 20 cm wide at 120 to 150 cm from the ground and link it to opening hours, the doorbuster list or early access. Matte film stops street lights from turning the code into a reflection. - **Aisle Banners and Hanging Signs**: Signs hung above a crowded floor are read from about 3 metres, so the code needs around 30 cm of width. Smaller codes on high signs are the most common Black Friday sizing mistake, because they look fine on a desk-sized proof and cannot be scanned from the floor. - **Shelf Labels and Price Cards**: Shelf labels are read from about 30 cm, so 3 cm is enough. Link each one to its product page, where sizes, stock and reviews are current, and keep the empty margin around the code clear of sale stickers layered on top of the original price. - **Queues and Checkout**: Queue signs on stanchions are scanned from about a metre, so 10 cm works. A queue is the one place where shoppers have time to scan, which makes it the place for one ask: the app, the loyalty sign-up or the Cyber Monday preview - not all three. - **Flyers and Direct Mail**: A flyer is read in the hand, so 2.5 to 3 cm is enough. Print the discount code or the main offer as text beside the QR code as well, because many readers act on a flyer later, from a different device, without scanning it. - **Parcel Inserts and Receipts**: An insert in a Black Friday order is opened days later, often after the sale has ended. Link it to a redirect that moves to current offers after the weekend. On a thermal receipt, keep the code at least 2 cm wide with a very short URL, since thermal printing blurs dense codes. ## Black Friday QR Code Best Practices Most Black Friday QR codes that disappoint shoppers fail for the same handful of reasons, and almost all of them are fixed before the print order rather than after. - **Plan for the Code Outliving the Sale**: Black Friday lasts a weekend, and printed Black Friday material lasts months. Encode a short URL you control and redirect it to current offers once the sale ends, so a flyer found in January still opens something useful instead of an expired deal. - **Keep Dark Modules on a Light Background**: Black Friday design leans on black backgrounds, but a light QR code on black is an inverted code, which some scanners and older phones reject. Put the code on a white or light panel inside the black design, and keep the pattern near-black. - **Put the Red on the Frame, Not the Pattern**: A bright sale red such as #E10600 measures 4.97:1 on white and 3.80:1 under near-black, so it misses the 7:1 print target either way. Use red for the frame, the label and the corner squares, and keep the data modules near-black on white, which measures above 18:1. - **Size the Code for the Scanning Distance**: Use about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance, with 2 x 2 cm as the floor. A sign hung 3 metres above the floor needs roughly 30 cm, and a window poster read from the pavement needs 15 to 20 cm. - **Say What the Scan Gets, in Five Words or Fewer**: A bare code on a sale poster is easy to ignore. A short line - "Scan for today's doorbusters", "Scan to check stock" - tells the shopper what they get before they reach for the phone. - **Print Codes on the Sign, Not as Stickers on Top**: A common QR scam is a sticker with a different code pasted over a genuine one. Printing the code into the sign itself, and walking the store to check signs during the weekend, makes a swapped sticker easy to spot. - **Give Each Placement Its Own Address**: A different short URL for the window, the flyer, the shelf and the insert is the only way to know which printed piece earned scans. A static QR code does not count scans on its own, so the counting happens in your web analytics. - **Keep the Landing Page Light**: A store full of shoppers puts a heavy load on the local mobile network. A Black Friday landing page with large images or video loads slowly exactly where the code is scanned, so keep it to text, prices and small images. - **Do Not Put a QR Code Only on a Screen-Read Email**: A QR code in an email is useless to a reader on a phone, because the phone cannot scan its own screen. Every QR code in a Black Friday email needs a normal link beside it, and the code only helps readers on a desktop. - **Know What a Static QR Code Cannot Do**: KoloQR generates static QR codes: the destination is fixed when the code is created, and the code does not count scans. The short redirect on your own domain covers the first limit and your web analytics the second. If you need per-scan reports without a website of your own, a dynamic QR service is the better fit. ## Make Your Black Friday QR Code Paste your short redirect, set your colours, add your logo and download a print-ready file. No account, no watermark, and one SVG covers a shelf label, a flyer and an aisle banner. Before the print run, print one sign at final size and scan it where it will hang, with an iPhone and an Android phone, from the distance a shopper will stand at. Then check that the redirect behind it is ready to move to current offers on the Tuesday after Cyber Monday. ## FAQ ### What Should a Black Friday QR Code Link To? Link a Black Friday QR code to a short URL on your own domain that redirects to the right page for each phase: early access before the sale, the deal page during it, Cyber Monday on the Monday, and current offers after. One printed code then stays useful for the whole season instead of expiring with the sale. ### When Is Black Friday? Black Friday is the Friday after US Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, so Black Friday lands between 23 and 29 November. Cyber Monday is the Monday that follows. Printed material has to be ordered well before that weekend, so the redirect behind the code should exist before the print order goes in. ### Can I Change Where a Printed Black Friday QR Code Points? Not if the code holds the sale page directly: a static QR code, which is what KoloQR makes, has its destination encoded in the pattern. If the code holds a short URL on your own domain, you change the redirect behind that URL and every printed copy follows. Set the redirect up before printing. ### How Do I Track Black Friday QR Code Scans for Free? Give each printed placement its own short URL - /bf-window, /bf-flyer, /bf-insert - and read the visits in your web analytics. This counts page visits rather than raw scans, so the numbers run slightly low, but it shows reliably which window, flyer or insert earned the most traffic during the sale. ### Should I Use a Dynamic QR Code for Black Friday? Only if you have no website where you can set up a redirect, or you need scan counts by device and location from the QR service itself. A dynamic QR code is a short link hosted by a QR provider, usually on a subscription; if the [subscription lapses](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription), the printed codes can stop working. A redirect on your own domain does the same job with no expiry. ### Can a Black Friday QR Code Be Black and Red? Yes, if the pattern stays dark and the background light. Put the red on the frame, the label or the three corner squares, and keep the data modules near-black on white. A light code on a black poster is an inverted code, which some scanners reject, so place the code on a white panel within the black design. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Black Friday Sign? About 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the minimum. That works out at 3 cm on a shelf label, 10 cm on a queue sign, 15 to 20 cm on a window poster and roughly 30 cm on a sign hung 3 metres above the floor. ### Why Does My QR Code Work on My Screen but Not on the Printed Poster? A screen is backlit and flat, and a printed poster is neither. The usual causes are a code too small for the distance, glossy lamination reflecting store spotlights, a sale sticker or border cutting into the empty margin around the code, or colours that look strong but measure under 7:1. Print one copy at final size and test it in place. ### Is It Safe for Shoppers to Scan QR Codes on Black Friday? Shoppers are right to be careful: a known QR scam is a sticker pasted over a genuine code. Print codes into the sign rather than as separate stickers, use an address on your own recognisable domain so the preview a phone shows looks trustworthy, and check signs for tampering during the weekend. ### Is KoloQR Free for Black Friday Signage? Yes. KoloQR is free for commercial use, including Black Friday signs, flyers and parcel inserts, and the codes carry no watermark and no expiry. The codes are static, so they keep working without a subscription, and pairing them with a short redirect on your own domain keeps them useful after the sale. --- # Custom QR Codes That Look Like They Belong URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration Explore QR code design ideas that stay scannable: round and circular shapes, brand colors, logos, and frames. See how each is built before you make one. A QR code doesn't have to be a black square dropped onto your design. Browse the styles below to see how each one is built, where it fits, and what keeps it scannable on screen and in print. ## Browse QR Code Design Styles Each style shows what changes on the surface, what stays the same underneath, and where the format earns its place. ## Design Rules That Keep a QR Code Scannable Design freedom stops where legibility does. These habits keep a good-looking code working in the real world, from a phone screen to printed packaging. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: Dark on light scans most reliably. Light-on-dark can work, but low-contrast or busy backgrounds break scanning. A contrast checker catches it before you print. - **Respect the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear space around the code, roughly four modules wide. Crowding it is the most common reason a styled code won't scan. - **Add a Logo Carefully**: A centered logo builds trust, but keep it small and raise the error-correction level so the pattern stays readable. - **Keep the Eyes Legible**: You can restyle the three corner finder patterns, but keep them distinct - scanners rely on them to lock on. - **Don't Rely on Style for Scanning**: Shapes and colors don't speed up scanning; legibility does. Treat contrast and the quiet zone as hard limits, not suggestions. - **Test on Real Phones**: Scan the final file on an iPhone and an Android with the native camera. A code that reads on screen can still fail on paper. - **Export Vector for Print**: SVG, PDF, or EPS so the code stays crisp at any size. PNG is fine for screens but degrades when scaled up. - **Size for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the scanning distance. A poster read from 3 m needs a code around 30 cm wide. ## FAQ ### Do Custom QR Codes Still Scan Reliably? Yes, as long as you respect the limits: strong contrast, a clear quiet zone, and legible corner patterns. Styling changes how a code looks, not how it's read, so a well-made custom code scans as well as a plain one. ### How Do I Make a Round or Circular QR Code? Pick a circular, hexagonal, or triangular outer shape, then customize the dot and eye styling - these are core KoloQR features. The underlying data stays a standard QR, so it scans with any phone camera. ### How Much of a QR Code Can a Logo Cover? Keep a centered logo small - roughly up to a fifth of the code - and raise the error-correction level to compensate. Cover too much of the pattern and scanners give up, so always test before printing. ### Can I Use My Brand Colors in a QR Code? Yes, with one rule: keep enough contrast between the code and its background. Dark code on a light background is safest; check contrast before you commit so the color never costs you a scan. ### Will a Custom QR Code Work in Print and on Packaging? Yes. Export a vector file - SVG, PDF, or EPS - so it stays sharp at any size, keep strong contrast and a clear margin, and it holds up from a business card to a billboard. ### Do Designed QR Codes Need a Special App to Scan? No. A well-made custom code scans with the native camera on any modern iPhone or Android - no separate app required. The styling is visual only, so the phone reads it like any standard QR code. ### Does Styling Change Where a QR Code Points? No. Shapes, colors, and logos are purely visual - the encoded link is unchanged. You can restyle a code freely without affecting where it goes. --- # QR Code Shapes: What You Can Change and What You Can't URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes QR code shapes explained: round, square, triangle and hexagon styles, which layer each one changes, and how to pick a shape that still scans. A QR code can be round, hexagonal, triangular or framed, but only three parts of it are yours to restyle. This page maps every shape family, names the layer each one touches, and gives the limits that decide whether the result still scans. ## What Can Actually Change Shape in a QR Code? A QR code shape is styling applied to one of three parts of the symbol: the modules, the three finder patterns, or the frame drawn around them. A [triangle QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) and a [hexagon QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) both reshape the modules. The data always sits in a square grid, so a shape changes how a QR code looks - never what it encodes or where it points. ### The Three Layers You Can Reshape Every shaped QR code is one square symbol with styling applied to one or more of these three layers. Knowing which layer a design touches tells you how much risk it carries. - **Modules**: the small dark and light cells that carry the data. Drawing them as [circles](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), rounded squares, [hexagons](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) or [triangles](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) is the lowest-risk change, because every cell keeps its position and its centre. - **Finder Patterns**: the three square-in-square markers in the corners, often called the eyes. A scanner uses them to locate and orient the symbol, so they can be softened but never redrawn freely. - **The Frame**: the [border or badge](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) drawn around the symbol. A circular or hexagonal frame changes the silhouette without touching a single module, which is why most [creative QR code designs](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) start there. Three things never change. The data grid stays square, the three finder patterns stay in three of the four corners, and the quiet zone - the empty margin around the symbol, four modules wide - stays clear. ISO/IEC 18004, the QR code standard, fixes all three, and no styling tool can move them. ### Shape Never Changes What a Scanner Reads Styling a QR code is a paint job, not a re-encoding. A round code and a square code built from the same link hold identical data, so the shape only affects legibility - how cleanly a camera resolves the pattern. That is also why no shape scans faster than another: [custom shapes succeed or fail on contrast and resolution](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan), not on outline. ## The Main QR Code Shape Families Five families cover almost every shaped QR code in the wild. Each one changes a different layer of the symbol, and each carries a different amount of risk at small sizes. - **Classic Square**: Square modules, square eyes, no frame. The plainest form and the most forgiving: it survives low resolution, weak ink and awkward lighting better than any styled variant, which is why signage and packaging often stay here. - **Round and Circular**: Dot-shaped modules, rounded eyes, or a circular frame around a square grid. The softest of the families and the easiest to place on lids, coasters, stickers and anything else that is already a circle. - **Hexagon**: Hexagonal modules or a six-sided frame, giving a honeycomb texture. It reads as engineered rather than decorative, which suits technical, gaming and sustainability brands. - **Triangle**: Triangular modules or a three-sided frame. The sharpest and least forgiving family, because a triangle fills less of each cell than a square does - it wants larger print sizes and strong contrast. - **Branded Frames and Colour**: A standard grid wrapped in brand colour, a call to action, or a centred logo. Nothing about the geometry changes, so this is the safest way to make a code look like it belongs to you. - **Mixed Styling**: Two or three layers restyled at once - round modules inside a coloured frame, say, with a logo in the middle. The most expressive option and the one that most often needs a scan test before it goes to print. ## How to Choose a QR Code Shape Choose the shape from the surface the code will live on and the distance people will scan it from, not from a mood board. Each geometric family has a natural home: [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) suit lids, coasters and invitations, [triangle QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) suit angular layouts and posters, and [hexagon QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) suit technical and eco brands. ### Decide by Surface and Size Five rules settle most shape decisions before any design work starts. Each one is a trade the shape is making on your behalf. - **Under About 2 cm, Stay Square**: at small print sizes each module is fractions of a millimetre wide, and any shape that trims the corners off a cell trims the margin you had left. Square modules keep the most ink per cell. - **Round Surfaces Take Round Frames**: a bottle lid, a coaster or a badge already has a circular boundary, so a circular frame costs nothing in layout and the code stops looking bolted on. - **Angular Layouts Take Triangles**: posters and packaging built on diagonals absorb a triangular code, but give it room. Triangular modules need more physical size than square ones to stay distinct. - **Technical Brands Take Hexagons**: the honeycomb texture reads as structure rather than decoration, which is why it lands well on software boxes, conference badges and eco packaging. - **One Print Run Means One Test**: if the artwork is going to a printer and cannot be reissued, choose the safest shape that still fits the design, and scan a proof at final size before signing off. A shape is worth choosing when it saves the reader a moment of confusion or makes the code look intentional. It is not worth choosing when it costs a scan. If those two pull in opposite directions, the scan wins every time. ### Keep Any Shape Scannable The limits below apply to every shape family equally. A styled code that respects them scans about as well as a plain one; a styled code that breaks one of them fails no matter how good it looks. - **Keep Dark on Light**: dark modules on a light background is what phone cameras expect. Light-on-dark can work, but it is the single most common reason a shaped code fails, so test it before committing. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: leave a clear margin about four modules wide around the whole symbol. A decorative frame is fine as long as it sits outside that margin rather than inside it. - **Do Not Shrink the Modules**: styled modules are often drawn at 80 or 90 percent of their cell so they look separated. That gap is exactly what a camera loses first, so keep the shapes close to full size. - **Raise the Error Correction**: level H recovers roughly 30 percent of a damaged symbol and buys room for a logo or heavier styling. See [how QR code error correction works](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) for what each level costs in density. - **Size It for the Distance**: a rough rule is one centimetre of code for every ten centimetres of scanning distance, and never below the [minimum print size a QR code can hold](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print). If a shaped code stops scanning, work through those five in order before changing the design. In practice the cause is almost always contrast or a crowded quiet zone, not the shape itself. Adding colour and a logo on top is a separate decision - see [branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) for how far that can be pushed. ## Real-World Examples The same link, four shape families, four different surfaces. Each one shows the shape earning its place rather than being applied for its own sake. - **Round Code on a Drinks Coaster**: A circular frame follows the coaster's own edge, so the code reads as part of the object instead of a square sticker on a circle. Scanning distance is about 30 cm, so the code can stay small. - **Triangular Code on a Street Poster**: A poster read from two or three metres has room for a large symbol, which is what makes triangular modules safe here. The same code shrunk onto a ticket stub would be the risky version. - **Hexagon Code on a Conference Badge**: A six-sided frame around a high-contrast grid matches an event's geometric identity and stays legible at arm's length on a lanyard, where the code is scanned dozens of times a day. - **Round Code on a Product Label**: On a small jar the label is the constraint, not the shelf. A circular code sits inside the label's own geometry and links to sourcing details, and the tight print size is why the styling stops at the frame. ## How to Make a Shaped QR Code Four steps take a plain link to a shaped, print-ready code, in whichever family you picked above. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link, text or details the code should open. A shorter link produces fewer modules, and fewer modules leave more room for styling. - **Pick the Layer to Restyle**: Change the module shape, the eyes, the outer frame, or a combination. Start with one layer and add the next only once the code still scans. - **Set Colours and a Logo**: Keep a dark foreground on a light background, apply your brand palette, and add a centred logo if you want one - raising the error correction to compensate. - **Test, Then Export**: Scan the result with an iPhone and an Android using the native camera, then download SVG for print or PNG for screens. ## Try Every Shape Before You Commit Shape decisions are cheap to reverse on screen and expensive to reverse in print. Generating the same link as a square, a round, a hexagonal and a triangular code takes a minute, and comparing them at final size is the fastest way to see which one your design can actually carry. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, lets you switch the module shape, the eyes, the frame, the colours and the logo without regenerating the link, then export a print-ready SVG or PDF. ## Export Formats for Shaped Codes Shaped codes carry more edges than plain ones, so the export format matters more here than it does for a square grid. - **PNG**: For screens, slides and social posts, where the code is displayed at a fixed pixel size and never scaled up. - **SVG**: For print and large formats. Curved and angled module edges are exactly what a low-resolution raster smears first, and a vector file has no resolution to run out of. - **PDF**: For handing artwork to a printer with the code already sized, positioned and colour-managed as intended. ## FAQ ### What Shapes Can a QR Code Be? The symbol itself is always a square grid, but three layers can be reshaped: the modules (circles, rounded squares, hexagons, triangles), the three corner finder patterns, and the frame drawn around the code. A circular or hexagonal outline comes from the frame, not from the data. ### Which QR Code Shape Scans Best? Plain square modules scan most reliably, because each cell is filled edge to edge and holds the most contrast at small sizes. Round, hexagonal and triangular modules all trim a little ink from each cell, which matters below about 2 cm of printed width and rarely matters on a poster. ### Do Shaped QR Codes Scan Slower? No. Decoding time depends on how quickly the camera resolves the pattern, not on the outline. A shaped code with strong contrast and a clear quiet zone scans in the same moment as a plain one; a low-contrast code of any shape is what makes people hold their phone there longer. ### Can I Change the Three Corner Squares? Yes, within limits. The finder patterns can be rounded, recoloured or given a soft outline, but they must keep their square-in-square structure and their contrast, because a scanner uses them to locate and orient the symbol. Redrawing them as circles or removing the inner block is where codes usually break. ### How Small Can a Shaped QR Code Be Printed? Keep shaped codes at 2 cm and above, and treat 2.5 cm as the safe floor for triangular or heavily gapped modules. Below that, switch back to square modules - the shape is the first thing to sacrifice when physical space runs out. ### Does the Shape Change Where the QR Code Points? No. Modules, eyes, frames and colours are purely visual. The encoded content is identical whether the code is square or round, so you can restyle a finished code as often as you like without the destination changing. ### Why Did My Shaped QR Code Stop Working After Printing? Usually contrast or ink spread rather than shape. Coated stock, low-contrast colour pairs and printers that thicken small marks all blur styled modules that looked fine on screen. Reprint with dark on light, a wider quiet zone, and modules drawn close to full size. ### Which Shape Should I Use on Packaging? Match the package. A round frame suits lids, caps and jars; a square or lightly rounded code suits boxes and pouches where space is tight. Whatever the shape, packaging is printed once in volume, so scan a physical proof at final size before the run. ### Can I Combine a Shape With a Logo? Yes, but budget for both. A shape and a centred logo each spend part of the same error-correction margin. Raise error correction to level H, keep the logo well under a fifth of the code, and re-test - a logo added after a shape is chosen is where most failures appear. ### Are Shaped QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR generates round, hexagonal, triangular and square codes free, with PNG and SVG export and no account required. The codes are static, so they keep working with no subscription and no link that expires. ### When Should I Not Use a Shaped QR Code? Skip the styling when the code prints under 2 cm, when it goes onto a busy photograph, when it is engraved or embroidered rather than printed, or when you cannot test the final artwork. In all four cases a [plain square code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) is the version that still works. --- # Triangle QR Code Design, Done Right URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes Make a triangle QR code that actually scans. Pick a triangular frame, set your colors, add a logo, and export a print-ready SVG. Free, no account, no watermark. Triangular styling gives a QR code a sharp, geometric look. Here's how to lean into angular design while keeping the code reliable enough to scan every time. ## What Is a Triangle QR Code? A triangle QR code is a standard QR code styled with triangular elements - angular module shapes, geometric framing, or a triangular composition around the code. The scannable matrix itself stays square, but the surrounding design creates a sharp, triangular aesthetic. It is the most expensive of the four shape families to print; [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) sets them side by side. The gentler of the two angular families is the [hexagon QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), which reads as geometric without asking for the same width. ### Why the Code Stays Square To scan reliably, a QR code needs a few fixed structural elements. These are what a phone camera looks for, and they're why the code itself can't become a literal triangle: - **Finder Patterns**: the three square markers in the corners that tell a scanner where the code is and how it's rotated. - **Timing and Alignment**: the reference rows and points that keep the grid readable, even on curved or printed surfaces. - **The Quiet Zone**: the clear margin around the code; crowding it with artwork is the fastest way to break a scan. Because these live on a square grid, a true triangular data matrix won't scan. The good news: everything else - module shape, color, framing, and layout - is yours to design. ### Where the Triangle Comes In You get the angular look through styling, not by reshaping the data. Triangular or diamond module shapes, a triangular frame, or a bold geometric composition around a square code all read as "triangle" to the eye while staying fully scannable. ## Triangle QR Code Ideas That Work Angular styling suits brands that want to feel modern, technical, or bold. Here's where triangular QR designs tend to land well. - **Tech and Startup Branding**: Triangular modules and sharp framing echo the geometric logos common in tech, giving marketing pieces a consistent, engineered feel. - **Event and Festival Posters**: A large triangular frame around the code draws the eye from a distance and fits angular, high-energy poster layouts. - **Geometric Packaging**: Diamond or triangle module styling ties the code into faceted, origami-style, or low-poly package artwork. - **Architecture and Design Studios**: Angular codes match portfolios and business cards where clean lines and structure are already part of the brand. - **Product and Spec Labels**: A compact, geometric code reads as precise and technical - a fit for tools, hardware, and industrial goods. - **Album Art and Music Promo**: Triangular framing and bold contrast make a scannable code feel like part of the cover, not a sticker on top of it. ## Best Practices for Triangular QR Codes Angular designs look great, but geometry can fight scannability if you push it too far. These rules keep a triangle QR code sharp and reliable, and they hold for the other [creative QR code designs](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) too - colors, logos and rounded frames included. ### Keep the Geometry Scannable The angular look lives in the styling, not the grid. Guard the parts a camera depends on and the design stays safe. - **Keep the Code Itself Square**: style the modules and the frame, not the data matrix. A literal triangular grid won't scan on any standard reader. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: leave clear space on all four sides. Triangular frames tend to creep inward; give the code room to breathe. - **Hold Strong Contrast**: dark modules on a light background scan best. Angular styling doesn't change the physics of contrast. - **Don't Invert Light and Dark**: a light code on a dark background is unreliable. If your design is dark, place the code on a light patch. - **Keep the Finder Patterns Clean**: the three corner squares must stay recognizable, even when the rest of the modules are angular. ### From Design to Print Angular edges are where production gets fussy. These steps keep them crisp all the way to the finished piece. - **Raise Error Correction for Busy Layouts**: a higher error-correction level tolerates decorative framing and small logos, at the cost of a slightly denser code. - **Size It for the Scan Distance**: a poster code read across a room needs to be far larger than one on a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) held at arm's length. - **Test on More Than One Phone**: camera quality varies. Scan with both an older and a newer device before sending anything to print. - **Export Vector for Print**: SVG keeps triangular edges crisp at any scale, so nothing turns soft or pixelated on large formats. - **Match the Code to the Brand**: angular styling suits geometric, technical, or bold identities. If your brand is soft and rounded, triangles may feel off. ## Real-World Examples Seeing the idea applied to real projects makes it easier to plan your own. - **Tech Product Launch**: Diamond-cut modules and a sharp frame match a geometric logo on the launch page and packaging. The code links to a demo or spec sheet while looking engineered rather than added on. - **Music Festival Poster**: A large triangular frame around a high-contrast code pulls the eye from across a venue. It sends attendees to the lineup or ticketing and fits the angular, high-energy layout. - **Design Studio Portfolio**: On a business card and portfolio, an angular code echoes the clean lines the studio is known for, opening a project reel without breaking the composition. - **Hardware and Spec Labels**: A compact, geometric code on a tool or device reads as precise and technical, linking to manuals or a warranty page while sitting neatly in industrial artwork. ## How to Design a Triangle QR Code You don't need design software. Build the code first, style it second, and test before you commit to print. - **Add Your Link or Content**: Start with what the code should do - open a URL, share Wi-Fi, or load a menu - so the data is locked before you style it. - **Choose Angular Module Styling**: Swap the default squares for triangular or diamond-cut modules, and pick a high-contrast color pair to keep edges crisp. - **Frame It With Geometry, Not Clutter**: Add a triangular border or set the square code inside an angular composition, keeping the quiet zone clear on all four sides. - **Test, Then Export**: Scan it with a couple of phones, then download an SVG for print or a PNG for screens so the edges stay sharp at any size. ## Start Angular, Keep It Scannable You don't need a design tool to get the triangular look. Drop in your link, switch the modules to a triangular or diamond cut, and set an angular frame - the square grid underneath keeps the code readable while the styling does the work. KoloQR lets you style the modules, frame, and colors in seconds, then export a print-ready SVG so those clean triangular edges hold at any size. ## Choosing a Format for Triangular Designs Angular edges are where file format matters most. Sharp corners that look crisp on screen can turn soft or jagged in print if you export the wrong file. - **SVG**: Keeps triangular modules and frames perfectly sharp at any size - the right choice for print, signage, and large formats. - **PNG**: Works well for websites, slides, and social posts where a fixed pixel size is all you need. - **Print-Ready Export**: Holds contrast and clean edges at production size, so the code works on everything from a business card to a banner. ## FAQ ### Can a QR Code Actually Be a Triangle? Not the code itself. A QR code has to be a square grid to scan reliably, because scanners look for fixed square markers in the corners. You can get a triangular look through angular module shapes and framing, but the readable matrix stays square. ### Do Triangle-Styled QR Codes Still Scan? Yes, as long as you style the modules and frame rather than distorting the grid. Keep strong contrast, protect the quiet zone, and test on a couple of phones before printing. ### How Do I Make a QR Code Look Triangular? Use triangular or diamond-cut module shapes, add a triangular border, and place the square code inside a bold geometric composition. The eye reads the overall shape as a triangle even though the code is square. ### Why Can't the Whole QR Code Be Triangle-Shaped? QR codes rely on three square finder patterns and a timing grid arranged on a square matrix. Reshaping that into a triangle removes the reference points a scanner needs, so it won't decode. ### Are Triangular Module Shapes Safe to Use? They're safe when contrast stays high and the finder patterns remain clean. Very thin or widely spaced triangular modules can hurt readability, so always test before committing to print. ### What's the Best File Format for a Triangular QR Design? SVG for anything printed, because it keeps angular edges perfectly sharp at any size. PNG is fine for screens, slides, and social posts. ### Do I Need Design Software to Make One? No. A QR generator with shape and color options lets you style triangular modules and framing directly, then export a print-ready file without touching a design tool. ### Can I Add a Logo to a Triangle QR Code? Yes. Keep the logo small and centered, and raise the error-correction level so the code stays readable. Don't let the logo or frame touch the corner finder patterns. ### When Should I Use a Triangular QR Design? When angular styling fits the brand - tech, architecture, events, or geometric packaging. If your identity is soft or rounded, a circular or [classic square code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) will usually feel more natural. ### Will a Triangular Frame Affect Scanning? Only if it crowds the code. Keep the quiet zone clear between the frame and the modules, and the frame becomes pure decoration that a scanner ignores. --- # Hexagon QR Codes With a Clean Geometric Edge URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes See how hexagon QR codes work, when the honeycomb look fits your brand, and how to design geometric codes that stay reliably scannable - free, no sign-up. A honeycomb-inspired take on the classic QR code - distinctive enough for modern, technical, and nature-led brands, and built to stay reliably scannable. Here is how the look works and how to make one that actually reads. ## What Is a Hexagon QR Code? A hexagon QR code is a standard QR code styled with a honeycomb look - usually hexagonal modules or a six-sided frame around the scannable grid. The data itself still sits in a square matrix, so the code reads normally while looking far more geometric than a plain black-and-white square. Where six sides sit among the other shape families is laid out in [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes). The other angular family is the [triangle QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes), which pushes the same geometry further and asks for more printed width in return. ### Where the Hexagon Shape Lives The honeycomb effect comes from styling, not from rearranging the code. There are three places the six-sided theme usually shows up: - **Hexagonal Modules**: the individual dots are drawn as hexagons instead of squares, giving the whole code a tight honeycomb texture. - **A Six-Sided Frame**: a hexagon border wraps a normal square code, so the outline reads as a hexagon even from across a room. - **Themed Finder Patterns**: the three corner squares can be softened or restyled to match, as long as their shape stays clear to a scanner. Underneath the styling, the working part of every QR code is still a square grid with three corner markers and a clear margin. That structure is what phones actually read, so the goal with a hexagon design is to decorate the grid without blurring it. ### Design It So It Still Scans A hexagon QR code only earns its look if people can actually use it. Keep dark modules on a light background, leave the margin clear, and test the final version before it goes to print. Done well, the honeycomb styling reads as intentional branding rather than a gimmick. ## Where Hexagon QR Codes Fit The honeycomb look leans geometric and technical, so it suits brands that want to feel modern, structured, or nature-inspired. A few places it works well: - **Tech and SaaS**: Product packaging, pitch decks, and event booths where a clean geometric code matches a modern brand system. - **Crypto and Web3**: Wallet links, mint pages, and conference badges that want a distinctly digital, blockchain-adjacent feel. - **Gaming and Esports**: Posters, merch, and stream overlays where a sharp hexagonal grid fits the visual language of games. - **Science and Education**: Museum labels, lab open days, and STEM materials where a molecular, honeycomb motif feels on-theme. - **Sustainability and Eco Brands**: Packaging and signage that lean on the beehive association to signal nature and efficiency. - **Board Games and Tabletop**: Rulebook links and companion apps printed on components where hex tiles are already part of the design. ## Best Practices for Scannable Hexagon Codes Hexagon styling adds visual interest but also adds risk, because every change moves you a little further from the plain code a scanner expects. These habits keep the design safe, and they apply to the other [creative QR code designs](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) as well - worth trying a few shapes before settling on six sides. ### Keep the Honeycomb Scannable The styling is only free while the underlying grid stays clean. These are the parts to protect. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: use dark modules on a light background. Low contrast is the most common reason a stylized code fails, so avoid light-on-dark or similar-tone color pairs. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: leave a clear margin of empty space around the whole code. A hexagon frame is fine as long as it does not crowd that margin. - **Do Not Over-Shrink the Hexagons**: if hexagonal modules are drawn too small or with wide gaps, the pattern loses definition. Keep them close to full size so the grid stays solid. - **Raise the Error Correction**: higher error correction (level H recovers about 30 percent of the code) gives styling and logos more room before scans start to fail. - **Keep Finder Patterns Readable**: the three corner squares are how a phone locks onto the code. Restyle them gently, but keep their square-in-square shape recognizable. ### Tune, Test, and Print Once the grid is safe, a few production habits carry the hexagon look from screen to a finished piece. - **Shorten the Data**: a shorter link means fewer modules and a simpler grid, which leaves more slack for the hexagon look. Use a clean URL where you can. - **Size the Logo Carefully**: a center logo should cover only a small part of the code. Combined with high error correction, that keeps the data intact. - **Export Vector for Print**: use SVG or PDF for anything printed so the hexagon edges stay sharp at any scale. - **Test on Several Phones**: scan the final code with different devices, camera apps, and lighting before you publish or print it. - **Check It at Real Size and Distance**: a code that scans on screen may fail as a tiny sticker or a large wall poster. Test it at the size and range people will actually use. ## Real-World Examples Seeing the idea applied to real projects makes it easier to plan your own. - **Tech Product Launch**: Hexagonal modules on the box and launch page match a geometric brand system and open a setup guide or demo. The honeycomb texture reads as engineered rather than added on. - **Web3 Conference Badge**: A six-sided frame around a high-contrast code links to a wallet, mint page, or schedule. The shape signals something distinctly digital without hurting the scan. - **Esports Event Poster**: A large hexagon code sized for the room pulls attendees to a bracket, stream, or merch drop, sitting naturally in the sharp, angular poster art. - **Eco Packaging**: On recycled packaging, a honeycomb code leans on the beehive association to signal nature and efficiency while linking to sourcing details or a recycling guide. ## How to Make a Hexagon QR Code You can go from a plain link to a print-ready hexagon code in a few minutes. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link, text, or details you want the code to open, then generate the base QR code. - **Switch to a Hexagon Style**: Set the module shape to hexagonal, or wrap the code in a six-sided frame, to build the honeycomb look. - **Tune Colors and Add a Logo**: Pick a dark foreground on a light background, match your brand palette, and drop a logo in the center if you want one. - **Test and Export**: Scan the preview with a couple of phones, then download an SVG for print or a PNG for screens. ## Build the Honeycomb Look, Keep the Scan You don't need a design tool to get the hexagon effect. Drop in your link, switch the modules to hexagonal or add a six-sided frame, and set a dark-on-light palette - the square grid underneath keeps the code readable while the styling carries the look. KoloQR lets you style the modules, frame, colors, and logo in seconds, then export a print-ready SVG or PDF so those hexagon edges stay crisp at any size. ## Export Formats for Hexagon Codes Which file you export depends on where the code will live. - **PNG**: For screens, social posts, and quick sharing where a fixed pixel size is enough. - **SVG**: For print and large formats, because the hexagon edges stay crisp at any size. Hexagonal modules have more edges than plain squares, so a low-resolution PNG can smear them at small print sizes. - **PDF**: For handing artwork straight to a printer with the code sized and positioned exactly as intended. ## FAQ ### Do Hexagon QR Codes Actually Scan? Yes, as long as the styling stays within limits. The scannable data still sits in a normal square grid, so hexagonal modules or a hexagon frame read fine when you keep strong contrast, a clear margin, and readable corner patterns. Always test the final version before printing. ### Is the Code Still Square if the Dots Are Hexagons? Yes. Only the shape of each module changes; the overall data grid stays square, with the three finder patterns in the corners. A hexagon silhouette usually comes from a decorative frame around that square grid, not from rearranging the data. ### Can I Make a Truly Hexagon-Shaped QR Code That Is Not Square at All? Not reliably. The QR standard needs a square matrix with corner markers to be scannable, so a genuinely six-sided data area will not read on normal phones. The practical way to get a hexagon look is hexagonal modules or a hexagon frame around a square code. ### Are Hexagon QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. You can create and download a hexagon-styled QR code with KoloQR for free, including PNG and SVG exports, with no account required. ### What Colors Work Best for a Hexagon QR Code? A dark foreground on a light background scans most reliably. You can use brand colors, but keep clear contrast between the modules and the background, and avoid pale codes or busy gradients that blur the pattern. ### Can I Add a Logo to a Hexagon QR Code? Yes. Place a small logo in the center and raise the error correction to level H so the code can recover the covered modules. Keep the logo well under the middle of the code and test the result. ### Why Will My Stylized QR Code Not Scan? The usual causes are weak contrast, too little margin, an oversized logo, or modules styled so heavily they blur together. Restore strong dark-on-light contrast, widen the quiet zone, shrink the logo, and re-test. ### Are Hexagonal Modules Harder to Scan Than Square Ones? They can be if drawn too small or with large gaps, since that reduces how clearly each module reads. Kept close to full size with good contrast, hexagonal modules scan about as well as squares on modern phones. ### What File Format Should I Use to Print a Hexagon QR Code? Use a vector format like SVG or PDF for print. Hexagon edges carry more detail than plain squares, so vector files keep them sharp at any size, while a low-resolution PNG can smear them at small print sizes. ### What Size Should I Print a Hexagon QR Code? Match size to scanning distance. A rough rule is a code at least one-tenth of the distance people scan from, so a poster read from two meters wants a code around 20 cm. Test at the real size before the final print run. ### What Kinds of Brands Suit Hexagon QR Codes? The honeycomb look fits tech, crypto and web3, gaming, science, and sustainability brands, plus tabletop games that already use hex tiles. It signals something modern, structured, or nature-inspired without changing how the code works. --- # Cool QR Code Designs That Still Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes Eighteen cool QR code designs, drawn rather than photographed - each with its pattern, colors, measured contrast, and the limit that keeps it scannable. A plain black-and-white square works, but it rarely fits a brand. Here are creative ways to design a QR code - colors, custom shapes, logos, and circular frames - along with the limits that keep every version scannable. ## What Makes a QR Code Design Work A creative QR code is a standard QR code styled with intentional design choices - custom colors, module shapes, a centered logo, or a rounded frame - while keeping the contrast and structure a scanner needs. The creativity lives in the presentation, not the data underneath. Of those choices, shape is the one with a measurable cost in width, mapped in [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes). ### Where the Design Freedom Lives A QR code has fixed parts, but most of them tolerate styling. Knowing which elements you can push and which to leave alone is what separates a creative code from a broken one. - **Module Shape**: the dots that carry data can be [rounded, dotted, or joined into smooth connected paths](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes). - **Color and Background**: foreground and background can [match your palette](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes), as long as they stay clearly distinct. - **Finder Patterns**: [the three corner squares](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) can be recolored or gently rounded, but heavy restyling risks scan failures. The center of the code is the one place you can safely cover: raising the error correction level reserves enough redundancy to sit a logo in the middle without losing data. ### What Makes a QR Code Look Cool (and Not Just Loud) A cool QR code is one people notice and can still scan. The difference between an eye-catching design and a loud one is restraint: pick one idea - a color, a shape, a logo - and let it carry the code. Every choice still trades against readability, so low contrast, a missing quiet zone, or over-styled corners will stop a code from scanning no matter how good it looks. The goal is a design that survives a quick scan in real lighting, not just one that looks striking on screen. ## Cool QR Code Design Ideas to Borrow Five approaches that consistently look intentional and stay reliable. Mix them to fit the context rather than stacking every effect at once. - **Brand-Colored Codes**: Swap black for a dark brand color on a light background. It ties the code to your identity while keeping the contrast scanners rely on. - **Circular QR Codes**: A round frame with dotted modules reads as designed rather than default - a strong fit for coasters, stickers, packaging, and profile-style layouts. - **Centered Logo**: Place a small logo in the middle over a higher error correction level. It signals trust and makes the code unmistakably yours. - **Themed for the Occasion**: Match colors and shape to the moment - soft tones for a wedding, bold contrast for an event poster, muted neutrals for a menu. - **Print and Packaging Art**: Set the code inside a framed label or badge with a short call to action. Vector export keeps edges crisp at any print size. ## Design Tips That Keep Creative Codes Scannable Creativity and reliability aren't opposites, but a few rules keep them on the same side. ### Keep the Structure a Scanner Needs Styling is safe right up until it erodes the parts a camera locks onto. These are the ones to guard. - **Protect the Contrast**: keep a clearly dark pattern on a clearly light background. Light-on-dark can work, but pale or low-contrast pairings are the most common reason a stylish code won't scan. - **Leave the Quiet Zone**: the empty margin around a code helps scanners find it. Crowding artwork right up to the edges is an easy way to break an otherwise good design. - **Respect the Finder Patterns**: the three corner squares are how a camera locks on. Recolor or lightly round them, but don't remove, crop, or heavily reshape them. - **Raise Error Correction for Logos**: a higher error correction level adds redundancy, so a centered logo covers spare data instead of essential data. - **Be Careful With Gradients and Backgrounds**: gradients that fade toward the background, or busy photos behind the code, quietly erode contrast. Keep the pattern itself solid and clear. ### Design for the Real World, Not Just the Screen A creative code has to survive being printed, scaled, and scanned in ordinary light. These habits get it there. - **Test on More Than One Phone**: cameras and scanning apps vary. Check the code on a couple of devices and, ideally, on the final printed material before it ships. - **Match the Design to the Context**: a playful code suits a party invite; a restrained one suits packaging or a menu. Let the setting set the tone. - **Size It for the Scan Distance**: a code scanned from across a room needs to be much larger than one on a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards). Bigger, simpler codes scan faster. - **Keep the Data Short**: long links create dense codes that leave little room for style. A short or shortened URL keeps the pattern open and easier to design around. - **Export Vectors for Print**: SVG keeps every module sharp at any size, which matters far more on paper than on screen. ## Unique QR Code Designs in the Wild Seeing the idea applied to real projects makes it easier to plan your own. - **Wedding and Celebration Invites**: A soft-toned circular code styled like a seal links guests to an RSVP page or registry. Matched to the invitation's palette, it reads as part of the stationery rather than an add-on. - **Music and Album Promo**: Bold contrast and a framed layout let a code sit on cover art or a poster. It sends fans straight to a release, playlist, or tour dates without breaking the design. - **Boutique Product Packaging**: Dotted modules in a muted, earthy palette suit small-batch goods. On a jar lid or label the code carries sourcing details or a story while staying in the craft aesthetic. - **Social Campaigns and Stories**: A brand-colored code on a story or end screen invites a tap-free jump to a link. Custom shapes help it stand out against busy footage without looking like spam. ## How to Make a Creative QR Code Four steps take you from raw content to a finished, tested design. - **Add Your Content**: Enter the link, text, or details the code should open. Shorter content produces a less dense code with more room for styling. - **Choose Shape and Color**: Pick a module style, a frame, and colors that match your brand - keeping a clear light-versus-dark contrast throughout. - **Add a Logo**: Drop a logo into the center and raise error correction so the code stays readable around it. - **Test, Then Export**: Scan it with a couple of phones, then export as PNG for screens or SVG for print. ## Start With a Preset or Build From Scratch If you're new to creative codes, start from a styled preset - a circular frame or a colored module set - then swap in your link and adjust the palette. If you'd rather have full control, set the shape, modules, logo, and colors yourself and preview the scan as you go. KoloQR lets you do both: generate a styled code in seconds, customize every part, and export print-ready vectors when you need them. ## Which File Format to Export The right format depends on where the creative code will live. For anything printed, vector wins. - **PNG**: For digital use - websites, emails, social posts, and anything shown on a screen. A high-resolution export covers it. - **SVG**: For print and large formats, where the code scales to any size without blurring or pixelated edges. A creative code often ends up larger than a plain one. - **Print-Ready Vectors**: For professional production, where crisp lines and exact sizing decide whether a code scans off paper - from business-cards size to wall size. ## FAQ ### Can You Make a QR Code Creative Without Breaking It? Yes. Colors, module shapes, a frame, and a centered logo are all safe when you keep strong contrast, an intact quiet zone, and recognizable corner patterns. Problems start when styling reduces contrast or reshapes the parts a scanner depends on. ### Can I Put a Logo in the Middle of a QR Code? Yes. Keep the logo small - roughly the center fifth of the code - and raise the error correction level first. That redundancy lets the code reconstruct the data the logo covers. [Branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) covers logo size and placement in full. ### Why Did My Creative QR Code Stop Scanning? The usual causes are low contrast, a missing quiet zone, over-styled corner patterns, or a logo that's too large for the error correction level. Fix those one at a time and the code typically comes back. ### Why Does a QR Checker Fail a Code My Phone Scans? Low-ink patterns - dots, stars, triangles, pills - leave a gap around each module center, and a decoder handed a pixel-perfect file is stricter about that gap than a camera is. A phone's lens softens the image just enough to close it. If a checker rejects a design your phone reads, trust the phone and test the printed piece. ### What Contrast Does a QR Code Need? A clear difference between the dark pattern and the light background. High contrast - think dark navy on white rather than grey on cream - gives cameras the easiest read across lighting conditions. [Colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes) lists the pairs that clear the bar, and the [contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) measures yours. ### How Do I Design a QR Code for a Wedding or Event? Match the palette and shape to the occasion, keep the linked content short so the code stays open and easy to style, and export as SVG for print. A round frame or soft brand colors reads as intentional on invitations and signage. For a seasonal party, [Halloween QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes) shows nine pumpkin, purple and slime palettes with their measured contrast. ### Should I Export a Creative QR Code as PNG or SVG? Use PNG for screens and SVG for anything printed. SVG scales without blurring, so the same design stays sharp from a business card to a poster. ### Do Creative QR Codes Cost Money to Make? No. You can design a QR code with custom colors, shapes, a logo, and a circular frame, then export it for free - with print-ready vector output when you need it. ### What Makes a QR Code Look Cool? A cool QR code usually does one thing well rather than five things at once - a strong brand color, a distinctive module shape, or a frame that fits the surface it sits on. Restraint is what separates a code people photograph from one they scroll past, and it happens to be the same thing that keeps the code scannable. ### How Do I Make an Aesthetic QR Code That Still Works? Start from the palette and shape you already use elsewhere, keep the dark pattern clearly darker than the background, and leave the quiet zone alone. An aesthetic QR code is an ordinary code with disciplined styling - nothing about the grid underneath changes. Pastel palettes, muted inks and the pairs that keep them scanning are worked through in [aesthetic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/aesthetic-qr-codes). ### How Do I Make My QR Code Unique? Combine two levers rather than one: a module shape plus a brand color, or a circular frame plus a centered logo. A unique QR code comes from a pairing nobody else on the shelf is using, not from stacking every effect the editor offers. --- # Give a QR Code Your Colors Without Losing the Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes Colored QR codes scan when the pattern stays dark and the background near white. See which colors hold up in print, which fail, and where the accent goes. A QR code can be almost any color, as long as its pattern stays clearly darker than the background behind it. Deep navy, dark red, and bottle green all work. Yellow, cyan, and pastel accents don't, whatever tool made them. This page covers which color belongs on which part of a code, and how to check the pair before it goes to print. ## What Is a Colored QR Code? A colored QR code is a standard QR code whose pattern, corner markers, background, or frame are set to colors other than black and white. The data doesn't change with the color - a scanner reads the same modules either way. What color changes is whether a camera can still tell the dark modules from the light ones. ### The Four Parts You Can Color A colored QR code isn't one color decision, it's four - and they carry very different amounts of risk. Two of them decide whether the code scans. Two are free. - **The Pattern**: the data modules themselves. The scan depends on this color, so it takes the darkest color in your palette rather than the most recognizable one. - **The Corner Markers**: the three finder patterns a scanner locates before it decodes anything. They can carry their own color, but a pale one fails in the place a code can't recover from. - **The Background**: white or a very light tint. Darkening the background spends the same contrast the pattern needs, and it's the harder of the two to get back. - **The Frame and Label**: the ring, border, and “Scan me” text around the code. No scanner reads any of it, which makes this the one place a bright accent color costs nothing. That split is the whole trick behind colored codes that work. Spend the saturated brand color on the frame, the label, and the panel behind the code, and keep the pattern itself near-black. The result reads as unmistakably yours at a glance while the part a camera has to resolve never left safe ground. ### Color Is Not the Same as Contrast Two colors can look completely different to a person and nearly identical to a camera, because a scanner compares brightness rather than hue. Pure yellow against white computes to a contrast ratio of about 1.07:1 - a person sees a bright yellow code, a camera sees a blank square. Design at 7:1 or better for print and 4:1 for screens, and treat 3:1 as the line a code doesn't ship below. [The contrast thresholds and where the margin goes](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) are worth reading once before you choose a palette. [Fifty colour pairs with the ratio for each](https://koloqr.com/blog/fifty-qr-colour-pairs) does the arithmetic for the palettes brands actually use. The [QR contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) returns the ratio for any pair you type in, so a palette can be settled before a single code is drawn. ## Where Colored QR Codes Work Best Which colors survive depends less on the industry than on the surface. Paper tint, ink behaviour, screen brightness, and scanning distance each take a share of the same contrast budget. - **Restaurant Menus and Table Signs**: House colors on a menu code make it look like part of the table setting rather than something printed in a hurry. Keep the modules in the darkest color of the palette and let the card around them carry the brand color. - **Retail Counters and Shelf Signs**: Shop signage is usually printed in a saturated brand color, so the reliable build is a dark code inside a light panel sitting on the colored board. The sign stays on-brand and the code keeps its own contrast. - **Event Badges and Lanyards**: Badge stock is often one solid brand color. A near-black code printed straight onto a mid-tone card can still work; the same code in the event's accent color on the same card usually won't. - **Product Packaging and Labels**: Packaging is where color shifts most between screen and shelf, because the artwork is converted to CMYK and the ink spreads on the substrate. Judge the code color from a printed proof, never from the design file. - **Social Posts and Video**: Screens are the forgiving case: 4:1 is enough, and nothing spreads. Video is the exception, because compression stores color at lower resolution than brightness, so a code whose edges come from hue rather than lightness smears. - **Posters and Outdoor Signage**: Read from several metres away, a poster code lands on fewer camera pixels per module, which shrinks the difference a scanner measures. Distance and color come out of one budget, so pick which of the two to spend. ## How to Choose Colors for a QR Code Coloring a code is a series of small decisions in a fixed order: the pattern, then the corners, then the background, then everything around them. The same budget shapes every [creative QR code design](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes), where module shapes and frames draw on it too. ### Pick the Colors in the Right Order Nearly every colored code that fails does so because a brand's accent color ended up on the pattern. Working through the parts in this order is what prevents it. - **Start From the Darkest Color You Have**: take the pattern color from the deep end of the palette. A navy at #0F172A reaches about 17.9:1 against white; the same brand's amber at #F59E0B reaches 2.2:1, and no other setting buys that back. - **Darken the Code, Don't Lighten the Background**: when a brand color isn't dark enough, take it two or three steps darker instead. Backgrounds have to stay near white for the difference to survive paper, and a darker tint of a brand color usually keeps its identity. - **Judge the Corner Markers Separately**: a scanner finds the three corners before it reads a single module, so check their color against the background on its own and treat the worse of the two figures as the code's real contrast. - **Keep the Quiet Zone in the Background Color**: the empty margin around a code, four modules wide, has to stay the same light color as the background. Running a colored border or artwork into it removes the edge a scanner uses to find the symbol. - **Avoid Photos Behind a Code, but Not Gradients**: a scanner sets its light-dark threshold over small neighbourhoods, so a slow gradient behind a code usually survives while a photograph flips which side of the line the modules fall on halfway across. - **Approve It in Grayscale**: convert the artwork to grayscale before signing it off. If the code goes flat and grey there, that is close to what the camera receives, and no amount of color correction changes it. ### What Color Costs in Print and on Dark Backgrounds Two color decisions carry consequences a screen never shows: inverting a code, and putting one on paper. Both are worth making deliberately. - **An Inverted Code Is a Bet on the Reader**: light modules on a dark background compute to exactly the same contrast ratio as the reverse, and current iPhone and Android cameras read them. Fixed scanners at a till or in a warehouse frequently don't try the image both ways round. - **Print the Code From One Ink**: a colored code built from four process inks can misregister at small module sizes, which softens every module edge at once. One spot color, or 100% K, keeps the pattern crisp on press. - **Expect the Printed Code to Run Darker**: ink spreads into the light cells beside each module, most of all on kraft, newsprint, and uncoated stock. That works in favour of a dark code and against a light one, which loses the modules that carry it. - **Treat the Paper as the Background Color**: kraft, recycled, and tinted stock is not white, and the code doesn't care what the canvas said. Check the pattern color against the substrate you're actually printing on. - **Keep Metallics Off the Data**: gold and copper inks and foils look excellent and scan unpredictably, because the specular glare that makes them read as metal lands inside the modules. Put them in the frame and keep the pattern in flat ink. ## Real-World Examples Four surfaces, four different answers to the same question: where does the color go, and what does the pattern keep? - **Album and Gig Posters**: The poster carries the whole neon palette and the code sits in a white tile inside it, with the pattern picking up one hue from the artwork. The color reads as part of the design and the contrast stays where the scan needs it. - **Cinema and Event Tickets**: A deep red code on a white circle keeps its contrast on a navy ticket, where a red code printed straight onto the navy would have almost none. The circle is doing the work a light background always does. - **Business Cards in One Brand Color**: Knocking the code out in white on a saturated card gives an inverted code, and here that's a defensible choice: a business card is scanned by a phone and by nothing else. The same build on a retail label would be a gamble. - **Cafe Table Cards**: One deep brand color across the whole card, with the code reversed out of it in white and the corner markers reversed with it. Printed from a single ink, the edges stay clean at table-card size. ## How to Make a Colored QR Code Four steps take a plain black code to one in your palette, with the contrast checked before anything is exported. - **Set the Destination, Then the Pattern Color**: Add the link, menu, or contact details the code should open, then set the pattern to the darkest color in your palette. Every later decision is easier once the modules are safe. - **Color the Corners, Frame, and Label**: Give the three corner markers their own color if you want one, and put the accent color into the frame, the ring text, and the call to action. That's where a bright brand color has no cost. - **Read the Contrast Figure Before You Export**: KoloQR shows a contrast ratio beside the preview and passes at 4:1, reporting whichever is worse - the pattern or the corner markers. Below that, darken the pattern rather than lightening the background. - **Export, Print, and Scan the Real Thing**: Download PNG for screens or SVG for print, then scan the code at its final size on the final material with two different phones. Color is the one variable a mockup consistently flatters. ## Start From Solid Colors and a Contrast Reading Trying a color takes seconds and needs no design file. Paste the link, set the pattern, corner, background, and frame colors, and watch the contrast figure beside the preview move as you go - it takes the worse of the pattern and corner readings and passes at 4:1. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, fills with solid colors rather than gradients, and exports the same colored code as PNG or SVG. A transparent background is judged against white, because that's the surface a transparent code usually ends up on. ## Export Formats for Colored QR Codes Color is the one property that behaves differently in each format, so the choice matters more here than on a black-and-white code. - **PNG**: For screens, slides, and social posts. The colors are baked into the pixels, which makes a PNG final - changing a color means exporting the code again. - **SVG**: For print and signage. The fills are editable values inside the file, so a printer can swap the pattern color for a spot ink without regenerating the code. - **Transparent Background**: For placing a code onto a colored surface. Only put it on a light one: a transparent code inherits whatever sits underneath it, including a photograph. ## FAQ ### Do Colored QR Codes Scan? Yes, as long as the pattern stays clearly darker than the background. A scanner compares brightness, not hue, so the color itself is never the problem - the brightness gap is. Design at 7:1 or better for print and 4:1 for screens, and don't ship a code below 3:1. ### What Colors Should You Avoid in a QR Code? Yellow, cyan, lime, and pastel tints, on either the pattern or the corner markers. Against white, cyan computes to roughly 1.25:1 and pure green to 1.4:1 - close enough to the background that a camera finds no edge. No setting or error-correction level rescues them. ### What Is the Best Color for a QR Code? Near-black or a very dark version of your brand color. Among saturated colors, deep blue is the standout at about 8.6:1 against white, with dark reds and plums behind it. Any color that is dark rather than merely vivid behaves well. ### Can a QR Code Be White on a Dark Background? Yes, for codes read by phones - current iPhone and Android cameras handle inverted codes. Fixed scanners often don't. An inverted code also loses more contrast in print, because the large solid dark area spreads into the light modules that carry the data. The same rule decides [Halloween QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes): orange or bone modules on black make an inverted code, while black on pumpkin orange does not. ### Why Does a Red QR Code Fail at a Checkout? Because barcode verifiers and many fixed scanners read under red illumination at 660 nanometres, and red ink reflects red light. A red code on white paper has almost no contrast at that wavelength while scanning perfectly on any phone. Anything read by fixed equipment should be black on white. That is why [Black Friday QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday) keep the sale red on the frame and the label rather than on the pattern. ### Can a QR Code Have a Gradient? It can, provided every part of the gradient stays dark enough against the background - the risk is the light end, not the gradient. KoloQR fills with solid colors and has no gradient option, which is a limitation worth knowing before you plan a design around one. ### Can I Use Two Colors in One QR Code? Yes. The pattern and the three corner markers can carry different colors, and the frame, its accent lines, and its label can each carry another. Each color that touches the code needs to clear the contrast bar against the background on its own. ### Do Colored QR Codes Need Higher Error Correction? No, and this is a common misconception. Error correction recovers modules that are missing, covered, or damaged - roughly 7% at level L up to 30% at level H. Low contrast doesn't damage modules; it stops the scanner from finding them, which redundancy cannot fix. ### Will a Colored QR Code Print the Same Color as on Screen? Not exactly. Converting RGB to CMYK dulls saturated blues and greens, and ink spread darkens and thickens the modules. Both usually work in a dark code's favour, but check a printed proof before a run, and build the code from one ink where you can. ### Does a Colored QR Code Work on Kraft or Colored Paper? It can, but the stock is now the background color, and kraft or recycled paper reflects far less light than white. Check the pattern color against the actual substrate, keep the code near-black, and give it more module size than you would on white. ### Are Colored QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR is free to use and lets you set the pattern, corner, background, and frame colors, see the contrast ratio for the pair, and export as PNG or SVG without an account or a subscription. --- # Circular QR Codes: How They Work and When to Use Them URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes Learn how round QR codes work, why they scan well, and where circular formats fit best. Design tips, export formats, and a free round QR code generator. A round QR code is a standard square QR code restyled with dotted or rounded modules and framed inside a circle. The data grid still follows the QR standard, so it scans like any other code - the circular shape is a design choice, not a different technology. ## What Makes a Round QR Code Different? How the circular format changes the look - and what stays exactly the same underneath. A circle is one of four shape families, and [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) compares what each one costs in width. ### How Round QR Codes Work Under the surface, a round QR code is identical to a square one. Scanners read a grid of light and dark modules plus three corner finder patterns, and that structure never changes. What changes is styling: the modules are drawn as dots or rounded squares, the corners are softened, and a circular frame wraps the code. Because the readable grid stays intact, phones decode it the same way - as long as contrast stays high and the quiet zone around the code is preserved. ### Why Choose a Round QR Code? Round QR codes exist for one reason: they fit spaces a square doesn't. On coasters, buttons, wax seals, bottle caps, and profile badges, a circular shape reads as intentional rather than pasted on. They also match rounded logos and [brand](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) marks more naturally. Functionally they're the same code - the payoff is entirely visual, so they're worth choosing when the surface or brand is already round. ## Where Round QR Codes Work Best The shape matters more in some contexts than others. Here's where a circular format genuinely earns its place. - **Stickers and Labels**: Round stickers are one of the most common print formats, and a circular code slots into them without the awkward whitespace a square leaves behind. Ideal for product seals, jar lids, and promotional packs where the label is already round. - **Business Cards and Badges**: Placed in a corner or centered on a badge, a round QR code reads as a deliberate design element instead of a functional afterthought. It pairs well with circular logos and keeps the layout clean. - **Wax Seals and Stamps**: Circular codes echo the shape of a traditional wax seal, which is why they've become popular on wedding invitations, premium packaging, and handcrafted goods. The round frame reinforces the “sealed” look. - **Coasters, Buttons, and Pins**: Any object that's already round is a natural fit. A circular code on a coaster, enamel pin, or campaign button uses the full surface with no visual compromise. - **Social Media Profile Rings and Icons**: Profile pictures and app icons are round by default. A circular code sits inside that frame cleanly, making it an easy way to add a scannable link to a bio ring or story sticker. - **Packaging and Product Labels**: Jar lids, bottle caps, and tin tops are almost always circular. A round code follows the shape the packaging already dictates and sits naturally within embossed or curved space. ## Design Principles for a Round QR Code A circular QR code that looks good and scans reliably follows a few consistent rules - the same ones behind every other [creative QR code designs](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes), so round is one option among several rather than a special case. ### Build a Round QR Code That Scans Reliably Scannability comes down to four things: keep strong contrast between the modules and the background (dark on light is safest), preserve the quiet zone - the empty margin around the code - set error correction to a high level so styling doesn't break the read, and never distort the code's proportions. Decorative touches are fine as long as the finder patterns in the corners stay clean and clearly visible. Test the finished code on more than one phone before you commit it to print. ### Customize Your Round QR Code Without Losing Performance A well-designed round code should match your brand without hurting the scan. Use brand colors as long as contrast stays high, add rounded or dotted modules, and place a logo in the center at a size that stays under about 30% of the code area. High error correction gives you room for all of this. When in doubt, favor readability over decoration - a code nobody can scan is just a graphic. ## Real-World Examples Seeing the concept applied to real contexts makes it easier to plan your own. - **Wedding Stationery**: A round code styled like a wax seal links guests to an RSVP page, registry, or venue map. Matched to the invitation's colors and typography, it feels like part of the design rather than an add-on. - **Restaurant Menus**: A circular code on a coaster, table tent, or menu corner links to the full digital menu. The round frame blends into hospitality branding without cropping awkwardly against plates and glasses. - **Artisan Product Packaging**: A small round code on a jar lid or label carries a story, sourcing details, or a batch page. In muted, earthy palettes it sits comfortably in the craft aesthetic buyers expect. - **Event Lanyards**: A circular code on a lanyard or name tag links to a schedule, speaker profile, or networking page. Its shape blends into round badge holders more naturally than a square would. ## How to Create a Round QR Code The process is straightforward with the right tool - six steps from URL to print-ready file. - **Enter Your URL or Content**: This is the data the QR code will encode - a link, text, WiFi details, or contact card. Shorter content produces a simpler grid that's easier to style and scan. - **Set Error Correction to H**: The highest level recovers roughly 30% of a damaged code, which gives you room to add a logo or apply heavier styling without breaking the read. - **Choose a Circular or Rounded Output Format**: Look for shape and module options in the code settings - rounded or dotted modules plus a circular frame. - **Add Your Logo or Icon**: Center it on a solid background at a size that stays under about 20-30% of the code area, so it never covers a finder pattern. - **Adjust Colors**: Keep contrast high - dark modules on a light background is safest. Test the color combination before finalizing. - **Export to a Print-Ready Format**: Use SVG for infinitely scalable vector output, or a high-resolution PNG at 300 DPI for physical materials. ## Start With a Template or Build From Scratch If you're new to round QR codes, starting with a template saves time. Pick a circular layout, drop in your link, and adjust the colors to match - the structure is already handled. If you'd rather have full control, build from scratch: set the shape, modules, logo, and palette yourself, and preview the scan as you go. KoloQR lets you do both. Generate a circular code in seconds, then customize it with your own colors, logo, and content - then export it in the format you need. ## What Format Should You Export? The right file depends on where the code will live. Here's how to choose in a few seconds. - **For Print**: Choose SVG whenever you can. It's a vector, so it scales to any size - posters, packaging, or a business card - without ever losing sharpness or scannability. - **For Digital Use**: A high-resolution PNG at 1080px or larger covers most on-screen needs: menus, presentations, email signatures, and social posts. - **Professional Print**: Export a high-resolution PNG at 300 DPI for a print shop, or supply the SVG. If a printer asks for a specific format, SVG keeps every option open before you commit to size. ## FAQ ### What Is a Round QR Code? A round QR code is a standard QR code restyled with rounded or dotted modules and framed inside a circle. The underlying data grid follows the normal QR standard, so it scans like any square code - the circular shape is purely a design choice. ### Do Circular QR Codes Scan Correctly? Yes, when designed properly. The three finder patterns and the data grid still follow the QR standard, and the circular frame is decorative around them. As long as contrast is high, the quiet zone is preserved, and the code isn't distorted, circular codes scan reliably on any modern phone. ### Can I Add a Logo to a Circular QR Code? Yes. Center the logo on a solid background at a size that stays under about 30% of the code area, so it never overlaps a finder pattern. Set error correction to the highest level (H) first - it gives the code enough redundancy to stay readable behind a logo. ### What's the Best File Format for a Circular QR Code? SVG is best for print because it's a vector and scales to any size without losing sharpness. For screens, a high-resolution PNG works well. For professional printing, supply SVG or a PNG at 300 DPI. ### Are Round QR Codes Harder to Scan Than Square Ones? Not if they're built correctly. The scannable structure is identical to a square code. Problems only appear when contrast is too low, the quiet zone is removed, the code is stretched, or a logo covers a finder pattern - all of which are avoidable design choices. ### What Error Correction Level Should I Use for a Round QR Code? Use level H, the highest of the four levels (L, M, Q, H). It recovers roughly 30% of a damaged or obstructed code, which gives you the redundancy needed to add a logo and apply rounded styling without breaking the scan. ### Where Are Circular QR Codes Most Commonly Used? Anywhere the surface is already round: stickers and labels, coasters, buttons and pins, wax seals, bottle caps, packaging lids, badges, and social profile rings. The shape reads as intentional on these formats instead of looking pasted on. ### Can I Make a Round QR Code With My Brand Colors? Yes. Brand colors work well as long as the contrast between the modules and the background stays high - dark modules on a light background is the safest pairing. Test the combination before printing, since low-contrast palettes are the most common cause of failed scans. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be for Print? As a rule of thumb, keep it at least 2 × 2 cm (about 0.8 inches) for close-range scanning, and larger for greater scan distance. A common guideline is a minimum size of scan distance ÷ 10. Always export at 300 DPI for print. ### Are My QR Codes Private? KoloQR generates codes in your browser - the code itself contains only the data you enter, and static codes point directly to your link with no tracking layer in between. --- # Make QR Codes That Look Like Your Brand URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes See how branded QR codes combine logos, colors, and custom shapes with your identity, plus practical tips to keep every code sharp, on-brand, and easy to scan. A branded QR code turns a plain black-and-white square into a small piece of your identity - your colors, your logo, your shape. Here's how to design one that feels on-brand and still scans on the first try. ## What Is a Branded QR Code? A branded QR code is a standard QR code styled to match a brand's identity - its logo, colors, and sometimes a custom shape - while remaining fully scannable. The aim is recognition: the code should clearly belong to the brand instead of looking generic. Colour is where that recognition usually starts, and which palettes hold up on paper is set out in [colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes). ### What Makes a QR Code Feel Branded Three elements do most of the work. On their own each is a small touch; together they turn a generic code into one that reads as yours. - **A Logo in the Center**: placed in the space QR codes reserve for it, sized so scanning still works. - **Brand Colors**: applied to the modules and background with enough contrast to stay readable. - **A Distinctive Shape**: rounded modules, custom corner eyes, or a [circular frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) that echoes your style. None of these alone makes a code 'branded.' It's the combination - consistent color, a clean logo, and a shape that matches the rest of your design - that makes someone recognize the code as yours before they even scan it. ### Branding Without Breaking the Scan Every branded element competes with one job: getting scanned. Logos cover data modules, low-contrast colors confuse cameras, and heavy styling can push a code past what its error correction can recover. The skill is knowing how far you can push each choice - which is what the rest of this page covers. ## Where Branded QR Codes Work Best The same principles apply everywhere, but the surface changes what matters most - size, resolution, and how far away people scan from. - **Product Packaging**: Print a code in your brand color on the box or label so it reads as part of the design, not a sticker added later. Link it to setup guides, authenticity checks, or a reorder page. - **Business Cards**: A small branded code turns a card into a tap-free way to share contact details, a portfolio, or a booking link. Match it to the card's colors and give it room to breathe. - **Restaurant Menus**: Menus are one of the most scanned surfaces there is. A code styled with the restaurant's logo and palette feels intentional and reassures diners the link is really yours. - **Event Signage**: On posters and stands, a branded code invites people to register, view a schedule, or follow along. Size it for the distance people will scan from across a room. - **Social Media & Video**: A code on a thumbnail, story, or end screen sends viewers straight to a link. Brand colors help it stand out against busy footage without looking like spam. - **Print Ads & Posters**: In magazines, flyers, and out-of-home ads, a branded code bridges print and digital. Keep it high-resolution so it stays sharp at the printed size. ## Best Practices for Branded QR Codes Branding and scannability pull in opposite directions. These habits keep both intact, and the same balance decides the other [creative QR code designs](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes), where module shapes and frames pull against the same limits. ### Design a Branded Code That Still Scans Most failed branded codes fail for the same handful of reasons. Get these right and styling becomes free. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: cameras read a code by telling dark modules from a light background. Deep color on a light background scans reliably; two similar tones is where codes fail. - **Size the Logo Carefully**: a centered logo works because error correction can rebuild the data it hides, but only up to a point. Keep it to roughly a quarter of the code or less. - **Be Cautious With Inverted Colors**: light modules on a dark background look striking but aren't universally supported. If you invert, test widely; when in doubt, keep modules darker than the background. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: the empty margin around a code isn't wasted space; scanners need it to find the code's edges. Don't crop it or let artwork bleed into it. - **Match Brand Colors, Then Check Readability**: pull colors straight from your guidelines, but verify the contrast. A brand's lightest accent often isn't dark enough to use for the modules themselves. ### Test It, Then Keep It Consistent A branded code earns its keep across a whole set of touchpoints, so the last steps are about reliability and repetition. - **Test Before You Print**: screens are forgiving; print is not. Scan the final file at its actual printed size, on more than one phone, before committing to a run. - **Use Vector for Anything Large**: for posters, packaging, or signage, export SVG so the code stays sharp at any size. A scaled-up PNG can blur just enough to break the scan. - **Give People a Reason to Scan**: a branded code still needs a short prompt: 'Scan for the menu,' 'View the schedule.' The design earns attention; the label earns the scan. - **Keep It Consistent**: use the same colors, shape, and logo treatment across every code you publish so they read as a set and reinforce your brand each time. ## Real-World Examples Seeing the idea applied to real campaigns makes it easier to plan your own. - **Product Launch Packaging**: A code in the brand's accent color, printed straight onto the box, links buyers to setup, warranty registration, or a how-to video. It reads as part of the pack rather than a compliance sticker. - **Cafe and Restaurant Branding**: The house logo sits in the center of a code matched to the menu's palette. On table tents and coasters it feels considered, and diners trust that the link is really the restaurant's. - **Conference and Event Booths**: A large branded code on the backdrop invites people to grab a deck, book a demo, or join a list. Sized for the room, it pulls scans from several steps away. - **Retail and In-Store Signage**: Shelf talkers and window displays carry a code in brand colors that opens a lookbook or loyalty signup. Consistent styling ties every placement back to the same identity. ## How to Make a Branded QR Code Four steps take you from a plain code to one that matches your brand and still scans reliably. - **Choose the Destination**: Decide where the code should lead - a website, menu, form, or contact card. A clear destination shapes everything else, including the call to action beside the code. - **Add Your Logo**: Drop your logo into the center of the code. QR codes reserve space for this, so a well-sized logo won't stop it from scanning. - **Apply Your Colors and Shape**: Set the module and background colors to match your palette, and pick a shape - rounded modules or a circular frame - that fits your visual style. - **Export and Test**: Download as PNG for screens or SVG for print, then scan it with a couple of phones before you publish or send it to print. ## Start From Your Brand, Not a Blank Square You don't have to design a branded code from scratch. Drop in your link, set the module and background colors to your palette, and place your logo in the center - the structure that keeps it scannable is already handled. KoloQR lets you match a code to your brand in seconds and export it as PNG or SVG, so the same design holds up from a business card to a billboard. ## Export Formats for Branded QR Codes The right format depends on where the code lands. The three below cover almost everything. - **PNG**: For digital content, websites, and social media. A high-resolution PNG covers most on-screen placements without any extra tooling. - **SVG**: For print and signage, since it stays crisp at any size without blurring. Blurred edges are one of the most common reasons a branded code fails to scan. - **Both From One Design**: Export the same branded code as PNG and SVG so it looks consistent on a business card and a billboard alike. ## FAQ ### Can You Add a Logo to a QR Code? Yes. QR codes include built-in error correction that rebuilds data hidden behind a centered logo, so you can place your mark in the middle without breaking the scan - as long as the logo stays reasonably small. ### Do Branded QR Codes Still Scan Reliably? They do, when they're designed with scanning in mind. Strong contrast, a modest logo size, and an untouched quiet zone matter far more than whether the code is styled. Low-contrast, heavily styled codes are what cause failures - not branding itself. ### How Big Can the Logo Be? As a rule of thumb, keep it to about a quarter of the code or less. Error correction can recover only a limited amount of hidden data; past that threshold the code becomes unreliable. Always test after adding a logo. ### Can I Use My Own Brand Colors? Yes. You can set both the module and background colors to match your palette. The only requirement is contrast - the modules need to stay clearly darker than the background so cameras can read them. ### Do QR Codes Have to Be Black and White? No. Black on white is the safest default, but colored codes scan well as long as there's strong contrast between the modules and the background. Low-contrast color combinations are the main thing to avoid. ### Can a QR Code Be Circular or Use Custom Shapes? Yes. Rounded modules, custom corner eyes, and circular frames are all possible and make a code feel more designed. With KoloQR you can generate circular and custom-shaped codes while keeping them scannable. ### What's the Best File Format for a Branded QR Code? Use PNG for screens and SVG for print. SVG stays sharp at any size, which matters for packaging, posters, and signage. For digital use like a website or email, a high-resolution PNG is fine. ### Why Did My Branded QR Code Stop Scanning? The usual causes are low contrast between the code and its background, a logo that covers too much of the code, a cropped quiet zone, or a low-resolution image that blurred in print. Fixing any of these usually restores the scan. ### Are Branded QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR is free to use and lets you add a logo, apply brand colors, choose a shape, and export as PNG or SVG without a subscription. ### Can I Match a QR Code to My Brand Guidelines? Yes. Set the colors to your brand values, add your logo, and pick a shape that fits your visual style. Keeping the treatment consistent across every code you publish is what makes them feel like part of the brand. --- # Dot QR Codes With Round Modules That Still Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes A dot QR code draws each module as a circle instead of a square. It scans like any QR code if the dots stay at 80% of the cell or larger. Free, no sign-up. A dot QR code is a standard QR code whose modules are drawn as circles instead of squares. The data, the grid and the way a phone reads it are unchanged; only the drawing of each module is different. Make one below, then see how large the dots need to stay and what we measured when they get smaller. ## What Is a Dot QR Code? A dot QR code is a standard QR code in which every dark module is drawn as a circle rather than a square. A module is one cell of the QR code grid, dark or light, and a scanner reads each module from the middle of its cell - which is why a dot centred in the cell carries the same information as a full square. A dot QR code is not the same thing as a [round QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes): dots describe the modules, round describes the outline, and the two can be combined or used separately. The other outline families are laid out in [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes). The opposite style, hard-edged square modules with the widest scanning margin, is covered in [pixel QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes). ### What Changes and What Stays the Same Switching a QR code from squares to dots changes how the code looks and how much ink it carries. It does not change what the code stores or how it is decoded. - **The Data Is Identical**: a dot QR code and a square-module QR code made from the same link hold the same grid of dark and light modules, at the same version and error correction level. Any standard scanner reads both. - **Each Dot Carries Less Ink**: a circle drawn at the full width of its cell covers pi/4, about 78.5%, of the cell. A dot drawn at 80% of the cell width covers about 50%. Less ink per module is the entire cost of the dotted look. - **The Modules No Longer Touch**: square modules merge into solid bars and blocks, while dots stay separate with light gaps between them. Those gaps are what give the code its lighter texture, and they are also what a decoder has to cope with. - **The Finder Patterns Should Stay Solid**: the three large corner squares are how a phone locates the code. They can be rounded or drawn as rings, but they should not be broken into separate dots. [QR code finder patterns](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) explains what has to survive. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, draws its Dots pattern at 80% of the cell width and keeps the finder patterns solid. The Two-size dots pattern mixes 80% dots with smaller 56% dots for a more decorative texture. ### Dots, Rounded Squares and Pills Are Different Patterns Dotted styling covers a family of module patterns, and they do not behave alike. Separate dots leave a gap around every module. Grouped rounded modules merge neighbouring cells into soft-cornered blobs, so they keep most of the ink of a square code. Pills and bars join modules along one axis only. The closer a pattern stays to the ink coverage of plain squares, the more tolerant the printed code is - so grouped rounded modules are the safer choice for a very small code, and separate dots are the choice when the dotted texture is the point. ## Where Dot QR Codes Work Best Round modules read as softer and more deliberate than a grid of hard squares, so a dot QR code suits places where the code is part of the design rather than a utility mark in a corner. - **Cosmetics and Skincare Packaging**: Round modules sit comfortably beside rounded type and soft product shapes. Keep the code at 2.5 cm or wider on a carton, because folded board and small print sizes are where dots lose their margin. - **Cafe Menus and Table Cards**: A dotted code on a table card looks less like a barcode and more like part of the menu design. It is scanned from about 30 cm, so 3 to 4 cm of width is comfortable. - **Business Cards**: A dot QR code pairs well with a minimal card layout. Use a short URL so the modules stay large, and print no smaller than 2.5 cm wide. - **Posters and Event Graphics**: At poster scale the ink cost of dots is irrelevant, and the pattern becomes a graphic element in its own right. Size the code at about a tenth of the distance it will be scanned from. - **Apps, Screens and Social Posts**: On a screen every dot is rendered perfectly and lit from behind, so this is the most forgiving place to use a dotted style, including the more decorative two-size pattern. - **Children's and Education Materials**: Worksheets, museum trails and classroom posters benefit from the friendlier texture. Print on matt paper where possible so glare does not wash out the smaller marks. ## How Small Can the Dots Be? What We Tested We drew one QR code with dots at seven sizes, captured it at seven resolutions and decoded every combination with jsQR, the open-source decoder inside many browser-based scanners. The test is a script anyone can re-run, and it tests one decoder: the camera decoders built into iOS and Android are closed, generally more tolerant, and were not part of it. ### What the Decoder Test Showed The test symbol was a 41 x 41 module QR code at error correction level H, with solid finder patterns and all remaining dark modules drawn as dots. Each combination was decoded at 16 slightly different positions and two levels of blur, and the counts below are for the sharper of the two. - **Full-Width Dots Behaved Like Squares**: dots at 100% of the cell width decoded at all 16 positions at every resolution from 2.5 to 10 captured pixels per module, exactly as square modules did. Dots at 90% matched that everywhere except 8 pixels per module, where they decoded at 9 of 16. - **Dots at 80% Decoded Reliably in the Middle of the Range**: at 2.5, 3 and 4 pixels per module, 80% dots decoded at 16 of 16 positions. This is the size KoloQR's Dots pattern uses, and the range corresponds to a code filling a modest part of the camera frame. - **Close-Up Was Harder Than Far Away**: at 8 and 10 pixels per module, 80% dots decoded at only 1 or 2 of 16 positions, while squares still decoded at all 16. When the gaps between dots are resolved sharply, this decoder struggles to follow the grid. Moving the phone back is the fix, which is the opposite of the usual advice. - **Below 70% the Working Range Collapsed**: 70% dots still decoded at 15 or 16 positions between 2.5 and 4 pixels per module. Dots at 56% managed 12 to 15 in that range and almost nothing outside it, and 35% dots decoded at one resolution only. - **A Little Blur Helped, a Lot Hurt**: with slightly more blur, 80% dots at 6 pixels per module went from 10 of 16 to 16 of 16, because blur closes the gaps. The same blur took 56% dots at 3 pixels per module from 14 of 16 down to 3. The practical reading: keep dots at 80% of the cell width or larger for anything that will be printed, treat 70% as the floor, and if a dotted code will not scan at close range, pull the phone back before changing the design. ### Design Rules That Follow From the Test These rules apply to a dot QR code from any generator, and each one protects the margin that round modules give up. - **Print Dot Codes Larger Than Square Ones**: a dot at 80% of the cell width inks about half the area of a square module, and ink spread on uncoated paper blurs small dots into grey. Where a square-module code is safe at 2 cm, give a dotted code 2.5 cm. - **Keep the Contrast High**: a dotted code already reflects more light per module than a square one, so a mid-tone brand colour that works with squares can fail with dots. Use a dark colour on a light background and check the pair in the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). - **Shorten the Link**: a shorter URL produces a lower QR code version with fewer, larger modules, which makes every dot bigger at the same printed width. - **Leave the Quiet Zone Alone**: a quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. ISO/IEC 18004 sets it at four modules on every side, and dots do not reduce that requirement. - **Test the Printed Code at Two Distances**: scan the proof from the distance people will use and from closer than that. The test above is the reason: a dotted code can read from 40 cm and hesitate at 10 cm. ## Dot QR Code Ideas Four ways the dotted style is commonly used, with the detail that makes each one work in practice. - **Dots Inside a Circular Outline**: Round modules inside a round outline is the most consistent version of the look. The circular outline needs extra width of its own, so size the artwork from the square data area in the middle, not from the outer edge. - **Dots With Ring-Shaped Finder Patterns**: Drawing the three finder patterns as rings with a solid centre carries the round theme into the corners. The ring and its centre must stay solid and keep their proportions for a phone to lock on. - **Two-Size Dots as a Texture**: Mixing large and small dots gives a halftone feel that suits posters and screens. The small dots are the weak point, so this pattern belongs at large sizes rather than on a label. - **Single-Colour Dots on Kraft or Tinted Stock**: Dark dots on kraft paper look crafted, but the paper is darker than white and lowers contrast. Use the darkest ink available and print a proof before the run. ## How to Make a Dot QR Code A dot QR code takes about a minute to make, and the dotted pattern is already selected when the generator opens. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link, or choose another type such as Wi-Fi or email, and the QR code is drawn immediately with dot modules. - **Choose the Dot Pattern and the Eyes**: Keep Dots for even round modules, or try Two-size dots for a more decorative texture. Set the eyes to Circle or Rounded so the finder patterns match. - **Set the Colours and Check the Contrast**: Pick a dark pattern colour on a light background. The contrast badge under the preview shows whether the pair should scan reliably. - **Test, Then Export**: Scan the preview with a phone from two distances, then download SVG or PDF for print, or PNG for screens. ## Round Modules, Same Reliable Grid A dotted QR code does not need a design tool. KoloQR draws the Dots pattern by default, keeps the three finder patterns solid so a phone can find the code, and shows a contrast reading for the colours you choose before you download anything. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screens, with no account and no watermark. KoloQR makes static QR codes only, so the code cannot be re-pointed after printing; where that matters, point the code at a redirect on your own domain. ## Export Formats for Dot QR Codes Round modules are more sensitive to the file format than square ones, because a circle has no edge that lines up with a pixel grid. - **PNG**: For screens and social posts. For print, export large: at low resolution a small dot becomes a blurred handful of grey pixels, which is the failure the test above measures. - **SVG**: The format to use for print. Every dot is stored as a true circle, so the code stays sharp at any size, from a 2.5 cm label to a banner. - **PDF or EPS**: For handing artwork straight to a print shop. Both keep the dots as vectors and drop into InDesign or Illustrator layouts without conversion. ## FAQ ### Do Dot QR Codes Scan as Well as Square Ones? At normal sizes, yes. A scanner reads each module from the middle of its cell, and a dot centred in the cell puts ink exactly there. The margin is thinner, though: a dot at 80% of the cell width carries about half the ink of a square, so a dotted code fails sooner when it is printed very small or in low contrast. ### What Is the Difference Between a Dot QR Code and a Round QR Code? A dot QR code has round modules; a round QR code has a circular outline. They are independent choices. A square code can be made of dots, a circular code can be made of squares, and the two are often combined. The data area is a square grid in every case. ### How Big Should the Dots in a QR Code Be? Keep each dot at 80% of the module cell width or larger, and treat 70% as the floor. In our decoder test, 80% dots decoded at 16 of 16 positions across the middle of the capture range, while 56% dots dropped to between 12 and 15 and failed almost everywhere outside that range. ### Why Does My Dotted QR Code Scan From Far Away but Not Close Up? Some decoders lose track of the grid when the gaps between dots are resolved sharply. In our test with the open-source jsQR decoder, 80% dots decoded at 16 of 16 positions at 4 pixels per module and at only 1 or 2 of 16 at 8 to 10. Move the phone back until the code fills about a third of the frame. ### Can the Corner Squares Be Dots Too? The corner squares can be rounded or drawn as rings, but they should not be split into separate dots. The three finder patterns are how a phone locates and orients the code, and a scanner looks for their solid ring-and-centre structure before it reads any data. ### What Is the Smallest Size to Print a Dot QR Code? As a working rule, 2.5 cm wide for a short URL, compared with 2 cm for the same code in square modules. Dots carry about half the ink per module, and ink spread on uncoated paper eats into small dots first. For longer URLs, scale up so each module stays at about 0.5 mm or more. ### Can I Add a Logo to a Dot QR Code? Yes. KoloQR generates every code at error correction level H, which recovers about 30% of the symbol, and clears a space in the centre for the logo. A dotted code has less margin than a square one, so keep the logo modest and test the printed result. ### Are Dot QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR makes dot QR codes for free, including SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG downloads, with no account and no watermark. The codes are static, so they have no scan limit and do not expire. ### Do Dot QR Codes Work on a Dark Background? Light dots on a dark background are an inverted QR code, which the standard permits but phone scanners decode inconsistently. A dotted pattern makes that worse, because the light marks are smaller still. Put dark dots on a light panel instead, even inside a dark design. --- # Pixel QR Codes, From Pixel Art to Pixel-Perfect Files URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes A pixel QR code keeps every module a hard-edged square. How to build one in pixel art, Minecraft or LEGO, and how many pixels a sharp QR code file needs. A pixel QR code is a QR code drawn as hard-edged squares, one square per module, with no rounding, dots or gradients. The same grid can be exported as a crisp image, redrawn in a pixel-art editor, or built from blocks, studs, tiles or stitches. This page covers the look, the builds and the pixel counts that keep each version scannable. ## What Is a Pixel QR Code? A pixel QR code is a QR code in which every module is a plain square with hard edges, so the whole symbol reads as a grid of pixels. A module is one cell of the QR code grid, dark or light. Square modules are the form the QR code standard, ISO/IEC 18004, describes, which makes the pixel style the most tolerant one to scan - the opposite end of the range from [dot QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes), which trade scanning margin for a softer look. The other styles and outlines are laid out in [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes), and the version, error correction level and module count of any existing code can be read with the [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder). ### The Grid Behind Every Pixel QR Code A QR code is already a pixel grid, and its size in modules is fixed by how much data it holds. Knowing the grid is what makes a pixel-art or block-built QR code possible. - **Version 1 Is 21 x 21 Modules**: each version adds four modules per side, so version 2 is 25 x 25, version 3 is 29 x 29, and the largest, version 40, is 177 x 177. - **The Quiet Zone Adds Eight to Each Side Length**: a quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. At four modules on every side, a version 1 code occupies 29 x 29 cells in total. - **Shorter Data Means a Smaller Grid**: at error correction level L, version 1 holds 17 bytes, version 2 holds 32 and version 3 holds 53. A short link is the difference between a 21-module build and a 33-module one. - **Three Corner Squares Are Fixed**: each finder pattern is 7 x 7 modules: a dark ring, a light ring and a 3 x 3 dark centre. They are the same in every QR code and have to be copied exactly. Every module matters equally when a QR code is rebuilt by hand. A generated image can lose a few modules to a logo because its error correction was planned for it; a hand-built grid with ten misplaced blocks has spent that reserve on mistakes. ### Pixel Style Is the Safest Style Square modules fill their cells completely, so a pixel QR code carries the most ink, the sharpest edges and the widest scanning margin of any module style. That makes it the right choice where conditions are already difficult: codes under 2 cm, thermal receipt printers, embroidery, engraving, low-resolution displays and anything photographed from a distance. ## Where Pixel QR Codes Work Best The pixel style suits two very different situations: designs that want a deliberate retro, 8-bit look, and production methods that can only make squares. - **Pixel Art and Retro Game Graphics**: A square-module code sits naturally inside pixel-art posters, indie game menus and stream overlays. Draw it on the same pixel grid as the rest of the artwork, one art pixel per module. - **Minecraft and Other Block Builds**: One block per module, in two strongly contrasting materials on flat ground. A version 1 code is 21 x 21 blocks, or 29 x 29 with its quiet zone, and is scanned from a screenshot taken from directly above. - **LEGO, Tiles and Mosaics**: One stud or tile per module. A version 2 code needs a 33 x 33 stud area including the quiet zone, which fits on a 48 x 48 baseplate with room for a border. - **Cross-Stitch, Knitting and Embroidery**: One stitch per module on an even-weave fabric. Thread spreads less predictably than ink, so keep the design to versions 1 to 3 and use black on white or cream. - **LED Matrices and Low-Resolution Displays**: A 32 x 32 LED panel can show a version 1 code with its full quiet zone, 29 x 29 LEDs in total, at one LED per module. Light the background and leave the modules off, so the code reads as dark on light. - **Laser Engraving and Thermal Printing**: Processes that burn, etch or heat produce a slightly ragged edge. Full square modules leave the most material per module, which is why receipt and label printers use them. ## How Many Pixels Does a QR Code Need? A QR code image needs a whole number of pixels per module, and at least 4 pixels per module where a camera will read it from a screen. Both rules come from how a module grid maps onto a pixel grid. ### Pixel Counts for Sharp QR Code Files The pixel size of a QR code is the module count, including the quiet zone, multiplied by the pixels given to each module. Working it out once avoids the blurred edges that come from resizing. - **Use a Whole Number of Pixels per Module**: a version 3 code is 29 modules plus 8 for the quiet zone, 37 in total. At 10 pixels per module the image is exactly 370 x 370 pixels, and every module edge lands on a pixel boundary. - **Avoid In-Between Sizes**: resizing that 370-pixel image to 400 pixels gives each module 10.8 pixels, so some modules render 10 wide and others 11, with grey pixels along the edges. The code still scans at that size, and looks soft. - **Scale With Nearest-Neighbour, Not Smoothing**: image editors smooth by default when enlarging. Choose nearest neighbour, or in CSS set image-rendering: pixelated, and enlarge by whole multiples only. - **Allow 4 Pixels per Module on Screens**: in our decoder test, square modules decoded at 16 of 16 positions from 2.5 to 10 captured pixels per module, and at 10 of 16 at 2 pixels per module. A camera never captures a screen one-to-one, so 4 displayed pixels per module is a sensible floor. - **Use Vector for Print and Forget Pixels**: an SVG, PDF or EPS stores each module as a geometric square, so the file has no pixel size and prints sharp at any dimension. The decoder test behind the 4-pixel rule used jsQR, an open-source decoder found in many browser-based scanners. The decoders built into iOS and Android cameras are closed and were not tested, so treat the figure as a conservative working floor rather than a limit. ### Rules for a Hand-Built Pixel QR Code A QR code built from blocks, studs or stitches follows the same rules as a printed one, with a few that only apply when every module is placed by hand. - **Shorten the Data First**: every character saved can drop the code to a smaller version. Use a short domain and no tracking parameters, and check the module count before buying materials. - **Pick a Generator That Shows the Version**: a lower error correction level gives a smaller grid for the same link. KoloQR generates every code at level H for logo support, so a builder who wants the smallest possible grid should use a generator with a level L setting. - **Work From a Gridded Printout**: export the code large, overlay a grid, and number the rows and columns. Build row by row and tick each row off; errors come from losing your place, not from misreading a module. - **Choose Flat, Matt, High-Contrast Materials**: black and white concrete in Minecraft, black and white plates in LEGO. Textured, glossy or glowing materials add noise inside each module. - **Build the Quiet Zone Too**: four light modules on every side, in the same material as the light modules. Grass, a table edge or a baseplate border directly against the code is the usual reason a build fails. - **Scan From Square On**: photograph or screenshot from directly above or in front, with even light. Test when the finder patterns are finished, and again at halfway, so a mistake is found before the last row. ## Pixel QR Code Ideas Four builds and designs, each with the number that decides whether it works. - **A Minecraft Server Join Code**: A map-sized QR code on the spawn floor linking to the server's website. With a 17-character URL at level L the grid is 21 x 21 blocks; a longer address at level H can reach 33 x 33 or more. - **A LEGO QR Code for a Shop Window**: Black 1 x 1 plates on a white 48 x 48 baseplate, holding a version 2 or version 3 code with its full quiet zone. Mount it vertically and light it from the front to avoid stud shadows. - **A Cross-Stitch Wi-Fi Code**: A framed guest Wi-Fi code stitched on 14-count fabric. Wi-Fi payloads are long, so expect version 3 or 4 at error correction level L, which is 29 to 33 stitches across before the margin. - **A Pixel-Art Poster With a Built-In Code**: The QR code drawn on the same grid as the illustration, in the poster's darkest colour on its lightest. Keep other artwork four modules away from the code on every side. ## How to Make a Pixel QR Code A pixel QR code takes about a minute to generate, and a few more to prepare for a pixel-art or physical build. - **Enter the Shortest Link That Works**: Paste the link and remove anything optional. Fewer characters means fewer modules, which means fewer pixels, blocks or stitches. - **Set the Pattern to Square**: Choose the Square pattern and the square eye style, so every module and all three finder patterns are hard-edged squares. - **Use Two Flat Colours**: Pick a dark colour on a light background with no gradient. The contrast badge under the preview shows whether the pair should scan reliably. - **Export SVG for Print, PNG for Pixel Work**: Download SVG for anything printed. For pixel art or a build template, download PNG and enlarge it by whole multiples with nearest-neighbour scaling. ## Plain Squares, Done Properly KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, also makes the plainest kind. Choose the Square pattern, set two colours, and the generator draws hard-edged modules with solid finder patterns and a contrast reading for the colours you picked. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screens, with no account and no watermark. KoloQR generates every code at error correction level H and makes static QR codes only, so the grid is larger than a level L code of the same link and the destination cannot be changed after the code is made. ## Export Formats for Pixel QR Codes The file format decides whether the hard edges of a pixel QR code survive the trip to a screen, a printer or an editor. - **PNG**: Lossless, so module edges stay hard. The right format for pixel-art editors, game textures and build templates. Avoid JPG, whose compression leaves grey ringing along every edge. - **SVG**: Each module is stored as a square rather than as pixels, so the code is sharp at any size and the pixel-count arithmetic no longer applies. The format to use for print. - **PDF or EPS**: Vector formats for print shops, engravers and sign makers. Both open in Illustrator or InDesign with the modules intact and editable. ## FAQ ### How Many Pixels Should a QR Code Be? Multiply the module count, including 8 for the quiet zone, by a whole number of pixels per module. A version 3 code is 37 modules across with its margin, so 370 x 370 pixels at 10 pixels per module. For screens, allow at least 4 pixels per module. For print, use SVG or PDF, which have no pixel size at all. ### Why Does My QR Code Look Blurry When I Resize It? The image was scaled to a size where each module is a fraction of a pixel wide, and the editor smoothed the edges. Resize by whole multiples only - 370 pixels to 740, not to 600 - and set the scaling method to nearest neighbour. In a web page, the CSS rule image-rendering: pixelated does the same. ### How Big Is a QR Code in Minecraft? A version 1 QR code is 21 x 21 blocks, or 29 x 29 with its four-block quiet zone, and holds up to 17 characters at error correction level L. A typical website link needs version 2 or 3, which is 25 or 29 blocks across. Use a generator with a level L option to keep the build small. ### Can I Draw a QR Code by Hand in a Pixel-Art Editor? Yes, by copying a generated code module for module; a QR code cannot be designed freehand, because the pattern is computed from the data. Generate the code, export a PNG, and reduce it to 1 pixel per module with nearest-neighbour scaling. That image is already pixel art, ready to recolour and place in the editor. ### Can a Pixel QR Code Use More Than Two Colours? Yes, as long as every dark module is clearly darker than every light module. A scanner converts the image to black and white before decoding, so several dark shades on one light background work. Dark and light modules that share a similar brightness fail, whatever their hue. ### How Many Mistakes Can a Hand-Built QR Code Have? Fewer than the error correction level suggests. Level L recovers about 7% of the symbol and level H about 30%, but errors are corrected in fixed-size blocks, so several mistakes close together can defeat a block. Treat the finder patterns, the timing lines and the format strips beside the finder patterns as untouchable. ### Are Pixel QR Codes Easier to Scan Than Dotted Ones? Yes. Square modules fill their cells, so they carry about twice the ink of a dot drawn at 80% of the cell width, and they leave no gaps for a decoder to misread. For small print sizes, low-resolution displays and rough production methods, square modules are the safer choice. ### How Do I Scan a QR Code With a Google Pixel Phone? Open the Camera app and point it at the QR code; a link appears to tap. A Google Pixel also has a Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings and Google Lens in the home screen search bar. The Android scanning guide covers every route: [how to scan a QR code with an Android phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android). ### Are Pixel QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR makes square-module QR codes for free, with SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG downloads, no account and no watermark. The codes are static, so they have no scan limit and do not expire. --- # Transparent QR Codes That Still Scan on the Surface Behind Them URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/transparent-qr-codes A transparent QR code has no background, so whatever is behind it becomes the light modules. It scans on a light, even surface and fails on dark or busy ones. A transparent QR code is a QR code exported without a background, so only the dark modules are drawn and everything else shows through. That makes the surface behind the code part of the code: a light, even surface scans, and a dark, patterned or moving one does not. This page covers where transparent QR codes work, where they fail, and how to fix the failures without losing the look. ## What Is a Transparent QR Code? A transparent QR code is a QR code image whose background is fully see-through, leaving only the dark modules visible. The light modules of a transparent QR code are not drawn at all; they are gaps, and a scanner reads whatever colour shows through those gaps. A QR code with a transparent background is therefore only as scannable as the surface it is placed on. For codes that carry a background colour of their own, see [colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes). Where the surface is less than ideal, square modules are the most forgiving style - see [pixel QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) - and a [QR code frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) is one way to give the code a light plate. ### What Transparency Changes Removing the background does not change the data in a QR code or the way a phone decodes it. It changes who is responsible for three things a normal QR code brings with it. - **The Light Modules Become the Surface**: a scanner needs every light module to be clearly lighter than every dark module. With no background in the file, that contrast exists only if the surface behind the code is light and even. - **The Quiet Zone Becomes the Surface Too**: a quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. ISO/IEC 18004 sets it at four modules on every side, and on a transparent code that margin has to be clear surface, not nearby artwork. - **Contrast Is No Longer Fixed at Export**: a QR code with its own background has the same contrast everywhere it is used. A transparent QR code has a different contrast on every surface, so it has to be checked again each time it is placed. - **Only Some File Formats Can Hold It**: PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS store transparency. JPG cannot, and saving a transparent QR code as JPG fills the background with white or black, depending on the program. A transparent QR code is a design convenience rather than a different kind of code. It saves matching a background colour by hand, and it lets one file sit on several light surfaces. It does not make a code work on a surface where a normal code would fail. ### The Chequerboard Is Not Part of the Code Design tools and generators show transparency as a grey and white chequerboard. The chequerboard is a preview convention and is never exported or printed. If a downloaded QR code shows a chequerboard after it has been placed in a document, the file was a screenshot of the preview rather than the transparent export. ## Where Transparent QR Codes Work Best A transparent QR code suits any layout where the code should sit directly on a light surface without a visible white box around it. - **Light Coloured Panels in a Layout**: A dark code on a cream, pale grey or pastel panel, with no white square breaking the design. One transparent file serves every panel colour in a brand system, as long as each one is light. - **Presentation Slides and Documents**: A transparent PNG or SVG drops onto a light slide background without a box. On a dark slide template, put a light rounded panel behind the code first. - **Kraft, Cream and Tinted Paper**: Printing only the dark modules lets the paper be the background. Kraft paper is darker than it looks, so use the darkest ink available and print a proof. - **Packaging With a Spot Colour**: A one-colour print job cannot print a white box. A transparent vector code prints as a single ink on the carton's own light surface. - **Laser Engraving and Cut Vinyl**: Engravers and vinyl cutters need the dark modules alone as vector shapes. A transparent SVG provides exactly that, with no background rectangle to delete. - **Merchandise on Light Fabric**: A single-colour screen print on a white or pale garment. Fabric texture softens edges, so print the code larger than it would be on paper. ## Which Surfaces a Transparent QR Code Scans On A transparent QR code scans on a surface that is lighter than the modules, even in tone, and still. It fails on surfaces that are dark, patterned, moving or see-through. Each failure has a fix that keeps most of the borderless look. ### Surfaces That Break a Transparent QR Code These are the five placements that most often stop a transparent QR code from scanning, with the reason for each. - **Dark Backgrounds**: dark modules on a dark surface have no contrast. Recolouring the modules white produces an inverted QR code, which the standard permits but phone scanners decode inconsistently. Place a light panel behind the code instead. - **Photographs**: a photo varies in brightness from one module to the next, so some gaps read as light and others as dark. Even a pale photo usually has shadows or detail crossing the code. - **Gradients and Patterns**: a gradient that is light at one corner and mid-tone at the other gives the code high contrast on one side and low contrast on the other. A scanner sets one threshold for a whole region, and half the code falls on the wrong side of it. - **Video and Live Streams**: a transparent QR code over moving footage has a background that changes every frame. A code that scans during a bright scene stops scanning in a dark one. - **Glass, Windows and Clear Labels**: a code printed on clear film has no background at all: the scanner sees the street behind the window or the liquid inside the bottle. A clear label on a dark drink is a dark code on a dark surface. As a working rule, the surface behind a transparent QR code should give a contrast ratio of at least 4:1 against the modules for screen use and 7:1 for print. Those are the same targets that apply to a QR code with its own background. ### How to Fix Each One Every one of these fixes adds a light, even area directly behind the code. The area can be shaped and coloured to suit the design; it only has to be there. - **Add a Light Plate Behind the Code**: a rounded rectangle or circle in white or a pale brand colour, extending at least four modules beyond the code on every side. On a photo or a dark layout this is the whole fix. - **Use a Semi-Opaque Plate Over Video**: a white plate at 85 to 100% opacity keeps the background steady while letting the overlay feel light. Below about 85% the footage starts to show through the light modules. - **Print a White Layer on Clear Material**: for window stickers and clear labels, ask the printer for a white ink underbase behind the code area. The white layer is printed first and the dark modules on top, so the code carries its own background on glass. - **Pick the Lightest Part of the Layout**: where no plate is wanted, move the code to an area that is already light and flat, and check that the quiet zone is clear of text and edges. - **Check the Contrast on the Real Surface**: sample the surface colour and the module colour and compare them in the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). A contrast reading taken against white says nothing about a code placed on beige. ## Transparent QR Code Ideas Four placements where removing the background improves the design, with the detail that keeps each one scannable. - **A Menu Card on Tinted Stock**: A dark green code printed straight onto cream card, with no white box. The cream is light enough for strong contrast, and the code reads as part of the menu rather than a sticker on it. - **A Shop Window Sticker**: Cut vinyl or printed clear film with a white underbase behind the code. From outside, the code has a solid light background whatever is happening inside the shop. - **A Stream Overlay**: A transparent PNG placed on a rounded white plate in the corner of the stream. The plate keeps the code scannable through every scene change, and the transparent file means no mismatched white box inside it. - **A One-Colour Kraft Box**: A single black ink on kraft board prints the modules only. Kraft lowers contrast, so the code is sized at 3 cm or more and proofed on the real board. ## How to Make a Transparent QR Code A transparent QR code takes about a minute to make. Most of the care goes into where it is placed afterwards. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link, or choose another type such as Wi-Fi or email, and generate the code. - **Switch On Transparent Background**: Open the Colors tab and tick Transparent background. The preview shows a chequerboard behind the code, which marks the see-through area and is not exported. - **Choose a Dark Module Colour**: Pick a colour that is dark against the surface the code will sit on. Black, navy, dark green and deep brown all work on light surfaces. - **Export PNG or SVG, Then Test in Place**: Download PNG for screens or SVG for print, place the code on its real background, and scan it there with two phones before publishing or printing. ## A Code With No Box Around It KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, has a Transparent background option in its Colors tab. Tick it and the generator draws only the modules, the finder patterns and any logo, in square, circular, triangular or hexagonal outlines. KoloQR's contrast reading treats a transparent code as if it sat on white, because the generator cannot know the final surface. Check the real surface colour yourself before printing. KoloQR exports transparent PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS with no account and no watermark, and makes static QR codes only. ## Export Formats for Transparent QR Codes Transparency survives only in formats that can store it, and only if the program that opens the file respects it. - **PNG**: Stores transparency and works in slides, documents, websites, video editors and streaming software. Export at the largest size needed, because a PNG softens when enlarged. - **SVG**: Transparent by nature: the file contains the module shapes and nothing else. The format for print, vinyl cutting and engraving, sharp at any size. - **PDF or EPS**: Vector formats for print shops. Both keep the background empty, which lets a printer add a white underbase or a spot colour behind the code as a separate layer. ## FAQ ### Do Transparent QR Codes Scan? Yes, on a light and even surface. A transparent QR code has no background of its own, so the surface behind it acts as the light modules. On white, cream or a pale colour the code scans like any other. On a dark, patterned or moving background it fails, and needs a light plate behind it. ### Can I Put a Transparent QR Code on a Photo? Not directly. A photograph changes brightness across the area of the code, so some light modules read as dark. Place a white or pale plate behind the code, extending at least four modules past it on every side. The plate can be rounded or tinted to suit the photo. ### Why Does My Transparent QR Code Have a Black Background? The file was saved as JPG or opened in a program that does not support transparency. JPG has no transparency, and many programs fill the empty area with black. A dark code on black is invisible. Download the code again as PNG or SVG, and insert the file rather than pasting it from the clipboard. ### How Do I Make the Background of an Existing QR Code Transparent? Regenerate the code with a transparent background if you can; it is cleaner than editing. Removing white from a PNG in an image editor leaves a pale halo of half-transparent pixels around every module, which shows as a fringe on coloured surfaces. If the original data is unknown, decode the code first and generate it again. ### Can a Transparent QR Code Go on Glass or a Window? Only with a white layer behind it. On clear film, the background of the code is whatever is behind the glass, which changes with the light and is often dark. Ask the printer for a white ink underbase under the code area, or use white vinyl with the code printed on it. ### Should I Make the Modules White for a Dark Background? Avoid it where you can. White modules on a dark surface make an [inverted QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code), which the QR code standard allows but phone scanners decode inconsistently. A dark code on a light plate placed over the dark background scans on far more devices. ### Does a Transparent QR Code Still Need a Quiet Zone? Yes. The quiet zone of four modules on every side still applies; it is simply not drawn in the file. Keep text, images and the edge of the layout out of that margin, and make sure the surface inside it is the same light tone as the surface behind the code. ### Can a Transparent QR Code Have a Logo? Yes. The logo sits in the centre as usual, and the area around it is cleared so that it stays legible. On a transparent code that cleared area is also see-through, so check that the logo has enough contrast against the final surface as well as against the modules. ### Are Transparent QR Codes Free to Make? Yes. KoloQR makes transparent QR codes for free, with PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS downloads, no account and no watermark. The codes are static, so they have no scan limit and do not expire. --- # QR Code Frames That Tell People What to Scan and Why URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames A QR code frame is a border with a short call to action around the code. Keep it outside the four-module quiet zone, and size the code, not the frame. A QR code frame is a border drawn around a QR code, usually carrying a short call to action such as Scan for the menu. A frame makes a code easier to notice and tells people what they will get, and it costs nothing in scanning as long as it stays outside the quiet zone. This page covers frame styles, the wording that works, physical frames and stands, and the sizing mistakes that break framed codes. ## What Is a QR Code Frame? A QR code frame is a decorative border placed around a QR code, outside the code's quiet zone, that often includes a line of text telling people what the code does. A frame is not part of the QR code: it holds no data, a scanner ignores it, and removing it changes nothing about how the code works. The phrase is also used for a physical holder, such as an acrylic stand, that displays a printed code. Frames are one of several ways to style a code; the wider set is in [creative QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes), and a frame pairs well with the plainest module style, [pixel QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes), because the border carries the decoration while the code stays easy to scan. ### What a Frame Adds to a QR Code A bare QR code says nothing about where it leads. A frame is the cheapest way to fix that, and it does three separate jobs. - **A Reason to Scan**: a short label such as View the menu or Join our Wi-Fi tells a reader what happens next. A code with no label asks people to scan on trust. - **Visual Weight**: a border makes a small code read as a deliberate element on a busy poster or a crowded package, instead of something that was added at the end. - **A Protected Margin**: a frame drawn outside the quiet zone reserves that space in the layout. Other designers, and later edits, are far less likely to push text up against a framed code than a bare one. - **Brand Colour Without Risk**: the frame can carry a bright or pale brand colour that would be unsafe for the modules themselves, because a scanner never reads the frame. A frame does not make a QR code scan better, and it cannot repair one that scans badly. A frame affects whether people notice the code and choose to scan it; module size, contrast and the quiet zone still decide whether the scan works. ### The One Rule a Frame Must Follow A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR code standard, ISO/IEC 18004, sets the quiet zone at four modules on every side. A frame has to start outside that margin. A border drawn tight against the modules looks neat and is the most common reason a framed QR code fails, because the scanner can no longer tell where the code ends and the border begins. ## Where QR Code Frames Work Best A frame earns its space wherever a QR code has to explain itself quickly to someone who was not looking for it. - **Table Tents and Menus**: A framed code labelled Scan for the menu removes the question of what the code is for. At a table the code is read from about 30 to 40 cm, so 3 to 4 cm of code width inside the frame is comfortable. - **Shop Counters and Checkouts**: Leave a review, Join the loyalty club, Pay here. A counter usually holds several notices at once, and a frame with a label makes each code's purpose distinct. - **Posters and Flyers**: On a busy poster a frame separates the code from the artwork and guarantees its margin. Size the code at about a tenth of the distance it will be scanned from. - **Product Packaging**: A small frame reading Setup guide or Recipe ideas tells a buyer the code is worth scanning after purchase. Keep the code itself at 2 cm or more; the frame is extra. - **Business Cards and Badges**: A thin frame with Save my contact turns a code into an instruction. Space is tight, so use a thin border and one line of text rather than a heavy label. - **Wi-Fi Signs for Guests**: A framed Wi-Fi code on a wall or in a rental apartment. The label should name the network, so guests can confirm what they are joining. ## How to Frame a QR Code Without Breaking It A frame is safe when it stays outside the quiet zone, leaves the code at full size, and carries a label of a few plain words. Most framed codes that fail break the first or second of those rules. ### Margin and Size A frame takes space, and in a fixed layout that space usually comes out of the code. These rules keep the code the right size with a frame around it. - **Start the Frame Outside the Quiet Zone**: four modules of clear space between the outermost modules and the inside edge of the frame. On a 25-module code printed 25 mm wide, a module is 1 mm, so the gap is 4 mm on every side. - **Size the Code, Not the Frame**: a framed design that measures 4 cm across may hold a code only 2.5 cm wide. The scanning distance rule, about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance, applies to the code alone. - **Measure After Placing**: when a framed code is scaled to fit a layout, measure the distance between the outer edges of two finder patterns. That is the real code width, whatever the frame measures. - **Keep the Inside of the Frame Light and Flat**: the area inside the frame is the code's background. A frame filled with a colour, a gradient or a photo puts that fill behind the modules and lowers their contrast. - **Match the Frame to the Code's Outline**: a square frame for a square code, a ring for a circular one. A circular frame around a square code has to be much larger than the code to clear its corners and their quiet zone. ### The Words on the Frame The label is the part of the frame that people read, and it works when it names the result of the scan rather than the act of scanning. - **Say What Happens, Not Just Scan Me**: View the menu, Get the app and Join our Wi-Fi each tell a reader what they get. Scan me names an action people already understand and gives no reason to take it. - **Keep It to Two to Five Words**: a frame label is read at a glance. A sentence belongs in the layout beside the code, not inside the frame. - **Print Text at a Readable Size**: as a rule of thumb, no smaller than 7 pt on handheld print, and larger for anything read from a distance. If the label has to shrink below that to fit, shorten the label. - **Match the Reader's Language**: a frame label in the language of the venue, with a second line where visitors commonly speak another. The code is universal; the instruction is not. - **Add the Address for People Who Do Not Scan**: a short readable URL under the frame serves anyone whose camera fails or who prefers to type. It also keeps the print useful if the code itself ever stops resolving. ## Physical QR Code Frames and Stands A QR code frame is also the object a printed code sits in. The holder changes how the code scans as much as the artwork does. - **Acrylic Table Stands**: The common A6 or 10 x 15 cm T-shaped or L-shaped holder. Clear acrylic reflects overhead lights straight into a phone camera; angle the stand back by about 15 degrees, or choose a non-glare acrylic, and print the insert on matt paper. - **Picture Frames With Glass**: A framed Wi-Fi or review code on a wall or reception desk. Picture glass is the most reflective option of all. Remove the glass, swap it for non-reflective glazing, or hang the frame away from a window opposite. - **Wall-Mounted Sign Holders**: Snap frames and acrylic pockets at a door or a till. Mount the code between about 1.1 and 1.5 m from the floor, so that it can be scanned without crouching or reaching, including from a wheelchair. - **Engraved and Printed Plaques**: Wood, metal or acrylic plaques with the code and its frame engraved or UV-printed as one piece. Engraving on bare wood or brushed metal is low in contrast, so fill the engraving with dark paint or print onto a light panel. ## How to Add a Frame to a QR Code A framed QR code takes a couple of minutes, and the frame, text and code export as one file. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link, or choose another type such as Wi-Fi or email, and generate the code. - **Open the Frame Tab and Pick a Style**: Choose a frame such as Simple, Double, Label, Dashed or Bubble. The generator keeps a clear margin between the modules and the frame; leave the space around the whole framed code clear in your layout as well. - **Write the Label**: Replace the default SCAN ME with a few words that name the result, such as VIEW THE MENU. The top and bottom text fields take up to 30 characters each. - **Set the Colours, Test and Export**: Give the frame a brand colour, keep the modules dark on light, scan the preview with a phone, and download SVG or PDF for print or PNG for screens. ## Frames That Keep Their Distance KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, includes 13 frame styles - Simple, Double, Label, Scalloped, Organic, Dashed, Star, Dotted, Hatch, Double Line, Bubble, Crosshatch and Spike - plus designed frames for square, circular, triangular and hexagonal codes. Each one keeps a clear light margin between the modules and the border, and has its own colour and editable top and bottom text. The frame, the text and the code export together as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG, with no account and no watermark. KoloQR makes static QR codes only. KoloQR does not sell physical stands or print inserts; the exported file goes to whichever printer or sign maker you use. ## Export Formats for Framed QR Codes A frame adds thin lines and small text to the artwork, and both are less forgiving of low resolution than the modules are. - **PNG**: For screens, email signatures and social posts. For print, export large: frame text is usually the first thing to look soft in a low-resolution PNG, before the code itself is affected. - **SVG**: Keeps borders, text and modules sharp at any size, and lets a designer recolour the frame later without regenerating the code. The format to use for print. - **PDF or EPS**: For handing a finished framed code to a print shop or an engraver. Both keep the frame and the code as vectors in a single file. ## FAQ ### Does a Frame Affect How a QR Code Scans? Not when the frame stays outside the quiet zone, the four-module margin around the code. A scanner ignores everything beyond that margin. A frame causes problems in two cases: when its border touches or crowds the modules, and when fitting the frame into a layout forces the code itself to shrink. ### What Should a QR Code Frame Say? Name what the person gets: View the menu, Get 10% off, Join our Wi-Fi, Save my contact. Two to five words is enough. Scan me is better than nothing, but it describes the action rather than the result, and a reader learns nothing about where the code leads. ### How Much Space Should There Be Between a QR Code and Its Frame? At least four modules, which is the quiet zone the QR code standard requires. To convert that to millimetres, divide the printed code width by the number of modules across and multiply by four. For a 25-module code printed 25 mm wide, that is a 4 mm gap on every side. ### Can I Add a Frame to a QR Code I Already Have? Yes. In a design tool, draw the border around the existing code and keep four modules of clear space inside it. Do not stretch or crop the code to fit a template. If the original file is low resolution, decode it and generate a new code with a frame instead. ### What Size Should a Framed QR Code Be on a Table Tent? Make the code itself 3 to 4 cm wide, measured across the modules, not across the frame. A table tent is scanned from 30 to 40 cm, and the rule of thumb is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. The frame and label are added around that size. ### Why Is My QR Code Hard to Scan in an Acrylic Stand? Almost always glare. Clear acrylic reflects ceiling lights and windows into the camera, which washes out part of the code. Tilt the stand back about 15 degrees, move it out from directly under a downlight, use a matt insert, or switch to non-glare acrylic. [Matte vs gloss QR code printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) covers the finishes. ### Can the Frame Be a Different Colour From the QR Code? Yes, and it is the safest place to use a bright or pale brand colour. A scanner does not read the frame, so its colour has no effect on the scan. Keep the modules dark and the area inside the frame light, and let the frame carry the colour. ### Can a Circular QR Code Have a Frame? Yes. A circular code takes a ring-shaped frame, often with the text set along the curve at the top and bottom. KoloQR includes designed frames for circular, triangular and hexagonal codes as well as square ones. The spacing rule is the same: the frame stays outside the code's margin. ### Are QR Code Frames Free? Yes. KoloQR includes its frame styles and editable frame text for free, with SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG downloads, no account and no watermark. The codes are static, so they have no scan limit and do not expire. --- # Aesthetic QR Codes That Keep Their Contrast URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/aesthetic-qr-codes An aesthetic QR code uses a dark muted ink on cream, or a pastel ground with near-black modules - never pastel on white. Ten designs, measured contrast. An aesthetic QR code is a standard QR code drawn with a restricted palette, rounded or dotted modules and a generous margin, so that it sits inside a soft design instead of interrupting it. The grid, the data and the way a phone reads it do not change. What changes is the risk: the pastel-on-white look most people reach for first is the one combination a camera cannot read. Make one below, then see the pairs that keep the look and the numbers that keep it scanning. ## What Makes a QR Code Aesthetic? An aesthetic QR code is a standard QR code styled with a restricted palette, rounded or dotted modules, a generous quiet zone, a frame or none, and at most one small logo and one accent colour. None of those choices touches the data; each one is a decision about how the same grid is drawn. Two of them - the pattern colour and the module pattern - cost scanning margin, and the rest are free. [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) maps the outline families, and [creative QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) collects the wider design directions; this page is about the soft, minimal end of that range, which is also where a [round QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) most often sits. ### The Six Choices Behind the Look Aesthetic in QR code terms is restraint, applied in a particular order. The list below is that order, from the choice that carries the most risk to the ones that carry none. - **A Restricted Palette**: two colours on the code itself, a dark one for the pattern and a light one for the ground. The palette can be as soft as you like as long as the dark colour stays genuinely dark; [colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes) covers which hues qualify. - **Rounded or Dotted Modules**: grouped rounded modules keep most of the ink of a square code and are the safest soft pattern; separate dots at 80% of the cell carry about half the ink and need more size. [Dot QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes) has the measurements. - **A Generous Quiet Zone**: the empty margin around the code, four modules on every side by the standard, and more looks better. White space is the cheapest aesthetic decision on the page because it costs nothing and helps the scanner. [QR code quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) has the millimetre figures. - **A Frame, or None**: a thin ring or a rounded rectangle with a short label reads as intentional; no frame at all reads as minimal. Neither is read by the scanner, so the frame can carry any colour. [QR code frames](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) compares the options. - **A Small Logo, or None**: an initial, a monogram or a tiny mark in the centre, inside about 20% of the symbol area at error correction level H. Anything larger spends the recovery budget the printed code needs for itself. - **One Accent Colour at Most**: if the design has a bright or pastel accent, it goes on the frame, the eyes or the label, never on the pattern. A second accent is where a code starts to look busy instead of designed. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, draws all of these: eleven module patterns including Grouped rounded and Dots, circle or rounded eyes, a separate eye colour, frames with a label, a centre logo, and a contrast badge that measures the pair you pick before you download. ### Why Pastel on White Is the Failure Mode The pastel-on-white QR code fails because a camera reads brightness, not hue, and a pastel is a bright colour. A blush pink pattern on white measures about 1.47:1 by the WCAG formula, mint about 1.34:1 and peach about 1.31:1 - all a fraction above the roughly 1.24:1 at which, as [our contrast post](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) reads off the ZXing source, the decoder stops seeing an edge at all, and far below the 7:1 that same post sets as the print target. The fix keeps the palette and moves the darkness: a deep version of the same hue as the ink on cream, or the pastel as the background with near-black modules on top. Both are shown in the numbers further down. ## Where Aesthetic QR Codes Go The soft look belongs where the code is part of a designed object - stationery, labels, a bio link sticker, a planner page - rather than a utility mark. Each placement below has a size or contrast detail that decides whether the printed code works. The wedding, Instagram, Linktree and packaging cards open the pages that cover each placement in full. - **Wedding Stationery**: RSVP cards, details cards, place cards and thank-you notes. Textured cotton card spreads ink, so give the code 2.5 cm and a dark ink in the invitation's own hue rather than the pastel the flowers use. - **Instagram, Spotify and Linktree Bios**: A bio sticker on a market stall, a playlist card at a party, a Linktree code on a flyer. These are scanned by phones from close up and mostly on screen or coated paper, which is the most forgiving place for a dotted pattern. - **Planners, Journals and Stickers**: A code in a bullet journal spread or on a planner sticker links to a playlist, a shared album or a habit tracker. Matt sticker paper and pen-friendly journal stock are absorbent, so use grouped rounded modules rather than fine dots. - **Candle, Soap and Skincare Labels**: Small-batch labels carry the ingredients, the story or the reorder link. A label is often 5 cm wide and kraft or textured, so the code stays at 2.5 cm or wider and the ink stays near-black in the brand's hue. - **Cafe Menus and Table Cards**: A muted code on a cream table card reads as part of the menu design. Scanned from about 30 cm, it wants 3 cm of width; a thin frame with “Menu” underneath does the explaining. - **Small-Business Packaging and Inserts**: Thank-you inserts, box sleeves and hang tags. The insert is where the pastel belongs: print the card in the pastel and the code in near-black on it, and the contrast stays above 11:1 for each of the four pastels measured below. ## The Numbers That Keep an Aesthetic QR Code Scanning Three figures decide whether a soft-looking code works off paper: the contrast ratio between its two colours, the size of each module after the pattern has taken its share, and the margin around it. The targets below are design targets with print losses priced in, quoted from the site's own measurements and the guides they came from, not thresholds measured on any named phone. ### Contrast: What Pastels and Muted Inks Measure The site's contrast checker and the generator's badge compute the WCAG contrast ratio, and [our contrast post](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) sets the targets: 7:1 for print, 4:1 for a screen, and 3:1 as the line below which a code should not ship. The pairs below were computed from their hex values with that same formula on 22 September 2026, so anyone can reproduce them in the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). - **Pastel Patterns on White Fail**: blush #F8C8DC on white measures 1.47:1, lavender #C7CEEA 1.56:1, mint #B5EAD7 1.34:1 and peach #FFDAC1 1.31:1. Yellow, the worst case in our contrast post, measures 1.07:1 with a luminance difference of 29 levels out of 255, barely above the 24 at which ZXing stops looking for an edge. - **Near-Black on a Pastel Background Passes**: the same four pastels as the ground under a #1A1A1A pattern measure 11.84:1 (blush), 11.14:1 (lavender), 13.02:1 (mint) and 13.30:1 (peach). Every one clears the print target with room for the paper. This is the pair for anyone who wants a pastel code. - **Dark Ink in a Muted Hue on Cream Passes**: deep navy #10243F on cream #F5F1E8 measures 13.84:1, deep plum #3B1F47 on blush white 12.90:1, deep sage #33422F on pale sage 9.28:1 and terracotta #7A3B21 on off-white 7.73:1. Cream costs little: [fifty QR code colour pairs](https://koloqr.com/blog/fifty-qr-colour-pairs) measures black on cream at 19.47:1. - **Muted Ink on a Pastel Ground Is the Tightest Pair**: deep sage on blush measures 7.28:1 and deep navy on blush 10.61:1. Two soft colours together can work, but the ink has to be at the darkest end of its hue; a mid sage or a dusty rose on blush lands under 4:1 and should stay on screen. - **Inverted Codes Are a Bet on the Reader**: cream modules on a dark ground compute to the same high ratio as the reverse, and our contrast post explains why that is misleading: current iPhone and Android cameras generally read inverted codes, fixed scanners often do not, and solid dark coverage spreads into the light modules in print. Keep light-on-dark for screens. The practical rule: choose the pattern colour first and make it near-black in your hue, then choose the ground from the soft end of the palette. A pale pattern is never rescued by a darker frame, a logo or a higher error correction level. ### Size, Dots and Margin Soft module patterns carry less ink than squares, and the size rules below give that ink back. Each rule is quoted from the page that measured or sourced it. - **Keep Dots at 80% of the Cell**: in the decoder test on [dot QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes), dots at 80% of the cell width decoded at 16 of 16 positions between 2.5 and 4 captured pixels per module, 70% was the floor, and below it the working range collapsed. That test used the open-source jsQR decoder only. KoloQR's Dots pattern draws at 80%. - **Print Dotted Codes at 2.5 cm, Squares at 2 cm**: the [minimum print size guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) sets a 2 cm floor including the quiet zone; the dot page adds half a centimetre for separate dots because each carries about half the ink of a square. Grouped rounded modules can stay at the 2 cm floor. - **Size by Distance: 1 cm per 10 cm**: above arm's length, allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a table card read from 30 cm wants 3 cm and a shop sign read from 1 m wants 10 cm. The rule assumes a short link. - **Leave Four Modules of Quiet Zone**: ISO/IEC 18004 sets the margin at four modules on every side, and it is measured in the code's own module width, so a small code needs a proportionally small margin, not a fixed number of millimetres. Extra margin never hurts and usually looks better. - **Keep the Logo Inside 20% of the Area**: a centre mark up to about 20% of the symbol area is reliably recoverable at level H, the level every KoloQR code uses; [QR code error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) shows the arithmetic. A monogram at half the code's width covers about that. - **Shorten the Link**: a shorter URL makes a lower-version code with fewer, larger modules, so every dot and pill is bigger at the same printed width. For an Instagram or Spotify link, the plain profile or playlist URL is short enough. ## Aesthetic QR Code Ideas Eight ideas of the kind that circulate on Pinterest, each with the detail that keeps it scanning when it leaves the screen. - **Sage Dots on Cream for a Wedding RSVP**: Deep sage dots with circle eyes on a cream card, a thin ring and “RSVP” beneath in the invitation's serif. The detail: the sage is the darkest in the suite, near #33422F, not the leaf green of the illustration. - **Navy on Blush for an Instagram Sticker**: A blush sticker with a near-navy rounded code and the handle underneath. Blush as the ground and navy as the ink measure above 10:1; the reverse would not scan. Print stickers gloss or matt, never on clear vinyl over a dark surface. - **Plum Two-Size Dots on a Spotify Playlist Card**: A square card with a deep plum speckle code linking to the open.spotify.com playlist, so any camera opens it. The detail: two-size dots belong at 4 cm or larger, and a QR code holding the Spotify link is not the same thing as a Spotify Code, which only the app reads. - **Charcoal Stars on Oatmeal for a Candle Label**: A kraft-toned label with a warm charcoal star pattern and a small circular frame. Stars cover less of the cell than dots, so the code takes 3 cm of a 6 cm label, and the ink stays charcoal rather than the caramel of the wax. - **Terracotta Diamonds on a Soap Wrapper**: Diamonds in terracotta on off-white paper, no frame, the batch name in small caps beside it. Terracotta sits just past the print target at 7.73:1, so this one is proofed on the actual wrapper stock before the run. - **A Dark Code in a Pastel Panel for a Journal Spread**: A lavender washi-style panel with a near-black rounded code inside it and the rest of the page free for handwriting. The panel is the pastel; the code is not. Grouped rounded modules survive the absorbent journal paper better than dots. - **Framed Minimal Code on a Cafe Table Card**: Graphite vertical bars on warm white, a hairline rounded-rectangle frame and “Menu” in a light sans. Nothing else on the card. At 3 cm wide it reads from a seated position, and the frame is the only decoration. - **Near-Black on Peach for a Thank-You Insert**: A peach insert card with a near-black dotted code linking to a review or reorder page. Peach under #1A1A1A measures 13.30:1, so the pastel carries the whole mood while the code keeps a print-safe margin. A Linktree page is the usual destination when there are several links. ## How to Make an Aesthetic QR Code An aesthetic QR code takes a minute or two to make. The Grouped rounded pattern is already selected and the Colors tab is open when the generator loads on this page. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link - a wedding website, an Instagram profile, an open.spotify.com playlist, a Linktree - or choose another type. The shortest form of the link keeps the modules large. - **Pick the Pattern and the Eyes**: Keep Grouped rounded for the safest soft look, or switch to Dots, Vertical pills or Two-size dots for more texture. Set the eyes to Circle or Rounded so the corners match. - **Set the Colours From the Dark End**: Choose the pattern colour first and make it the darkest version of your hue, then set the background to cream or a pastel. The contrast badge under the preview turns green at 4:1; aim for 7:1 or more if the code will be printed. - **Add a Frame or a Small Logo, Test, Export**: Add a frame with a short label if you want one, keep any centre logo small, scan the preview with a phone, then download SVG or PDF for print or PNG for screens. ## Soft Look, Same Reliable Grid An aesthetic QR code does not need a design tool or a template pack. KoloQR draws the soft patterns directly, keeps the three finder patterns solid so a phone can find the code, measures the contrast of the pair you choose, and puts the accent colour where it costs nothing - on the eyes, the frame and the label. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screens, with no account and no watermark. KoloQR makes static QR codes only, so the code cannot be re-pointed after printing and no scans are tracked; where that matters, point the code at a redirect on your own domain. ## Export Formats for Aesthetic QR Codes Soft patterns are more sensitive to the file format than plain squares, because a rounded edge has no line that falls on a pixel grid. - **PNG**: For Instagram, Canva, screens and stickers printed from a phone. Export large: a small rounded module at low resolution becomes a grey smudge, which is the failure the size rules above guard against. A transparent PNG drops straight onto a pastel card, which is the transparent QR code style. - **SVG**: For anything printed and for invitation suites built in a design tool. Every rounded module and dot is stored as a true curve, so the code stays sharp from a 2.5 cm place card to a welcome sign. - **PDF or EPS**: For handing artwork to a stationer or a label printer. Both keep the modules as vectors and the colours as the hex values you chose, so the proof matches the file. ## FAQ ### Do Pastel QR Codes Scan? Usually not on white. A pastel pattern on a white ground measures between about 1.3:1 and 1.6:1 for the common blush, mint, lavender and peach tints, close to the roughly 1.24:1 at which the open-source ZXing decoder stops seeing an edge. The pair that does scan is the reverse: the pastel as the background and a near-black pattern on top, which measures above 11:1 for all four. ### Can I Make a QR Code With No Black at All? Yes, if the pattern colour is dark in its own hue. Deep navy on cream measures 13.84:1, deep plum on blush white 12.90:1 and deep sage on pale sage 9.28:1, all above the 7:1 print target, and none of them contains black. What you cannot do is make both colours soft: at least one has to be near-black in brightness, and it should be the pattern. ### Is There a Free Aesthetic QR Code Generator? KoloQR makes aesthetic QR codes for free, in the browser, with no account and no watermark: rounded, dotted, pill and star patterns, circle or rounded eyes, custom colours with a contrast badge, frames, a centre logo and SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG export. The codes are static, so there is no scan tracking and a printed code cannot be re-pointed later. ### Does a Cute or Aesthetic QR Code Scan Worse Than a Plain One? A styled code never scans better than plain black on white, and some choices scan worse. Separate dots and stars carry less ink than squares, and any pattern colour lighter than near-black lowers the contrast. Grouped rounded modules, a dark ink in a muted hue and a wide margin cost almost nothing; pastel patterns and tiny dots cost a lot. Test the printed piece on a phone before the run. ### How Do I Make a Minimalist QR Code? Use one dark ink and one light ground, grouped rounded or plain square modules, no logo, a hairline frame or none, and more margin than the four modules the standard requires. Graphite on warm white measures 13.78:1 and is the version on this page. Minimalism removes decoration, which is why it is the safest aesthetic style to print. ### Can I Make an Aesthetic QR Code for Instagram or Spotify? Yes. Paste the profile URL or the open.spotify.com playlist link into the generator and style it like any other code; any phone camera reads the result. A Spotify Code - the bar-chart pattern in the share menu - is not a QR code and only scans inside the Spotify app, so a printed card or sticker should carry the QR code instead. ### Can I Print an Aesthetic QR Code on Kraft or Coloured Card? Yes, as long as the pattern stays near-black and the card is a light tint. Black on cream measures 19.47:1 in our colour-pairs table, so a cream or blush card barely costs anything. Kraft is darker and more absorbent, so use the darkest ink available, grouped rounded modules rather than dots, and print a proof on the real stock before the run. ### What Size Should a Dotted Aesthetic QR Code Be Printed At? At least 2.5 cm wide for a short link, compared with 2 cm for the same code in square or grouped rounded modules, because dots at 80% of the cell carry about half the ink. Above arm's length, allow about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Two-size dots and stars want more still, so keep them at 4 cm or larger. ### Can I Put a Small Initial or Monogram in the Middle? Yes. Keep it inside about 20% of the symbol area - a circle about half the code's width - and on a solid background. KoloQR generates every code at error correction level H, which can recover close to 30% of the symbol, and staying at 20% leaves the rest for ink spread, glare and a slightly shaky camera. ### Can an Aesthetic QR Code Use a Gradient or a Watercolour Background? A gradient on the pattern is safe only if its lightest stop still measures 7:1 against the ground, which rules out most pastel gradients. A watercolour or photo behind the code varies the background under every module, so put the code on a solid light panel and let the wash surround it. The panel is part of the design, and it is also the quiet zone. --- # Halloween QR Codes That Still Scan After Dark URL: https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes A Halloween QR code scans when the pattern is near-black on pumpkin orange or bone white, never orange on white. Nine spooky designs with measured contrast. A Halloween QR code is an ordinary QR code drawn in a Halloween palette - pumpkin orange, witch purple, slime green, bone white - and usually printed for one night: a party invitation, a porch sign, a scavenger-hunt clue or a costume. The grid and the way a phone reads it do not change. What changes is the risk: the orange-on-black and purple-on-black looks most people reach for first are the ones a camera struggles with. Make one below, then see the nine designs that keep the mood and the numbers that keep them scanning. ## What Makes a QR Code a Halloween QR Code? A Halloween QR code is a standard QR code styled with a seasonal palette, a themed module pattern, an optional frame with a short label, and sometimes a small pumpkin, bat or ghost in the centre. None of those choices touches the data the code holds. Two of them - the pattern colour and the module pattern - cost scanning margin; the rest are free. [Colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes) covers which colours qualify in general, and [creative QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) collects design directions for the rest of the year. ### The Five Choices Behind a Halloween Look A Halloween look is built from five choices, listed here from the one that carries the most risk to the ones that carry none. - **The Palette**: one dark colour for the pattern and one light colour for the ground. Pumpkin orange, slime green, bone and lilac make good grounds; black, midnight navy, deep purple and dried-blood red make good patterns. Pumpkin orange is the one colour that only works as the ground, because it measures 2.69:1 against white. - **A Themed Module Pattern**: triangles read as fangs, stars and two-size dots as a night sky, pills as dripping slime. Each one carries less ink than a square, so each one needs a little more print size. [Dot QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes) has the measurements for the dotted patterns. - **Eyes in an Accent Colour**: the three corner squares, called finder patterns, can take an orange or purple accent while the data stays dark. A finder pattern is the large square in three corners of a QR code that tells a scanner where the symbol is and which way up it sits. - **A Frame With a Short Label**: a frame around the code with “Trick or Treat”, “Scan for the Party” or “Clue 3” tells people what the scan does. The scanner ignores the frame, so it can carry any Halloween colour, including the ones the pattern cannot. [QR code frames](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) compares the shapes. - **A Small Pumpkin, Bat or Ghost in the Centre**: a centre icon up to about 20% of the symbol area is recoverable at error correction level H, the level every KoloQR code uses. A bigger pumpkin spends the margin the printed code needs for ink spread and dim light. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, draws all of these: eleven module patterns including Triangles, Stars and Two-size dots, a separate eye colour, frames with a label, a centre logo, and a contrast badge that measures the pair you pick before you download. ### Why Orange or Purple on Black Is the Failure Mode Orange and purple on black fail for two different reasons. Pumpkin orange #FF7518 on black measures 7.03:1, which looks fine, but light modules on a dark ground make an inverted code: [our contrast post](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) explains that current iPhone and Android cameras generally read inverted codes while fixed scanners and older apps often do not, and that solid black coverage spreads into the light modules in print. Bright violet #6A0DAD on black is worse: it measures 2.05:1, below the 3:1 line under which a code should not ship at all. The fix keeps the colours and swaps their jobs: black on pumpkin measures 8.23:1 with a light orange, and deep purple on lilac 13.36:1. ## Where Halloween QR Codes Go Halloween QR codes are mostly printed for one evening and scanned in poor light, by people in a hurry or in costume. Each placement below has a size, light or payload detail that decides whether the code works on the night. The invitation, costume, event, scavenger hunt, retail and sticker cards open the pages that cover each placement in full. - **Party Invitations**: A code on a printed invitation links to the RSVP form, the playlist or the costume theme. Invitations are read at arm's length in good light, so 2.5 cm is enough even for a dotted pattern on heavy card. - **Porch and Front Door Signs**: A sign on the door links to the party address, a donation page or a list of allergy-friendly treats. It is read after dark from a metre or two away, so print it 10 to 20 cm wide and put it under the porch light, not beside it. - **Scavenger Hunts and Escape Games**: Each clue is its own code, often hidden in a garden or a dark room. A text QR code stores the clue inside the code itself, so it appears on the phone without a website or a signal in the back of the garden. - **Costumes and T-Shirts**: A code on a costume links to a joke, a sound or a social profile. Fabric stretches and folds, so put the code on a flat part of the chest or back, print it 8 cm or wider, and avoid stretch fabrics that distort the grid. - **Haunted Houses and Halloween Events**: Tickets, maps, waivers and timed-entry slots. Queue signs are scanned from about a metre in low light, so 10 cm is the floor, and a lit sign beats a dark one every time. - **Shop Windows and Seasonal Promotions**: A window decal for the costume rail, the pumpkin-spice menu or a Halloween discount. Windows are read from 1 to 2 metres, so the code needs 15 to 20 cm of width and matte film to stay readable under evening street light. - **Treat Bags and Candy Labels**: A small sticker on a treat bag links to a game, a greeting or the ingredients. Stickers are scanned close up, so 2.5 cm works, and the ingredients link matters for the parents checking allergens. ## The Numbers That Keep a Halloween QR Code Scanning Three things decide whether a Halloween code works on the night: the contrast between its two colours, the light it is scanned in, and the surface it is printed on. The targets below are design targets with print losses priced in, not thresholds measured on any named phone. ### Contrast: What the Halloween Palette Measures The site's contrast checker and the generator's badge compute the WCAG contrast ratio, and [our contrast post](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) sets the targets: 7:1 for print, 4:1 for a screen, and 3:1 as the line below which a code should not ship. The pairs below were computed from their hex values with that same formula on 8 October 2026, so anyone can check them in the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). - **Orange Modules on White Fail**: pumpkin orange #FF7518 on white measures 2.69:1 and a pale pumpkin #FF9F43 2.04:1, both under the 3:1 line. Pumpkin orange sits close to the middle of the brightness scale, so it is too light to be ink and only just dark enough to be ground under black. - **Black on Orange Passes, if the Orange Is Light**: near-black #111110 on #FF7518 measures 7.03:1, barely the print target. The lighter #F7931E measures 8.23:1, and that extra margin is worth having on an absorbent card stock or in porch light. - **Bright Purple and Blood Red on Black Fail**: violet #6A0DAD on black measures 2.05:1 and blood red #8A0303 on black 1.88:1. Both look high-contrast to an eye, because the colour is saturated, but a camera reads brightness, and both colours are dark. - **Deep Purple, Dried Red and Swamp Green on Light Grounds Pass**: deep purple #2E1446 on lilac measures 13.36:1, dried-blood red #6E0A12 on bone 10.58:1, swamp green #14290A on slime green 11.89:1, and burnt orange #7A3300 on cream 8.32:1. Every one is a dark ink in a Halloween hue on a light ground. - **Glow-in-the-Dark Ink Is Two Problems at Once**: by day, a glow pigment is a pale yellow-green; a tint like #D4F542 on white measures 1.24:1, right at the ZXing floor. In the dark, the glowing modules turn light on dark, which is an inverted code. Print the code in black on white and put the glow paint on the frame. The practical rule: the Halloween colour goes in the background, the eyes or the frame, and the pattern stays near-black in brightness. A pale or bright pattern is never rescued by a darker frame, a logo or a higher error correction level. ### Light, Size and Surface on the Night Halloween codes are scanned in the dark, at a door or in a garden, by phones held at odd angles. The rules below cover what that changes; each is quoted from the page that measured or sourced it. - **Light the Code From the Front**: a phone camera needs light on the code, not behind it. Put a porch sign under the light rather than beside a bright window, and lay a scavenger-hunt clue where a torch can reach it. A backlit code reads as a dark smudge. - **Tell People to Use the Normal Camera Mode**: on many phones, night, portrait and video modes switch QR detection off, as [how to scan a QR code on Android](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android) notes. A guest who switches to night mode to see the sign may lose the scan. - **Size by Distance: 1 cm per 10 cm**: allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the floor, as the [minimum print size guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) sets out. A door sign read from 1.5 m wants 15 cm; an invitation read from 25 cm wants 2.5 cm. - **Keep Dots at 80% of the Cell**: in the decoder test on [dot QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/dot-qr-codes), dots at 80% of the cell decoded at every position tested and 70% was the floor. Stars and two-size dots carry less ink still, so print them at 4 cm or larger. - **Print on the Flattest Face of a Pumpkin**: a code on a curved surface loses accuracy towards its edges as the surface turns away from the camera; [distorted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) explains why. Stick a printed code on the flattest face of the pumpkin and keep it small next to the pumpkin's width. - **Leave Four Modules of Quiet Zone**: ISO/IEC 18004 sets the empty margin around a code at four modules on every side. Cobwebs, bats and drips drawn into that margin are the most common reason a decorated Halloween code stops scanning. [QR code quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) has the figures. ## Halloween QR Code Ideas Eight Halloween QR code ideas, each with the detail that keeps it scanning on the night rather than only on the screen it was designed on. - **A Pumpkin-Orange RSVP Card**: Black rounded modules on a light pumpkin card with “RSVP” in a spooky serif under a thin frame. The detail: the card is #F7931E or lighter, not the deep #FF7518 of the illustration, which buys the code a full point of contrast. - **A Porch Sign for Trick-or-Treaters**: A 15 cm code on a bone-white board under the porch light, linking to a list of allergy-friendly treats or a neighbourhood map. The detail: the label says what the scan does, because no one scans a mystery code at night. - **A Text-Only Scavenger Hunt**: Ten clue cards, each a text QR code holding the next riddle, numbered on the frame. Text codes work without a signal; keep each clue under a sentence or two so the code stays small and the modules large. - **A Carved-Look Pumpkin Code**: A printed code cut out as a sticker and placed on the flattest face of a pumpkin. Carving a real code through the shell is a weekend project: a version 2 code alone has 625 cells, roughly half of them to cut, and the cut areas glow light, which inverts the code. - **A Costume That Talks**: An 8 cm iron-on code on the back of a ghost costume, linking to a sound clip or a joke. The detail: plain cotton, not stretch fabric, and the code goes on the flat of the back, away from seams. - **A Haunted-House Queue Sign**: A lit A-board at the queue with a 12 cm code to the waiver or the timed-entry slots. The detail: the sign is lit from the front, and the code links to a light page that loads on a crowded mobile network. - **A Witch-Purple Party Playlist**: Deep purple two-size dots on lilac, printed on a small card by the speaker and linking to the open.spotify.com playlist. A QR code holding the Spotify link opens in any camera; a Spotify Code from the share menu only scans inside the app. - **A Halloween Window Promotion**: A 20 cm burnt-orange diamond code on a cream window decal, linking to the costume range or the seasonal menu. The detail: matte film, mounted at 120 to 150 cm, and a short URL on the shop's own domain so the link can move to the winter range in November. ## How to Make a Halloween QR Code A Halloween QR code takes a minute or two to make. The Colors tab is already open when the generator loads on this page. - **Add Your Content**: Paste the link - an RSVP form, a playlist, a ticket page, a map - or switch to Text for a scavenger-hunt clue that works without a signal. The shortest form of the link keeps the modules large. - **Set the Colours: Dark Pattern, Halloween Ground**: Choose the pattern colour first and keep it near-black, deep purple or dried red, then set the background to pumpkin orange, slime green, lilac or bone. The contrast badge under the preview turns green at 4:1; aim for 7:1 or more for anything printed. - **Pick a Spooky Pattern and Eye Colour**: Triangles, Stars and Two-size dots give a Halloween texture; Square and Grouped rounded are the safest. Put an orange or purple accent on the eyes rather than the pattern, and add a frame with a short label. - **Test in the Dark, Then Export**: Scan the preview with a phone, then print one copy and scan it where it will hang, at night, from the distance a guest will stand at. Download SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Spooky Look, Same Reliable Grid A Halloween QR code does not need a template pack or a design tool. KoloQR draws the themed patterns directly, keeps the three finder patterns solid so a phone can find the code, measures the contrast of the pair you choose, and puts the orange accent where it costs nothing - on the eyes, the frame and the label. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screens, with no account and no watermark. KoloQR makes static QR codes only, so a code cannot be re-pointed after printing and no scans are tracked; for a party that is usually fine, and for a shop promotion the fix is to point the code at a short URL on your own domain. ## Export Formats for Halloween QR Codes The right format depends on where the code ends up: a printed card, a window decal, an iron-on transfer or a story on a screen. - **PNG**: For a TV at the party, Instagram stories and invitations made in Canva. Export large: a small star or dot pattern at low resolution turns into a grey smudge. A transparent PNG drops onto a pumpkin-orange card without a white box around it. - **SVG**: For anything printed: invitations, porch signs, window decals and iron-on transfers. Every triangle, star and dot is stored as a true shape, so the code stays sharp from a 2.5 cm treat-bag sticker to a 20 cm door sign. - **PDF or EPS**: For handing artwork to a print shop or a sign maker. Both keep the modules as vectors and the colours as the hex values you chose, so the pumpkin orange on the proof is the one you measured. ## FAQ ### Can a QR Code Be Orange for Halloween? Yes, as the background, not the pattern. Pumpkin orange #FF7518 on white measures 2.69:1, under the 3:1 line below which a code should not ship. Near-black on a light pumpkin #F7931E measures 8.23:1, past the 7:1 print target. To get orange into the pattern itself, darken it to a burnt orange like #7A3300, which measures 8.32:1 on cream. ### Will a Black Background Halloween QR Code Scan? On most current phones, usually yes; on paper and on older scanners, not reliably. Light modules on a black ground make an inverted code, which current iPhone and Android cameras generally read and many fixed scanners do not. Black ink also spreads into the light modules in print. Keep light-on-black codes for screens and print dark on light. ### Can I Put a Pumpkin or Bat Logo in the Middle? Yes, inside about 20% of the symbol area - a shape roughly half the code's width - and on a solid background. KoloQR generates every code at error correction level H, which can recover close to 30% of the symbol, and staying at 20% leaves the rest for dim light, ink spread and a hurried scan at the door. ### Can I Carve a QR Code Into a Real Pumpkin? It can work, but it is hard. Even a very short link makes at least a version 2 code of 25 × 25 modules, and every dark module has to be cut cleanly. Lit from inside, the cut areas glow light and the skin stays dark, which is an inverted code, and the curve distorts the grid. A printed sticker on the flattest face is the reliable version. ### Do Glow-in-the-Dark QR Codes Work? Not as the pattern. Glow pigment is a pale yellow-green in daylight, which barely differs from white - a tint like #D4F542 on white measures 1.24:1 - and in the dark the glowing modules become light on dark, an inverted code. Print the code in black on white and use the glow paint for the frame or the label around it. ### Why Won't My Halloween QR Code Scan at Night? Usually because of the light, not the code. A code lit from behind, or by a dim coloured bulb, reaches the camera as low contrast, and on many phones night mode switches QR detection off. Put the code under a white porch light, keep the camera in its normal photo mode, and print it about 1 cm wide per 10 cm of scanning distance. ### How Do I Make a QR Code Scavenger Hunt Without Wi-Fi? Use text QR codes. A text QR code stores the clue itself inside the code, so the phone shows it without loading a page or needing a signal. Keep each clue short so the code stays small, number each card on its frame, and test every code in the spot where it will be hidden before the hunt starts. ### Can I Reuse a Halloween QR Code Next Year? Yes, if the destination still makes sense next October. A static QR code never expires, so a printed porch sign or shop decal keeps working for as long as its link does. For anything with a changing destination, encode a short URL on your own domain and update where it points each year instead of reprinting. ### Is There a Free Halloween QR Code Generator? KoloQR makes Halloween QR codes for free, in the browser, with no account and no watermark: triangle, star, dot and pill patterns, a separate eye colour, frames with a label, a centre logo, a contrast badge, and SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG export. The codes are static, so there is no scan tracking and a printed code cannot be re-pointed later. --- # What Types of QR Codes Are There? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types Compare the main types of QR codes: URL, Wi-Fi, email, and more. See what each one encodes, what happens when it's scanned, and how to make one free. A QR code can hold more than a link - a Wi-Fi network, an email, a plain message, a phone number. Browse the types below to see what each one encodes, what happens when a phone scans it, and how to build your own. ## Basic QR Codes The everyday types - a link, a message, an email, a phone number, a Wi-Fi network. Each one carries its content in the pattern, so it works with no app and no account. ## Location & Event QR Codes Send someone to an address or drop a date into their calendar - a scan that ends in maps or a calendar rather than on a web page. ## Social QR Codes One scan opens your profile, channel, or chat in the app people already have - no username to spell out, no account to search for. ## Review & Business QR Codes Point customers straight at the form where they leave a rating, so a review is one scan rather than a search. ## Link & Tool QR Codes Link-in-bio pages, forms, booking pages, and meeting rooms - a URL code with the right link already shaped for you. ## Shopping & Payment QR Codes Your listing, your shop, or the payment itself - a marketplace link, a PayPal.me address, or a national instant-payment code, one scan from whoever is standing in front of you. ## Crypto QR Codes A wallet address inside a code, so a payment is scanned rather than typed and no character goes missing on the way. ## How to Choose the Right QR Code Type Each type encodes something different and behaves differently on scan. A few habits keep whichever you pick reliable, from a phone screen to printed signage. - **Match the Type to the Action**: A URL opens a page, a Wi-Fi code joins a network, a phone-number code starts a call. Pick the type for what you want to happen on scan. - **The Content Lives in the Code**: Static codes encode the data directly, so they work offline and never expire - but the content is fixed once printed. - **Keep URLs Short**: A shorter link means a less dense pattern that scans faster and prints smaller. Use a clean URL rather than a long tracking string. - **Get Wi-Fi Details Right**: A Wi-Fi code carries the network name, password, and security type. Match the encryption type exactly or phones won't connect. - **Test the Exact Content**: Scan the final code and check it does the right thing - joins the network, saves the right number - before printing at volume. - **Keep Contrast and a Quiet Zone**: Whatever the type, dark-on-light and a clear four-module margin are what keep it scannable. - **Export Vector for Print**: SVG, PDF, or EPS stays sharp at any size; PNG is fine for screens but degrades when scaled up. - **Test on Two Phones**: iPhone and Android read codes slightly differently. Check both with the native camera before a print run. ## FAQ ### What Types of QR Codes Are There? The common ones are URL (open a web page), Wi-Fi (join a network), plain text, email, phone number, and SMS. They're all standard QR codes - what differs is the data encoded and what the phone does with it on scan. ### What Is the Difference Between a URL and a Wi-Fi QR Code? A URL code opens a web page when scanned. A Wi-Fi code carries a network name, password, and security type, so scanning it offers to join the network - no page, no typing. They encode different data for different actions. ### What's the Difference Between a Static and a Dynamic QR Code? A static code stores the data directly in the pattern, so it never expires and needs no service behind it, but the content is fixed once printed. A dynamic code stores a short link to a redirect you can repoint and track later, as long as that service stays active. KoloQR makes static codes. ### Which QR Code Type Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu? A URL code pointing at your menu page. If the menu changes often, point that URL at a redirect on your own domain so you can update it without reprinting the code. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Phone Number or Text Message? Yes. A phone-number code offers to dial when scanned, and an SMS code opens a new message with the number - and often the text - already filled in. Both are static, so they keep working with no account. ### Do Different QR Code Types Need Different Apps to Scan? No. Every type here is a standard QR code read by the built-in camera on any modern iPhone or Android - no separate scanner app. Only the encoded content and what the phone does with it differ. ### Which Type Should I Use to Share My Contact Details? A URL code pointing at the page that already holds them - your website, LinkedIn, or a link-in-bio page. For a single detail, an email or phone-number code works too: scanning opens a pre-filled email or offers to dial. ### Do QR Code Types Expire? Static codes don't - the data is encoded directly, so they work as long as any destination page stays live. A URL code only breaks if its page goes down; Wi-Fi and text codes keep working regardless. ### Do I Need an Account to Create These QR Codes? No. KoloQR makes every type here for free with no sign-up: choose the type, enter the content, style it, and download a print-ready file with no watermark. --- # Connect Guests to WiFi Instantly - No Passwords Needed URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code Create a free WiFi QR code guests scan to connect instantly - no password typing, no app. Customize colors and a logo, then export PNG or SVG for print. A WiFi QR code turns your network login into a single scan. Guests point their camera, tap once, and they're online - no spelling out “is that a zero or an O?”, no password taped to the fridge. Design yours in seconds and print it anywhere. - No sign-up required - Works on iPhone & Android - Nothing leaves your browser ## What Is a WiFi QR Code? A WiFi QR code is a scannable image that stores your network name, password, and security type. When someone scans it with their phone camera, the device reads those credentials and offers to join the network with a single tap - no manual typing, and no extra app on iOS or Android. ### What Information Gets Encoded A WiFi QR code contains three pieces of information: - **Network Name (SSID)**: the name of your WiFi network. - **Password**: the password required to join the network. - **Security Type**: WPA2, WPA3, WEP, or Open. The information is encoded directly into the QR code, so compatible devices can connect instantly after scanning. No app, internet connection, or online service is required. ### How the Connection Works When a phone camera reads the code, it decodes the embedded credentials and shows a one-tap prompt - “Join [Network Name]?” The guest taps Join, and they're connected. The whole process takes about three seconds. iPhones have handled WiFi codes in the native camera since iOS 11; most Android phones do it through [the camera or Google Lens](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android). An iPhone can also [share its Wi-Fi password as a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone) straight from the Passwords app. No app to download, no keyboard, no typos. Like the other [types of QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types) that carry their whole payload, nothing is fetched from a server - the credentials sit in the pattern itself. ## Real-World Examples A WiFi QR code earns its place anywhere people ask for the password more than once. These are the spots where it saves the most time. - **Cafés, Restaurants, and Bars**: A table card with the WiFi QR code is one of the most common uses - and for good reason. Staff stop repeating the password, customers don't have to ask, and the connection feels polished instead of clunky. Print the code on a small card and add it to the back of your menu. If you rotate the password, regenerate the code and reprint in a couple of minutes. - **Hotels and Short-Term Rentals**: Guests arrive tired and just want to get online. A framed WiFi QR code in the room or on the welcome card removes one more step from check-in and quietly signals “this place is put together.” For Airbnb hosts and boutique hotels, it's a small detail that lifts the first impression. - **Offices and Coworking Spaces**: Guest WiFi passwords in offices change often for security. Instead of emailing new credentials or updating a whiteboard, regenerate the code and swap it out. Visitors scan it at the front desk or in the meeting room and connect - no IT ticket required. - **Events and Conferences**: Attendees want to be online the second they sit down. A WiFi QR code on the badge, the program, or a projected slide gets a full room connected in seconds - right when reliable WiFi matters most. ## How to Create a WiFi QR Code With KoloQR Create a custom WiFi QR code in seconds. Let guests connect without typing a password. - **Open the QR Code Generator**: Go to KoloQR's free QR code generator and pick the WiFi type from the menu. No signup and no download - everything runs in your browser. - **Enter Your Network Details**: Add your network name (SSID), password, and security type (WPA/WPA2/WPA3, WEP, or open). KoloQR encodes them directly into the code, so guests connect with a single scan instead of typing anything. - **Customize the Design**: Match the code to your space or brand. Choose your own colors, add a logo to the center, or switch to a circular style. Built-in error correction keeps the code scannable even with a logo on top. - **Export**: Download in the format you need: PNG for screens and digital use, or SVG for print. SVG scales to any size without losing quality - ideal for framed signs and table cards. ## Choosing the Right Export Format Choose the format that matches your use case: - **PNG**: for digital content, websites, presentations, and social media. - **SVG**: for printing at any size with maximum quality. - **High-Resolution PNG**: for printed materials when a raster image is required. If you're unsure, SVG is usually the best option for print, while PNG is the easiest choice for digital use. ## WiFi QR Code Best Practices A few habits make a WiFi QR code that looks sharp, scans on the first try, and keeps your network secure. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: Use a dark code on a light background wherever possible. Avoid inverted (light-on-dark) codes - some scanners struggle with them. - **Size It for the Scan Distance**: A good rule of thumb: the code should be about 1/10th of the scanning distance. A card scanned at arm's length works small; a wall sign read from across a room needs to be larger. - **Protect Your Main Network**: For anywhere the public can see the code - a café, a rental, a lobby - connect it to a guest network, not your primary one. - **Regenerate When the Password Changes**: Whenever you rotate the WiFi password or SSID, generate a fresh code and replace the old one so visitors can still connect. - **Leave a Quiet Zone**: Keep empty space around the code. Crowding text, logos, or graphics up to the edges hurts scanning reliability. - **Test Before You Print**: Scan the final file with both an iPhone and an Android device before sending it to print. Confirm it connects to the correct network without errors. - **Place It Where People Look**: Table cards, reception desks, menus, and room doors all work. Guests scan what they can see. - **Mind the Surroundings**: Matte surfaces beat glossy ones - glare and reflections make codes hard to read. Good lighting and a flat, uncreased surface help every scan. ## FAQ ### How do I connect to WiFi using a QR code? Open your phone's camera and point it at the WiFi QR code. A prompt appears asking to join the network - tap it, and you're connected. On iPhone this works in the native camera; on most Android phones it works through the camera or Google Lens. ### Do I need an app to scan a WiFi QR code? No. Any modern iPhone or Android phone reads WiFi QR codes with the built-in camera. There's nothing to download for you or your guests. ### Is a WiFi QR code safe to share publicly? The code contains your network password, so treat it like the password itself. For public spaces, point it at a guest network rather than your primary one. Anyone who scans it can join, so display it only where you're comfortable letting people connect. ### Does the QR code stop working if I change my WiFi password? Yes. A WiFi QR code stores a fixed password, so it stops working the moment you change it. Just regenerate the code with the new password and replace the printed version. ### Can I add my logo to a WiFi QR code? Yes. KoloQR lets you drop a logo in the center and set your own colors. Built-in error correction keeps the code readable even with a logo covering part of it. ### What size should a WiFi QR code be for print? Size it to the scanning distance - roughly 1/10th of how far away people will scan from. A table card is fine at about 2-3 cm; a wall sign read from across the room should be several times larger. Always test the printed size before a full run. ### Which security type should I choose? Pick the one your router uses - for most modern networks that's WPA/WPA2/WPA3. Choose WEP only for older equipment, and “open” only for networks with no password. ### Do KoloQR WiFi QR codes expire or track scans? No. These are static codes - the credentials live in the image, not on a server. They don't expire, don't phone home, and aren't tracked. Once you've exported the file, it works forever, offline. --- # Turn Any Link Into a QR Code People Can Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code Create a free URL QR code that opens any website when scanned. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG, SVG, or PDF files in seconds. Paste a web address, style it to match your brand, and download a QR code that opens your page in one tap - no app required for the person scanning. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a URL QR Code? A URL QR code is a QR code that stores a web address. When someone scans it with their phone camera, the browser opens that link automatically - no typing required. It's the most common QR type, linking print, [packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging), and physical spaces to any online page. ### How a URL QR Code Works Behind the pattern, three simple things happen every time someone scans: - **The Link**: the web address you want people to reach, from a homepage to a specific landing page. - **The Pattern**: your link encoded into the black-and-white modules that make up the QR code. - **The Scan**: the phone's camera reads the pattern and opens the link in the browser, usually in under a second. Because the address is stored directly in the pattern, the printed code keeps working offline - the reader only needs internet to load the page it points to. ### Static vs. Dynamic URL QR Codes A static URL QR code stores the link inside the pattern itself, so it never expires and doesn't depend on any third-party service staying online. The trade-off is that the destination is fixed once printed. A dynamic code stores a redirect instead, letting you change the destination later - but it relies on the provider's servers and usually a subscription. If you control your own short link or redirect, for example a page on your own domain, you get the best of both: a permanent static code you can still repoint whenever you like. KoloQR generates clean, static codes, which is why pairing one with a link you control is the most reliable long-term setup. ## Where URL QR Codes Are Used Anywhere you want to move someone from the physical world to a specific page. A few of the most effective placements: - **Product Packaging**: Link to setup guides, ingredient details, or a registration page right on the box. - **Posters and Flyers**: Send passers-by to an event page, sign-up form, or ticket checkout without typing a long URL. - **Business Cards**: Point to your portfolio, LinkedIn, or booking page so contacts save the right link instantly. - **Restaurant Tables**: Open an online menu or ordering page - the everyday use that made QR codes familiar to everyone. - **Shop Windows and Signage**: Let people browse your store or check opening hours after you've closed for the day. - **Email Signatures and Slides**: Add a scannable link to a demo, case study, or landing page in any presentation. ## How to Create a URL QR Code From link to download in under a minute: - **Paste Your Link**: Enter the full web address, including https://, so the code points exactly where you want. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, adjust the colors to match your brand, and drop in a logo if you have one. - **Test the Scan**: Scan it with a couple of phones before you finalize - check the link opens the right page. - **Download and Place It**: Export a PNG for screens or an SVG for print, then add it wherever your audience will see it. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your URL QR code in three formats. Pick based on where it will live: - **PNG**: for digital content, websites, slides, and social media where a fixed-size image is fine. - **SVG**: for print, large signage, and anything that has to scale up without losing sharp edges. - **PDF**: for handing straight to a printer or dropping into a document with print-ready quality. As a rule of thumb: use SVG or PDF for anything you'll print, and PNG for anything that stays on a screen. Vector formats stay crisp at any size, which matters when a poster QR code has to be readable from across a room. ## Best Practices for URL QR Codes Small details decide whether a code scans on the first try. These are the ones worth getting right: - **Use https Links**: Point to a secure https:// address. Many phones warn on or block plain http links, which can stop people mid-scan. - **Keep the URL Short**: Longer links create denser patterns that are harder to scan at small sizes. A short, clean address keeps the code simple and reliable. - **Test Before You Print**: Scan the final code on both iPhone and Android. A code that works on screen can still fail once it's resized or printed. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear, empty space around the code. Text or graphics crowding the edges can break the scan. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: A dark pattern on a light background scans best. Avoid low-contrast color pairs and never place the code over a busy photo. - **Size It for Scan Distance**: A rough guide: the code should be about a tenth of the scanning distance. A poster read from 3 metres needs a code around 30 cm wide. - **Don't Let the Logo Take Over**: A center logo is fine thanks to error correction, but keep it small. Covering too much of the pattern makes the code unreadable. - **Send People to a Mobile-Friendly Page**: Nearly every scan happens on a phone. Make sure the destination loads fast and reads well on a small screen. - **Add a Short Call to Action**: A line like “Scan to view the menu” tells people why to scan and lifts how many actually do. - **Use a Link You Can Control**: If the destination might change, point the code at your own domain or a redirect you own. You keep one permanent code and update where it leads. ## FAQ ### What Is a URL QR Code? A URL QR code is a QR code that stores a web address. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that link in the browser automatically, so people reach your page without typing anything. It's the most common of the [types of QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types), and the one to reach for whenever the destination is a web page. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a URL? Paste your web address into a generator, customize the design if you like, and download the image. With KoloQR you can add a logo, change the shape, and export a print-ready file in seconds - no sign-up needed. ### Are URL QR Codes Free? Yes. KoloQR generates URL QR codes for free, and the codes themselves never cost anything to scan. Static codes like these don't require a subscription to keep working. ### Can I Change the URL After I Create the QR Code? Not for a static code - the link is stored in the pattern, so changing it means generating a new code. To keep one permanent code, point it at a redirect on your own domain and update that redirect whenever the destination changes. ### Do URL QR Codes Expire? Static URL QR codes don't expire. Because the link is encoded directly in the pattern, the code keeps working as long as the web page it points to stays online. ### PNG or SVG - Which Should I Download? Use PNG for screens, social media, and slides. Use SVG or PDF for print, signage, and anything that needs to scale up cleanly. Vector formats stay sharp at any size. ### Can I Add My Logo to a URL QR Code? Yes. QR codes include error correction, so a small logo in the center won't stop them scanning. Keep it modest in size and test the result before printing. ### Why Isn't My URL QR Code Scanning? The usual causes are low contrast, too little quiet space around the code, printing it too small, or a broken link. Increase contrast and size, leave a clear margin, and confirm the URL loads on a phone. ### Do People Need an App to Scan It? No. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read QR codes natively - people just point the camera and tap the link that appears. No separate scanner app is required. ### Can I Print a URL QR Code on Packaging or Posters? Yes, and it's one of the most common uses. Export an SVG or PDF for crisp printing, keep strong contrast, and size the code for how far away people will scan it. --- # Turn a Scan Into a Ready-to-Send Email URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/email-qr-code Turn an email address into a QR code. Scanning opens a new message with the address, subject and body filled in. Free, no signup, print-ready PNG and SVG. An email QR code opens the scanner’s default mail app with your address already filled in - and, if you want, the subject and message too. Ideal for feedback, support, and contact details in print. - Works with any phone camera - Static and free to use - Print-ready PNG & SVG ## What Is an Email QR Code? An email QR code stores a mailto link. When someone scans it, their phone opens a new message with your address - and optionally a subject and body - already filled in, so they only add their note and press send. ### What’s Inside an Email QR Code Every email QR code is built from a standard mailto link. You can encode just an address, or add fields that pre-fill the message before the sender ever starts typing: - **The Recipient**: the email address every scan sends the message to. - **A Subject Line (Optional)**: pre-fills the subject so replies land already labelled and sorted. - **A Message Body (Optional)**: seeds the email with starter text the sender can keep or edit. You can add cc and bcc recipients the same way. One thing worth knowing: the sender always reviews and sends the message themselves - a QR code never sends email on its own. That is exactly what makes it safe to put on public signage. ### Static by Design - so Check It Twice Because the address is encoded directly into the pattern, an email QR code is static: the data lives in the code itself, with nothing to load from a server and no link that can expire. That makes it fast and reliable, but it also means a typo can’t be fixed after printing - you would need a fresh code. Proof the address on screen, scan your own code once, then send it to print. ## Where Email QR Codes Work Well Anywhere you would normally print an email address, a scannable version saves people from typing it by hand. A few placements worth considering: - **Business Cards**: Let a new contact email you without copying your address by hand - a circular code with your logo keeps it on-brand. - **Customer Feedback**: Add a code to receipts, tables, or packaging with a subject like “Feedback” so responses arrive pre-sorted in your inbox. - **Support and Returns**: Print a code on inserts or manuals so customers reach the right support address, with an order-number prompt in the body. - **Event RSVPs**: Put a code on invitations that opens an email with the event name in the subject, keeping replies easy to track. - **Job and Property Enquiries**: Place a code on “for sale” signs, flyers, or job ads so interested people can email an enquiry on the spot. - **Reception and Booth Desks**: A shared code at a front desk or trade-show booth routes questions to a monitored inbox instead of a personal one. ## How to Make a QR Code for an Email Address You can generate a working email QR code in under a minute: - **Choose the Email Type**: Open the generator and select the email (mailto) option so the code is built as a proper email link, not plain text. - **Enter Your Details**: Add the recipient address, then an optional subject and message. Keep the body short to keep the code easy to scan. - **Customize the Design**: Pick a shape, adjust colors, and add a logo so the code matches your brand - styling never affects whether it scans. - **Test and Export**: Scan the preview with your own phone, confirm the email opens correctly, then export a print-ready PNG or SVG. ## PNG or SVG: Which to Export KoloQR exports your email QR code in more than one format, and the right choice depends on where the code will appear: - **PNG**: for screens, email signatures, slides, and social posts, where a fixed-resolution image is all you need. - **SVG**: for print and large formats, because it stays razor-sharp at any size, from a business card to a banner. - **PDF**: for handing files straight to a printer or dropping into a print-ready layout without extra conversion. For anything that will be printed, export SVG or PDF and keep the code at least 2 cm (about 0.8 in) wide so cameras lock on quickly. For a screen, a clean PNG is usually enough. ## Email QR Code Best Practices A few habits make the difference between a code people scan happily and one they give up on: - **Double-Check the Address**: Since the email is encoded permanently, one wrong character sends messages nowhere. Copy and paste the address rather than typing it, then verify. - **Keep the Body Short**: Long pre-filled text packs more data into the code, making the pattern dense and slower to scan. A one-line prompt is plenty. - **Use the Subject to Sort Replies**: A fixed subject like “Menu feedback” or “Order support” lets you filter incoming email automatically and route it to the right person. - **Test on More Than One Phone**: Scan with both an iPhone and an Android device before printing - mail-app behavior can differ slightly between them. - **Point to a Monitored Inbox**: Send to a shared or role address (support@, hello@) rather than a personal one, so replies aren’t missed when someone is away. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: Dark code on a light background scans best. Avoid light-on-dark or low-contrast color pairs, and never place the code over a busy photo. - **Leave a Quiet Zone**: Keep clear empty space around the code - roughly four modules wide - so scanners can find its edges reliably. - **Size It for the Distance**: As a rough guide, a code should be about one-tenth as wide as the distance it is scanned from. Wall posters need bigger codes than table cards. - **Add a Short Call to Action**: A label like “Scan to email us” tells people what will happen, which lifts scan rates far more than the code on its own. - **Add a Logo for Trust**: A logo in the center signals the code is legitimate and yours - reassuring on public signage. KoloQR keeps error correction high enough that the code still scans. ## FAQ ### How Does an Email QR Code Work? An email QR code stores a mailto link. When someone scans it with their phone camera, the default mail app opens a new message with your address already filled in - plus a subject and body if you added them. The sender writes their note and taps send; the code never sends anything on its own. It prepares an action rather than a destination - one of several [types of QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types) that do something on the phone instead of opening a page. ### Can I Add a Subject and Message to the Email? Yes. Along with the recipient address, you can pre-fill the subject line and the message body, and even add cc and bcc recipients. Keep the pre-filled text short so the QR code stays quick and easy to scan. ### Does Scanning an Email QR Code Send the Email Automatically? No. It only opens a pre-filled draft in the sender’s mail app. They still review it and press send themselves, which is why email QR codes are safe to use on public signs and packaging. ### Is an Email QR Code Static or Dynamic? An email QR code is static - the address and text are encoded directly into the pattern, so nothing loads from a server and the code never expires. The trade-off is that you can’t edit it later; changing the address means generating a new code. ### Can I Change the Email Address After Printing the Code? Not on the same code. Because the address is baked into a static email QR code, you would need to create and print a replacement. Always confirm the address on screen and scan a test before sending anything to print. ### Do I Need an App to Scan an Email QR Code? No. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read QR codes natively - just point the camera at the code and tap the prompt that appears. No separate scanner app is required. ### Which Email App Opens When Someone Scans the Code? The person’s default mail app opens, whether that’s Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook, or another client. A mailto link is a standard the sender’s device handles, so you don’t choose the app for them. ### What Size Should an Email QR Code Be for Print? Aim for at least 2 cm (about 0.8 in) wide for cards and flyers, and scale up for anything viewed from a distance. A good rule is to make the code about one-tenth as wide as the typical scanning distance. ### Can I Customize How the Email QR Code Looks? Yes. With KoloQR you can change the shape - including [circular codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) - adjust colors, and add a logo so the code matches your brand. Styling doesn’t affect scanning as long as you keep strong contrast and a clear quiet zone. ### Why Isn’t My Email QR Code Scanning? The usual causes are low contrast, a code printed too small, no quiet zone around it, or a very long pre-filled message making the pattern too dense. Increase the size, boost contrast, shorten the body text, and re-test on a couple of phones. --- # Turn Any Text Into a Scannable QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/text-qr-code Create a text QR code that shows your message the instant it’s scanned - no link, no app, no internet. Free to make, easy to customize, and ready to print. A text QR code carries a written message inside the code itself. Scan it, and the words appear on screen - no website to load and no connection to wait for. - Shows text instantly on scan - Works fully offline - Free SVG & PNG export ## What Is a Text QR Code? A text QR code stores plain written text directly inside the code. When someone scans it with a phone camera, the message appears on their screen - no website, app, or internet connection needed. The text is fixed once the code is generated. ### What You Can Store in a Text QR Code Almost anything you can type can become a scannable code, but a few uses fit the format best: - **Short Messages**: a note, greeting, or instruction people read the moment they scan. - **Reference Codes**: serial numbers, batch IDs, asset tags, or part numbers that must stay legible. - **Offline Details**: information that has to work with no Wi-Fi, mobile data, or live page behind it. Keep the message concise. The more characters you add, the denser the code becomes, and dense codes are harder for cameras to read - especially when printed small. A sentence or two scans far more reliably than a full paragraph. ### Text or Link - Which One Do You Need? Choose a text QR code when the words themselves are the point: a message, a code, or a detail meant to be read. Choose a [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) when you want to send people somewhere - a website, menu, or form. Text codes work offline and never break; links can change or go dead, but hold far more behind them. One text payload the phone treats specially is an eSIM activation code - see [eSIM QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/esim-qr-code) for the LPA:1$ format and how to re-encode one. ## Where Text QR Codes Work Well Because they need no internet and reveal their content instantly, text QR codes suit anywhere a short, dependable message matters. - **Product & Packaging Labels**: Care instructions, ingredients, or handling notes printed straight onto the box. - **Equipment & Asset Tags**: Serial numbers and maintenance details that stay attached to the machine itself. - **Museums & Exhibits**: Short descriptions beside an artwork or display that load with no gallery Wi-Fi. - **Event & Venue Signage**: House rules, schedules, or directions people can read without opening a link. - **Classrooms & Training**: Answer keys, prompts, or quick facts printed on handouts and worksheets. - **Cards & Keepsakes**: A hidden note or message on a greeting card, gift tag, or invitation. ## How to Create a Text QR Code You can generate one in under a minute - no account required. - **Enter Your Text**: Type or paste your message into the text field. Keep it short for the cleanest, most reliable code. - **Customize the Design**: Adjust the shape, colors, and corners, or add a logo. Try a circular code for a softer, branded look. - **Scan to Test**: Check the code with your own phone to confirm the full message appears exactly as intended. - **Download and Use**: Export as PNG for screens or SVG for print, then add it to your label, sign, or document. ## Choosing the Right File Format The file you export decides how sharp your code looks - on a screen and, more importantly, in print. - **PNG**: for screens, slides, and quick digital sharing at a fixed size. - **SVG**: for print and large signage, since it scales to any size without losing sharpness. - **PDF**: for sending straight to a printer with print-ready dimensions and margins intact. For anything that will be printed - labels, packaging, signs - export a vector file like SVG or PDF. Vectors stay crisp at any size, so the code scans reliably whether it’s on a business card or a banner. PNG is fine for on-screen use where the size won’t change. ## Text QR Code Best Practices A few habits keep your code readable, dependable, and easy to scan on the first try. - **Keep the Text Short**: Every character adds density. Trim your message to the essentials so the pattern stays open and easy to read. - **Treat It as Permanent**: A text QR code is static - the words are baked in and can’t be edited later. Proofread before you print, because fixing a typo means generating a new code. - **Hold Strong Contrast**: Use a dark code on a light background. Low contrast, inverted colors, or busy backdrops are the most common reasons a code won’t scan. - **Leave the Quiet Zone**: Keep a clear margin around all four sides. Scanners need that empty border to find where the code begins and ends. - **Size It for the Distance**: The farther away people scan from, the bigger the code must be. A rule of thumb: a width of at least one-tenth the scanning distance. - **Test Before You Commit**: Scan the final code on more than one phone. Camera apps handle plain text slightly differently, so confirm the message shows up everywhere. - **Use Vectors for Print**: Export SVG or PDF for anything printed. A blurry, upscaled PNG is a frequent cause of failed scans on signage and packaging. - **Label What It Does**: Add a short line like “Scan for care instructions” nearby. People are far more likely to scan when they know what to expect. - **Don’t Store Secrets**: Anyone who scans the code can read the text, and it can’t be recalled once printed. Keep passwords, private data, and sensitive details out of it. ## FAQ ### What Is a Text QR Code? A text QR code is a QR code that stores plain written text inside the code itself. When you scan it with a phone camera, the message appears on screen directly - there’s no website to open and no internet connection required. ### Can I Edit a Text QR Code After I Create It? No. Text QR codes are static, meaning the message is encoded permanently into the pattern. To change the text, you generate a new code, so proofread carefully before printing. ### How Much Text Can a QR Code Hold? A single QR code can technically store up to about 4,296 alphanumeric characters. In practice, keep it far shorter - a sentence or two. More text creates a denser code that’s harder for cameras to scan, especially in print. ### Do People Need a Special App to Read a Text QR Code? Usually not. Most modern phones read plain-text QR codes with the built-in camera app and show the message automatically. Exactly how it appears varies by device, but a separate scanner app is normally not needed. ### Does a Text QR Code Work Without Internet? Yes. The text lives inside the code, not on a web page, so it displays even with no Wi-Fi or mobile data. That makes text QR codes reliable for packaging, signage, and remote locations. ### What’s the Difference Between a Text QR Code and a URL QR Code? A text QR code displays a written message when scanned. A URL QR code opens a website instead. Choose text when the words are the content; choose a URL when you want to send people to a page online. ### Is It Free to Create a Text QR Code? Yes. KoloQR lets you generate text QR codes for free, with no account or watermark, and download them as PNG or SVG. ### Can I Customize How the Text QR Code Looks? Yes. You can change the colors, corner style, and shape - including circular QR codes - and add your own logo, so the code matches your branding while staying scannable. ### Which File Format Should I Use for Printing? Use SVG or PDF for print. These are vector formats that stay sharp at any size, from a small label to a large banner. Save PNG for on-screen use where the size won’t change. ### Why Won’t My Text QR Code Scan? The usual causes are too much text (an overly dense code), weak contrast between the code and its background, a code printed too small, or a missing quiet-zone margin. Shorten the text, boost contrast, and print larger to fix most issues. --- # Let People Call You With a Single Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code Create a QR code that opens the phone dialer with your number ready to call. Free, customizable, and print-ready - add a logo, colors, or a round shape. A phone number QR code opens the phone’s dialer with your number already entered, so a customer can reach you in one tap - no typing, no wrong digits. Design one to match your brand and export it ready for print. - Free forever - Works on iOS & Android - Print-ready exports ## What Is a Phone Number QR Code? A phone number QR code stores a telephone number using the tel: format. When someone scans it, their phone opens the dialer with your number already filled in, so all they have to do is tap call - no typing, no mistakes. ### What Happens When Someone Scans There’s no special app to download and no website to load. The scan resolves in a couple of seconds: - **The Camera Detects the Code**: no separate QR app is needed on any modern phone. - **It Reads the tel: Link Inside**: the format that tells the phone this is a number to call, not a website. - **The Dialer Opens, Pre-Filled**: so the only thing left to do is tap the call button. Because the code never places the call on its own, people stay in control of whether they dial. And because dialing doesn’t need a data connection, the code still works in a basement, a car park, or anywhere the signal drops out. ### Why Not Just Print the Number? A printed number still has to be read, remembered, and typed correctly. One transposed digit sends the call to a stranger - or nowhere. A QR code moves someone from your poster, card, or window straight into a ready-to-send call, which is the difference between an interested glance and an actual conversation. The best approach is to print both: the code for speed, and the digits underneath for anyone who’d rather dial by hand. ## Where Phone Number QR Codes Work Best A phone number QR code earns its place anywhere someone might want to call you but won’t stop to type. A few of the most effective spots: - **Business Cards**: Place it beside your printed number so a new contact can call you without keying anything in. - **Shop Windows & Storefronts**: Let passers-by call about hours, bookings, or stock even when the door is locked. - **Real Estate & For-Sale Signs**: Drivers and walkers reach the agent directly from the yard sign, while interest is fresh. - **Service Vehicles & Site Boards**: Vans, trucks, and hoardings become a one-tap call for a quote or a callout. - **Printed Ads & Flyers**: Move a reader from paper to a phone call without building a landing page first. - **Product Packaging & Support**: Point customers to your helpline for setup, warranty, or repeat orders. ## How to Create a Phone Number QR Code You can have a working phone number QR code in under a minute. - **Enter Your Phone Number**: Type it in full international format - a plus sign, your country code, then the number. - **Customize the Design**: Pick your colors, add a logo, or choose a round shape so the code matches your brand. - **Test the Scan**: Scan it once with an iPhone and once with an Android before you commit anything to print. - **Download and Share**: Export a PNG for screens or an SVG for large, perfectly sharp prints. ## Choosing the Right File Format The format you export decides how sharp the code looks and where you can use it. - **PNG**: for websites, social posts, digital menus, and everyday printing. - **SVG**: for signage, vehicle wraps, and anything that has to stay sharp at large sizes. - **Print-Ready Exports**: for professional runs where crisp edges and a clean quiet zone decide whether it scans. If you’re printing large - a shop window, an A-frame, a vehicle panel - export SVG. Because it’s a vector file, it stays razor-sharp at any size. For screens and standard documents, PNG is simpler and supported everywhere. ## Phone Number QR Code Best Practices A phone number QR code is only useful if it scans on the first try and reaches the right line. These habits keep it reliable. - **Always Include the Country Code**: Start with +48, +1, +44, and so on. Without it, the call can fail for anyone scanning from another country. - **Show the Number as Text Too**: Print the digits beside the code so people can dial manually if their camera struggles or they rely on a screen reader. - **Keep It Large Enough to Scan**: Aim for at least 2 cm on print, and add roughly one centimeter of size for every 10 cm of scanning distance. - **Preserve the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear space around the code - about four modules wide - so scanners can find its edges. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: A dark code on a light background reads fastest. Avoid light-on-dark unless you’ve tested it thoroughly. - **Test on Both Platforms**: iPhone and Android handle the tel: link slightly differently, so check both before printing thousands. - **Use a Number That Will Last**: A static code can’t be edited after printing, so point it at a line you’re confident you’ll keep. - **Skip Extensions Unless You Need Them**: Comma-separated extensions work on some phones and not others; a plain number is the safest choice. - **Handle Call Tracking Separately**: A tel: code can’t count its own scans; use a dedicated tracking number if you need call analytics. - **Add a Short Prompt**: A line like “Scan to call us” tells people what the code does and noticeably lifts scans. ## FAQ ### Does a Phone Number QR Code Call the Number Automatically? No. Scanning it opens the phone’s dialer with your number already entered, but the person still has to tap the call button. This is intentional - phones never auto-dial from a QR code, since that would let a sticker placed over a poster trigger unwanted calls. It keeps the person in control. ### What Format Should I Enter the Phone Number In? Use full international format: a plus sign, your country code, then the number, with no spaces or dashes - for example +48 for Poland, +1 for the US, or +44 for the UK. Entering it this way means the code works no matter where the person scanning it is located. ### Does a Phone Number QR Code Need Internet to Work? No. Placing a call doesn’t require a data connection, so the code works even where signal is weak or Wi-Fi is unavailable - a basement bar, an underground car park, a rural site. This is one advantage it has over a website QR code, which needs a connection to load. ### Can I Change the Phone Number After the Code Is Printed? Not with a static code. The number is encoded directly into the pattern, so a new number means a new code. Before printing in bulk, point it at a line you’re confident you’ll keep. If you expect the number to change, route the code to a phone line that can forward calls instead. ### What’s the Difference Between a Phone Number QR Code and a Contact (vCard) QR Code? A phone number QR code does one thing: it opens the dialer to call you. A vCard QR code saves a full contact - name, phone, email, company, website - to the person's address book. KoloQR builds phone, email and [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) codes rather than vCards, so when you want people to keep your full details, point the code at a profile page - the usual setup on a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards). ### Will It Work on Both iPhone and Android? Yes. Both open the tel: link in their built-in dialer, and neither needs a separate QR app on current versions. The two platforms handle formatting slightly differently, so it’s worth testing on one of each before a large print run. ### Can I Include an Extension or Menu Option? Sometimes. Adding a comma after the number creates a short pause before extra digits are sent, which can reach a department extension. Support for this varies between phones, though, so a plain number is the most reliable choice. If an extension is essential, test it on the devices your audience is likely to use. ### Can I Track How Many People Scan the Code? Not from the tel: code itself - dialing happens on the person’s phone, out of reach of any analytics. If you need to measure response, put a dedicated call-tracking number in the code and read the reports from that service. That tracking is set up with your phone provider, separately from the QR code. ### What’s the Difference Between a Phone Number QR Code and an SMS QR Code? A phone number code opens the dialer to place a call. An SMS QR code opens the messaging app with your number, and often a pre-written message, ready to send as a text. Use a call code when you want a conversation, and an SMS code when a quick written reply suits better - bookings, keywords, or opt-ins, for instance. ### Is It Free to Create a Phone Number QR Code With KoloQR? Yes. You can generate, customize, and download a phone number QR code for free, including PNG and SVG exports. The code doesn’t expire and there’s no sign-up, so a code you print today keeps working for as long as the number stays active. --- # Make an SMS QR Code That Writes the Message for Them URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/sms-qr-code Create a free SMS QR code that opens a text message with your number and wording already filled in. Add a logo, choose a shape, export PNG or SVG. Enter the number, type the message you want people to send, and download a code that opens a ready-written text on any phone. Nothing is sent until they press send. - Free - no sign-up - Message pre-filled - Works with no app ## What Is an SMS QR Code? An SMS QR code is a QR code that stores a phone number and, optionally, the text of a message. Scanning it opens the phone's own messaging app with both already filled in, leaving the person to press send. The number and the message live in the pattern itself, so the code needs no account and no service behind it. ### SMSTO: Is the Prefix That Works on Both Phones There are two ways to write an SMS into a QR code, and only one of them behaves the same everywhere: - **SMSTO:number:message**: the form both iOS and Android open with the message body in place. KoloQR encodes this one. - **sms:number?body=message**: the Android spelling. On iOS the question mark is not what carries the body, so the message is dropped and only the number arrives. - **sms:number&body=message**: the iOS spelling, using an ampersand. Android reads the whole thing as part of the number instead, and the draft opens addressed to nobody. That split is why a code built somewhere else can look broken on exactly half the phones that scan it: the message shows up on the tester's handset and disappears on everyone else's. Encoding SMSTO: sidesteps the argument, which is what KoloQR does - see the [phone number QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) page for the same problem's simpler cousin, where there is no message body to lose. ### The Scan Opens a Draft, It Does Not Send Every SMS QR code stops one step short of sending. The phone opens its messaging app, fills in the recipient and the body, and waits - the person still has to press send, and they can edit the wording first or abandon it entirely. That is deliberate on both iOS and Android: a scannable square that could dispatch a paid message on someone's behalf would be a way to bill strangers. It has two consequences worth designing around. The message you write is a suggestion, not a guarantee, so keep it short enough that nobody feels the need to rewrite it, and make sure it still means something if a word is changed. And because the sender pays for the message at their own carrier's rate, an SMS code is a poor fit for an audience on prepaid plans or roaming - offer a scan-to-call or a link beside it for them. ## Where SMS QR Codes Are Used The pre-filled message is the whole point: an SMS code earns its place wherever what someone needs to say is predictable and typing it is the friction. - **Parking Bays and Meters**: The bay number is the message. Scanning at space 214 opens a text that already says 214, which is the digit people mistype. - **Keyword Opt-Ins for Offers**: Campaigns that ask people to text JOIN to a short code work far better when the word and the number arrive already typed. - **Waiting Lists and Table Queues**: A code by the door that texts “table for 2” gets people onto the list without a host writing anything down. - **Field Service and Maintenance Tags**: A sticker on a machine can carry its own asset number in the message, so a fault report identifies the machine automatically. - **Delivery and Collection Points**: A locker or pickup bay code that texts the reference number saves a driver reading it off a screen in the rain. - **Feedback and Report-a-Problem Signs**: On transport and in public spaces, texting is the reporting channel people will actually use at 11pm. ## How to Create an SMS QR Code Number, message, download - about a minute: - **Open the Type Picker and Choose SMS**: SMS sits under More, in the Basic group. Picking it swaps the URL field for a phone number and a message box. - **Enter the Number in Full International Form**: Start with the + and the country code: +1 415 555 0134, not 415 555 0134. A national-format number fails the moment someone scans it while abroad. - **Write the Message People Will Send**: Keep it to a few words and make it the thing you need to know - a bay number, a keyword, a reference. Leave it blank if you only want the conversation opened. - **Style It, Then Test on Both Platforms**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Then scan the exported file on an iPhone and on an Android phone, and check the message survived on both. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your SMS QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for screens, email footers, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for parking signage, machine labels, and anything a printer will scale up without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a sign shop or a label supplier at print-ready quality. SMS codes end up outdoors more often than most types - car parks, bus stops, equipment tags - so the export matters twice over. Vector holds its edges when a sign is enlarged, and it is what a laminator or a vinyl cutter wants to be given. ## Best Practices for SMS QR Codes An SMS code fails in ways a URL code cannot, because a phone number is not a web address and a text message costs the sender money: - **Always Use the International Format**: +1 415 555 0134 works from any country; 415 555 0134 works only from inside the US. Visitors and roaming phones are exactly the audience most likely to scan a printed code. - **Keep the Message Under 160 Characters**: Past 160 characters a text splits into multiple segments and the sender may be charged for each. A pre-filled message that quietly costs three times as much is a bad first impression. - **Write the Message So It Survives Editing**: People rewrite what looks odd. “Bay 214” survives; a long formal sentence gets trimmed until the part you needed is gone. - **Avoid Emoji in the Pre-Filled Text**: An emoji pushes the message from GSM encoding into UCS-2, which cuts the single-segment limit from 160 characters to 70 - and some older handsets mangle it entirely. - **Say What the Code Does Beside It**: “Scan to text us your bay number” earns scans that a bare square does not, and it warns the people who would rather not pay for a message. - **Check Short Codes Reach Your Whole Audience**: Five- and six-digit short codes are country-specific and are often unreachable from foreign SIMs and some VoIP numbers. A full number is the safer thing to print. - **Make Sure Someone Reads the Replies**: An SMS code creates an inbox. A code on a fault-report sticker that texts a number nobody monitors is worse than no code, because it looks like a reporting channel. - **Keep Strong Contrast and a Quiet Zone**: Dark modules on a light background, and four modules of clear margin on every side. On a busy sign, that margin is the first thing a layout borrows. - **Size It for the Reading Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the distance it is read from: about 2 cm on a table card, about 20 cm on a parking sign read from 2 metres. - **Test With the Message, Not Just the Number**: The number almost always survives; the body is what gets dropped. Scan the exported file and read what is actually in the draft before printing anything. ## FAQ ### What Is an SMS QR Code? An SMS QR code stores a phone number and, optionally, a message. Scanning it opens the phone's messaging app with both filled in, ready to send. The data is in the pattern itself, so no account or service is needed. ### Does Scanning an SMS QR Code Send the Message Automatically? No. It opens a draft in the messaging app and stops. The person still presses send, and can edit the wording first. Neither iOS nor Android allows a scanned code to dispatch a message on its own. ### Why Does the Pre-Filled Message Disappear on iPhone? Because the code uses the sms: URI with a query string, which iOS ignores. The SMSTO: prefix is the form both iOS and Android read the same way, and it is what KoloQR encodes. ### How Long Can the Pre-Filled Message Be? Keep it under 160 characters. Past that the text splits into multiple segments and the sender may be charged for each. Adding an emoji cuts the single-segment limit to 70 characters, so leave emoji out. ### Should the Number Include the Country Code? Yes. Write it in full international form, starting with +. A national-format number fails as soon as someone scans it on a foreign SIM - which is a large share of anyone reading a printed code while travelling. ### Can I Use a Short Code Instead of a Full Number? You can, but short codes are country-specific and often unreachable from foreign SIMs, VoIP numbers, and some business plans. A full international number reaches everyone; a short code reaches your domestic audience. ### Who Pays for the Message? The person scanning. The text leaves their phone on their own plan, at their own carrier's rate, including roaming charges abroad. That is worth saying on the sign if the audience is likely to be travelling. ### Can an SMS QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle to count anything. What you get instead is the inbox: every message that arrives is a scan that converted, which is the more useful number anyway. ### Does the Person Scanning Need an App? No. The built-in camera on any modern iPhone or Android reads it, and the message opens in the phone's own SMS app. Nothing to download on either side. If an Android camera shows nothing, [the Android scanning guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android) lists the other built-in routes. ### Should I Use SMS or WhatsApp for a QR Code? SMS works on every phone with a signal and needs no account, but the sender pays per message. A [WhatsApp QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/whatsapp-qr-code) is free over data and better for international audiences, but only reaches people who use it. Print the one your audience already has. --- # Turn an eSIM Activation Code Into a Scannable QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/esim-qr-code Paste the LPA:1$ code your carrier sent and get a scannable eSIM QR code made in your browser. Plus the format, scan steps and why one code installs once. An eSIM QR code is a carrier-issued activation code in QR form - it is not something a generator can invent. If your carrier sent the code as text (an SM-DP+ address and an activation code for manual entry), KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, re-encodes that LPA:1$ string into a QR you can scan from another screen. It does not create eSIM profiles. - Encoded in your browser - nothing uploaded - Paste the LPA:1$ string as-is - Free, no sign-up ## What Is an eSIM QR Code? An eSIM QR code is a QR code that carries a carrier-issued activation code telling your phone which server holds your eSIM profile and which single-use token unlocks it. Scanning it starts the profile download; the QR itself contains no plan, no phone number and no credentials beyond that one token. ### What the Code Actually Contains GSMA specification SGP.22 (section 4.1) defines the activation code as a handful of $-separated fields, prefixed with LPA: when carried in a QR: - **LPA:1**: the prefix plus the format version. The version is always 1 today; a phone treats any other number as invalid. - **SM-DP+ Address**: the domain name of the carrier's provisioning server, for example smdp.example.com. No https://, no path. - **Matching ID**: the activation token: uppercase letters, digits and hyphens that identify one download order for one profile. - **Optional Extras**: an SM-DP+ OID and a final 1 meaning a confirmation code is required, each after another $. Most consumer codes carry neither. The specification's own example reads LPA:1$SMDP.GSMA.COM$04386-AGYFT-A74Y8-3F815 and caps the whole string at 255 characters. Everything that matters - the profile, the number, the plan - sits on the SM-DP+ server, not in the code. That is why an eSIM QR looks like a short [text QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/text-qr-code) and behaves nothing like a [WiFi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code), which carries the actual password inside the pattern. ### Why Would You Re-Encode One? A phone cannot scan a code shown on its own screen - the camera has to point at a second surface. Carriers know this, so most send the activation code twice: as a QR image and as manual-entry text (SM-DP+ address plus activation code). If all you have is the text, or the image is too small or too blurry, pasting the full LPA:1$ string into KoloQR's Text type gives you a clean QR to display on a laptop or print out, then scan with the phone that needs the profile. The generator runs in the browser, so the token never leaves your device. Read [how to scan a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) if the phone's camera is new to you. - **What KoloQR Does**: encodes the string you paste, character for character, as a static QR at error correction level H. - **What KoloQR Does Not Do**: create eSIM profiles, contact the carrier, check that the code is valid or unused, or repair a code that is wrong. A QR whose payload is wrong installs nothing. The phone reads the string exactly the way it would read the carrier's own image, no better and no worse, so the only thing to get right is copying the code intact. ## When an eSIM QR Code Comes Up Every one of these situations starts with a code the carrier already issued. The QR is just the fastest way to move it from one screen into the phone. - **A Travel eSIM Bought Online**: The seller emails a QR image and the same details as text. If you are reading the email on the phone that needs the plan, display the QR on a laptop or a second phone and scan it from there - or use the manual-entry details in Settings. - **A Code Sent Only as Text**: Some carriers and resellers send just the SM-DP+ address and activation code. Paste them into a phone by hand, or assemble the LPA:1$ string, re-encode it and scan - fewer typos in a token that is easy to mistype. - **Switching From a Physical SIM**: Carriers converting a plastic SIM to an eSIM typically hand over a QR code in a shop, an app or an account page. The scan goes through the same Settings screens as any other activation code. - **Setting Up a Second Line**: A phone can hold several eSIM profiles - a work number, a data plan abroad - each downloaded from its own code. Every profile needs its own activation code; one code does not install twice. - **Moving Plans Between iPhones**: For an iPhone-to-iPhone move, Apple's support article steers you to eSIM Quick Transfer rather than a QR code, and it needs no code at all. A QR is the fallback when a carrier does not support transfer. - **A Printed Card in a Shop**: Retail eSIM vouchers are activation codes on card stock. Scratch panels hide the token because the code is a credential - anyone who scans it first gets the profile. ## How to Make an eSIM QR Code From an Activation Code This re-encodes a code your carrier already gave you. It takes about a minute and uses KoloQR's Text type. - **Find the Manual-Entry Details**: In the carrier's email, PDF or account page, look for an SM-DP+ address (a domain such as smdp.example.com) and an activation code (a string of uppercase letters, digits and hyphens). If a confirmation code is listed, note it separately - it is typed on the phone, not encoded. - **Assemble the LPA:1$ String**: Write LPA:1$ then the SM-DP+ address, then $, then the activation code, with no spaces: LPA:1$smdp.example.com$ABC-123-XYZ. If the carrier already sent a full LPA:1$ line, copy that exactly and skip the assembly. - **Paste It Into the Text Type**: Open the generator, pick Text, and paste the string as one line. Do not change the case, add spaces or drop a $ - a phone matches the token character for character. - **Keep the Design Plain**: Black modules on white, square shape, no logo. Styling adds nothing here and the code will be scanned once and discarded, so every option that could cost a read is an option to skip. - **Display, Scan, Delete**: Show the PNG on a laptop screen with the brightness up, scan it with the phone's Settings flow or Camera, and confirm the phone offers to add a cellular plan. Then delete the file - the code is a credential. ## Choosing the Right Export Format Screen display is the main use for a re-encoded eSIM code: a PNG shown on a laptop, scanned once by the phone. Print is the fallback for a phone with no second screen nearby. - **PNG**: for showing on a laptop or tablet screen - export at the default size, view it at 100% and turn the screen brightness up. - **SVG**: for the rare print case, since it stays sharp at any size; a business-card-sized print at arm's length is plenty. - **PDF**: for a sheet that goes straight to a printer with margins intact, if the code has to be scanned somewhere with no screen. Two screen habits matter more than the format. Keep the code dark-on-light: a dark-mode viewer that inverts images turns it into a light-on-dark code that many scanners refuse. And do not screenshot the code on the phone that needs it - that phone cannot scan its own display, so the file is only useful on a second device. The SVG vs PNG guide explains the difference if you do print. ## eSIM QR Code Best Practices An activation code is a credential with a one-time token inside it. These habits keep the token intact and keep it yours. - **Treat the Code Like a Password**: Whoever scans the code first gets the profile. Do not post a photo of it, share it in a group chat or print it on anything public. Delete the image once the profile is installed. - **Copy the String Exactly**: The phone matches the token character for character. Keep the case, keep every $, and drop the spaces an email client may have wrapped in. One wrong character is a code that installs nothing. - **Use One Code Per Phone**: The matching ID is consumed when the profile downloads, so the same QR will not install on a second phone or on the same phone after a reset. Ask the carrier for a new code or a transfer instead. - **Keep the Confirmation Code Out of the QR**: If the carrier sent a confirmation code, it is typed on the phone when asked. The QR only carries a flag saying one is needed - never the code itself. - **Connect to Wi-Fi Before Scanning**: The scan only tells the phone where to download from; the profile still comes over the internet. Apple's setup article tells you to join Wi-Fi or a hotspot first, and a phone with no working SIM has no other route. - **Do Not Style It**: Plain black-on-white, square, no logo. The code is scanned once, up close, from a screen; styling adds nothing and any option that could cost a read is one to skip. - **Check the Payload Before You Scan**: Drop the exported image into the QR code decoder and confirm the decoded text starts with LPA:1$ and matches the carrier's details exactly. It cannot tell you the code is unused, but it catches a bad paste. - **Know the Alternatives**: iPhone-to-iPhone moves use eSIM Quick Transfer with no code at all; many carriers install directly from their own app. A QR is one route, not the only one. ## FAQ ### Can I Generate an eSIM QR Code Myself? Not from nothing. The QR carries an activation code that only your carrier's SM-DP+ server can issue, tied to one profile it holds. What you can do is re-encode a code the carrier already sent as text into a QR image, which is what this page and KoloQR's Text type are for. No generator can create a working profile. ### What Is the eSIM QR Code Format? GSMA SGP.22 defines it: LPA:1$ followed by the SM-DP+ address, a $, and the matching ID, with optional extra $-separated fields for an SM-DP+ OID and a 1 meaning a confirmation code is required. Example: LPA:1$smdp.example.com$ABC-123-XYZ. The whole string is capped at 255 characters. ### Can I Convert an eSIM Activation Code to a QR Code? Yes, if you have the SM-DP+ address and the activation code as text. Join them as LPA:1$
$ with no spaces, paste that into a text QR generator and scan the result from another screen. The phone reads it exactly as it would read the carrier's own image. ### How Do I Scan an eSIM QR Code That Is on the Same Phone? A phone cannot scan its own screen. On iOS 17.4 or later, Apple's support article says you can touch and hold the QR in a saved photo and tap Add eSIM. Otherwise, use the manual-entry option in Settings and type the details, or open the image on another screen and scan it from there. ### Can I Reuse an eSIM QR Code? No. The matching ID inside the code identifies one download order for one profile, and the specification says the server only serves a matching ID it knows. Once the profile has downloaded, the same code will not install again on that phone or another. Ask the carrier for a new code or a transfer. ### Why Does My eSIM QR Code Say It Is Already Used? The profile behind that code has already been downloaded - on a first attempt that seemed to fail, on another device, or before the phone was reset. Re-encoding the string does not help; the token is spent on the carrier's side. Only the carrier can reissue or move the profile. ### What Is the Difference Between the eSIM QR Code and the EID? The QR code holds the activation code that points at your profile. The EID is the 32-digit identity of the eSIM chip in your phone, found under Settings > General > About on iPhone or in the SIM settings on Android. Some carriers ask for the EID before issuing a code; it never goes inside the QR. ### Do I Need Wi-Fi to Scan an eSIM QR Code? You need an internet connection to download the profile, and a phone with no working SIM has only Wi-Fi. Apple's setup article tells you to join Wi-Fi or a hotspot before adding the eSIM. The scan itself works offline; the download does not. ### Does KoloQR Check That My eSIM Code Is Valid? No. KoloQR encodes the text you paste and nothing more - it does not contact the carrier, cannot tell whether a code is unused, and does not know your phone's EID. A wrong or spent code becomes a perfectly good QR that installs nothing. Check the string against the carrier's details with the [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder) before scanning. ### Is It Safe to Put an eSIM Code Through an Online Generator? Treat the code as a password: whoever scans it first gets the profile. KoloQR encodes it in your browser and sends nothing to a server, so the code stays on your device. With any generator that uploads the text, or offers to host the code behind a link, assume the token has been shared and ask the carrier for a new one. --- # Turn Your Location Into a Scannable Map Link URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-maps-qr-code Create a free Google Maps QR code that opens your address, pin, or coordinates on any phone. Add a logo, choose a shape, export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter an address or a pair of coordinates, style the code to match your signage, and download one that opens Google Maps with directions ready on any phone. - Free - no sign-up - Coordinates or address - Opens on iOS & Android ## What Is a Google Maps QR Code? A Google Maps QR code is a QR code that stores a map link for one place. Scanning it opens that place in Google Maps - or in the phone's browser if the app is not installed - with the directions button one tap away. The location is encoded in the pattern, so the printed code keeps working with no account and no service behind it. ### Why Not the geo: URI There are two ways to write a place into a QR code, and the standards-compliant one is the one that fails: - **geo:37.4224,-122.0841**: the RFC 5870 URI. Android hands it to a map app; iOS has no handler registered for it, so on an iPhone the scan produces a notification that does nothing useful. - **A Maps Search URL**: an ordinary https link to google.com/maps. Every phone treats it as a web address, which every phone knows what to do with, and the Google Maps app claims it if installed. - **What KoloQR Encodes**: the search URL. It is longer, and it is the one that works on the roughly half of scanning phones running iOS. The cost of that choice is density: a maps URL with a full address encoded into it runs long, so the pattern is busier than a short [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) and wants a little more printed size. Coordinates are the cheaper input - a lat/long pair is about 20 characters against an address's 60 or more, and it is also the more precise one. ### An Address Is a Guess, a Pin Is Not A Google Maps QR code built from a street address does not store a point on the map - it stores a search, and Google resolves that search fresh at the moment of the scan. Usually it lands correctly. Where it does not, the failures are specific and expensive: a rural address drops the pin at the centre of a long lane rather than at the gate; a business in a retail park is placed at the park's postal address, which is a different entrance; a street name shared by two towns in the same region resolves to the wrong one. None of this shows up when you test the code from the office two kilometres away, because Google biases results toward the searcher. To pin the exact spot, right-click it in Google Maps, copy the coordinates it offers, and encode those instead. For a place with no usable address at all - a festival gate, a trailhead, a delivery yard - a Plus Code from the same menu is the shortest thing you can print that still resolves to a three-metre square. ## Where Google Maps QR Codes Are Used A map code earns its place wherever the destination is harder to find than it is to name - which is most places people have to be told about in print. - **Wedding and Event Invitations**: The venue name means nothing to half the guest list. A scan puts the drive on their phone before they leave the house. - **Estate Agent Boards and Brochures**: A code on the sign takes a passer-by to the exact plot, which matters on a development where the postcode covers forty houses. - **Delivery and Service Entrances**: Coordinates on a loading-bay sticker route drivers to the back gate instead of the customer car park. - **Restaurant and Hotel Confirmations**: Printed on the booking slip, the code answers “where exactly is it” without an email exchange. - **Trailheads, Campsites and Festival Gates**: Places with no street address are exactly where a Plus Code or a coordinate pair does what an address cannot. - **Conference Signage and Campus Maps**: A code per building beats a printed map for anyone who has to cross a site they have never seen. ## How to Create a Google Maps QR Code From address to download in under a minute: - **Open the Type Picker and Choose Location**: Location / Google Maps sits under More, in the Location & Events group. Picking it swaps the URL field for an address box. - **Enter an Address, Coordinates, or a Pasted Map Link**: An address is fine for a well-mapped high street. For anything ambiguous, paste a “37.4224, -122.0841” coordinate pair, or paste a Google Maps link you have already checked - a link is used exactly as given. - **Confirm the Pin Before You Style Anything**: Scan the preview and look at where it actually lands, including which entrance and which side of the road. This is the step that saves a reprint. - **Customize and Export**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Then export SVG or PDF for signage, PNG for screens, and test on a phone that is nowhere near the destination. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google Maps QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for confirmation emails, booking pages, and anywhere the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for estate agent boards, site signage, and anything a printer scales up without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a sign shop, or dropping into an invitation artwork file at print-ready quality. Map codes are outdoor codes more often than most, and outdoors is where density and weather compound. A maps URL already makes a busier pattern than a short link, so print it from vector at a size that survives rain on the sign and a phone held at arm's length. ## Best Practices for Google Maps QR Codes Most map codes scan fine and still send people to the wrong place. These are the habits that prevent that: - **Prefer Coordinates for Anything Ambiguous**: A lat/long pair resolves to one point, always. Use it for rural addresses, large sites, back entrances, and any street name that exists twice in the region. - **Test From Somewhere Else Entirely**: Google biases search results toward the searcher, so an address tested on site almost always resolves correctly. Ask someone in another city to scan it before you print. - **Use a Plus Code Where There Is No Address**: A Plus Code names a three-by-three-metre square anywhere on earth in about eleven characters, and Google Maps accepts it as a search. It is the shortest reliable thing to print for a gate or a field. - **Point at the Entrance People Use**: The pin should be the door, not the building's postal centroid. For venues with separate visitor and delivery entrances, print two codes and label them. - **Keep the URL as Short as the Place Allows**: Coordinates make a sparser, more forgiving pattern than a long address, and a sparser pattern is what scans from a car window or across a car park. - **Say Where It Goes**: “Scan for directions” earns more scans than a bare square, and it tells people the scan will hand them off to a map rather than a web page. - **Expect the Phone's Default Map App**: A google.com/maps link opens the Google Maps app when it is installed and the mobile web version when it is not. Both give directions; the web version just does it in the browser. - **Keep Contrast and the Quiet Zone**: Dark modules on light, and four modules of clear margin. On an estate board the margin is the first space a layout borrows and the first reason a scan from three metres fails. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 3 cm on an invitation, about 30 cm on a board read from 3 metres. - **Recheck It After a Rebuild or a Rename**: New estates, renamed streets and re-plotted units all move what an address resolves to. A coordinate code is immune to this; an address code is not. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Maps QR Code? A Google Maps QR code stores a map link for one place. Scanning it opens that place in Google Maps, or in the phone's browser if the app isn't installed, with directions one tap away. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Business Address? Choose Location in KoloQR's type picker and enter the address or a coordinate pair. Style the code if you like, then download PNG or SVG. No account is needed and no watermark is added. ### Should I Use an Address or Coordinates? Coordinates, whenever the location is ambiguous. An address is a search that Google resolves fresh on every scan, so it can land at a street midpoint or the wrong town. A lat/long pair always resolves to the same point. ### Why Doesn't a geo: QR Code Work on iPhone? iOS registers no handler for the geo: URI, so the scan produces a link the phone won't open. Android does handle it. A Google Maps https link works on both, which is why KoloQR encodes that instead. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Google Maps App? No. With the app installed the link deep-links straight into it; without it, the same address opens the mobile web version of Google Maps in the browser. Directions work either way. ### Can I Use a Plus Code in a QR Code? Yes, and it's the best option for a place with no street address. A Plus Code identifies a three-by-three-metre square in about eleven characters, Google Maps accepts it as a search, and it makes a much sparser pattern than an address. ### Will the Code Break if My Business Moves? Yes - a static code holds one location and cannot be repointed. If a move is possible, encode a short URL on your own domain that redirects to the map, so you can change the destination without reprinting. ### Can I Make a QR Code That Starts Navigation Automatically? Not reliably. Google Maps opens on the place with the directions button ready, and turn-by-turn starts when the person taps it. Phones deliberately don't let a scanned code begin navigation on its own. ### Can a Map QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle to count anything. To measure scans, point the code at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect that to the map. ### Why Isn't My Google Maps QR Code Scanning? Check the pattern is darker than its background, there's four modules of clear margin around it, and it's printed about a tenth as wide as the reading distance. If it scans but lands wrong, the problem is the address, not the code. --- # Make an Event QR Code People Can Add to Their Calendar URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/event-qr-code Create a free event QR code that adds your date, time, and venue to a phone's calendar. Add a logo, choose a shape, export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter the name, place, and times, style the code to match your invitation, and download one that opens a ready-made calendar entry - no link, no page, no login. - Free - no sign-up - Works offline - No account for guests ## What Is an Event QR Code? An event QR code is a QR code that stores a calendar entry rather than a web address. Scanning it offers to add an event - its name, place, start and end - to the phone's own calendar. Because the entry is written into the pattern, the code needs no link, no page, and no internet connection at the moment it is scanned. ### The Code Holds a File, Not a Link What is inside an event code is a fragment of the iCalendar format - the same standard behind every .ics attachment: - **SUMMARY**: the event's name, and the line the phone shows as the calendar entry's title. - **DTSTART and DTEND**: the start and end, written as a compact timestamp like 20260614T190000. The end is optional; without one, phones assume a short default. - **LOCATION**: the venue as free text. Tapping it in the calendar hands it to the phone's map app, which is why writing a findable address here matters more than writing a pretty one. That is the whole payload, and it is why this type behaves unlike every other one on the site: nothing is fetched, so a printed event code works in a field with no signal, and it keeps working after any website behind the event has gone. The trade is that it is fixed at print time - move the date and every printed code is wrong, with no redirect to save you. ### Time Zones Are the Thing to Get Right An event QR code written without a time zone stores what iCalendar calls floating local time: 19:00 means 19:00 on whatever clock the scanning phone is set to. For an event held in one place, that is exactly the behaviour you want - a guest whose phone is still on last week's holiday time zone still sees 19:00, which is when the doors actually open. For anything remote it is the wrong behaviour, and quietly so: a webinar at 15:00 UTC lands at 15:00 in every attendee's calendar regardless of where they are, so most of them will miss it and none of them will know why. The rule that follows is simple. Use an event QR code for things that happen at a place - a wedding, a gig, a market, a conference session - where local time is the truth. For a call, a stream, or anything an international audience joins from home, print a link to a page that states the time zone in words, and let the calendar entry come from there. ## Where Event QR Codes Are Used The scan replaces the copying-out step - the moment when someone reads a date off paper and types it into a phone, or means to and never does. - **Wedding Invitations and Save-the-Dates**: The date is the entire purpose of the card, and a scan gets it into the calendar before the card goes in a drawer. - **Gig Posters and Venue Listings**: A poster read on a walk past is a date nobody writes down. A code turns the glance into a reminder. - **Conference Programmes and Session Boards**: One code per session lets attendees build their own schedule without an app or an account. - **Class and Course Timetables**: A code per class on a studio noticeboard beats a printed grid people photograph and never look at again. - **Market and Pop-Up Stalls**: Next month's dates on this month's bag insert, saved to the calendar while the purchase is still fresh. - **Community and Club Noticeboards**: Village halls and sports clubs run on paper. An event code is the cheapest bridge from that paper to a phone. ## How to Create an Event QR Code Name, place, times, download: - **Open the Type Picker and Choose Event**: Event sits under More, in the Location & Events group. Picking it swaps the URL field for a name, a location, and start and end times. - **Write the Name as It Should Read in a Calendar**: It will sit in a list beside dentist appointments, so name the event, not the campaign: “Anna & Tom's Wedding” rather than “You're Invited!”. - **Give the Location as a Findable Address**: Whatever you type here is what the phone hands to its map app when someone taps it. A venue name alone is a gamble; a venue name plus street and town is not. - **Set Both Times, Then Test and Export**: Fill in the end as well as the start, so the entry doesn't default to an hour. Scan the exported file on an iPhone and an Android phone before printing, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your event QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for emails, social posts, and listings pages, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for posters, invitations, and programme boards - anything a printer will scale without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into an invitation artwork file at print-ready quality. Density matters more here than on any other type. A calendar entry with a long name and a full address can run past 150 characters, where a short link runs to 25 - so the same square holds three or four times as many modules. Export vector and print it a size larger than you would a link code. ## Best Practices for Event QR Codes An event code is fixed at print time and read by two operating systems that treat calendar data slightly differently. These habits cover both problems: - **Keep the Text Short**: Every character in the name and the address becomes modules. A concise name and a compact address are worth more here than anywhere else, because they are the difference between a code that scans from a metre away and one that doesn't. - **Always Set an End Time**: With no DTEND, phones fall back to their own default - often an hour - and a five-hour event lands in the calendar as a one-hour slot that people schedule over. - **Write the Location as an Address**: The location line is handed to the map app when tapped. “The Old Corn Exchange” is ambiguous; the same name with a street and town resolves. - **Use It for Events That Have a Place**: The times are local to whoever scans, which is right for a venue and wrong for a webinar. Print a link instead for anything an international audience joins remotely. - **Print the Date in Words Beside the Code**: Not everyone scans, and a poster that only carries its date inside a QR code is a poster that fails for half its readers. The code saves typing; it should never be the only source. - **Test on Both iOS and Android**: Apple's camera surfaces a calendar suggestion directly; several Android camera apps show the raw text first and need one more tap. Both work, but you should know which journey your audience gets. - **Regenerate After Any Change**: There is no redirect behind an event code. A moved date, a new venue, a corrected time - each one means a new code and, if it is already printed, a reprint. - **Add a Link for Anything That Needs Detail**: The calendar entry holds a name, a place, and times. Tickets, parking, dress code and running order belong on a page - print a URL QR code beside it and label the two differently. - **Keep Contrast and the Quiet Zone**: Dark modules on light, four modules of clear margin. A dense event pattern is less forgiving of a borrowed margin than a sparse one. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance, and then a little more for density: about 3 cm on an invitation held in the hand, 25-30 cm on a poster read from 2-3 metres. ## FAQ ### What Is an Event QR Code? An event QR code stores a calendar entry - name, location, start and end - instead of a web address. Scanning it offers to add that event to the phone's calendar, with nothing fetched from the internet. ### How Do I Make a QR Code That Adds an Event to a Calendar? Choose Event in KoloQR's type picker, enter the name, location, start and end, then style and download. No account is needed, and guests need no app or login to use it. ### Does an Event QR Code Work Without Internet? Yes. The calendar entry is encoded in the pattern itself, so the phone reads it directly. It works in a field with no signal, and it keeps working after any website about the event has gone. ### What Time Zone Does the Event Use? The phone's own. The times are stored as floating local time, so 19:00 means 19:00 wherever it is scanned. That's right for an event at a venue and wrong for a webinar with an international audience. ### Can I Change the Date After Printing the Code? No. A static event code holds the date in the pattern, with no redirect behind it. If the date might move, print a link to an event page instead and let people add the entry from there. ### Does It Work on Both iPhone and Android? Yes, with a difference in journey. Apple's camera surfaces a calendar suggestion directly; some Android camera apps show the decoded text first and need one more tap. Test on both before a print run. ### Can One QR Code Hold a Whole Series of Dates? Not reliably. Phones handle a single event well and repeat rules inconsistently. For a series, print one code per date, or link to a calendar page that people can subscribe to. ### Why Is My Event QR Code So Dense? Because a calendar entry is longer than a link. A name plus a full address can run past 150 characters against a short URL's 25, which pushes the symbol to a higher version. Shorten the text or print larger. ### Should I Use an Event Code or a Link to a Ticket Page? Both, labelled. The event code saves the date without an account; a [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) handles anything that needs a page - price, parking, running order. One square cannot do both jobs. ### Can an Event QR Code Track Who Scanned It? No. Nothing is fetched when the code is scanned, so there is no server anywhere to record it. If you need numbers, use a link code to a page you control and let people add the event from there. --- # Turn Your WhatsApp Number Into a Scannable Chat Link URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/whatsapp-qr-code Create a free WhatsApp QR code that opens a chat with your number - no saved contact needed. Add a pre-filled message, a logo, and export PNG or SVG. Enter your number in full international format, style the code to match your brand, and download a QR code that opens a WhatsApp conversation with you in one tap. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a WhatsApp QR Code? A WhatsApp QR code is a QR code that stores a wa.me link containing your phone number. Scanning it opens a WhatsApp chat with you immediately, so the person never has to save your number as a contact first. The number is encoded in the pattern itself, which means the printed code needs no app, no account and no service behind it. ### How a WhatsApp QR Code Works Three things sit between the scan and an open chat window: - **The Number**: your WhatsApp number in full international format, digits only: country code first, no plus sign, no spaces, no brackets, and no leading zero. - **The wa.me Link**: the number becomes https://wa.me/15551234567, WhatsApp's official click-to-chat address, and that link is what the pattern stores. - **The Chat**: the camera opens WhatsApp on a conversation with you, ready to type. On a laptop the same link opens WhatsApp Web instead. A pre-filled message is one parameter away. Adding ?text= to the link, with the message URL-encoded, opens the chat with that sentence already in the input box - https://wa.me/15551234567?text=I%27d%20like%20a%20quote - so the person only has to press send. It is the single most useful thing you can do with this code type: it tells you which sign, table or box the message came from, because each one can carry a different opening line. ### wa.me Link vs. WhatsApp's Own QR Code WhatsApp generates a QR code of its own inside the app, under Settings, and it is not the same object as the one on this page. WhatsApp's in-app code is a contact-add code: it is read by WhatsApp's built-in scanner rather than by the phone camera, it can be reset at any time - which silently kills every copy already printed - and its appearance is fixed. A wa.me QR code is an ordinary web link, so any native camera reads it, any printer reproduces it, and it keeps working until you change your number. The trade-off is honest: the in-app code adds you as a contact, while a wa.me code opens a conversation. For anything printed, the wa.me version is the one that survives, and it is what KoloQR generates. If you want people to store your details rather than message you, a [phone number QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) is the closer fit. ## Where WhatsApp QR Codes Are Used Anywhere a question is faster to type than to ask, and anywhere your staff are not standing. The placements that earn their space: - **Shop Windows and Counters**: Take orders and answer stock questions after closing time, when the alternative is a customer walking away. - **Restaurant Tables and Takeaway Bags**: Let people flag a missing item or reorder without hunting for the right number on a receipt. - **Packaging and Delivery Notes**: Put support one scan from the product, with a pre-filled message naming the item so you know what arrived broken. - **For Sale and To Let Signs**: Passers-by message about a property from the pavement instead of memorising a number they will forget by the car. - **Trade Show Stands and Badges**: Swap a business card for a chat that already exists in someone's phone when they get home. - **Invoices, Receipts and Email Signatures**: Give a paper document a live reply channel, which a printed phone number is not. ## How to Create a WhatsApp QR Code From number to download in about a minute: - **Pick WhatsApp and Enter Your Number**: Type the number with its country code and nothing else - 15551234567, not +1 (555) 123-4567. WhatsApp's link format accepts digits only. - **Add a Pre-Filled Message if You Want One**: Paste the full link with ?text= on the end to open the chat with an opening line already written. Use a different line per placement to see where scans come from. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors to match your signage, and add a logo if you have one. Keep the pattern darker than its background. - **Test It, Then Print It**: Scan the exported file with a phone that has never messaged you. Export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for anything printed. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your WhatsApp QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen, not by file size: - **PNG**: for websites, order confirmations, slides, and social posts, where the code is shown at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for shop windows, vinyl signage, and anything a printer will scale - the edges stay sharp at any size. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into an invoice template at print-ready quality. The rule that decides it: vector for paper and vinyl, raster for screens. A WhatsApp code often ends up on a small sticker or a bag, where a PNG scaled up in a layout program turns the modules soft and the scan slow. ## Best Practices for WhatsApp QR Codes A chat code fails differently from a link code: it can scan perfectly and still waste the scan. These are the ones worth getting right: - **Use the Full International Number**: Country code first, digits only, and drop the trunk zero. A UK number written 07700 900123 is 447700900123 in a wa.me link, and the leading zero is the single most common reason one fails. - **Confirm the Number Has WhatsApp on It**: wa.me does not check. A number with no WhatsApp account opens a dead end reading that the number is not on WhatsApp, and the scan is spent. - **Pre-Fill a Message That Identifies the Placement**: Give each sign, table tent or box its own opening line. It costs nothing, needs no analytics, and tells you which placement is working. - **Say What Happens Before They Scan**: A line like “Scan to message us on WhatsApp” sets the expectation. People are warier of a code that might dial them than of one that opens a page. - **Answer It, or Don't Print It**: An unanswered chat is worse than no channel at all, because the customer can see the message was delivered. Put the code where someone is watching the inbox. - **Keep the Pattern Dark on a Light Background**: Brand green is tempting on a WhatsApp code and often fails: mid-green on white is low contrast. Darken the pattern rather than matching the logo exactly. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Leave a clear margin of about four modules on every side. Crowding it with a slogan or a border is what stops an otherwise perfect code. - **Size It for the Scan Distance**: Roughly one tenth of the distance it will be read from: about 2 cm on a table tent, about 30 cm on a code read from 3 metres across a forecourt. - **Keep the Logo Small**: Error correction tolerates a centre logo, but a WhatsApp mark large enough to be recognised is usually large enough to break the read. Keep it modest and rescan. - **Use a Business Number You Can Keep**: The number is baked into the pattern, so changing it means reprinting. Use a line that will outlive the print run rather than a personal mobile. ## FAQ ### What Is a WhatsApp QR Code? A WhatsApp QR code stores a wa.me link with your phone number in it. Scanning it with a phone camera opens a WhatsApp chat with you, so the person can message you without saving your number as a contact. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My WhatsApp Number? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick WhatsApp, and enter your number in full international format with digits only. Style it if you like, then download a PNG or SVG. No account is needed and the code has no watermark. ### What Number Format Does a WhatsApp QR Code Need? Country code followed by the number, digits only - no plus sign, spaces, brackets, dashes, or leading zero. A UK mobile written 07700 900123 becomes 447700900123. This is the format the wa.me link requires. ### Can I Pre-Fill the Message People Send Me? Yes. Add ?text= to the wa.me link with the message URL-encoded, and the chat opens with that line already typed. Give each poster or product its own line so you can tell where a message came from. ### Is This the Same as the QR Code Inside WhatsApp? No. WhatsApp's in-app code adds you as a contact and only WhatsApp's own scanner reads it, and resetting it invalidates printed copies. A wa.me QR code is a normal web link that any phone camera reads and that opens a chat. ### Does the Person Scanning Need WhatsApp Installed? Yes. Without the app - or WhatsApp Web on a desktop - the link lands on WhatsApp's download page instead of a chat. Label the code so people know what it opens before they scan it. ### Can I Change the Number Later? Not in a code already printed. The number is encoded in the pattern, so a new number means a new code. If the number might change, point the code at a page you control and put the chat link on that page instead. ### Can I Use It for a WhatsApp Business Account? Yes. A wa.me link works the same for WhatsApp Business, which is usually the better inbox for a printed code - it supports away messages, quick replies and a catalogue, so a scan outside opening hours still gets a reply. ### Can I Link to a WhatsApp Group Instead? Yes, but with a caveat. A group invite link can be encoded like any URL, and it works until the group admin revokes or regenerates the invite - at which point every printed copy stops working. Use it for short-lived events, not signage. ### Why Isn't My WhatsApp QR Code Scanning? Usually the number format, low contrast, or size. Check the number is digits only with a country code, keep the pattern dark on a light background, leave a clear margin, and print it about a tenth as wide as the reading distance. --- # Turn Your X Profile Into a QR Code People Can Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/x-twitter-qr-code Create a free X (Twitter) QR code that opens your profile, a post, or a follow prompt. Add a logo, pick a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter your handle, style the code to match your brand, and download a QR code that opens your X (formerly Twitter) profile in the app or the browser in one tap. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is an X (Twitter) QR Code? An X QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of an X account, post, or list. Scanning it opens that page - in the X app if it is installed, in the browser if it isn't. The address is encoded in the pattern itself, so the printed code works without any account, service, or subscription behind it. ### How an X QR Code Works Three things sit between the scan and the profile on screen: - **The Address**: https://x.com/ followed by your handle without the @. Old twitter.com addresses still redirect, but encoding x.com saves the redirect and a few characters. - **The Pattern**: the address encoded as modules. An X handle is at most 15 characters, so the whole link is short and the pattern stays sparse and easy to read. - **The Open**: iOS and Android hand the link to the installed X app through its universal links; with no app, the same address opens the web profile. The same pattern points anywhere on X. A single post is x.com/handle/status/ plus a 19-digit id, a list is x.com/handle/i/lists/ plus its id, and x.com/intent/follow?screen_name=yourhandle opens the follow dialog directly rather than the profile - the shortest path from a poster to a new follower. ### Your Handle Can Change - and That Breaks the Code X lets any account change its handle at any time, and the old handle is released for someone else to claim. A printed QR code holding x.com/oldhandle does not fail politely when that happens: it opens a stranger's profile, or an account suspended for impersonation. This is the one risk that separates an X code from a Wi-Fi or email code, and it is worth designing around. Two options work. Encode x.com/i/user/ plus your numeric account id, which never changes even when the handle does - it is unreadable to a human but permanent. Or point the code at a page on your own domain that redirects to X, so a rename is one line to edit rather than a reprint. If the code lives on a conference badge that is binned on Sunday, the plain handle is fine. If it is going on a shopfront, it isn't. ## Where X QR Codes Are Used X rewards being in the room while something is happening, which is exactly where a printed code can reach someone. The placements that work: - **Conference Slides and Stage Backdrops**: Put the code on the last slide so the room can follow you while they still remember the talk. - **Event Badges and Lanyards**: Swap handles in one scan instead of spelling out an underscore across a noisy hall. - **Press Kits and Media Walls**: Give journalists a live account rather than a printed statement that dates within the hour. - **Product Packaging and Manuals**: Point customers at the account that posts outage notices and release news, where support conversations already happen. - **Book Jackets and Zines**: An author's handle on the back cover turns a finished reader into a follower at the moment they liked it most. - **Campaign Posters**: Use an intent link so the scan opens a pre-written post with your hashtag ready to send, not just a profile. ## How to Create an X (Twitter) QR Code From handle to download in under a minute: - **Pick X and Enter Your Handle**: Type the handle without the @ - KoloQR builds the x.com address around it. Paste a full URL instead if you want a specific post, list, or intent link. - **Decide What the Scan Should Do**: A profile URL opens your account. An intent follow link opens the follow dialog. A status URL opens one post. Pick the action, then encode that address. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, and drop in a logo. Black on white scans best; if you use brand colors, keep the pattern clearly darker than the background. - **Test and Export**: Scan it on an iPhone and an Android, with and without the X app installed. Then export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your X QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, video end cards, profile banners, and anywhere the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for stage backdrops, exhibition graphics, and anything a printer will enlarge without losing sharp edges. - **PDF**: for sending to a print shop or placing in a press kit at print-ready quality. A conference backdrop is where this choice shows. Scaled from PNG, the modules soften and the code has to be read from closer than the layout assumed; from SVG, the same file is exact at three metres wide. ## Best Practices for X QR Codes A profile code is short and easy to encode, which means the mistakes are all in what you point it at: - **Encode x.com, Not twitter.com**: twitter.com addresses still redirect, but every redirect is a step that can be slow on venue Wi-Fi and a step that can one day stop. Encode the current domain. - **Drop the @ From the Address**: The handle goes in the URL bare: x.com/koloqr, not x.com/@koloqr. The @ belongs in the label printed beside the code, not in the link inside it. - **Don't Rename the Account After Printing**: A handle change releases the old one for anyone to claim, so printed codes can end up pointing at a stranger. Settle the handle before the print run. - **Use an Intent Link for a Follow Campaign**: x.com/intent/follow?screen_name=yourhandle opens the follow dialog instead of the profile, which removes a tap at the exact point people drop off. - **Keep Post Links Short**: A status URL carries a 19-digit id and makes a denser pattern than a profile link. It still scans, but print it a size up from what a profile code needs. - **Say Whose Account It Is**: Print the handle in text beside the code. People decide whether to scan based on where it goes, and an unlabelled code on a poster is a reason not to. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: X's palette runs to black and white, which is ideal. If the code sits on a dark backdrop, invert the panel behind it rather than the code - light-on-dark patterns fail on many scanners. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of empty margin on every side. On a busy media wall this is the first thing a designer takes back, and the first reason the code stops reading. - **Size It for the Room**: About a tenth of the reading distance. A code on a slide read from 15 metres at the back of a hall needs to be around 1.5 metres wide on screen - which usually means moving it to the badge instead. - **Test With the App Installed and Without**: The two paths differ: one deep-links into the app, one loads the web profile, and only the second shows what a logged-out stranger actually sees. ## FAQ ### What Is an X (Twitter) QR Code? An X QR code stores the address of an X profile, post, or list. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page - in the X app if it is installed, otherwise in the browser - so no one has to type a handle. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My X Profile? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick X (Twitter), and enter your handle without the @. Adjust the shape and colors if you like, then download PNG or SVG. There is no sign-up and no watermark. ### Should I Encode x.com or twitter.com? Encode x.com. Old twitter.com links still redirect, but a redirect is an extra hop that can be slow on crowded venue Wi-Fi and is not guaranteed forever. The current domain is also a few characters shorter. ### What Happens if I Change My Handle? Every printed code pointing at the old handle breaks, and worse, X frees that handle for someone else to claim - so your code may open a stranger's profile. Encode x.com/i/user/ plus your numeric id, or a redirect you control, before printing. ### Can a QR Code Make Someone Follow Me in One Tap? Nearly. Encoding x.com/intent/follow?screen_name=yourhandle opens the follow dialog instead of the profile, so the scan ends on a single confirm. The person still has to tap Follow - nothing can do that for them. ### Can I Link to a Single Post Instead of My Profile? Yes. Paste the full status URL and it encodes like any other link. Post URLs are long, so the pattern is denser - print it a size larger than a profile code, or pin the post and link to the profile instead. ### Does the Scanner Need the X App? No. With the app installed the link deep-links into it; without it, the same address opens the web profile in the browser. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read the code either way, with no scanner app. ### Is This the Same as the QR Code Inside the X App? It points to the same place but behaves differently. X's in-app code is generated for sharing on a screen and its design is fixed. A code you generate can be shaped, colored, and exported as vector for print. ### Can I Put My Logo in the Middle? Yes. Error correction lets a QR code survive a small covered area, so a modest centre logo still scans. Keep it small, keep the surrounding quiet zone clear, and rescan the exported file before printing. ### Why Isn't My X QR Code Scanning? Check three things first: the address resolves in a logged-out browser, the pattern is darker than its background, and the code is about a tenth as wide as the distance it is read from. Those cover most failures. --- # Turn Your TikTok Profile Into a Scannable QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/tiktok-qr-code Create a free TikTok QR code that opens your profile, a video, or a hashtag page. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG files. Enter your username, style the code to match your brand, and download a QR code that opens your TikTok profile in the app or the browser in one tap. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a TikTok QR Code? A TikTok QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a TikTok profile, video, or hashtag page. Scanning it opens that page in the TikTok app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address lives in the pattern, so the printed code needs no account and no service behind it to keep working. ### How a TikTok QR Code Works Three things sit between the scan and the profile on screen: - **The Address**: https://tiktok.com/@ followed by your username. Unlike an X profile, the @ is part of a TikTok address and the link does not resolve without it. - **The Pattern**: the address encoded as modules. A TikTok username runs to at most 24 characters, so a profile link stays short and the pattern stays sparse. - **The Open**: the phone hands the link to the TikTok app through its universal links; with no app installed, the same address opens the web profile. The same pattern points anywhere on TikTok. A single video is tiktok.com/@username/video/ plus a 19-digit id, and a campaign hashtag is tiktok.com/tag/ plus the tag with no hash. Both work, but a video link is roughly three times the characters of a profile link, so its pattern is noticeably denser - print it a size larger. ### A TikCode Is Not the Same Thing TikTok generates a code of its own inside the app - the TikCode, a rounded pattern with your avatar in the middle, found under the profile menu. It is built to be read by TikTok's own in-app scanner and to be shared on a screen, and its appearance is fixed: no shape, no colours, no vector export. A QR code you generate holds the ordinary tiktok.com web address instead, so any native phone camera reads it, any printer reproduces it at any size, and the design is yours. For a screenshot passed between two people who both already have TikTok open, the TikCode is fine. For a shop window, a poster, or a product insert - where the person scanning is using the camera app and may not have TikTok at all - a standard QR code is the one that works. That is what KoloQR generates. ## Where TikTok QR Codes Are Used TikTok's audience is already holding the phone, so the useful placements are the ones that catch them somewhere the app isn't: - **Shop Shelves and Window Displays**: Link a product to the video showing it in use, which is the demo no shelf label can give. - **Packaging and Unboxing Inserts**: Catch someone at the moment the box opens and point them at the recipe, tutorial, or care video. - **Restaurant Menus and Table Tents**: Send diners to the kitchen's own account so the dish they just ordered has a face behind it. - **Studio and Salon Mirrors**: A code where people already sit still and look forward turns a service into a follow. - **Event Stands and Pop-Ups**: Use a hashtag page rather than a profile, so scans surface everyone posting from the event. - **Flyers and Business Cards**: For creators, the profile code does the work a portfolio link used to do, in a fraction of the space. ## How to Create a TikTok QR Code From username to download in under a minute: - **Pick TikTok and Enter Your Username**: Type the username as it appears on your profile - KoloQR adds the tiktok.com/@ in front. Paste a full URL instead for a specific video or hashtag page. - **Choose What the Scan Opens**: A profile builds followers, a video sells one thing, a hashtag page collects a campaign. Pick one; a code that opens the wrong level of the app wastes the scan. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, and add a logo if you have one. Keep the pattern clearly darker than whatever sits behind it. - **Test and Export**: Scan it on a phone without TikTok installed as well as one with it - the two journeys differ. Then export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your TikTok QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for video end cards, stories, websites, and anywhere the code appears at a single fixed size. - **SVG**: for window vinyl, shelf strips, and anything a printer will scale up without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into a packaging artwork file at print-ready quality. Packaging is where the difference bites. A TikTok video link is already a dense pattern, and printing that pattern from an upscaled PNG at small size is how a code that worked on screen stops working on the box. ## Best Practices for TikTok QR Codes Most TikTok codes fail for reasons that have nothing to do with TikTok - and a couple that have everything to do with it: - **Keep the @ in the Address**: A TikTok profile lives at tiktok.com/@username. Without the @ the address does not resolve, which is the most common way a hand-typed TikTok link ends up encoded wrong. - **Point at a Profile Unless You Have a Reason Not To**: Profile links are short, dense-free and permanent while the username holds. Video links carry a 19-digit id and stop working if the video comes down. - **Settle the Username Before Printing**: TikTok allows a username change every 30 days, and a changed username breaks every printed code pointing at the old one. Fix it before the print run, not after. - **Expect Sound**: TikTok opens playing, usually with audio. A code on a shelf in a quiet shop puts someone on the spot - place it where a burst of sound is not awkward, or say “scan for the video” so people can choose. - **Label What the Code Opens**: “Watch how it's made on TikTok” earns more scans than a bare square, and it warns the people who will not want it. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: TikTok's brand cyan and magenta are both too light to carry a pattern on white. Use them in the surrounding artwork and keep the modules themselves dark. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On busy packaging this is the first space a layout borrows and the first reason the scan fails. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a table tent, about 20 cm on a window code read from 2 metres away. - **Test on a Phone Without TikTok**: The app-less path is what most first-time scanners see, and it is the one that tells you whether the web page you are sending them to is worth arriving at. - **Have a Fallback Where TikTok Is Blocked**: TikTok is restricted on many corporate and school networks and unavailable in some countries. If that matters to your audience, print a second code or a short URL beside it. ## FAQ ### What Is a TikTok QR Code? A TikTok QR code stores the web address of a TikTok profile, video, or hashtag page. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the TikTok app if it is installed, or in the browser if it isn't. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My TikTok? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick TikTok, and enter your username. Adjust the shape, colors, and logo if you like, then download a PNG or SVG. No account is needed and no watermark is added. ### Is a TikCode the Same as a QR Code? No. A TikCode is TikTok's in-app code, built for TikTok's own scanner and fixed in appearance. A standard QR code holds the tiktok.com address, so any phone camera reads it and you control its shape, colors, and export format. ### Should the @ Be in the Link? Yes. A TikTok profile lives at tiktok.com/@username, and the address does not resolve without the @. This is the opposite of X, where the handle goes in the URL bare - so the two are easy to mix up. ### Can I Link to One Video Instead of My Profile? Yes, by encoding the full video URL. Two caveats: the link carries a 19-digit id and makes a denser pattern, and it breaks if the video is deleted. For anything printed, linking the profile and pinning the video is safer. ### What Happens if I Change My Username? Every printed code pointing at the old username stops working. TikTok permits a change every 30 days, so decide on the username before a print run, or point the code at a redirect on your own domain instead. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the TikTok App? No. Without the app the link opens the web version of the profile or video in a mobile browser. With it, the phone deep-links straight into the app. Test both - the app-less view is what most new visitors get. ### Can I Use My Brand Colors on a TikTok QR Code? Yes, within one limit: the pattern has to stay clearly darker than its background. TikTok's cyan and magenta are too light to carry the modules on white, so use them around the code rather than in it. ### Can a QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own. A static QR code has no server in the middle to count anything. To measure scans, point the code at a link you control with tracking on it, then let that redirect to TikTok. ### Why Isn't My TikTok QR Code Scanning? Check the @ is in the address, the pattern is darker than its background, there is clear margin around it, and it is printed about a tenth as wide as the reading distance. Those four cover most failures. --- # Turn a YouTube Channel or Video Into a QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/youtube-qr-code Create a free YouTube QR code for a channel, video, or playlist. Open the subscribe prompt in one tap, add a logo, and export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter your handle or paste a video link, style the code to match your brand, and download a QR code that opens YouTube in the app or the browser in one tap. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a YouTube QR Code? A YouTube QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a YouTube channel, video, or playlist. Scanning it opens that page in the YouTube app if it is installed, or in a browser if it isn't. The address is encoded in the pattern, so the printed code keeps working with no account and no subscription behind it. ### How a YouTube QR Code Works Three things sit between the scan and the video playing: - **The Address**: https://youtube.com/@ followed by your handle for a channel, or a watch link for a single video. Both are ordinary web addresses. - **The Pattern**: the address encoded as modules. Length matters here more than on any other social type, because a full watch URL is nearly twice a short one. - **The Open**: the phone hands the link to the YouTube app through its universal links, and plays. With no app, the same address opens the mobile web player. Two parameters are worth knowing. Adding ?sub_confirmation=1 to a channel address opens the subscribe dialog on arrival instead of the channel page, which removes the tap most people never make. And ?t=90 on a video link starts playback 90 seconds in, so a code on a manual can open the exact step it belongs beside rather than the beginning of a 12-minute video. ### youtu.be or youtube.com/watch - the Shorter Link Scans Better The two forms open the same video, and the difference is only characters, but characters are what a QR code is made of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ is 43 characters; https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ is 28. Fewer characters means a lower symbol version, which means fewer and therefore larger modules in the same printed square - and larger modules are what a camera resolves at distance or in poor light. On a code printed at 2 cm on a product insert that difference is the difference between a scan that lands first time and one that needs three attempts. Use youtu.be for video links in print. For a channel, the handle address is already short. The one caveat worth stating: youtu.be is YouTube's own domain, not a third-party shortener, so it carries none of the risk of a shortening service that might one day shut down. ## Where YouTube QR Codes Are Used YouTube is where the instructions live, so the best placements are wherever someone is stuck holding the thing the video explains: - **Assembly Instructions and Manuals**: Put a code beside the step people get wrong, timestamped to that moment in the video rather than its start. - **Product Packaging**: Replace a folded sheet of translated text with a demonstration anyone can follow without reading. - **Museum and Exhibition Labels**: Give a wall label the curator's two-minute explanation, in the place where the question actually occurs. - **Course Handouts and Textbooks**: Link a worked example to the lecture segment covering it, so revision starts at the right minute. - **Property Listings and For Sale Signs**: Open the walkthrough video from the pavement, which is when someone is deciding whether to call. - **Business Cards and Portfolios**: For anyone whose work is video, a channel code says more in one scan than a page of description. ## How to Create a YouTube QR Code From link to download in under a minute: - **Pick YouTube and Enter Your Handle**: Type the channel handle without the @ - KoloQR builds the youtube.com/@ address around it. Or paste a full video, playlist, or channel URL instead. - **Shorten and Sharpen the Link**: For a video, use the youtu.be form from the Share button. Add ?t= and a number of seconds to start at the right moment, or ?sub_confirmation=1 to a channel link to open the subscribe prompt. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, and add a logo if you have one. Keep the pattern clearly darker than the surface it prints on. - **Test and Export**: Scan the exported file on an iPhone and an Android, at the size it will actually be printed. Then export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your YouTube QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for video end screens, thumbnails, slides, and web pages where the code is shown at a fixed size. - **SVG**: for manuals, packaging, and exhibition graphics - vector stays exact whether it prints at 15 mm or 1.5 metres. - **PDF**: for sending to a printer or placing in an instruction sheet at print-ready quality. Instruction sheets are the case that decides it. They are printed small, often in one colour, and frequently reused at different sizes across a product range - all of which a vector file survives and an upscaled PNG does not. ## Best Practices for YouTube QR Codes A YouTube code carries more characters than most, and points at content that can be edited after printing. Both shape the rules: - **Use the youtu.be Form for Videos**: It is YouTube's own short domain, roughly 15 characters shorter than a watch URL, and the saving shows directly as larger modules in a printed code. - **Strip Tracking Parameters**: The Share button appends things like ?si= to the link. They add characters and density without changing where the code goes - delete everything after the video id unless you added it deliberately. - **Add ?sub_confirmation=1 to Channel Links**: It opens the subscribe dialog rather than the channel page, cutting the journey from scan to subscriber to a single tap. - **Timestamp the Link Where the Answer Is**: ?t=90 on a youtu.be link starts playback at 1:30. On a manual or a label, sending someone to the relevant 20 seconds is the whole value of the code. - **Prefer the Channel ID for Long-Lived Print**: A handle can be changed; the youtube.com/channel/UC… address cannot. It is uglier and longer, but for packaging with a five-year shelf life it does not break. - **Check the Video Is Public or Unlisted**: An unlisted video works fine from a printed code - a private one does not, and neither does an age-restricted one for a signed-out scanner. - **Expect Sound and Data Use**: A scan starts a video playing, usually with audio, on whatever connection the person has. Say what the code opens so nobody is surprised in a quiet room. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: YouTube red on white is lower contrast than it looks and is a common cause of slow reads. Keep the modules dark and put the brand colour in the frame or the caption. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin. Instruction sheets are dense with diagrams, and this is where a code most often gets crowded. - **Size It for Where It Is Read**: About a tenth of the reading distance. A code on a manual held at 30 cm can be 3 cm; the same code on a museum label read at 1 metre needs about 10 cm. ## FAQ ### What Is a YouTube QR Code? A YouTube QR code stores the address of a YouTube channel, video, or playlist. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the YouTube app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a YouTube Video? Copy the youtu.be link from the video's Share button, paste it into KoloQR, style the code if you like, and download a PNG or SVG. The short form makes a sparser pattern than a full watch URL, which scans better in print. ### Can a QR Code Open the Subscribe Prompt? Yes. Add ?sub_confirmation=1 to your channel address - for example youtube.com/@yourhandle?sub_confirmation=1 - and the scan opens the subscribe dialog rather than the channel page. The person still has to confirm. ### Can I Make the Video Start at a Specific Time? Yes. Add ?t= and the number of seconds to a youtu.be link, so youtu.be/VIDEOID?t=90 begins at 1:30. On a manual or an exhibition label this is what makes the code useful rather than merely present. ### youtu.be or youtube.com/watch - Which Should I Encode? youtu.be, for print. It is YouTube's own domain, about 15 characters shorter, and those characters translate directly into larger, more readable modules at the same printed size. Both open the same video. ### What Happens if I Change My Channel Handle? Codes pointing at the old handle stop working. If the code will be in circulation for years - on packaging or in a printed manual - encode the youtube.com/channel/UC… address instead, because the channel id never changes. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the YouTube App? No. Without the app the link opens the mobile web player in the browser. With it, the phone deep-links into the app. Modern iPhone and Android cameras read the code natively either way. ### Can I Link to a Playlist Instead of One Video? Yes. Paste the playlist URL and encode it like any link. A playlist is the safer choice for long print runs, because you can add and reorder videos afterwards without the printed code ever changing. ### Will an Unlisted Video Work From a QR Code? Yes. Unlisted videos are viewable by anyone with the link, which is exactly what a QR code carries. Private videos will not open, and age-restricted videos will stop anyone who is not signed in. ### Why Isn't My YouTube QR Code Scanning? Usually length or contrast. Shorten the link to the youtu.be form with no tracking parameters, keep the pattern dark on a light background, leave a clear margin, and print it about a tenth as wide as the reading distance. --- # Turn Your Instagram Profile Into a Scannable QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/instagram-qr-code Create a free Instagram QR code that opens your profile, a post, or a reel. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG files. Enter your username, style the code to match your packaging or your window, and download one that opens your Instagram profile in the app or the browser in a single tap. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is an Instagram QR Code? An Instagram QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of an Instagram profile, post, or reel. Scanning it opens that page in the Instagram app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address lives in the pattern, so the printed code needs no account and no service behind it to keep working. ### Instagram's Own Code Versus a Generated One Instagram builds you a profile QR code inside the app, under the menu on your profile. It is a real QR code, and any phone camera reads it - so the difference is not whether it works: - **What It Can Point At**: your profile, and only your profile. There is no in-app way to make one for a single post, a reel, or a page of your own. - **How It Looks**: fixed. You get Instagram's colour presets and your own avatar in the middle; there is no shape, no brand colour, and no vector export. - **How You Get the File**: as a screenshot or a shared image, which is a raster at screen resolution. It is fine on a phone and soft the moment a printer scales it up. So the in-app code is the right tool for a screen shown to someone standing in front of you. A generated code is the one for print: it can point anywhere on Instagram or off it, it exports as vector at any size, and it can be drawn in your own shape and colours - see [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) for what that looks like in practice. ### On Instagram, Print Is Where the Link Lives Instagram is the one major platform that gives ordinary posts no clickable link. A caption cannot carry a URL people can tap, comments cannot either, and the single bio link is the whole of what a profile gets. That constraint is what makes a printed Instagram QR code useful rather than decorative: on packaging, a shop window, a menu, or a business card, the code is the only clickable thing the physical object has. It also decides what the code should open. A profile link builds the follow and is permanent while the username holds. A post link - instagram.com/p/ plus an 11-character shortcode - sells one specific thing but dies if the post is deleted or archived. A reel link behaves the same way under /reel/. And a link to a page you own, with your Instagram linked from it, is the only version you can repoint later without reprinting anything. Pick by how long the printed object will exist: a business card outlives a post, a table tent does not. ## Where Instagram QR Codes Are Used The useful placements are the ones that catch someone holding a physical thing, at the moment they might want more of it: - **Product Packaging and Care Cards**: The insert that says “how to look after this” is the one people keep, and the natural place to link the account that shows them. - **Shop Windows and Fitting Rooms**: A window code is read after hours; a fitting-room code catches someone deciding, with the profile as the reassurance. - **Cafe Tables and Menus**: Restaurants live on photographs of their own food. The table is where people are already taking them. - **Market Stalls and Craft Fairs**: A one-day stall's only permanent asset is the follow it collects, and typing a username at a busy table is what stops people. - **Salon Mirrors and Studio Walls**: Somewhere people sit still and look forward turns a service into a portfolio view. - **Business Cards and Portfolio Prints**: For photographers and makers, the profile is the portfolio, and the code is smaller than the URL printed out. ## How to Create an Instagram QR Code From username to download in under a minute: - **Pick Instagram and Enter Your Username**: Type the username as it appears on your profile - KoloQR adds the instagram.com/ in front. Paste a full URL instead for a single post or reel. - **Decide What the Scan Should Open**: A profile builds followers and never expires. A post sells one thing and dies with it. A page you own is the only one you can repoint after printing. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Keep the modules clearly darker than whatever sits behind them - Instagram's gradient is a background, not a pattern colour. - **Test and Export**: Scan it on a phone with Instagram installed and one without - the two journeys differ. Then export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Instagram QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for stories, email footers, and websites, where the code appears at a single fixed size. - **SVG**: for window vinyl, packaging, and anything a printer will scale up without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into a packaging artwork file at print-ready quality. This is the practical reason to generate a code rather than screenshot the one in the app. Instagram hands you a raster at screen size; a printer asked to put that on a box has to upscale it, and upscaled modules are soft-edged modules. Vector has no size. ## Best Practices for Instagram QR Codes Most Instagram codes fail for ordinary printing reasons - and two that are specific to Instagram: - **Settle the Username Before You Print**: Instagram lets you change a username freely, and the old one is released for anyone to take. Every printed code pointing at it breaks, and may later point at a stranger. - **Point at the Profile Unless You Have a Reason Not To**: A profile URL is short, permanent while the username holds, and makes a sparse pattern. A post URL adds an 11-character shortcode and disappears if the post does. - **Don't Print Your Instagram Gradient Into the Modules**: The brand's pinks and purples are too light to carry a pattern on white. Use them in the artwork around the code and keep the modules dark. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: “Scan to see it made” earns more scans than a bare square. People decide in about a second whether a code is for them. - **Consider a Link You Own for Long-Lived Print**: On packaging with a two-year shelf life, point the code at your own short URL that redirects to Instagram. You can move it later; a printed instagram.com link you cannot. - **Remember the Follow Still Takes a Tap**: The scan lands someone on the profile; it does not follow you. Say what you want them to do, because the code cannot do it for them. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On busy packaging this is the first space a layout borrows and the first reason a scan fails. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: Dark modules on a light background. A code printed on a photograph - which is the temptation on an Instagram-led design - is a code that reads in the studio and not in the shop. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a care card, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres. - **Test on a Phone Without the App**: The app-less path is what a new visitor gets, and Instagram's logged-out web view is more restricted than the app. Check what they actually see before you decide it is enough. ## FAQ ### What Is an Instagram QR Code? An Instagram QR code stores the web address of an Instagram profile, post, or reel. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the Instagram app if it's installed, or in the browser if it isn't. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Instagram? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Instagram, and enter your username. Adjust the shape, colors, and logo if you like, then download PNG or SVG. No account is needed and no watermark is added. ### Instagram Already Has a QR Code - Why Generate One? Instagram's in-app code works, but it points only at your profile, can't be styled beyond its presets, and is only available as a screen-resolution image. A generated code can point anywhere, carry your own design, and export as vector for print. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Single Post or Reel? Yes - paste the full post or reel URL instead of a username. Two caveats: the link carries an 11-character shortcode and makes a denser pattern, and it breaks if the post is deleted or archived. ### What Happens if I Change My Username? Every printed code pointing at the old one stops working, and the freed username can be claimed by someone else. Settle the username before a print run, or point the code at a redirect on your own domain. ### Does Scanning the Code Follow the Account Automatically? No. The scan opens the profile and stops there; following is a separate tap. Say what you want people to do next - a bare code beside a logo doesn't ask for anything. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Instagram App? No. Without the app the link opens the mobile web version. But Instagram restricts what logged-out visitors can see, so test that path - it's what most first-time scanners get. ### Can I Use My Brand Colors on an Instagram QR Code? Yes, within one limit: the pattern must stay clearly darker than its background. Instagram's own gradient is too light to carry modules on white, so use it around the code rather than in it. ### Can a QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own. A static QR code has no server in the middle to count anything. To measure scans, point the code at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect that to Instagram. ### Why Isn't My Instagram QR Code Scanning? Check the pattern is darker than its background, there's four modules of clear margin around it, it was printed from vector rather than an upscaled screenshot, and it's about a tenth as wide as the reading distance. --- # Make a QR Code That Opens Your Facebook Page URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/facebook-qr-code Create a free Facebook QR code for your Page, group, or Messenger. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG files. Enter your Page username, style the code to match your signage, and download one that opens Facebook in the app or the browser - no typing, no searching for the right account. - Free - no sign-up - Page, group or Messenger - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Facebook QR Code? A Facebook QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Facebook Page, profile, group, or Messenger conversation. Scanning it opens that destination in the Facebook app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address is encoded in the pattern, so the printed code needs no account behind it to keep working. ### Claim a Username Before You Make the Code Facebook gives a new Page two possible addresses, and only one of them belongs in print: - **facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094...**: the default, a fifteen-digit numeric id. It is about 45 characters, it looks broken to anyone who reads it, and the question mark and equals sign push the symbol into a denser encoding mode. - **facebook.com/yourbusiness**: the username address, available free from the Page's settings once the Page meets Facebook's basic requirements. Around 25 characters, and readable. - **Why the Difference Shows**: fewer characters means a lower symbol version, which means larger modules in the same printed square. The username code scans from noticeably further away. So the first step of making a Facebook QR code happens on Facebook, not in a generator: set the username, confirm the short address loads, and encode that. It is the same argument as keeping any [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) short, with the difference that here the long version is what you get by default. ### Page, Profile, Group or Messenger Facebook is four destinations wearing one logo, and they behave differently enough that printing the wrong one is a real mistake. A Page is public, needs no login to read, and is the only one of the four that suits a code on a shop door - anyone can scan it, see the opening hours, and leave. A personal profile is not a business address: scanning it asks a stranger to send a friend request, and most of what they see until they do is nothing. A group can be public, private, or hidden; a private group's link shows a join request screen, which is right for a members' noticeboard and wrong for a poster. Messenger is the fourth, addressed as m.me followed by the Page username, and it opens a chat with the business rather than a page about it - the better choice wherever the point is a question rather than a browse, on a service counter or a for-sale board. Decide which of the four the person scanning actually needs before you decide anything about the design. ## Where Facebook QR Codes Are Used Facebook's strength in print is local and community - the audiences that still organise there, and the ones a shop front reaches: - **Shop Doors and Opening-Hours Signs**: A Page is the version of your business that stays current when the printed hours don't, and it needs no login to read. - **Community and Village Noticeboards**: Local groups are where the actual conversation happens, and a code saves people searching a name they'll half-remember. - **Trades Vans and Site Boards**: Builders, plumbers and landscapers get judged on their photos. A code on the van opens the album a phone number can't. - **For-Sale and To-Let Boards**: A Messenger code turns the board into a conversation without publishing a mobile number to the street. - **Event Posters and Club Notices**: Facebook events still carry local turnout, and the code gets people to the right one rather than a search result. - **Receipts and Loyalty Cards**: The moment after a purchase is the one moment someone will follow a local business without being asked twice. ## How to Create a Facebook QR Code One step on Facebook, three here: - **Set a Username on Your Page First**: In the Page's settings, claim a username so the address becomes facebook.com/yourbusiness instead of a fifteen-digit profile.php link. This is what keeps the pattern sparse. - **Pick Facebook and Enter the Username**: Type the username and KoloQR adds facebook.com/ in front. For a group, an event, or a Messenger chat, paste the full URL instead. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Facebook blue is dark enough to carry modules on white, which is unusual among the social brand palettes - so here you can use it. - **Test and Export**: Scan on a phone that is not logged in to Facebook as well as one that is, since that is what a passer-by has. Then export PNG for screens, SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Facebook QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, email footers, and posts, where the code appears at a single fixed size. - **SVG**: for door decals, van livery, and site boards - anything a printer scales up without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a sign shop or a print shop at print-ready quality. Vehicle livery is where this matters most. A code on a van door is read from two or three metres by someone who has a few seconds, so it needs to be large, high-contrast, and cut from vector - and it needs the short username URL behind it rather than the numeric one. ## Best Practices for Facebook QR Codes Facebook's own URL structure causes most of these, and its privacy model causes the rest: - **Never Print a profile.php Link**: The numeric address is long, contains characters that force a denser encoding, and tells anyone who reads it that nobody set the Page up properly. Claim the username instead. - **Point at a Page, Not a Personal Profile**: A profile asks strangers for a friend request and shows them almost nothing until they send one. A Page is public and readable by anyone who scans. - **Check What a Logged-Out Visitor Sees**: Facebook shows non-members a login prompt on many surfaces. Open the destination in a private browser window before you print anything that will be scanned by passers-by. - **Use m.me for Anything That Wants a Reply**: m.me/yourbusiness opens a Messenger chat rather than a page. On a service counter or a for-sale board, a conversation converts where a browse does not. - **Say Which Destination It Is**: “Scan to message us” and “scan for opening hours” set different expectations, and people abandon a scan that lands somewhere they didn't expect. - **Facebook Blue Can Carry the Modules**: Unlike most social palettes, Facebook's blue is dark enough to hold a pattern on a white background. Test the exported file rather than trusting it, but this is one brand colour you can usually use. - **Watch Group Privacy Before Printing**: A private group's link shows a request-to-join screen. That is fine on a members' noticeboard and wrong on a public poster, where it reads as a dead end. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On van livery and window decals this is the first space a layout borrows. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a receipt, 20-30 cm on a van read from 2-3 metres. - **Test on Both Phones and Both States**: App installed and not, logged in and not - four combinations, and Facebook behaves differently in each. The one that matters most is the phone with no app and no session. ## FAQ ### What Is a Facebook QR Code? A Facebook QR code stores the web address of a Facebook Page, profile, group, event, or Messenger chat. Scanning it opens that destination in the Facebook app if installed, or in the browser if not. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Facebook Page? Claim a username in your Page settings first, then choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Facebook, and enter that username. Style it if you like, then download PNG or SVG - no account, no watermark. ### Why Shouldn't I Use My profile.php Link? It's about twice as long as a username URL and its punctuation forces a denser encoding, so the code carries more, smaller modules and scans from a shorter distance. Claiming a username is free and fixes both. ### Can I Make a QR Code for Facebook Messenger? Yes. Paste m.me/yourpageusername as the destination and the scan opens a Messenger chat with your Page rather than the Page itself. It's the better choice wherever the point is a question, not a browse. ### Should the Code Point at My Page or My Profile? Your Page. A personal profile shows strangers almost nothing until they send a friend request, and it has no username address or Messenger link. A Page is public, readable without login, and built for this. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Facebook Group? Yes, by pasting the group URL. Check the privacy setting first: a private group shows non-members a request-to-join screen, which is fine on a members' noticeboard and confusing on a public poster. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Facebook App? No. Without the app the link opens the mobile web version. Facebook does prompt logged-out visitors to sign in on several surfaces, so test that path before printing. ### Can I Use Facebook Blue for the QR Code Itself? Usually yes - it's dark enough to carry the pattern on a white background, which is unusual among social brand colours. Scan the exported file to confirm before a print run rather than assuming it. ### Can a Facebook QR Code Track Scans? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. To measure scans, point the code at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect that to Facebook. ### What Happens if I Change My Page Username? Every printed code pointing at the old address stops working. Facebook limits how often a username can change, but the safer pattern for long-lived print is a redirect on your own domain that you control. --- # Make a Twitch QR Code for Your Overlay or Your Stand URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/twitch-qr-code Create a free Twitch QR code that opens your channel on any phone. Built for stream overlays and print - add a logo, choose a shape, export PNG or SVG. Enter your channel name, style the code to match your branding, and download one that opens twitch.tv in the app or the browser - sized and contrasted to survive a video encoder. - Free - no sign-up - Vector export for overlays - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a Twitch QR Code? A Twitch QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Twitch channel, video, or clip. Scanning it opens that page in the Twitch app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address lives in the pattern, so the code works from a printed banner and from a screen alike, with nothing behind it. ### A Code on an Overlay Has to Survive the Encoder Most Twitch codes are shown on stream rather than printed, and a live video pipeline is hostile to fine detail in three specific ways: - **Compression**: video encoders spend bitrate on what moves and starve high-contrast fine detail, which is precisely what a QR pattern is. Small modules smear into grey. - **Downscaling**: a viewer on 480p is seeing your 1080p overlay at less than a quarter size. A code that is 120 px on your canvas is under 60 px on their screen, which is below what any scanner can resolve. - **Time on Screen**: a camera needs a second or two of steady framing. A code that flashes up for three seconds during a transition is gone before anyone has picked up their phone. The practical consequence is that an overlay code has to be far bigger and far sparser than a printed one. Aim for at least 220 px square on a 1080p canvas, use a short channel URL rather than a clip link, keep it pure black on pure white, and leave it up for a full minute rather than a beat. ### Your Channel Is Two Different Pages A twitch.tv channel URL resolves to whatever the channel is doing at that moment, which makes it unlike every other social profile link. Live, it opens the stream and the scan does exactly what you hoped. Offline - which for most channels is most of the week - the same address opens the offline screen: your banner, your panels, your recent videos and clips. That second page is the one a printed code will land on far more often than the first, because a convention stand, a merch insert or a business card is read at a time nobody chose. So the offline channel page is what you should actually design for. Fill in the panels, pin a trailer or a recent highlight as the offline video, and make sure the schedule is visible, because for a first-time visitor arriving from a printed square that page is the whole of what Twitch is. Then, for anything shown on stream while you are live, the same code is fine - it just resolves to the better version of the page. ## Where Twitch QR Codes Are Used Twitch viewers are usually already on a screen, so a code earns its place at the moments they are not - or on a second screen they can reach: - **Stream Overlays and Starting-Soon Screens**: The pre-stream screen is the one place a code has minutes rather than seconds, and viewers on a desktop can scan it with a phone. - **Convention and Expo Stands**: A metre-tall code on a pull-up banner is how a creator turns a queue of passers-by into channel visits. - **Esports Events and LAN Venues**: Signage beside a stage points at the channel that will carry the VOD, which is what people want the next morning. - **Merch Inserts and Sticker Packs**: The card in the parcel is read once, carefully, by someone who already likes you - the best conversion a printed code gets. - **Charity Stream Posters**: Physical posters in a venue reach the people in the room, and a code is the only way they arrive at the right channel. - **Business Cards for Creators and Casters**: One square carries a channel name nobody has to spell, which matters when the handle has numbers in it. ## How to Create a Twitch QR Code From channel name to download in under a minute: - **Pick Twitch and Enter Your Channel Name**: Type the channel name as it appears in your URL - KoloQR adds twitch.tv/ in front. Paste a full URL instead for a specific video or clip. - **Use the Channel, Not a Clip, for Anything Long-Lived**: A channel URL is short and permanent. Clip and VOD links are longer, make a denser pattern, and expire with the video's retention period. - **Style It, but Keep the Modules Black**: Choose a shape and add your logo. Twitch purple is a mid tone - it is fine as a background or a frame, and unreliable as the pattern colour, especially once an encoder has been at it. - **Export and Test Through the Real Path**: For print, export SVG or PDF. For an overlay, export PNG at 2-3x the size you think you need, then test by scanning your own stream from a phone at 480p - not by scanning the file on your desktop. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Twitch QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for overlays, panels, and social posts - export it larger than the slot and let the scene scale it down, never up. - **SVG**: for pull-up banners, stand graphics, and stickers, where a printer will scale it and the edges have to stay hard. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or an event's signage supplier at print-ready quality. Overlay work is the one case where exporting PNG oversized is the right answer. A code placed at 240 px but exported at 240 px has no headroom; exported at 720 px and scaled down in your scene, every module edge lands on a clean pixel boundary, which is what gives the encoder something solid to hold on to. ## Best Practices for Twitch QR Codes Half of these are about video, which is what makes a Twitch code different from every other social code you will make: - **Make Overlay Codes at Least 220 px Square**: On a 1080p canvas that survives the drop to 480p with modules still resolvable. Anything under about 150 px is decoration rather than a scannable code. - **Leave It on Screen for a Minute, Not a Beat**: A viewer has to notice the code, find their phone, unlock it, and frame the screen. Starting-soon and be-right-back scenes are where that time exists. - **Keep It Pure Black on Pure White for Video**: Colour and low contrast cost you twice on stream: once to the encoder, once to the viewer's screen settings. Save the styling for print, where nothing is throwing detail away. - **Put It on a Static Part of the Scene**: Encoders allocate bitrate to motion. A code sitting over gameplay is being re-encoded every frame; a code on a still panel or a solid background is not. - **Use the Channel URL, Not a Clip**: twitch.tv/yourname is about 22 characters. A clip URL runs past 60 and makes a pattern with roughly twice the modules - the opposite of what video needs. - **Design the Offline Page Before You Print**: A printed code lands on the offline screen most of the time. Panels, a pinned trailer and a visible schedule are what a first-time visitor actually sees. - **Say What the Scan Gets Them**: “Scan to watch live” and “scan for the VOD” ask for different moments. A bare square beside a logo asks for nothing. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin, and on an overlay that margin must be solid background - a code sitting flush against gameplay has no quiet zone at all. - **Size Printed Codes for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a merch insert, 30-50 cm on an expo banner read from 3-5 metres. - **Test at the Worst Quality Your Viewers Use**: Scan your own stream from a phone with the quality forced to 480p. If it reads there, it reads everywhere; if you only test the source file, you have tested nothing. ## FAQ ### What Is a Twitch QR Code? A Twitch QR code stores the web address of a Twitch channel, video, or clip. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the Twitch app if it's installed, or in the browser if it isn't. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Twitch Channel? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Twitch, and enter your channel name. Style the shape, colors, and logo if you like, then download PNG for an overlay or SVG for print. No account needed. ### How Big Should a QR Code Be on a Stream Overlay? At least 220 px square on a 1080p canvas. Viewers watching at 480p see less than a quarter of that, and below roughly 60 px on their screen no scanner can resolve the modules. ### Why Won't My QR Code Scan From My Stream? The encoder is smearing the module edges. Compression starves fine detail, and lower-quality viewers get a downscaled version too. Make it larger, put it on a static background, and use pure black on white. ### Should the Code Point at My Channel or a Clip? Your channel. twitch.tv/yourname is about 22 characters and permanent; a clip URL runs past 60, makes a much denser pattern, and can expire with the video's retention period. ### Where Does the Scan Land When I'm Offline? On your offline channel screen - banner, panels, schedule, and recent videos. Printed codes land there far more often than on a live stream, so treat that page as the real destination. ### Can I Use Twitch Purple for the QR Code Itself? For print, sometimes - test the exported file. For an overlay, no: purple is a mid tone, and once the encoder and the viewer's screen have both taken a share of the contrast, there isn't enough left. ### How Long Should a Code Stay on Screen? A full minute at least. Viewers have to notice it, find a phone, unlock it, and frame the screen. Starting-soon and be-right-back scenes are where that time exists in a stream. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Twitch App? No. Without the app the link opens the mobile web version of the channel, which plays streams and VODs in the browser. With it, the phone deep-links into the app. ### Can a Twitch QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. Point it at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect that to Twitch. A [Discord QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/discord-qr-code) is the one case where the platform counts for you, since Discord tracks uses per invite. --- # Make a LinkedIn QR Code Any Camera Can Read URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/linkedin-qr-code Create a free LinkedIn QR code for your profile or company page. Works with any phone camera, unlike LinkedIn's in-app code. Export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter your public profile URL, style the code for your badge or business card, and download one that opens LinkedIn from any phone - not only from inside the LinkedIn app. - Free - no sign-up - Works outside the app - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a LinkedIn QR Code? A LinkedIn QR code is a QR code that stores the public web address of a LinkedIn profile or company page. Scanning it opens that page in the LinkedIn app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address is encoded in the pattern, so it works from any camera on any phone. ### LinkedIn's Own Code Only Works Inside LinkedIn LinkedIn has a built-in code, reached through the search bar in the mobile app, and it is the one social code with a hard limitation: - **What It Encodes**: an internal LinkedIn identifier, not a web address. It means something to LinkedIn's own scanner and nothing to anything else. - **What a Phone Camera Does With It**: either nothing at all, or it surfaces a string of characters that goes nowhere. The person scanning has no idea they did anything wrong. - **What That Rules Out**: print. A conference badge, a business card, or a stand graphic is scanned by whoever walks past, using whatever is on their phone - which is the camera. So LinkedIn's code is right for the exact situation it was built for: two people who both have the app open, standing together. A generated code holds the public linkedin.com URL instead, which any camera reads and any browser opens - and which you can print, brand, and scale. That is the whole difference, and it is why a badge should never carry the in-app one. ### Fix Your Public URL Before You Encode It A new LinkedIn profile is given a public address with a random suffix on the end - linkedin.com/in/jane-smith-8a4b21739 - and that suffix is doing real damage on two fronts. It is roughly fifteen extra characters, which pushes the QR symbol to a higher version and puts more, smaller modules in the same printed square; and it reads as unfinished to anyone who sees the URL written out beside the code. LinkedIn lets you change it: open your profile, choose Edit public profile & URL, and set a custom URL. linkedin.com/in/janesmith is about 26 characters against the default's 40, which is typically a whole symbol version saved. Do it before the print run, because the change breaks every code already printed against the old address. The same applies one level up: a company page can have a vanity URL too, and linkedin.com/company/yourfirm is what belongs on a stand graphic rather than a numeric page id. ## Where LinkedIn QR Codes Are Used LinkedIn is where a professional introduction gets recorded, so the useful placements are the ones that catch the introduction as it happens: - **Conference Badges and Lanyards**: A code on the badge is faster than exchanging cards and survives the walk back to the hotel, which a stack of cards rarely does. - **Business Cards**: The card carries the phone number; the code carries the history, the recommendations and the current job title - which the card is wrong about within a year. - **Trade Stand Graphics**: A company page code on a pull-up banner gives a visitor something to do with the stand after they have walked past it. - **Recruitment and Careers Posters**: Campus and office posters that point at the company page reach people who will not type a URL from a wall. - **Speaker Slides and Session Boards**: The last slide is the one moment a room full of people are willing to connect, and a code is the only thing that scales to a room. - **Email Signatures and Letterheads**: On a printed letter or proposal, the code is the only clickable element the page has. ## How to Create a LinkedIn QR Code One step on LinkedIn, three here: - **Set a Custom Public URL First**: On your profile, open Edit public profile & URL and replace the random suffix with your name. This is what keeps the pattern sparse and the printed address readable. - **Pick LinkedIn and Enter Your Handle**: Type the part after /in/ and KoloQR adds linkedin.com/in/ in front. For a company page, paste the full linkedin.com/company/ URL instead. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. LinkedIn's blue is dark enough to carry the modules on white if you want the code itself on brand. - **Test With a Camera, Not the LinkedIn App**: Scan the exported file using the plain phone camera on both iOS and Android - that is what the person opposite you will use. Then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your LinkedIn QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for email signatures, slides, and web pages, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for business cards, badges, and stand graphics - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or dropping into a card or letterhead artwork file at print-ready quality. Business cards are the demanding case. The code usually gets about 15 mm of a 85 x 55 mm card, which is small enough that every saved character counts - the custom URL, a sparse pattern, and a vector export are what make a code that size actually read. ## Best Practices for LinkedIn QR Codes LinkedIn codes are printed small and scanned by strangers, which is the hardest combination there is: - **Never Print LinkedIn's In-App Code**: It encodes an internal identifier that only LinkedIn's own scanner understands. On a badge or a card, most people will use their camera and get nothing. - **Claim a Custom Public URL**: The default suffix adds roughly fifteen characters and usually a whole symbol version. linkedin.com/in/janesmith is both sparser and better-looking than the auto-generated one. - **Decide Between Profile and Company Page Deliberately**: A profile builds a relationship with a person and follows them when they leave. A company page survives staff changes. On shared collateral, print the company page. - **Give the Code at Least 15 mm on a Business Card**: Below about 12 mm a linkedin.com/in URL is marginal on cheap card stock. If the layout cannot spare 15 mm, shorten the URL further or move the code to the back. - **Add a Label Beside the Square**: “Scan to connect on LinkedIn” is worth the six words. A bare code on a badge is scanned far less than one that says what it is. - **Check Your Profile Is Public**: A profile with public visibility switched off shows a signed-out visitor almost nothing. Open your public URL in a private browser window and look at what a stranger gets. - **LinkedIn Blue Can Carry the Pattern**: It is dark enough against white to hold the modules, which is unusual among social brand colours. Scan the exported file to confirm rather than assuming. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a business card, where every millimetre is contested, this is the first thing a designer removes and the first reason the code fails. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: 15-20 mm on a card held in the hand, 20-30 cm on a stand banner read from 2-3 metres. - **Reprint When You Change the URL**: A changed custom URL breaks every printed code pointing at the old one, and LinkedIn does not redirect. Settle it before ordering cards, not after. ## FAQ ### What Is a LinkedIn QR Code? A LinkedIn QR code stores the public web address of a LinkedIn profile or company page. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the LinkedIn app if installed, or in the browser if not. ### LinkedIn Has Its Own QR Code - Why Not Use That? Because it only works inside LinkedIn. It encodes an internal identifier, not a URL, so a phone camera gets nothing from it. For a badge or a business card, where people scan with the camera, it fails silently. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My LinkedIn Profile? Set a custom public URL on your profile first, then choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick LinkedIn, and enter the part after /in/. Style it, then download PNG or SVG. No account needed. ### Why Should I Change My LinkedIn URL Before Making a Code? The default address ends in a random suffix worth about fifteen extra characters, which usually pushes the code up a symbol version - more, smaller modules in the same printed square. A custom URL is free and fixes it. ### How Big Should the Code Be on a Business Card? At least 15 mm square. Below about 12 mm a linkedin.com/in URL becomes marginal, especially on uncoated stock where ink spreads slightly into the paper. ### Should the Code Point at My Profile or My Company Page? Your profile for personal collateral - badges, cards, speaker slides - because people connect with people. Your company page for shared collateral like stand graphics and recruitment posters, because it survives staff changes. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a LinkedIn Account? To view a public profile, no - though LinkedIn shows logged-out visitors a reduced version and often prompts them to sign up. To connect with you, yes. Check the logged-out view in a private browser window. ### Can I Put My LinkedIn QR Code on My Email Signature? You can, but a plain text link is better there - the reader is already on a device that can click. Save the code for surfaces where clicking isn't possible: badges, cards, printed proposals, slides. ### Can a LinkedIn QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. Point it at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect to LinkedIn, and you can compare one event's badges against another's. ### Will the Code Still Work if I Change Jobs? Yes. It points at your profile, not your employer, so it keeps working and shows whatever your profile says at the time of the scan. That's the argument for the profile over a company page on personal collateral. --- # Make a Pinterest QR Code That Opens the Right Board URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/pinterest-qr-code Create a free Pinterest QR code for a board, profile, or Pin. Pincodes are retired - this works with any camera. Export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter your username or paste a board link, style the code to match your printed work, and download one that opens Pinterest in the app or the browser on any phone. - Free - no sign-up - Boards, profiles or Pins - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Pinterest QR Code? A Pinterest QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Pinterest profile, board, or Pin. Scanning it opens that page in the Pinterest app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address lives in the pattern, so the printed code needs no account and no service behind it. ### Pincodes Are Gone, Ordinary QR Codes Are Not Pinterest used to have a code of its own, called a Pincode - a circular pattern of dots read only by Pinterest's in-app camera. It was retired, and the gap it left is worth understanding: - **What a Pincode Was**: a proprietary pattern, scannable only from inside the Pinterest app, which meant the person scanning already had to be a Pinterest user. - **Why It Was Withdrawn**: the same reason most in-app codes fade: phone cameras learned to read standard QR codes, and a code that needs a specific app installed reaches a fraction of the people who see it. - **What Replaces It**: an ordinary QR code holding the pinterest.com address. Any camera reads it, the app opens it if installed, and the browser opens it if not. So there is nothing to migrate and nothing to compare against: if you want a scannable Pinterest link today, a standard QR code is the only option, and it is also the better one. [Spotify Codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/spotify-qr-code) are the best-known format that did survive, and they carry exactly the limitation Pincodes did - they scan only from inside Spotify's own app. It can be drawn in your own colours and shapes - see [branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) - and exported as vector for print, neither of which a Pincode could do. ### Point at a Board, Not a Profile Pinterest is the one social network where the profile is rarely the right destination. People do not follow accounts on Pinterest the way they follow them elsewhere; they save from collections, and a board is what a collection looks like. A code that opens pinterest.com/yourname lands someone on a wall of unrelated boards and asks them to work out which one they wanted. A code that opens pinterest.com/yourname/kitchen-renovations lands them exactly where the printed thing in their hand was talking about. Boards are also more durable than individual Pins. A Pin is a link to a source page, and source pages move, expire, and get redesigned - a printed code pointing at one Pin can end up opening an image whose link goes nowhere. A board absorbs that: individual Pins inside it may rot, but the board keeps its name, its address, and everything else in it. For a printed catalogue, a sample card, or a shop shelf, the board is the destination that is still right in two years. ## Where Pinterest QR Codes Are Used Pinterest's audience is planning something, usually something physical, which is why print and Pinterest fit together better than the pairing sounds: - **Interior and Paint Sample Cards**: The sample answers “what colour”; the board answers “what does a whole room in it look like”, which is the actual question. - **Wedding Stationery and Supplier Brochures**: Planning a wedding happens on Pinterest. A florist's board is a portfolio the couple can save into their own. - **Furniture and Homeware Tags**: A swing tag with a styling board on it turns one purchase into three, and Pinterest is where people assemble the rest of the room. - **Craft and Yarn Packaging**: The board is where the patterns and finished projects live, which is what a ball of yarn cannot show on its own. - **Recipe Cards and Food Packaging**: Recipes are saved on Pinterest more than anywhere else, and a board keeps the whole range one scan from the pack. - **Trade Show Stands for Design Brands**: A visitor who saves your board has taken your catalogue home in a form they will actually open again. ## How to Create a Pinterest QR Code From board link to download in under a minute: - **Pick the Board You Want People to Land On**: Open it on Pinterest and copy the URL - pinterest.com/yourname/board-name. Tidy the board first: it is a landing page now, not a scrapbook. - **Choose Pinterest and Paste the Link**: Paste the full board URL. For a profile code, type just the username and KoloQR adds pinterest.com/ in front. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Pinterest red is dark enough to carry the modules on white, so this is one brand colour you can put in the pattern itself. - **Test and Export**: Scan on a phone without Pinterest installed as well as one with it - the logged-out web view is the journey most new visitors get. Then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Pinterest QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, newsletters, and social posts, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for swing tags, sample cards, and brochures - anything a printer will scale without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into a packaging artwork file at print-ready quality. Board URLs are longer than profile URLs - a username plus a slugged board name can run past 45 characters - so a board code carries more modules than a profile one. On a small swing tag that is the difference that decides whether it reads, which is an argument for short board names as much as for vector export. ## Best Practices for Pinterest QR Codes Pinterest rewards a specific destination and punishes a vague one, and its URL structure has one trap in it: - **Send People to a Board, Not the Profile**: A board is a themed collection someone can save from immediately. A profile is a wall of boards that asks them to choose, and most will not. - **Keep Board Names Short Before You Encode Them**: The board name becomes the URL slug. “Kitchens” makes a much sparser pattern than “Kitchen Renovation Ideas and Inspiration”, and renaming is free until it is printed. - **Avoid Pointing at a Single Pin**: A Pin is a link to a source page, and source pages move. The Pin stays but its destination rots, and a printed code cannot be repointed. - **Tidy the Board Before It Becomes a Landing Page**: The first two rows are what a scanner sees. Reorder so the strongest images are at the top and remove anything off-theme. - **Say What Board It Opens**: “Scan for 40 kitchens in this colour” earns scans that “Follow us on Pinterest” does not. Name the collection, not the network. - **Pinterest Red Can Carry the Pattern**: It is dark enough against white to hold the modules, unlike most social brand colours. Scan the exported file to confirm before a print run. - **Check the Logged-Out View**: Pinterest prompts signed-out visitors to register, and how hard it pushes varies. Open your board in a private browser window to see what a first-time scanner actually gets. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a swing tag or a sample card, that margin is the first thing a tight layout gives up. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance, plus a little for the longer URL: about 2.5 cm on a swing tag, 20-30 cm on a stand graphic read from 2-3 metres. - **Don't Rename the Board After Printing**: Renaming a board changes its URL slug, and Pinterest does not redirect the old one. Every printed code pointing at it stops working. ## FAQ ### What Is a Pinterest QR Code? A Pinterest QR code stores the web address of a Pinterest profile, board, or Pin. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the Pinterest app if it's installed, or in the browser if it isn't. ### What Happened to Pincodes? Pinterest retired them. Pincodes were a proprietary circular pattern readable only inside the Pinterest app, and phone cameras now read standard QR codes natively - which reach everyone rather than only Pinterest users. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Pinterest Board? Copy the board's URL from Pinterest, choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Pinterest, and paste it in. Style the shape, colors, and logo if you like, then download PNG or SVG. ### Should the Code Open a Board or My Profile? A board, almost always. Pinterest users save from themed collections rather than following accounts, so a board gives them something to do immediately. A profile asks them to pick, and most won't. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Single Pin? Yes, but it's the most fragile choice. A Pin links to a source page, and source pages move or disappear - leaving a printed code that opens an image whose link is dead. A board absorbs that risk. ### What Happens if I Rename the Board? The URL slug changes and the old address stops working, with no redirect. Every printed code pointing at it breaks. Settle the board name before printing, or point the code at a redirect you control. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Pinterest Account? Not to look, though Pinterest prompts signed-out visitors to register and how hard it pushes varies. To save anything from your board, yes. Check the logged-out view in a private browser window first. ### Can I Use Pinterest Red for the Code Itself? Usually yes - it's dark enough to carry the pattern on a white background, unlike most social brand colours. Scan the exported file to confirm before committing to a print run. ### Why Is a Board QR Code Denser Than a Profile One? Because the URL is longer. A board address adds a slugged board name to the username, which can push it past 45 characters and up a symbol version. Short board names make sparser codes. ### Can a Pinterest QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle to count anything. Point it at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect that to the board. --- # Make a QR Code That Opens Your Subreddit URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/reddit-qr-code Create a free Reddit QR code for a subreddit, profile, or post. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG files. Enter the community or username, style the code to match your artwork, and download one that opens Reddit in the app or the browser - no typing a name nobody can spell. - Free - no sign-up - Subreddits, users or posts - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Reddit QR Code? A Reddit QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a subreddit, a user profile, or a single post. Scanning it opens that page in the Reddit app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The address is encoded in the pattern, so it needs no account and no service behind it. ### r/ Is a Community, u/ Is a Person Reddit has two address shapes and they mean genuinely different things, which is the first thing to get right: - **reddit.com/r/name**: a subreddit. A community with its own moderators and rules, which you may or may not run. About 30 characters, so a sparse and forgiving pattern. - **reddit.com/user/name**: a profile. One person's posts and comments, and the right destination for a creator rather than a community. - **reddit.com/r/name/comments/abc123/title-slug/**: a single post. It carries a post id and a slugged title and can run past 80 characters, which is roughly triple a subreddit URL and shows in the density. For anything printed, the subreddit or the profile is what you want. A post URL is both the densest option and the most perishable one - posts get removed by moderators, deleted by their authors, or locked, and a printed code has no way to point somewhere else afterwards. ### Check the Community's Rules Before You Print A subreddit is not a channel you own, and this is the part most guides skip. Almost every large community has rules against self-promotion, and many enforce a ratio - participate nine times for every once you promote - or ban outside marketing outright. A QR code on packaging, a flyer, or a stand that funnels strangers into a subreddit you do not moderate is exactly what those rules exist to stop, and the outcome is usually the post removed, the domain filtered, and occasionally the account banned. The rule of thumb is straightforward: print a code for a community you run, for your own user profile, or for a subreddit whose moderators have agreed to it. If you want Reddit traffic without owning a community, the honest route is to be worth linking to and let members do the linking. There is one more consideration on top: subreddits marked NSFW, quarantined, or restricted show logged-out visitors a gate rather than the content, so a code pointing at one is a dead end for anyone scanning without an account. ## Where Reddit QR Codes Are Used Reddit codes work best where the community is the product - and where the person scanning is already inside it rather than being recruited from outside: - **Game and Software Support Inserts**: The official subreddit is where the real troubleshooting happens, and the card in the box is where a stuck user is looking. - **Meetups and Community Events**: A code on the door of a meetup that came out of a subreddit puts the attendees back into the thread afterwards. - **Hobby Kit and Model Packaging**: Miniatures, keyboards, synths, 3D printing - the build community is the after-sales support, and the box is the natural handoff. - **Conference Stickers for Open Source Projects**: A sticker with the project's subreddit reaches the exact people who will file a useful issue later. - **Local Selling and Community Boards**: City subreddits are noticeboards, and a code beats writing out a name that is half abbreviation. - **Creator Business Cards**: For someone whose audience is on Reddit, the u/ profile is the portfolio, and the username is usually unspellable out loud. ## How to Create a Reddit QR Code From community name to download in under a minute: - **Confirm You're Allowed to Point People There**: Read the subreddit's rules on promotion, or use your own community or profile. This is the step that decides whether the campaign works, not the design. - **Pick Reddit and Enter the Name**: Type the username and KoloQR adds reddit.com/user/ in front. For a subreddit or a post, paste the full URL instead. - **Trim a Post URL if You Must Use One**: Reddit accepts the address without the trailing title slug, which cuts twenty or thirty characters and a symbol version off the pattern. - **Style It, Test It, Export It**: Choose a shape and colors, then scan on a phone with no Reddit app and no account - that is the hardest journey. Export SVG or PDF for print, PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Reddit QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, posts, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for stickers, box inserts, and stand graphics - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a sticker supplier at print-ready quality. Stickers are the common case and the demanding one. A die-cut sticker gives the code perhaps 25 mm with the artwork around it, and vinyl printing spreads ink slightly - so export vector, keep the URL to a subreddit rather than a post, and leave the quiet zone alone. ## Best Practices for Reddit QR Codes Reddit punishes outside marketing and pushes hard toward its app. These are the habits that work around both: - **Only Point at Communities You Run or Were Invited To**: Driving outside traffic into someone else's subreddit breaks most communities' self-promotion rules, and the usual outcome is a removed post and a filtered domain. - **Prefer a Subreddit or Profile Over a Post**: A post URL is roughly three times the length and can be deleted, locked, or removed by a moderator at any time. Neither problem has a fix once it's printed. - **Strip the Title Slug From Post URLs**: reddit.com/r/name/comments/abc123/ resolves perfectly well without the slugged title on the end, and dropping it takes a whole symbol version off the pattern. - **Avoid NSFW, Quarantined and Restricted Communities**: They show logged-out visitors a gate rather than content. A printed code pointing at one is a dead end for anyone who scans without an account. - **Expect the App Interstitial**: Reddit's mobile web pushes visitors toward the app before showing much. Nothing on your side fixes it, but knowing it happens should shape what you promise on the printed page. - **Say Which Community It Opens**: “Scan for r/ourgame build help” earns scans that a bare Reddit logo does not, and it filters out the people who would bounce anyway. - **Reddit Orange Is Too Light for the Modules**: The brand orange doesn't have the contrast to carry a pattern on white. Use it in the artwork around the code and keep the modules dark. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a die-cut sticker the artwork tends to crowd right up to the code, which is the first reason it fails. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2.5 cm on a sticker or box insert, 20-30 cm on a stand graphic read from 2-3 metres. - **Test Logged Out and App-Free**: That's the journey most first-time scanners get, and it's the one where Reddit is at its least welcoming. If it's bad enough, link your own page instead and put the Reddit link on it. ## FAQ ### What Is a Reddit QR Code? A Reddit QR code stores the web address of a subreddit, user profile, or post. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the Reddit app if it's installed, or in the browser if it isn't. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Subreddit? Choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Reddit, and paste the subreddit URL. Style the shape, colors, and logo if you like, then download PNG or SVG. No account is needed and no watermark is added. ### Am I Allowed to Put a QR Code to a Subreddit on My Product? Only for a community you run, or one whose moderators have agreed. Most subreddits have rules against outside self-promotion, and funnelling scanned traffic into one usually ends in removed posts and a filtered domain. ### Why Does the Scan Show an App Install Prompt? Reddit's mobile web interstitial pushes logged-out phone visitors toward the app before showing content. Nothing on your side removes it, so set expectations on the printed page or link your own page instead. ### Should the Code Point at r/ or u/? r/ for a community you run - support, builds, local groups. u/ for a person, which is the right choice on a creator's business card. They're different destinations, not two spellings of the same one. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Single Reddit Post? Yes, but it's the worst choice for print. A post URL runs past 80 characters, so the pattern is much denser, and the post can be removed, deleted, or locked with no way to repoint the code. ### Can I Shorten a Reddit Post URL? Yes - the address resolves without the slugged title on the end, so reddit.com/r/name/comments/abc123/ is enough. That typically saves twenty or thirty characters and a whole symbol version. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Reddit Account? Not for a normal public subreddit, though Reddit pushes signup hard on mobile web. For NSFW, quarantined, or restricted communities, yes - those show signed-out visitors a gate instead of the content. ### Can I Use Reddit Orange for the QR Code Itself? No. The brand orange is too light to carry a pattern reliably on white. Use it in the artwork around the code and keep the modules dark - the code has to be readable before it's on brand. ### Can a Reddit QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. Point it at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect to Reddit, and check that any UTM parameters you add don't trip Reddit's spam filters. --- # Make a Telegram QR Code for Your Channel or Chat URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/telegram-qr-code Create a free Telegram QR code for your username, channel, group, or bot. Add a logo, choose a shape, and export print-ready PNG or SVG files. Enter your username, style the code to match your signage, and download one that opens Telegram in the app or on the web - with no invite link that expires underneath you. - Free - no sign-up - Channels, groups or bots - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Telegram QR Code? A Telegram QR code is a QR code that stores a t.me link - the web address of a Telegram user, channel, group, or bot. Scanning it opens that destination in the Telegram app if it is installed, or on Telegram's web version if it isn't. The link lives in the pattern, so the printed code needs nothing behind it. ### Public Username or Invite Link - They Are Not the Same Telegram has two link shapes, and only one of them is safe to print: - **t.me/yourname**: a public username. Permanent while you hold the name, short (about 18 characters), and readable by anyone. This is the one to encode. - **t.me/+AbCdEf123...**: an invite link to a private group or channel. It carries a random hash, can be revoked, and can be configured to expire on a date or after a set number of joins. - **t.me/yourbot?start=code**: a bot deep link. The text after start= is handed to the bot on first message, which is how a scan can identify a table, a batch, or a campaign. Printing an invite link is the mistake worth naming, because it fails silently and late: the code works during testing, works for the first week, and then one day returns “this invite link has expired” to everyone who scans it - with the printed run already out in the world. If the destination must be private, generate an invite link with no expiry and no usage limit, and accept that anyone who photographs the code can pass it on. [Discord invites](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/discord-qr-code) have the same trap with worse defaults. ### Telegram's Own Code Versus a Generated One Telegram generates a QR code for any username inside the app, and it is a real QR code that any camera reads - so unlike LinkedIn's, it is not broken outside its own app. The differences are narrower and they are about print. Telegram's code comes out as a screen-resolution image with a fixed circular style and its own palette, which is fine on a phone and soft once a printer scales it up; it always points at a username, so it cannot carry a bot's start parameter or a specific message; and it cannot be drawn in your own shape or colours. A generated code holds the same t.me link, exports as vector at any size, and can be designed to sit inside your own artwork. For showing on a screen to someone across a table, use Telegram's. For a shop window, a poster, a package, or anything a printer will touch, generate one. ## Where Telegram QR Codes Are Used Telegram's strength is the broadcast channel and the bot, and both are hard to reach from print without a code: - **Shop and Market Stall Channels**: A channel is where a small trader posts what came in today, and a code by the till is how regulars subscribe without an app store detour. - **Building and Residents' Groups**: A code in the lobby gets new residents into the group without a committee member handing out links. - **Support and Ordering Bots**: A bot deep link on a table sticker can carry the table number in the start parameter, so the first message already knows where it came from. - **Event and Conference Channels**: Schedule changes reach a channel faster than they reach printed signage, and the code on the signage is how people subscribe. - **Community Noticeboards**: In regions where Telegram is the default messenger, the noticeboard code is the local equivalent of a mailing list signup. - **Product Packaging for Support**: A channel of firmware updates and how-tos is worth more on the box than a support email address nobody writes to. ## How to Create a Telegram QR Code From username to download in under a minute: - **Set a Public Username on the Account or Channel**: In Telegram's settings, give the account, channel, or group a public username. This is what makes the link permanent and short instead of a revocable invite hash. - **Pick Telegram and Enter the Username**: Type the username and KoloQR adds t.me/ in front. For a bot deep link or a private invite, paste the full URL instead. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Telegram's light blue is too pale to carry the modules on white - use it around the code, not inside it. - **Test and Export**: Scan on a phone without Telegram installed as well as one with it. Then export SVG or PDF for print, PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Telegram QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, chat messages, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for window stickers, table tents, and packaging - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a signage supplier at print-ready quality. A t.me username link is one of the shortest payloads on this site - around 18 characters - which means a sparse pattern with large modules that reads from further away and prints smaller than most. That is worth protecting: it disappears the moment you swap the username for an invite hash or a long start parameter. ## Best Practices for Telegram QR Codes Telegram's link model is the source of both the best and the worst outcomes here: - **Print a Username Link, Not an Invite Link**: t.me/yourname is permanent while you hold the name. An invite hash can be revoked or set to expire, and a printed code has no way to learn that it has. - **If It Must Be Private, Remove the Limits First**: Generate the invite link with no expiry date and no usage limit before you encode it, and note that anyone can forward the code onward once it is public. - **Keep Bot Start Parameters Short**: The text after start= is encoded verbatim. “t12” for table twelve costs three characters; a UUID costs thirty-six and a symbol version or two. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: Channel, group, chat and bot behave differently on arrival. “Scan to join our channel” sets an expectation that a bare logo does not. - **Telegram Blue Is Too Light for the Modules**: The brand blue lacks contrast against white at pattern size. Use it in the surrounding artwork and keep the modules dark. - **Check the Web Fallback**: Without the app, a t.me link lands on Telegram's web page for that destination, which shows a preview and an open-in-app prompt. Scan it that way once so you know what a new visitor sees. - **Hold the Username**: Telegram releases usernames from inactive accounts and lets you change yours freely. A changed username breaks every printed code pointing at the old one, and someone else can take it. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. A sparse Telegram code is forgiving of most things, but not of a missing quiet zone. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a table sticker, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres. The short URL means you can be at the small end of the range. - **Test on Both Phones**: iOS and Android hand t.me links to the app slightly differently, and the difference shows most on a phone that has Telegram installed but not signed in. ## FAQ ### What Is a Telegram QR Code? A Telegram QR code stores a t.me link - the address of a Telegram user, channel, group, or bot. Scanning it opens that destination in the Telegram app if installed, or on Telegram's web version if not. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Telegram Channel? Give the channel a public username in its settings, then choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Telegram, and enter that username. Style it, then download PNG or SVG. No account needed. ### Why Shouldn't I Print a Telegram Invite Link? Because invite links can be revoked and can be set to expire on a date or after a number of joins. The code keeps scanning; the link behind it stops working, and printed copies can't be updated. ### Telegram Makes Its Own QR Code - Why Generate One? Telegram's works with any camera, so it's fine on screen. But it's a fixed-style, screen-resolution image that always points at a username. A generated code exports as vector, carries bot parameters, and can be styled. ### Can a QR Code Open a Telegram Bot With a Parameter? Yes. Encode t.me/yourbot?start=value and the bot receives that value when the chat opens. Keep it short - it's encoded verbatim, so a long identifier makes a noticeably denser pattern. ### What Happens if I Change My Telegram Username? Every printed code pointing at the old one stops working, with no redirect, and the freed username can be taken by someone else. Settle it before printing, or encode a redirect on your own domain. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Telegram App? No. Without it, the t.me link opens Telegram's web page for that destination, showing a preview and an open-in-app prompt. Public channels look far better on that page than private groups do. ### Can I Use Telegram Blue for the QR Code Itself? No. The brand's light blue doesn't hold enough contrast against white at module size. Use it in the artwork around the code and keep the pattern dark. ### Why Is a Telegram QR Code Less Dense Than Other Social Codes? Because t.me is a very short domain. A username link runs about 18 characters where an instagram.com or linkedin.com URL runs 30 to 40, so the same printed square holds fewer, larger modules. ### Can a Telegram QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not directly, but a bot can: encode t.me/yourbot?start=poster1 and the bot records which printed code each new conversation came from. That's more precise than scan counting on any other network here. --- # Make a Discord QR Code That Doesn't Expire Next Week URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/discord-qr-code Create a free Discord QR code that opens your server invite. Set the invite to never expire first - add a logo, choose a shape, export PNG or SVG. Set your invite to never expire, paste it here, and download a code that opens your server in the app or the browser - styled to match your artwork and ready for print. - Free - no sign-up - Print-ready SVG export - Custom shapes & logo ## What Is a Discord QR Code? A Discord QR code is a QR code that stores a server invite link - a discord.gg address. Scanning it opens the invite in the Discord app if it is installed, or in a browser if it isn't, and offers to join the server. The link is encoded in the pattern, so the code itself never changes; the invite behind it can. ### Discord Invites Expire by Default This is the single most important thing about printing a Discord code, and it catches almost everyone the first time: - **Seven Days**: the default expiry on a new invite. Create one the normal way, print it, and it stops working the week after the posters go up. - **100 Uses**: the default cap. Even set to never expire, an invite created with the default max-uses dies the moment the hundredth person joins - which is a success turning into a failure. - **Never / No Limit**: what you must set both to. Open the invite dialog, choose Edit invite link, set Expire After to Never and Max Number of Uses to No Limit, then copy that link. There is no way to tell from the URL which settings an invite carries - discord.gg/aB3xY9 looks identical either way - so the check has to happen in Discord before you generate anything. [Telegram invite links](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/telegram-qr-code) have the same trap with gentler defaults, and it is the same fix: strip the limits first, encode second. ### Never Scan Discord's In-App QR Code From a Stranger Discord does show a QR code in its own app, and it is not a share code - it is a login code. The desktop and web clients display it so you can sign in by scanning it with a phone that is already authenticated, which means anyone who gets you to scan their code is asking you to log their session into your account. This is an active and common scam: a message or a poster promising free credit or a giveaway, a QR code, and an instant account takeover with no password ever typed. Two rules follow. Never scan a Discord QR code that someone else put in front of you, and never publish Discord's in-app code as a way of sharing your server, because it does not do that and because you are training people to scan the exact thing they should refuse. What you want on a poster is a code generated from your own discord.gg invite link - which does nothing but open an invite, cannot log anyone into anything, and can be revoked from the server's settings if it is ever abused. ## Where Discord QR Codes Are Used Discord is where a community lives after the event ends, so the useful placements are the ones that catch people while they are still in the room: - **Game Box Inserts and Manuals**: The official server is where players go when they are stuck, and the card in the box is where a stuck player is already looking. - **Convention Stands and Booth Banners**: A large code on a banner converts a queue into members while they are standing there with a phone in hand. - **Stream Overlays and Panels**: A code on the starting-soon screen has the minutes it needs - but make it large, because a video encoder eats small modules. - **University Society Posters**: Freshers' week runs on Discord now, and a poster code beats a society name typed into a search box. - **Hardware and Kit Packaging**: Keyboards, 3D printers, synths - the build community is the real support channel, and the box is the natural handoff. - **Meetup and LAN Event Signage**: A code at the door keeps the conversation going after everyone goes home, which is the point of the event. ## How to Create a Discord QR Code One step in Discord, three here - and the first one matters most: - **Create an Invite Set to Never Expire**: In your server, open the invite dialog, choose Edit invite link, and set Expire After to Never and Max Number of Uses to No Limit. Copy that link, not the one the dialog offered first. - **Consider a Vanity URL if You Have One**: Level 3 boosted servers can claim discord.gg/yourname. It is no more permanent than a no-expiry invite, but it is readable and it survives you revoking invite codes. - **Paste the Link and Style the Code**: Choose Discord in the Social picker and paste the invite. Then pick a shape and colors - Discord's blurple is a mid tone, so test it in the pattern rather than assuming it works. - **Test the Join, Not Just the Scan**: Scan with a phone that is not in the server and follow it all the way to the join screen. A code that scans but lands on “Invite Invalid” looks identical until you do this. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Discord QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for overlays, panels, and web pages - export it larger than the slot and scale down, never up. - **SVG**: for booth banners, box inserts, and stickers, where a printer scales it and the edges have to stay hard. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or an event signage supplier at print-ready quality. A discord.gg invite is one of the shortest social URLs there is - about 25 characters - so the pattern is sparse and prints small comfortably. That is a real advantage on a box insert or a sticker, and it is the argument for the invite link over a long tracking URL wrapped around it. ## Best Practices for Discord QR Codes Nearly every printed Discord code that fails does so because of the invite, not the pattern: - **Set Expire After to Never Before You Encode**: The seven-day default is the single most common reason a printed Discord code is dead on arrival. There is nothing in the URL to warn you. - **Set Max Uses to No Limit Too**: A hundred-use cap turns a successful campaign into a broken code at exactly the moment it is working. Both settings, every time. - **Never Publish Discord's In-App QR Code**: That code logs a device into your account. Publishing it invites account theft and teaches your community to scan the thing that is used to steal from them. - **Set the Server Up for Arrivals**: A scan lands a stranger in your server. Enable a rules screen or a welcome channel, and check what someone with no roles can actually see. - **Turn On Server Verification for Public Codes**: A code on a poster is a public invite, and public invites attract bots. A verification level requiring a verified email or account age filters most of them out. - **Say What the Server Is For**: “Scan to join the build help server” earns scans that a bare Discord logo does not, and it sets the expectation the arrival screen has to meet. - **Test the Blurple in the Pattern**: Discord's blurple is a mid tone. It sometimes carries the modules on white and sometimes does not, depending on the printer - which means testing the exported file, not the screen preview. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a sticker or a box insert, the artwork tends to crowd right up to the code. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a box insert, 30-50 cm on a convention banner read from 3-5 metres. On a stream overlay, at least 220 px on a 1080p canvas. - **Keep One Invite Alive for Print**: Revoking invites is how you cut off abuse - and it kills your printed code with them. Keep the printed invite separate, label it in Discord, and revoke the others. ## FAQ ### What Is a Discord QR Code? A Discord QR code stores a discord.gg server invite. Scanning it opens the invite in the Discord app if installed, or in a browser if not, and offers to join the server. ### Why Did My Discord QR Code Stop Working? Almost certainly the invite expired. Discord invites default to seven days and 100 uses, and neither limit is visible in the URL. Reissue with Expire After set to Never and Max Uses to No Limit. ### How Do I Make a Discord Invite That Never Expires? In the invite dialog, choose Edit invite link, set Expire After to Never and Max Number of Uses to No Limit, then copy that link. Do this before generating the code, not after printing it. ### Is It Safe to Scan a Discord QR Code? Only if you know what it is. Discord's own in-app code is a login code - scanning a stranger's signs their device into your account. A code made from a discord.gg invite link is safe; it can only open an invite. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Discord Server? Create a no-expiry, no-limit invite, then choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Discord, and paste the discord.gg link. Style it, then download PNG or SVG. No account is needed. ### Should I Use a Vanity URL Instead of an Invite Code? If your server is Level 3 boosted, yes - discord.gg/yourname is readable and survives you revoking individual invite codes. It's the same length in practice, so the pattern doesn't change much. ### Can I Revoke an Invite Without Breaking the Printed Code? No. The code encodes that specific invite, so revoking it kills every printed copy. Keep the printed invite separate from the ones you hand out day to day, and label it in Discord so it isn't cleared out. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Discord App? No. Without the app the invite opens in a browser, where they can join through Discord's web client or create an account. With it, the phone deep-links straight to the join screen. ### How Big Should a Discord QR Code Be on a Stream? At least 220 px square on a 1080p canvas, on a static scene, in pure black on white. Viewers at 480p see less than a quarter of that, and the encoder is already working against the fine detail. ### Can a Discord QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not directly, but Discord counts uses per invite. Issue a separate no-expiry invite for each printed campaign and the server's invite list tells you which poster brought people in. --- # Make a Spotify QR Code Any Phone Camera Can Read URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/spotify-qr-code Create a free Spotify QR code for a playlist, album, artist, or track. Works with any camera, unlike Spotify Codes. Export print-ready PNG or SVG. Paste a playlist, album, or artist link, style the code to match your artwork, and download one that opens Spotify from any camera - not only from inside the Spotify app. - Free - no sign-up - Works outside Spotify - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Spotify QR Code? A Spotify QR code is a QR code that stores an open.spotify.com link to a playlist, album, artist, or track. Scanning it opens that page in the Spotify app if it is installed, or in a mobile browser if it isn't. The link lives in the pattern, so any phone camera reads it without Spotify installed. ### Spotify Codes Only Scan Inside Spotify Spotify has a code of its own - the small bar-chart pattern under the share menu - and the difference is not quality, it is reach: - **Where a Spotify Code Works**: inside the Spotify app, through the camera icon in the search bar. The person scanning must already have Spotify installed and know where that scanner lives. - **Where It Doesn't**: the phone camera. Point iOS or Android at a Spotify Code and nothing happens; it is not a QR code and the camera has no idea what it is looking at. - **What a QR Code Does Instead**: holds the ordinary open.spotify.com web address, which every camera reads, every browser opens, and the Spotify app claims when it is installed. So a Spotify Code is right for a screenshot shared between two people who both use Spotify. A QR code is right for anything printed, because the person who picks up a poster, a wedding order of service, or a record sleeve is using their camera and may not have Spotify at all. It also exports as vector and can be drawn in your own colours, which a Spotify Code cannot. ### What Plays Depends on Who Scanned It A Spotify link does not guarantee the same experience to everyone who scans it, and the differences are worth designing around rather than discovering at an event. Someone with Spotify Premium gets exactly what you intended: the playlist opens and plays in order, on demand. Someone on the free tier gets a version constrained by Spotify's rules for their country and device - on mobile, free listeners are often limited to shuffled playback with skip limits, so the carefully sequenced first three songs of a wedding playlist arrive in the wrong order or not at all. Someone with no Spotify account gets a web preview: artwork, a track list, thirty-second samples, and a prompt to sign up. Someone in a country where the content is not licensed gets a greyed-out track list. None of that is a fault in the code, and none of it can be fixed by the code - but it does decide what you should promise beside it. “Scan for the playlist” is honest for all four audiences; “scan to hear the album” is only true for one of them. ## Where Spotify QR Codes Are Used Music attaches to objects and moments, and a code is what carries the attachment from the object to the phone: - **Vinyl Sleeves and Cassette Inserts**: A physical release with a code inside gives the buyer the digital version without a download card that gets lost. - **Gig Posters and Merch Tables**: The support band nobody has heard of is one scan from being heard, at the exact moment someone is curious. - **Wedding Orders of Service**: The first-dance playlist, saved by guests who want it afterwards - name the playlist rather than promising it plays in order. - **Cafe and Bar Table Cards**: “What is this song” is asked in every bar with a good playlist, and a code answers it without anyone flagging down staff. - **Podcast Flyers and Book Inserts**: A show's Spotify page is easier to reach from a printed square than from a name people half-remember. - **Gym and Studio Class Boards**: The class playlist is a real reason people ask at the desk, and a board code turns it into a follow. ## How to Create a Spotify QR Code From share link to download in under a minute: - **Copy the Link, Not the Spotify Code**: In Spotify, open the share menu and choose Copy Link. That gives you an open.spotify.com URL. The Spotify Code image beside it is the thing that will not work from a camera. - **Choose Spotify and Paste the Link**: Paste the full URL. Everything after the question mark is a share tracking parameter Spotify appended - deleting it shortens the payload without changing where the link goes. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Spotify green is a mid tone and unreliable as a pattern colour on white - keep it in the artwork around the code. - **Test the Whole Journey**: Scan on a phone with Spotify, one without, and if you can, one on a free account. Those are three different arrivals. Then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Spotify QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, social posts, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for record sleeves, posters, and table cards - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into a sleeve artwork file at print-ready quality. Record sleeves are where the vector export earns its keep. Print runs are small, stocks are heavy and often uncoated, and ink spreads into the fibres - so a code cut from vector at 25 mm or more, with the tracking parameter stripped off the URL to keep the pattern sparse, is what survives the press. ## Best Practices for Spotify QR Codes Spotify links carry baggage and Spotify playback varies by listener. These habits deal with both: - **Strip the ?si= Parameter From the Link**: Spotify appends a share identifier that can run to 20 or more characters. The link works without it, and removing it can drop the code a whole symbol version. - **Never Print a Spotify Code and Call It a QR Code**: Spotify Codes only scan from inside the Spotify app's search bar. On a poster or a sleeve, most people will point a camera at it and get nothing. - **Point at a Playlist You Control**: Albums and tracks can be pulled from Spotify by rights holders. A playlist you own survives that - the track disappears from it, the playlist and its address do not. - **Don't Promise Playback Order**: Free-tier listeners on mobile are often limited to shuffle. Name the playlist rather than describing what plays first, and the code stays honest for everyone. - **Give the Playlist a Real Cover and Description**: The scan lands on a page, and that page is your first impression. A default grey cover and no description reads as abandoned. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: “Scan for the playlist” is worth the four words, and it warns the people who would rather not be handed a music app. - **Spotify Green Is Too Light for the Modules**: It doesn't hold enough contrast against white at pattern size. Use it around the code and keep the modules dark - the code has to be readable before it's on brand. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a sleeve or a table card, artwork tends to crowd the code, and that margin is what a scanner uses to find it. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: 2.5 cm on a sleeve insert or table card, 25-30 cm on a gig poster read from 2-3 metres. - **Test on a Phone With No Spotify Account**: That's the web preview - artwork, track list, thirty-second samples, a signup prompt. Decide whether that's a good enough arrival before you print thousands of them. ## FAQ ### What Is a Spotify QR Code? A Spotify QR code stores an open.spotify.com link to a playlist, album, artist, or track. Scanning it with a phone camera opens that page in the Spotify app if installed, or in the browser if not. ### What's the Difference Between a Spotify Code and a QR Code? A Spotify Code is a proprietary pattern that only scans from inside the Spotify app's search bar. A QR code holds the web link, so any phone camera reads it - which is what a printed surface needs. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Spotify Playlist? Use Copy Link in Spotify's share menu, then choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick Spotify, and paste it. Delete the ?si= parameter, style the code, and download PNG or SVG. ### Why Does My Playlist Shuffle Instead of Playing in Order? Because the listener is on the free tier, where mobile playlist playback is often shuffle-only with limited skips. Premium plays in order. Nothing about the QR code changes this, so don't promise a sequence. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Spotify Account? No, but what they get differs. No account means a web preview with artwork, a track list, thirty-second samples, and a signup prompt. Test that view before printing - it's what many first-time scanners see. ### Should I Delete the ?si= Part of the Link? Yes. It's a share identifier Spotify appends, worth 20 or more characters, and the link resolves fine without it. Removing it can drop the code a whole symbol version, which matters at small print sizes. ### Should the Code Point at a Playlist or an Album? A playlist you own, for anything printed. Albums and individual tracks can be withdrawn by rights holders, taking your destination with them; a playlist survives - the track leaves it, the playlist stays. ### Can I Use Spotify Green for the QR Code Itself? No. The brand green is too light to carry a pattern reliably on white. Use it in the artwork around the code and keep the modules dark - readability first, brand second. ### How Big Should the Code Be on a Record Sleeve? At least 25 mm, printed from SVG or PDF. Sleeve stock is often heavy and uncoated, so ink spreads into the fibres and thickens the modules - which small codes cannot absorb. ### Can a Spotify QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. Point it at a link you control with tracking on it, then redirect to Spotify. Spotify for Artists shows listener numbers but not scan counts. --- # Make a LINE QR Code for Your Official Account URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/line-qr-code Create a free LINE QR code for an official account or a personal ID. Style it, add a logo, and export print-ready PNG or SVG for counters and signage. Enter your LINE ID or paste the add-friend link, style the code to match your signage, and download it print-ready for counters, packaging, and shop windows. - Free - no sign-up - Official accounts or personal IDs - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a LINE QR Code? A LINE QR code is a QR code that stores a line.me add-friend link - the web address of a LINE official account or a personal LINE ID. Scanning it opens LINE with that account's add-friend screen if the app is installed, or a LINE web page offering the app if it is not. The link is what the code holds; the conversation itself never touches the pattern. ### Official Account or Personal ID - Print the Right One LINE has two kinds of address for two genuinely different things: - **line.me/R/ti/p/@yourid**: an official account. The @ is part of the ID, and this is the link for a business: broadcasts, coupons, and a shop's own chat. - **lin.ee/xxxxxxx**: the short form of the same official account link, produced in LINE's Official Account Manager. About half the length, and the better payload for print. - **line.me/ti/p/~yourid**: a personal LINE ID, with a tilde rather than an at sign. Right for a freelancer or a small trader, and it exposes a personal account to anyone who scans. A personal LINE ID cannot be changed once it has been set, and it is not a name you can retire when a print run goes wrong; the account itself has to be replaced. That, plus the fact that a printed personal ID puts a private account on a shop window, is the argument for an official account for anything commercial. An official account also has to be findable: the “allow others to add me by ID” style settings on both account types decide whether a scan reaches you at all, so confirm them before the artwork goes anywhere near a printer. ### LINE's Own QR Code Versus a Generated One LINE produces an add-friend QR code inside the app, and the Official Account Manager offers a downloadable one for business accounts. Both are real QR codes that any phone camera can read - the payload is the same line.me link a generated code holds - so this is not a question of one working and one not. It is a question of print. LINE's downloads come at the size and in the style LINE chose, which is fine on a screen or a name card printed from a template, and soft once a signage supplier scales it to a shop window. A generated code carries the same link, exports as vector at any size, and can be drawn in your own colours and shape so it belongs to your signage rather than sitting on top of it. Show LINE's own code across a table; generate one for anything a printer will touch. ## Where LINE QR Codes Are Used In markets where LINE is the default messenger, the add-friend code does the job a mailing list does elsewhere: - **Restaurant Counters and Table Cards**: Adding the shop's official account is how a regular receives the lunch menu and the coupon, and the card on the table is where that starts. - **Shop Windows and Till Points**: A code by the till turns a one-off customer into a channel the shop can reach again without buying advertising. - **Receipts and Packaging**: The receipt is the one piece of paper the customer definitely takes home, which makes it the cheapest place to print an add-friend code. - **Salon and Clinic Booking**: Appointments made in chat rather than by phone, with the whole history of a client's visits in one thread. - **Event Flyers and Street Handouts**: A flyer that adds an account reaches the reader again after the flyer has been thrown away. - **Delivery and Order Updates**: A code on the order slip moves status updates into the app the customer already has open all day. ## How to Create a LINE QR Code From account to printed sign in four steps: - **Get Your LINE ID or Add-Friend Link**: For a business, take the official account ID or the lin.ee short link from the Official Account Manager. For a personal account, take the LINE ID from the app's profile settings. - **Pick LINE and Enter the ID**: Choose the Social type, pick LINE, and type the official account ID without its @. For a personal ID or any other LINE address, paste the full URL instead. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. LINE's green is bright rather than dark - keep it in the surrounding artwork and leave the modules dark. - **Test and Export**: Scan on a phone with LINE installed and one without, confirm the right account appears, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your LINE QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, chat messages, and social posts, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for window stickers, table cards, and shop signage - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a signage supplier at print-ready quality. A lin.ee short link is around 20 characters and a line.me/R/ti/p/ link around 30, so both encode into sparse patterns with large modules - which is exactly what a receipt printer, a laminated table card, or a code read across a counter needs. Take the short link where you have one; the difference is visible at 15 mm. ## Best Practices for LINE QR Codes LINE codes are printed at counters and on receipts, which is a specific set of constraints: - **Use an Official Account for Anything Commercial**: It keeps a personal account off the shop window, and it is the only account type with broadcasts, coupons and the management tools a business needs. - **Remember a Personal LINE ID Is Permanent**: A LINE ID cannot be changed once set, so a printed personal ID is a decision that outlives the print run. That alone is a reason to print an official account instead. - **Prefer the lin.ee Short Link**: It is roughly a third shorter than the full line.me address, which means larger modules in the same printed square - and receipts print small. - **Check the Add-by-ID Settings**: If the account is not discoverable by ID, the scan reaches a screen that cannot add you. Confirm this from a second phone before printing. - **Give People a Reason to Add You**: “Add us for this week's coupon” outperforms a bare code by a wide margin. Adding an account is a bigger commitment than opening a web page. - **Keep LINE Green Out of the Modules**: The brand green is too light to carry the pattern against white. Use it in the artwork around the code and keep the modules dark. - **Design for Receipt Paper**: Thermal paper is low contrast, fades, and prints at a coarse resolution. Print larger than you would on card, and test on the actual printer. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side - routinely lost on a table card where the code is boxed in by a border. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a table card, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres. - **Test on a Phone Without LINE**: A visitor without the app lands on a LINE web page rather than an add-friend screen. Knowing what that page says is part of knowing what your sign does. ## FAQ ### What Is a LINE QR Code? A LINE QR code stores a line.me add-friend link for an official account or a personal LINE ID. Scanning it opens LINE at that account's add-friend screen, or a LINE web page if the app is not installed. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My LINE Official Account? Take the account ID or the lin.ee short link from LINE's Official Account Manager, choose the Social type in KoloQR, pick LINE, and enter it. Style it, test it, then download PNG or SVG. ### What Is the Difference Between @ and ~ in a LINE Link? An @ID belongs to an official account and uses line.me/R/ti/p/@id. A ~ID belongs to a personal account and uses line.me/ti/p/~id. Printing the wrong one is the most common reason a LINE code adds nobody. ### Can I Change My LINE ID After Printing the Code? A personal LINE ID cannot be changed once it has been set, so a printed code is permanent for as long as the account is. That is one of the strongest reasons to print an official account instead. ### LINE Makes Its Own QR Code - Why Generate One? LINE's holds the same link and scans identically. A generated code exports as vector for print at any size and can be drawn in your own colours and shape, which is what matters on signage rather than on a screen. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the LINE App? To add the account, yes. Without it the link opens a LINE web page with an install prompt, so a code aimed at people who do not already use LINE converts poorly - which is why it works best where LINE is already the default messenger. ### Can I Use LINE Green for the QR Code Itself? No. LINE's green is too light to hold enough contrast against white at module size. Put it in the artwork around the code and keep the pattern dark on a light background. ### How Small Can a LINE QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm on card with a lin.ee short link. On thermal receipt paper print larger - the stock's low contrast and coarse resolution cost more than the payload does. ### Why Does the Scan Say the Account Cannot Be Found? Usually the ID is mistyped, or the account's add-by-ID setting is off. Rebuild the link from LINE's own screens rather than by hand, and test from a phone that has never added the account. ### Can a LINE QR Code Tell Me How Many People Scanned It? Not directly. An official account's own analytics show how many friends were added and when, which is a better measure anyway - it counts people who followed through rather than people who lifted a phone. --- # Make a Snapchat QR Code Anyone Can Scan URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/snapchat-qr-code Create a free Snapchat QR code that any phone camera reads, not just the Snapchat app. Style it, add a logo, and export print-ready PNG or SVG. Enter your username, style the code to match your artwork, and download one that works from the ordinary camera app - which a Snapcode does not. - Free - no sign-up - Works outside the Snapchat app - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Snapchat QR Code? A Snapchat QR code is a standard QR code that stores a snapchat.com/add/username address. Scanning it with any phone camera opens that profile - in the Snapchat app if it is installed, or on Snapchat's web page for the account if it is not. It is an ordinary web link in an ordinary QR code, which is precisely what makes it different from a Snapcode. ### A Snapcode Is Not a QR Code The two look similar on a poster and behave completely differently in the street: - **A Snapcode**: Snapchat's own dotted pattern around the ghost. It is read by the Snapchat camera, not by the phone's ordinary camera app, so it only works for people who already have Snapchat open. - **A QR Code Holding snapchat.com/add/username**: read by every phone camera made in the last several years, and by every QR scanner app. It reaches the person who does not have Snapchat yet. - **Both, Side by Side**: what the larger campaigns print, because the two audiences are genuinely different and the printed space is cheap. This is the whole decision. If the code is going somewhere your existing audience will see it - inside the app, on a story, at a Snapchat-heavy event - the Snapcode is fine and it is what people expect. If it is going on a shop window, a product box, a poster in a bus shelter, or anywhere a passer-by might lift a phone, print a QR code: a passer-by opens their camera, not Snapchat, and a Snapcode gives them nothing at all. ### What Happens for Someone Without the App A snapchat.com/add/username link is a web address, so a phone without Snapchat opens Snapchat's web page for that account rather than failing. The visitor sees the profile and a prompt to get the app, which is a workable outcome and a very different one from the in-app experience - it takes an install and an account before they can do anything. That is the honest limit of a printed Snapchat code: it converts well among people who already use Snapchat and poorly among people who do not. It also means the username in the link is the whole address, so it must be exactly right, including case-insensitive spelling and any full stops or underscores that are easy to lose in artwork. ## Where Snapchat QR Codes Are Used Printed Snapchat codes work where the audience skews young and the moment is short: - **Retail Windows and Fitting Rooms**: A code where a customer is already holding a phone, pointed at the account that posts the drops and the discount codes. - **Festivals and Live Events**: Wristbands, stage signage and entrance boards, where following an account takes one scan and no typing. - **Campus and Student Union Notice Boards**: The one audience where Snapchat is still the default place a message gets read. - **Product Packaging for Younger Ranges**: A code on the box that opens the brand account rather than a website nobody visits twice. - **Creator Merch and Stickers**: A sticker that adds the creator directly, instead of a handle that gets misspelled from memory. - **Restaurant and Café Table Cards**: Where the account is doing the work a loyalty card used to - specials, giveaways, and the queue-jumping code. ## How to Create a Snapchat QR Code From username to printed sticker in four steps: - **Check the Username Character by Character**: The username is the entire address. A missing underscore or a transposed digit produces a code that opens a stranger's profile, and printing does not forgive that. - **Pick Snapchat and Enter the Username**: Choose the Social type, pick Snapchat, and type the username. KoloQR puts snapchat.com/add/ in front of it. For a public profile or a Lens link, paste the full URL instead. - **Customize the Design**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add a logo. Snapchat's yellow is far too light to carry the modules - use it as the background and keep the pattern dark. - **Test and Export**: Scan with an ordinary camera app on a phone that does not have Snapchat installed, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Snapchat QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for stories, websites, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for stickers, window graphics, and packaging - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a signage supplier at print-ready quality. A snapchat.com/add/username payload runs to around 30 characters, which keeps the pattern sparse enough to print small on a sticker. That headroom is worth spending on size rather than on a longer link - Snapchat codes are scanned outdoors, at events, in movement, which is the least forgiving set of conditions a printed code meets. ## Best Practices for Snapchat QR Codes The format decision is the big one. After that, it is a printed link like any other - with a very unforgiving palette: - **Print a QR Code for the Public, a Snapcode for the App**: A passer-by opens their camera, not Snapchat. A Snapcode on a bus shelter reaches only the people who already had the app open. - **Consider Printing Both**: Where space allows, the two formats side by side cover both audiences and cost nothing but a few square centimetres. - **Never Put Snapchat Yellow in the Modules**: The brand yellow against white is one of the lowest-contrast pairs in common use. Use it as the background behind a dark pattern, which is how Snapchat's own mark is built. - **Verify the Username on a Second Phone**: The username is the whole address. Scan the finished code from a phone that has never seen the account and confirm the profile it opens is yours. - **Say What the Scan Adds**: “Scan to add us on Snapchat” tells the reader which app they are about to be sent to, which matters more here than on a plain web link. - **Design for Movement**: Event and street codes are scanned by people walking. Print larger than the distance rule suggests and keep the surrounding artwork quiet. - **Watch Out for Renames**: A changed username leaves every printed code pointing at an address Snapchat does not redirect. Settle it before printing, or encode a redirect on your own domain. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and keep the yellow background field wide enough that the margin is genuinely clear. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a sticker, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres, more for anything read on the move. - **Test With the Camera App, Not the Scanner in Snapchat**: Testing inside Snapchat proves nothing about the passer-by, because Snapchat's camera reads formats an ordinary camera ignores. ## FAQ ### What Is a Snapchat QR Code? A Snapchat QR code is a standard QR code holding a snapchat.com/add/username address. Any phone camera reads it and opens that profile - in the app if it is installed, or on Snapchat's web page if it is not. ### Is a Snapcode the Same as a QR Code? No. A Snapcode is Snapchat's own dotted pattern, read by the Snapchat camera rather than by the phone's ordinary camera app. A QR code is read by every phone camera, which is why it works on public signage. ### Can the Snapchat App Scan a Normal QR Code? Yes. Snapchat's camera reads both its own Snapcodes and ordinary QR codes. The asymmetry runs the other way: the phone's ordinary camera does not act on a Snapcode. ### Which Should I Print - a Snapcode or a QR Code? A QR code for anything the public will see, because a passer-by opens their camera rather than Snapchat. A Snapcode is fine inside the app or at an event where the audience already has it open. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Snapchat App? To add the account, yes. Without it the link opens Snapchat's web page for the profile with a prompt to install, so the code converts well among existing users and poorly among everyone else. ### Can I Use Snapchat Yellow in the QR Code? As the background, yes - as the modules, no. Yellow on white is one of the lowest-contrast pairs there is. Dark modules on a yellow field is the arrangement that stays scannable and still looks like Snapchat. ### What Happens if I Change My Snapchat Username? Every printed code pointing at the old address stops leading to your profile, and Snapchat provides no redirect. Settle the username before printing, or encode a URL on your own domain that redirects. ### How Small Can a Snapchat QR Code Be Printed? About 2 cm for a sticker read at arm's length. The payload is short - around 30 characters - so the pattern is sparse, but codes scanned on the move need more room than the distance rule suggests. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Snapchat Lens or Public Profile? Yes - any Snapchat web address can go into a QR code the same way. Paste the full URL rather than a username, and test it on a phone without the app to see what a new visitor gets. ### Can a Snapchat QR Code Count Scans? Not by itself. Snapchat's own insights show new followers, which is the more useful figure. To compare printed placements, point each code at a different redirect on your own domain. --- # Make a QR Code for OnlyFans URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/onlyfans-qr-code Create a free QR code for your OnlyFans profile. Which link to encode, where a code can and cannot be shown, and how to keep a printed code safe. Paste your profile link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a card, a banner, or a stream overlay opens your page without anyone spelling out a username. - Free - no sign-up - Short link, small clean code - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is an OnlyFans QR Code? An OnlyFans QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of an OnlyFans profile, so scanning it opens that profile in the phone's browser or in the OnlyFans app. Nothing about the account is inside the code - only the address - which means the code keeps working through every change you make to the page behind it. ### Encode the Profile Link, or a Link You Control There are two sensible payloads, and the choice is about who owns the address rather than about length: - **onlyfans.com/yourname**: the direct profile address, usually around 25 characters. It gives the smallest, cleanest code and the shortest path to the page. - **A link-in-bio or your own domain**: one address that lists everywhere you are. It survives a platform change, and it passes on sites that refuse the onlyfans.com domain outright. - **Anything with a session or tracking token in it**: avoid. Long, unstable, and occasionally tied to the browser you copied it from, which makes it useless the moment it is printed. The practical reason most creators route through a link-in-bio is not the code at all - it is that a great many platforms, ad networks, and print suppliers refuse adult-platform domains, and a code that resolves to an intermediate page passes checks that a direct one does not. Weigh that against the extra tap it costs the reader, and check the intermediate service's own rules first: several link-in-bio tools restrict adult content in their terms, and a page removed for a policy breach takes every printed code with it. ### Where a Printed Code Can and Cannot Go A QR code cannot be age-gated, and that is the fact that decides where it may be shown. The pattern itself carries no rating and no warning, so any control has to be exercised by the place the code is displayed - which is why public advertising space, transport, most print classifieds, and a large share of event venues refuse adult-platform links regardless of how discreet the artwork is. A printed code is also permanent in a way a post is not: it ties an account to a physical place, a stall, or a piece of merchandise, and it can be photographed and reposted with that context attached. Before printing, decide whether you want the account associated with anything that carries your legal name, your home address, or a venue you can be found at regularly - and where the answer is no, use a link-in-bio you can repoint rather than a direct profile code. ## Where OnlyFans QR Codes Are Used The code works best on surfaces you control, in front of an audience that already knows who you are: - **Stream Overlays and End Screens**: A code on screen is scanned from the sofa in a second, where a username has to be heard, remembered, and typed correctly. - **Convention and Expo Tables**: A code on the table converts the person already standing in front of you, at an event whose rules permit it. - **Thank-You Cards With Merchandise**: A card in the parcel reaches an existing customer privately, which is the placement with the fewest platform problems. - **Business and Contact Cards**: A card handed over in person removes the spelling problem that costs the most followers. - **Video Thumbnails and Profile Banners**: A code inside an image is readable from a paused frame or a screenshot, which text in a caption is not. - **Collaborations and Guest Appearances**: A code in a shared post sends traffic from someone else's audience without either of you posting a link that gets stripped. ## How to Create an OnlyFans QR Code From profile to finished code in four steps: - **Copy Your Profile Address**: Open your page and take the address from the browser bar - onlyfans.com followed by your username. Leave off anything after a question mark. - **Decide Whether to Route Through a Link You Control**: A link-in-bio or your own domain lets you repoint the code later and passes on platforms that block the direct domain. It costs the reader one extra tap. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then style it - keep the modules dark against a light background, whatever colours the rest of the artwork uses. - **Test on Two Phones, Then Export**: Scan from an iPhone and an Android with the native camera, check the profile opens, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens and overlays. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your OnlyFans QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for stream overlays, thumbnails, banners, and posts - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for cards, stickers, and anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a card produced at print-ready quality. For a stream overlay, the constraint is video compression rather than print. A code shown at a small size in a busy scene loses definition to the encoder, and dark themes make it worse - so give the code a solid light panel, keep it on screen for at least ten seconds, and export PNG at a size well above the space it occupies rather than scaling a small file up. A short profile link helps here more than anywhere: fewer characters means fewer, larger modules, and larger modules survive compression. ## Best Practices for OnlyFans QR Codes Half of these are about the code and half are about where it ends up, which for this platform is the harder half: - **Check the Venue's Rules Before You Print**: Conventions, markets, and print suppliers frequently refuse adult-platform links. Ask first; artwork rejected on the day is a wasted print run. - **Route Through a Link You Can Repoint**: A link-in-bio or your own domain means a platform change, a rebrand, or a banned domain costs you an edit rather than a reprint. - **Keep the Account Away From Identifying Places**: A printed code is permanent and photographable. Avoid putting one on anything tied to your legal name, your home address, or a place you are regularly found. - **Say What the Code Opens**: A handle or a short line beside the code. An unlabelled code asks a stranger to scan an unknown destination, which most people decline. - **Keep the Payload Short**: A 25-character profile link produces a small symbol with large modules, which is what survives video compression, small print, and a quick scan. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Phone cameras are tuned for dark-on-light. An inverted code on a dark overlay is the single most common reason a stylish code hesitates. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and on a card do not let a border or a photograph crowd it. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a card in the hand, more on a table sign read across a stand. - **Leave It on Screen Long Enough**: Ten seconds minimum on a stream, and longer if the scene is busy. A code that flashes past is decoration rather than a link. - **Test on a Phone That Has the App and One That Doesn't**: A phone with the app installed may open the profile there instead of in the browser. Both paths should end somewhere sensible. ## FAQ ### What Is an OnlyFans QR Code? An OnlyFans QR code stores the web address of an OnlyFans profile. Scanning it opens that profile in the phone's browser, or in the app if it is installed. The code holds the address only, so it keeps working as the page behind it changes. ### How Do I Make an OnlyFans QR Code for Free? Copy your profile address - onlyfans.com followed by your username - paste it into a QR generator as a URL, style the code, and export PNG for screens or SVG for print. No account or subscription is needed to create the code. ### Should I Link Directly or Through a Link-in-Bio? Link directly for the smallest, fastest code. Route through a link-in-bio or your own domain when you need to repoint it later, or when the platform you are posting on refuses the destination domain - which many do. ### Can a QR Code Be Age-Restricted? No. A QR code is a printed pattern with no rating and no warning, and it cannot check who is scanning it. Any age control has to come from the place the code is displayed and from the site it opens, not from the code. ### Where Am I Not Allowed to Put an OnlyFans QR Code? Anywhere the venue or platform forbids adult-platform links - most public advertising space, transport, many conventions and markets, and a range of print suppliers. Ask before you print, because artwork is refused on the day. ### Is a Printed QR Code a Privacy Risk? It can be. A printed code permanently ties an account to a physical place or object, and it can be photographed and reposted with that context. Keep codes off anything carrying your legal name, home address, or a place you are regularly found. ### Will the Code Open the App or the Browser? Either, depending on the phone. A device with the app installed may open the profile there; one without it opens the browser. Test both, and make sure the destination makes sense in each. ### Does the Person Scanning Need an Account? Not to reach the profile page, which opens in any browser. An account is required to subscribe or to see anything behind the paywall, which is worth saying beside the code so the sign-up is expected. ### Can I Change Where the Code Points Later? Only if you encoded a link you control. A direct profile code is fixed forever, and changing your username breaks it. A link-in-bio or your own short domain lets you repoint the same printed code any time. ### Why Won't My Code Scan From a Live Stream? Video compression softens the boundaries between modules, especially at small sizes and on dark backgrounds. Put the code on a solid light panel, make it larger than looks necessary, and leave it up for at least ten seconds. --- # Make a QR Code for a Vimeo Video URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/vimeo-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Vimeo video. Which link to encode, how unlisted and domain-locked privacy breaks a printed code, and how to start at a timestamp. Paste your Vimeo link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a poster, a packaging insert, or an exhibition label plays the video without anyone typing an address. - Free - no sign-up - Short numeric video links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Vimeo QR Code? A Vimeo QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Vimeo video, showcase, or profile, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the Vimeo app. The video never enters the code - only its address - which is why a two-hour film and a ten-second clip produce identical-looking codes. ### Vimeo Links Are Short, Except When They Carry a Permission Vimeo identifies videos by a numeric id rather than a random string, which makes its links unusually good for printing. The exceptions are the ones that carry an access token: - **vimeo.com/123456789**: a public video, around 25 characters. This is as short as a video link gets, and it produces a small code with large, forgiving modules. - **vimeo.com/123456789/abcdef1234**: an unlisted video. The second segment is the permission, not decoration: drop it and the link returns a private-video error. - **player.vimeo.com/video/123456789**: the embed player, meant to sit inside an iframe on someone's page. Scanned on its own it opens a bare player with none of your page around it. - **vimeo.com/showcase/1234567**: a showcase, which is a collection rather than a single video. Right when the printed piece is about a body of work rather than one film. Vimeo also accepts a start time as a fragment, so vimeo.com/123456789#t=1m30s opens the video ninety seconds in. That is worth having on an exhibition label or a manual, where a reader wants one section of a long video rather than the beginning - but fragments are the part of a URL most often lost to copying and shortening, so scan the printed proof and watch where it actually starts rather than assuming. ### Privacy Settings Break Printed Codes Silently Vimeo has more privacy options than any other mainstream video host, and several of them produce a code that scans perfectly and plays nothing. A video set to “Only me” or protected by a password refuses everyone who is not you. A video hidden from vimeo.com stays embeddable on your site but returns an error at its own address, which is the exact address most people copy. A video restricted to specific domains plays only inside pages on those domains, so a direct link from a QR code fails by design. And an unlisted video's link works only with its full permission segment attached. All four are invisible from your own account, because you are the owner. The only reliable check is to scan the printed proof from a phone in a private browser window, signed out of Vimeo, and watch the video actually play. ## Where Vimeo QR Codes Are Used Vimeo codes turn up wherever the video is the finished work rather than the marketing for it: - **Gallery and Museum Labels**: A code beside the work plays the artist's film without a screen, a speaker, or a queue in front of a monitor. - **Film Festival Programmes**: A code per entry opens the trailer at the moment somebody is deciding what to see. - **Portfolios and Show Reels**: A code on a business card or a leave-behind plays the reel in full quality rather than through a compressed social upload. - **Product Manuals and Assembly Guides**: A code beside a step opens the demonstration, with a timestamp so it starts at that step rather than at the beginning. - **Wedding and Event Films**: A code on a thank-you card hands guests the film privately, which is what an unlisted Vimeo link is built for. - **Training and Induction Packs**: A code on the printed pack plays the walkthrough, and the walkthrough can be replaced without reprinting the pack. ## How to Create a Vimeo QR Code From video to printed code in four steps: - **Check the Video's Privacy Setting**: Public or unlisted. Password protection, “Only me”, hide-from-Vimeo, and domain-level privacy all break a direct link from a printed code. - **Copy the Full Video Address**: Take it from the browser bar with the video open. For an unlisted video, keep the second path segment - it is the permission, not a decoration. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, add #t=1m30s if you want it to start partway through, then style the code to suit the label or page it will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof in a private browser window, watch the video actually play, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Vimeo QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, social posts, and screens - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for exhibition labels, programmes, packaging, and cards - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a programme produced at print-ready quality. Gallery labels deserve their own note, because they are usually small, matte, and lit from an angle. A short vimeo.com link is a real advantage there: around 25 characters fits a low symbol version with large modules, which is what stays readable at 20 mm under a spotlight. Print matte rather than gloss so the light does not blow out the pattern, and if the label design demands a code smaller than 20 mm, put the video behind a short link on your own domain rather than shrinking the symbol. ## Best Practices for Vimeo QR Codes Vimeo codes are easy to make and easy to break with a privacy toggle. These habits cover both halves: - **Fix the Privacy Setting Before You Generate**: Public or unlisted is what a printed code needs. Everything else on Vimeo's privacy list produces a code that scans and does not play. - **Keep the Whole Unlisted Link**: The characters after the video number are the permission. A link tidied down to vimeo.com plus the number returns a private-video error. - **Encode the Page, Not the Player**: player.vimeo.com is built to sit inside an iframe. Scanned directly it opens a bare player, without your title, description, or anything else on the page. - **Use a Timestamp for Long Videos**: #t=1m30s starts the video where the reader needs it. On a manual or a label that is the difference between an answer and forty minutes of scrubbing. - **Say How Long the Video Is**: “2 min film” beside the code sets the commitment. People decline unknown video lengths far more often than short ones. - **Don't Rely on Autoplay With Sound**: Phone browsers block it, and a gallery visitor may have no headphones. Caption anything that carries information in the audio. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a museum label crowded with credits this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a label read at arm's length, about 20 cm on a poster read from 2 metres. - **Print Matte Under Directional Light**: Gloss laminate under a spotlight reflects straight into the camera. Matte is the standard choice for exhibition and packaging codes for exactly this reason. - **Test on a Phone Without the Vimeo App**: A phone with the app may open the video there rather than in the browser. Both paths should work, and only one of them is the one you tested. ## FAQ ### What Is a Vimeo QR Code? A Vimeo QR code stores the web address of a Vimeo video, showcase, or profile. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or the Vimeo app. The video stays on Vimeo, so the code is the same size whatever the film's length. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Vimeo Video? Check the video is public or unlisted, copy its address from the browser bar, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, scan the proof signed out of Vimeo, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Why Does My Vimeo QR Code Say the Video Is Private? Because the video's privacy is set to something a stranger cannot open - “Only me”, password protected, or hidden from vimeo.com - or an unlisted link lost the permission characters after the video number when it was copied. ### Can I Use a QR Code for an Unlisted Vimeo Video? Yes, and it is a good fit for wedding films, client work, and training material. Keep the whole address: the segment after the video number is the access permission, and a link trimmed without it returns a private-video error. ### Can the Video Start at a Specific Time? Yes. Add #t=1m30s to the end of the video address and the scan opens ninety seconds in. It suits manuals and exhibition labels, but fragments are easily lost in copying - always confirm by scanning the printed proof. ### Should I Encode the Player URL or the Video Page? The video page. player.vimeo.com addresses are built to sit inside an iframe on a website, so scanning one opens a bare player with no title, description, or related content around it. ### Does the Viewer Need a Vimeo Account? No. A public or unlisted video plays in any phone browser with no sign-in and no app. An account is only needed if you have restricted the video to specific Vimeo users or a password-protected review page. ### Can I Replace the Video Without Reprinting the Code? Yes, if you use Vimeo's replace-video feature, which keeps the same video id and therefore the same address. Deleting the video and uploading a new one creates a new id and breaks every printed code. ### How Small Can a Vimeo QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm for a plain vimeo.com link of around 25 characters, which suits a gallery label or a packaging insert. Unlisted links are longer and want more room, so measure the actual payload rather than assuming. ### Vimeo or YouTube for a Printed QR Code? Vimeo when the video is the finished work and you want it without recommendations, ads, or a related-video wall after it. YouTube when reach and search matter more. Both produce short links; the difference is what surrounds the video after the scan. --- # Make a QR Code for Patreon URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/patreon-qr-code Create a free QR code for your Patreon page. Link to a tier instead of the front page, print the right words beside it, and keep the code working after a rename. Paste your Patreon link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a poster, a record sleeve, or a merch table opens your page without anyone typing an address. - Free - no sign-up - Short link, small clean code - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Patreon QR Code? A Patreon QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Patreon page, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the Patreon app. Only the address sits inside the code, never the tiers or the posts, which means you can restructure your membership completely without touching anything already printed. ### Which Patreon Page Should the Code Open? Patreon publishes several addresses for the same creator, and the further into the funnel you land the reader, the fewer decisions stand between the scan and a membership: - **Your main page**: patreon.com followed by your page name, usually around 25 characters. The safe default: it explains what you do before asking for anything. - **The membership or join page**: opens straight on the tiers. Right when the printed piece has already explained who you are, such as a code on your own album sleeve. - **A specific tier**: skips the comparison entirely. Best when the print names one offer, like a code on a poster advertising a single reward. Patreon has changed its URL structure more than once, so copy the address from your own live page rather than typing one from memory or from an old article - the format you remember may now redirect, and redirects are exactly the sort of thing that quietly stops working years into a printed code's life. Open the page you want, including the tier or join view, and take whatever is in the browser bar at that moment. ### The Scan Is the Easy Part A Patreon scan asks for far more than a follow does. After the code opens the page, the reader has to choose a tier, create an account, enter a card, and commit to a recurring charge - four steps, on a phone, usually while standing at a merch table or in a venue with bad signal. That is why the words beside the code matter more than the code: a bare square marked “Patreon” converts a fraction of what “Join for £3 a month - early tracks and the monthly livestream” does, because the second one answers the price question before the reader spends a tap on it. Expect a low conversion rate from scan to member, and judge the placement by memberships rather than by scans. And print something the reader can act on later - your page name in plain text under the code - so the ones who cannot finish the sign-up in the room can find you afterwards. ## Where Patreon QR Codes Are Used Patreon codes work in front of an audience that has just had the experience you are asking them to fund: - **Merch Tables at Gigs**: A code on the table catches the person who just watched the set and has their phone out to pay for a shirt anyway. - **Zines, Comics and Record Sleeves**: A code inside the back cover reaches the reader at the end, when they have finished the thing and want more of it. - **Stage and Venue Screens**: A code between sets is scanned by a room at once, which no spoken URL ever achieves. - **Podcast and Radio Show Artwork**: A code in the cover art works from a paused screenshot, where a spoken address is lost the moment it is said. - **Craft Fairs and Studio Open Days**: A code beside the work turns a browser who is not buying today into someone who supports the studio monthly. - **Thank-You Cards in Orders**: A card in the parcel reaches an existing customer, which is the audience most likely to become a member. ## How to Create a Patreon QR Code From page to printed code in four steps: - **Open the Page You Want the Scan to Land On**: Your main page, the tier list, or one specific tier. Navigate to it in a browser so the address bar holds the real, current address. - **Copy the Address Without Tracking Parameters**: Delete anything after a question mark. Those parameters lengthen the code, and some of them are tied to the session you copied them from. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then style the code - keep the modules dark against a light background so it works under venue lighting. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into Patreon, walk through to the payment step without paying, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Patreon QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for stream overlays, podcast artwork, and social posts - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for zines, sleeves, posters, stickers, and table signs - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for artwork produced at print-ready quality. Venues are the hard environment here. A merch table is dim, a stage screen is bright and often coloured, and both are scanned at an angle by somebody holding a drink. Print the table code larger than the design wants - 4 to 5 cm rather than 2 - keep it dark on a light panel rather than reversed out of your artwork, and use matte stock so the stage lighting does not reflect straight back into the camera. A short page link keeps the module count low, which is what buys the tolerance for all three. ## Best Practices for Patreon QR Codes The code is trivial. What surrounds it, and which page it opens, is where the memberships come from: - **Print the Price and the Reward**: “£3 a month - early tracks and the monthly livestream” beside the code answers the two questions that decide the scan. “Patreon” alone answers neither. - **Land the Reader Where the Print Left Off**: A poster that names one tier should open that tier. Making somebody re-read a comparison table they have already read on paper costs sign-ups. - **Print Your Page Name in Plain Text Too**: Signal fails, batteries die, and some people would rather sign up at home. A readable address is a second chance the code cannot give. - **Don't Change Your Page Name After Printing**: The address contains it. A rename breaks every code already printed, and Patreon offers no way to restore an old address you have released. - **Keep the Payload Short**: Around 25 characters gives a small symbol with large modules, which is what survives dim venues, angles, and cheap printing. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Reversing a code out of a dark sleeve or a stage graphic is where most artistic Patreon codes stop scanning. Give it a light panel. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a zine back cover crowded with credits this is the first thing to get squeezed. - **Size It for the Room**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 4 cm on a merch table people lean over, and a fifth of the screen height on a stage display. - **Use One Code per Placement**: A separate link for the merch table, the sleeve, and the stream tells you which one actually recruits members rather than which one gets looked at. - **Judge It by Members, Not Scans**: A membership is four steps past the scan. Counting scans flatters a placement that produced nobody; counting joins tells you where to print next. ## FAQ ### What Is a Patreon QR Code? A Patreon QR code stores the web address of a Patreon page. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or the Patreon app. The code holds only the address, so you can restructure your tiers without breaking anything already printed. ### How Do I Make a Patreon QR Code for Free? Open your Patreon page, copy its address from the browser bar, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, test it from a phone that is not signed into Patreon, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Should the Code Open My Main Page or a Tier? Open the main page when the reader may not know who you are, and a specific tier when the printed piece has already made the pitch. Every decision you remove between the scan and the payment step is a decision that cannot lose you a member. ### What Should I Print Next to a Patreon QR Code? The price and what it buys - for example “£3 a month: early tracks and the monthly livestream”. A code labelled only “Patreon” asks the reader to spend a scan finding out what it costs, and most of them will not. ### Will the Code Break if I Rename My Patreon Page? Yes. Your page address contains the page name, so a rename invalidates every printed code. If you expect to rebrand, encode a short link on a domain you own and point that at Patreon, so the printed artwork never has to change. ### Does Someone Need a Patreon Account to Scan the Code? No. The page opens in any phone browser without signing in, so anyone can read what you make and what the tiers cost. An account and a payment method are only needed at the point of actually joining. ### Why Do I Get Scans but Not Members? Because a membership sits four steps past the scan: choosing a tier, making an account, entering a card, and accepting a recurring charge. Scans measure curiosity; only joins measure the placement. Print the price and land the scan deeper in the funnel. ### How Big Should the Code Be on a Merch Table? About 4 to 5 cm, dark on a light panel, standing up rather than lying flat. Merch tables are dim and scanned at an angle, so give the code more room than the design wants and use matte stock to avoid reflections. ### Can I Tell Which Poster or Sleeve Brought Someone In? Yes, if you generate a separate code per placement - a distinct short link for the merch table, the sleeve, and the stream. Then compare joins rather than scans, because scans flatter placements that recruited nobody. ### Can I Change Where the Code Points Later? Only if the code holds a link you control. A direct Patreon address is fixed for the life of the print run, so anything printed in quantity is safer pointed at your own domain with a redirect behind it. --- # Make a Google Review QR Code That Opens the Review Form URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-review-qr-code Create a free Google review QR code that opens your business's review form directly. Find your Place ID, style the code, export print-ready PNG or SVG. Paste your Place ID or a Google Maps link, style the code for your counter or your receipt, and download one that lands people on the write-a-review screen rather than your listing. - Free - no sign-up - Opens the review form - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Google Review QR Code? A Google review QR code is a QR code that stores the direct link to one business's Google review form. Scanning it opens the star rating and comment box for that business, skipping the search and the listing page. The link is encoded in the pattern, so it needs no account and no service behind it. ### The Place ID Is What Makes It Land on the Form Every business on Google has a Place ID - a permanent identifier like ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4 - and it is what turns a link to a listing into a link to the review box: - **Where to Find It**: Google's own Place ID Finder, or your Business Profile: the Ask for reviews link it offers carries the identifier inside it. - **What It Builds**: search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid= plus the id. That address opens the star rating directly, with the business already selected. - **Why Not Just Link the Listing**: because a listing asks the visitor to find the review button among photos, hours, and directions, and a meaningful share of them never do. A Place ID does not change when your opening hours, phone number, or even your business name changes, which makes it the right thing to encode in something printed. Paste the id, or paste a Google Maps link that carries one, and KoloQR builds the writereview address from it. ### What Google's Policies Do and Don't Allow Asking customers for reviews is allowed and encouraged. Two common tactics built on top of that are not, and both get reviews removed and listings penalised. The first is incentives: offering a discount, a free drink, a prize draw entry, or anything else of value in exchange for a review breaches Google's prohibited content policy, whether or not you specify the rating you want. The second is review gating - screening people first and showing the review link only to the ones who say they were happy, usually through a page that routes unhappy customers to a private feedback form instead. Google's policy is explicit that businesses must not discourage negative reviews or selectively solicit positive ones, and a QR code that leads to a filtering step rather than to Google is exactly that. What is permitted is simple and works: put the code where every customer sees it, ask everyone, and let the review form take whatever it takes. The upside of asking honestly is that the reviews stay up, which is more than can be said for the alternative. ## Where Google Review QR Codes Are Used Reviews are written in the twenty minutes after a good experience, so the code has to be somewhere the customer is looking during those minutes: - **Receipts and Bill Folders**: The bill is the last thing a satisfied customer holds, and the one moment they are already looking at a piece of paper. - **Counter Cards and Till Points**: A standing card by the till is scanned while someone waits for a card machine - dead time that costs them nothing. - **Hotel Checkout Desks and Room Cards**: Checkout is the natural moment, and a room card code catches guests who left before anyone could ask. - **Trade and Service Van Paperwork**: Plumbers, electricians and installers finish a job face to face, which is the highest-conversion ask there is. - **Delivery and Packaging Inserts**: For a business with no premises, the parcel is the only physical touchpoint - and the only place a code can live. - **Table Tents in Restaurants and Cafes**: After the meal and before the bill is the window; a table tent is already in the customer's field of view. ## How to Create a Google Review QR Code Find the id, build the code, put it where people are: - **Get Your Place ID**: Use Google's Place ID Finder, or copy the Ask for reviews link from your Business Profile - the identifier is inside it. A Google Maps link that carries one works too. - **Open the Type Picker and Choose Review**: Google Review sits under More, in the Reviews & Business group. Paste the Place ID and KoloQR builds the writereview address around it. - **Style It for Where It Will Live**: Choose a shape, set the colors, add your logo. A counter card can carry a designed code; a thermal receipt cannot, so keep that one plain black at a generous size. - **Test It Signed Out, Then Print**: Scan on a phone that is not signed in to Google to see what a customer actually meets. Then export SVG or PDF for print, PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google review QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for emails, order confirmations, and websites, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for counter cards, table tents, and window stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or dropping into a receipt or invoice template at print-ready quality. Thermal receipts are the hard case and the most common one. A till printer runs at low resolution on heat-sensitive paper that spreads, so print the code larger than feels necessary - 20 mm at minimum - keep it pure black with no styling, and test on the actual roll rather than on a laser print of it. ## Best Practices for Google Review QR Codes The mechanics are easy; the policy and the timing are what decide whether this works: - **Link the Review Form, Not the Listing**: A writereview link opens the stars directly. A link to your listing asks the customer to find the review button among photos and directions, and many will not. - **Never Offer Anything in Exchange**: Incentives breach Google's prohibited content policy. Reviews collected that way get removed, and repeated breaches put the listing itself at risk. - **Ask Everyone, Not Only the Happy Ones**: Screening customers before showing the review link - review gating - is explicitly against Google's policy. A code that everyone sees is both compliant and more convincing to readers. - **Put It Where the Customer Is Already Waiting**: The bill folder, the till point, the checkout desk. Reviews are written in dead time, not in the car park. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: “Scan to leave a Google review - it takes 30 seconds” earns far more scans than a bare square, because it sets a cost the customer can accept. - **Expect a Sign-In Step**: Writing a Google review requires a Google account. Most phones are already signed in, but some customers will meet a login screen - so a code alone will never convert everyone. - **Print Receipt Codes Bigger and Plainer**: Thermal printers are low resolution and their paper spreads ink. 20 mm minimum, pure black, no logo, no shaping - save the design for the counter card. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a receipt with text pressed up against it, that margin is what a scanner uses to find the code at all. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: 2 cm on a receipt or table tent, 20 cm on a window sticker read from 2 metres. - **Verify the Code Names Your Business**: A wrong Place ID sends reviews to another business, sometimes a competitor with a similar name. Scan the exported file and read the business name on the review form before printing. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Review QR Code? A Google review QR code stores the direct link to one business's Google review form. Scanning it opens the star rating and comment box for that business, skipping the search and the listing page. ### How Do I Find My Google Place ID? Use Google's Place ID Finder, or copy the “Ask for reviews” link from your Google Business Profile - the identifier sits inside it. A Google Maps link that carries a place_id works too. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for Google Reviews? Choose Review in KoloQR's type picker and paste your Place ID or a Maps link containing one. Style the code, then download PNG or SVG. No account is needed and no watermark is added. ### Can I Offer a Discount for Leaving a Review? No. Offering anything of value in exchange for a review breaches Google's prohibited content policy, whether or not you ask for a particular rating. Reviews collected that way get removed and the listing can be penalised. ### Can I Show the Review Link Only to Happy Customers? No. That's review gating, and Google's policy prohibits discouraging negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive ones. Ask every customer the same way and let the form take what it takes. ### Does the Customer Need a Google Account to Leave a Review? Yes. Most phones are already signed in, so it's invisible for the majority - but some customers will meet a login screen, which is one reason a review code never converts everyone who scans it. ### Why Does My Code Open My Listing Instead of the Review Form? Because it encodes a Maps or Search link rather than a writereview address. Rebuild it from the Place ID, which produces a link that lands on the stars with your business already selected. ### How Big Should the Code Be on a Receipt? At least 20 mm, in pure black with no logo or shaping. Thermal printers are low resolution and their paper spreads ink, so a code that reads fine from a laser proof can fail from the till. ### Will the Code Break if I Change My Business Name or Address? No. The Place ID is a permanent identifier for the listing, and it survives changes to name, hours, phone number, and most address edits. That's what makes it safe to print. ### Can a Review QR Code Track How Many People Scanned It? Not on its own - a static code has no server in the middle. What you can measure is the result: your Business Profile shows review counts over time, which is the number that actually matters. --- # Make a Tripadvisor QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/tripadvisor-qr-code Create a free Tripadvisor QR code that opens your review form. Find the right link, keep it short, and stay inside Tripadvisor's rules on asking for reviews. Paste your Tripadvisor review link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a table card, a receipt, or a room folder opens the review form in one scan. - Free - no sign-up - Opens the review form directly - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Tripadvisor QR Code? A Tripadvisor QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a business's Tripadvisor page or review form, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser. The code carries only the address - never the reviews - which means the same printed card keeps working as your rating, your photos, and your ranking all change. ### Link to the Review Form, Not to Your Listing Tripadvisor has two addresses that matter, and the difference between them is several taps at the exact moment a guest is deciding whether to bother: - **The listing page**: Restaurant_Review or Hotel_Review followed by your -g and -d ids. It opens your reviews, photos and ranking, and hides the write-a-review button below them. - **The review form**: a UserReviewEdit address built from the same two ids. It opens the rating and the comment box directly, which is what a table card should do. - **The short review link from the Management Center**: Tripadvisor gives claimed businesses their own review link and QR tools. Where it is available it is the shortest and most durable option. Whichever you use, the durable part of a Tripadvisor URL is the pair of numbers: -g is the geographic id and -d is the location id, and together they identify your business permanently. The readable words between them are decoration, and Tripadvisor rewrites them when a business is renamed or recategorised. So when you copy a link, copy it whole rather than tidying it, and never retype it by hand - a single wrong digit in the -d id sends every guest to a different business. ### What Tripadvisor Allows You to Ask For Tripadvisor's guidelines let a business ask every guest for a review, and a QR code on a table card, a receipt, or a room folder is a normal way to do it. What the guidelines forbid is worth knowing before you print. You may not offer anything in exchange for a review - no discount, no free drink, no prize draw entry - and you may not ask selectively, which includes asking only the guests who seemed happy or screening people with a satisfaction question first. Wording matters too: “Tell us how we did on Tripadvisor” is fine, “Leave us a five-star review” is not, because asking for a specific rating is soliciting a biased one. The safe formula is a neutral invitation, the same one, offered to everybody, with nothing attached to it. ## Where Tripadvisor QR Codes Are Used A review code belongs where the visit is ending and the guest still has their phone in their hand: - **Table Cards and Bill Folders**: The bill is the one moment every guest looks down at the table with a phone already out. - **Hotel Room Folders and Key Cards**: A card by the kettle or in the checkout wallet reaches the guest while the stay is still fresh rather than three days later. - **Tour and Excursion Handouts**: A code on the itinerary card catches people on the coach home, which is the highest-response moment a tour operator gets. - **Reception and Checkout Desks**: A small standing card at the desk turns a spoken thank-you into a review without anyone having to ask twice. - **Attraction Exit Signage**: A code at the exit reaches visitors while they are still queuing to leave, with nothing else to do. - **Printed Receipts**: A code at the foot of the receipt is the cheapest placement a restaurant has, and it reaches every single customer. ## How to Create a Tripadvisor QR Code From listing to printed code in four steps: - **Open Your Own Tripadvisor Listing**: Find your business on Tripadvisor and open its page. If you have claimed it, check the Management Center first - it may already offer a short review link. - **Take the Write-a-Review Address**: Click the review button and copy the whole address from the browser bar, including the -g and -d ids. Never retype it: one wrong digit points at another business. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours and a shape that match the table card, folder, or receipt the code will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into Tripadvisor, confirm it opens your business and not a neighbour's, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Tripadvisor QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for emails, screens at reception, and social posts - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for table cards, bill folders, room signage, and stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping into a receipt template at print-ready quality. Tripadvisor review URLs are long - the geography id, the location id, and the business name together push a full write-a-review address well past 80 characters - which packs more and smaller modules into the same printed square. On a table card that is fine at 3 cm. On a receipt printed at 203 dpi on thermal roll it is not, so either use the shorter link from the Management Center or point the receipt code at a short link on your own domain that redirects to the review form. ## Best Practices for Tripadvisor QR Codes Review codes live or die on the moment they are offered and the wording beside them. These cover both, and the platform's rules: - **Ask Everyone, Not Just the Happy Ones**: Tripadvisor forbids selective solicitation. One code, offered to every guest, is both the compliant approach and the one that produces a believable rating profile. - **Never Offer Anything in Return**: Discounts, free drinks, and prize draws in exchange for reviews are against Tripadvisor's guidelines and can cost a listing its ranking or its badge. - **Don't Ask for Five Stars**: “Leave us a five-star review” solicits a rating rather than a review. A neutral “Tell us how we did” is compliant and reads as more confident. - **Open the Review Form, Not the Listing**: Landing on your listing costs the guest a scroll and a tap, at the exact moment their attention is worth the most. - **Copy the Link, Never Retype It**: The -g and -d ids are the address. A single mistyped digit sends every guest to another business, and you will find out from your competitor's review count. - **Say How Long It Takes**: “Two minutes” beside the code raises response more than a bigger code does. People decline unknown effort, not small effort. - **Put It Where the Visit Ends**: The bill, the checkout desk, the exit, the coach home. A code by the entrance is read by people who have nothing to review yet. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a busy table card, a border or a logo is the usual intruder. - **Size It for a Long Payload**: A full review URL is dense, so print at 3 cm or more on a table card, and use a shortened link for anything on receipt roll. - **Test That It Opens the Right Business**: Scan the printed proof from a signed-out phone and read the business name on screen. This is the check that catches a wrong id before ten thousand cards are printed. ## FAQ ### What Is a Tripadvisor QR Code? A Tripadvisor QR code stores the web address of a business's Tripadvisor page or review form. Scanning it opens that page on the phone, so a guest can review the visit without searching for the listing. ### How Do I Make a Tripadvisor QR Code for Free? Open your Tripadvisor listing, click the write-a-review button, copy the whole address from the browser bar, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code and export SVG for print. No subscription is needed. ### Is It Against the Rules to Ask for Tripadvisor Reviews? No. Tripadvisor allows a business to invite every guest to review it. What it forbids is offering anything in return, asking only selected guests, and asking for a particular rating - all three can cost a listing its ranking. ### Can I Offer a Discount for a Tripadvisor Review? No. Incentivising reviews breaches Tripadvisor's guidelines, and reviews obtained that way can be removed along with penalties against the listing. Ask neutrally, with nothing attached, and ask everyone the same way. ### Should the Code Open My Listing or the Review Form? The review form. A listing page shows your rating and photos first and buries the write-a-review button below them, which costs a scroll and a tap at the moment the guest's attention is worth the most. ### Do Guests Need a Tripadvisor Account to Leave a Review? Yes. Tripadvisor requires an account to publish, though signing up takes about a minute on a phone. Saying so beside the code makes the step expected rather than a reason to abandon the review. ### Why Is My Tripadvisor QR Code So Dense? Because a full review URL includes a geography id, a location id and the business name, which together run past 80 characters. Use the shorter review link from the Management Center, or a short link on your own domain, for small print. ### What Are the -g and -d Numbers in a Tripadvisor Link? The -g number is the geographic area and the -d number is your specific business. Together they are the durable part of the address; the readable words between them are rewritten when a listing is renamed. Copy links whole rather than retyping them. ### Where Should I Put a Tripadvisor QR Code? Where the visit ends: the bill folder, the checkout desk, the room's checkout wallet, the exit, or the itinerary card handed out on a tour. Placement changes the response rate far more than the size or colour of the code. ### Will Tripadvisor Delete Reviews That Came From a QR Code? Not for being scanned - a QR code is just a way to reach the form. Tripadvisor removes reviews it judges to be incentivised, selectively solicited, or submitted from the business's own devices or network, however the guest arrived. --- # Make a Yelp QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/yelp-qr-code Create a free QR code for your Yelp business page. Why Yelp asks you not to solicit reviews, which link to encode instead, and how to print it properly. Paste your Yelp business link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a window, a menu, or a receipt opens your page without anyone searching for you. - Free - no sign-up - Opens your business page - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Yelp QR Code? A Yelp QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Yelp business page, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the Yelp app. The code holds only the address, never the reviews, which means the same printed sticker keeps working as your rating, photos and hours all change. ### Point It at Your Page, Not at the Review Form This is where Yelp differs from every other review platform, and it changes which link belongs in the code: - **yelp.com/biz/your-business-city**: your public page: photos, hours, menu, directions and reviews. Around 40 characters, and the right destination for a printed code. - **The write-a-review address**: opens the review form directly. It exists, but pointing a printed code at it is asking customers for reviews, which Yelp asks businesses not to do. - **The short link from the app's share sheet**: the Yelp app can produce a shortened link to your page, which is the smallest payload available if you want the densest code possible. Yelp's own window stickers say “Find us on Yelp”, not “Review us on Yelp”, and that wording is deliberate. Yelp's content guidelines ask businesses not to solicit reviews at all, and its recommendation software discounts reviews that look prompted - so a batch of reviews arriving after a card goes on the tables can end up filtered out of your rating rather than added to it. A Yelp code that opens your page is entirely within the rules and does the thing a printed code is actually good at: getting somebody to your photos, your menu, and your directions in one scan. ### What Happens After the Scan On a phone with the Yelp app installed, the scan usually opens the page inside the app; on one without it, the same link opens the mobile web page, which shows your photos, hours, price range and reviews without any sign-in. Both are fine destinations, but they look different enough that you should see each before printing. Yelp's mobile page also puts directions, the phone number and the menu within one tap, which is why a page code earns its place on a window or a menu even though it asks for nothing. Scan your printed proof twice - once on a phone with the app and once on a phone without it - from a signed-out account, and check the business name and address on screen are yours rather than a similarly named listing. ## Where Yelp QR Codes Are Used A Yelp code works as a shortcut to your own page, wherever somebody would otherwise have to search for you: - **Window and Door Stickers**: A code in the window shows a passer-by the photos, the price range and the opening hours before they decide to come in. - **Menus and Table Cards**: A code on the menu opens the page with the dish photos other customers have taken, which is the part of Yelp people actually browse. - **Business Cards and Leaflets**: A code beside your address saves the recipient from typing a business name that half the city shares. - **Delivery and Takeaway Packaging**: A code on the bag reaches the customer at home, when they have time to look at the page rather than at the queue. - **Vehicle Livery and Trade Signage**: A code on a van gives a passer-by your photos and reviews from the kerb, which a phone number cannot. - **Event Stands and Markets**: A code on the stall opens the page with your hours and location, for the visitor who wants to find you again next week. ## How to Create a Yelp QR Code From listing to printed code in four steps: - **Open Your Yelp Business Page**: Find your business on Yelp and open its page in a browser. The address will look like yelp.com/biz/ followed by your business name and city. - **Copy the Address, Not a Search Result**: Take the whole address from the browser bar and delete anything after a question mark - those parameters are session tracking, not part of your page. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours and a shape that match the window sticker, menu, or card the code will sit on. - **Test on Two Phones, Then Export**: Scan the proof on a phone with the Yelp app and one without, check both land on your business, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Yelp QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for social posts, email signatures, and screens - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for window stickers, menus, packaging, and vehicle livery - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a menu produced at print-ready quality. Window and vehicle applications are the ones worth planning for. A code applied to glass is read through the glass at an angle with the street reflected in it, and a code on a van is read from a pavement while the van is parked badly - both want the code larger than the page design suggests, matte rather than gloss, and positioned away from curves and rivets. Export SVG so the sign maker can scale it; a small PNG sent to a vinyl cutter is where soft, unreliable edges come from. ## Best Practices for Yelp QR Codes A Yelp code is a shortcut to your page rather than a request. These habits keep it useful and keep you inside Yelp's rules: - **Don't Ask Customers for Reviews**: Yelp's guidelines ask businesses not to solicit reviews, and its software discounts reviews that look prompted. A code labelled “Find us on Yelp” is compliant; one labelled “Review us on Yelp” is not. - **Never Offer Anything in Exchange**: Discounts, free items and prize draws for reviews breach Yelp's rules and can trigger a public consumer alert on your listing, which is far more damaging than a missing review. - **Encode the Business Page Address**: yelp.com/biz followed by your business and city. It is the durable, canonical address, and it works whether or not the reader has the app. - **Strip Tracking Parameters**: Anything after a question mark lengthens the payload for no benefit, and some of it is tied to the browsing session you copied it from. - **Label What the Code Opens**: “Photos, hours and menu on Yelp” tells a stranger why to scan. A bare code on a window asks for a leap of faith. - **Check the Listing Is the One You Claimed**: Duplicate listings are common. Scan the printed proof and read the address on screen, because a code pointing at an unclaimed duplicate sends customers to stale information. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a window sticker crowded with logos and opening hours, this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a menu, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres across a pavement. - **Use Matte on Glass and Vehicles**: Gloss laminate reflects daylight straight into the camera. Matte costs nothing extra and is the standard choice for exactly this reason. - **Test With and Without the App**: The same link opens in the app on some phones and the mobile site on others. Both should land somewhere you are happy for a customer to arrive. ## FAQ ### What Is a Yelp QR Code? A Yelp QR code stores the web address of a Yelp business page. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the Yelp app, showing photos, hours, menu, directions and reviews without anyone searching for the business. ### How Do I Make a Yelp QR Code for Free? Open your Yelp business page, copy its address - yelp.com/biz followed by your business and city - then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Can I Ask Customers for Yelp Reviews With a QR Code? Yelp asks businesses not to solicit reviews, and its recommendation software discounts reviews that look prompted. Point the code at your business page instead - that is what Yelp's own “Find us on Yelp” stickers do. ### Why Does Yelp Say Not to Ask for Reviews? Because Yelp's ranking depends on reviews being unprompted. Reviews that appear solicited are frequently moved to the not-recommended section, so a campaign can produce reviews that never count towards your rating. ### What Happens if I Offer a Discount for a Yelp Review? Yelp can place a public consumer alert on your listing warning visitors that compensated reviews were detected. That notice is visible to everyone who finds you, and it costs far more than the reviews were worth. ### Which Yelp Link Should I Encode? The business page address, yelp.com/biz followed by your business name and city. It is canonical, around 40 characters, and works whether the reader has the Yelp app installed or not. ### Will the Code Open the Yelp App or a Browser? Either. A phone with the app installed usually opens the page there; one without it opens the mobile website with no sign-in required. Test both before printing, because the two look quite different. ### Do Customers Need a Yelp Account to See My Page? No. The business page, its photos, hours and reviews are public and open in any phone browser. An account is only needed to write a review or to save the business. ### Where Should I Put a Yelp QR Code? Where someone would otherwise have to search for you: the window, the menu, the takeaway bag, a business card, or a van. It is a shortcut to your page rather than a request, so it belongs where curiosity happens. ### How Big Should a Yelp QR Code Be on a Window? About a tenth of the reading distance, so roughly 20 cm for a code read from 2 metres across a pavement. Glass adds reflections and an angle, so size up rather than down and choose a matte finish. --- # Make a Trustpilot QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/trustpilot-qr-code Create a free Trustpilot QR code that opens your review form. The difference between /evaluate and /review links, and how to invite reviews within the rules. Paste your Trustpilot link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a packaging insert, an invoice, or a counter card opens the review form in one scan. - Free - no sign-up - Short domain-based links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Trustpilot QR Code? A Trustpilot QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a company's Trustpilot review form or profile, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser. The code holds only the address, never the reviews or the TrustScore, so the same printed insert keeps working as both of those change. ### /evaluate Writes a Review, /review Reads Them Trustpilot builds both addresses from your own domain rather than from an id, so the two are easy to tell apart once you know to look: - **trustpilot.com/evaluate/yourdomain.com**: opens the review form with the rating stars ready. Around 35 characters, and this is the one for anything printed that asks for a review. - **trustpilot.com/review/yourdomain.com**: your public profile: TrustScore, review count, and the reviews themselves. Right for a code that says “see what customers say”, wrong for one that asks for a review. - **An invitation link from Trustpilot Business**: carries an order reference, which is what lets Trustpilot mark the resulting review as invited rather than organic. Unique per customer, so it cannot be one printed code. The domain in the address is your website's domain, not a slug Trustpilot invented, which makes these links unusually short and unusually easy to get wrong in one specific way: if your profile was set up under a different domain from the one you now use, the address that works is the old one. Copy it from your own profile rather than assembling it from your current website address, and scan the proof to confirm it lands on your company and not on a similarly named one. ### Invited Reviews and Organic Ones Are Not the Same A review written after scanning a printed code is an organic review: the customer arrived under their own steam, and Trustpilot has no order to tie the review to. A review written from an invitation link that carries an order reference is recorded differently, because Trustpilot can connect it to a real transaction. Both count towards your TrustScore, and both are legitimate - but they are not interchangeable, and a printed code can only ever produce the first kind, since one piece of artwork cannot carry a different reference for every customer. If verification matters to you, use QR codes for reach and Trustpilot's invitation system for verification, rather than expecting one to do the other's job. Trustpilot's rules apply to both: invitations must be neutral, must go to all customers rather than a selected group, and must never be attached to a discount, a prize draw, or anything else of value. ## Where Trustpilot QR Codes Are Used Trustpilot codes suit businesses whose customers are reached on paper after the sale rather than across a counter: - **Packaging Inserts and Delivery Notes**: A card in the parcel reaches the customer at the moment they open the thing they bought, which is the peak of goodwill. - **Invoices and Job Sheets**: A tradesperson's completed job sheet is the natural place to ask, and it reaches customers who never see a shopfront. - **Service and Installation Cards**: A card left after a repair or fitting asks while the work is visibly finished and the engineer has just left. - **Counter and Reception Cards**: A standing card at the desk turns a verbal thank-you into a review without staff having to ask twice. - **Product Manuals and Warranty Cards**: A code inside the documentation reaches the customer during setup, when they have formed a first impression and no more. - **Trade Show Follow-Up Cards**: A code on the leave-behind lets a prospect check your TrustScore themselves rather than take your word for it. ## How to Create a Trustpilot QR Code From profile to printed code in four steps: - **Open Your Trustpilot Profile**: Find your company on Trustpilot and open its page. The address shows the domain your profile is registered under, which may not be your current website domain. - **Take the Evaluate Address**: Click the write-a-review button, or replace /review/ with /evaluate/ in your profile address. That opens the rating form rather than the reviews list. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours and a shape that match the insert, invoice, or counter card the code will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into Trustpilot, confirm the company name on screen is yours, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Trustpilot QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for email footers, screens, and social posts - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for packaging inserts, invoices, counter cards, and stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping into an invoice template at print-ready quality. A Trustpilot evaluate link is around 35 characters, which is short enough to print small and still scan reliably - roughly 15 to 20 mm on a card, against the 25 to 30 mm a longer review URL from another platform would want at the same reliability. That headroom is worth spending on print quality rather than on size: an insert printed on uncoated stock spreads ink into the gaps between modules, so keep the module shape simple and proof on the real card stock before the run. ## Best Practices for Trustpilot QR Codes Trustpilot allows you to invite reviews, and is specific about how. These habits cover the rules and the response rate: - **Ask Every Customer the Same Way**: Trustpilot forbids selective invitations. One insert in every parcel is compliant; a card handed only to the customers who seemed pleased is not. - **Never Attach an Incentive**: Discounts, prize draws and free gifts in exchange for reviews breach Trustpilot's guidelines, and reviews obtained that way can be removed along with a flag on your profile. - **Use a Neutral Invitation**: “How did we do?” rather than “Leave us five stars”. Asking for a specific rating solicits a biased review and is against the rules. - **Encode /evaluate for a Request**: It opens the rating form directly. Sending a customer to /review makes them read other people's reviews before finding the button, which loses most of them. - **Encode /review to Show Off Your Score**: On a trade-show card or a proposal, the profile page is the right destination - it lets a prospect verify the score themselves. - **Copy the Address From Your Own Profile**: The domain in the link is the one your profile was registered under, which is not always your current website domain. - **Say How Long It Takes**: “One minute” beside the code raises response more than a larger code does. People decline unknown effort rather than small effort. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a small insert crowded with logos and legal text this is the first thing squeezed out. - **Size It for the Card, Not the Minimum**: A short evaluate link scans at 15 to 20 mm on a card, but on uncoated or recycled stock give it more room - absorbent paper eats the gaps between modules. - **Use Invitations Where Verification Matters**: A printed code produces organic reviews, because one piece of artwork cannot carry a unique order reference. Use Trustpilot's invitation system alongside it, not instead of it. ## FAQ ### What Is a Trustpilot QR Code? A Trustpilot QR code stores the web address of a company's Trustpilot review form or profile. Scanning it opens that page on the phone, so a customer can rate the company without searching for it. ### How Do I Make a Trustpilot QR Code for Free? Open your Trustpilot profile, take the evaluate address - trustpilot.com/evaluate/ followed by your domain - and paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, test it signed out, and export SVG for print. ### What's the Difference Between /evaluate and /review Links? The /evaluate address opens the review form with the rating stars ready. The /review address opens your public profile, showing your TrustScore and existing reviews. Use /evaluate to ask for a review and /review to show your score. ### Is It Allowed to Ask for Trustpilot Reviews? Yes. Trustpilot permits and expects businesses to invite reviews, provided the invitation is neutral, goes to all customers rather than a chosen few, and offers nothing in exchange. Asking for a particular rating is not allowed. ### Can I Offer a Discount for a Trustpilot Review? No. Attaching a discount, prize draw or gift to a review request breaches Trustpilot's guidelines. Reviews collected that way can be removed and the profile flagged, which is publicly visible to anyone reading it. ### Will Reviews From a QR Code Be Marked as Verified? No. A printed code produces organic reviews, because one piece of artwork cannot carry a unique order reference. Trustpilot's invitation system is what ties a review to a transaction, so use both if verification matters. ### Which Domain Goes in a Trustpilot Link? The domain your Trustpilot profile is registered under, which is not always your current website. Copy the address from your own profile rather than assembling it, then scan the proof and check the company name on screen. ### Do Customers Need an Account to Review on Trustpilot? Yes, though one can be created during the review. It takes about a minute on a phone. Saying so beside the code makes the step expected rather than a reason to abandon the review halfway through. ### Where Should I Put a Trustpilot QR Code? Where the customer meets you on paper after the sale: a parcel insert, an invoice, a job sheet, a warranty card, or a counter card. Trustpilot suits businesses whose customers never see a shopfront. ### How Small Can a Trustpilot QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm, because an evaluate link is only around 35 characters. On uncoated or recycled stock go larger - absorbent paper spreads ink into the gaps between modules and eats that margin. --- # Make a Feedback QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/feedback-qr-code Create a free feedback QR code that opens your own survey. Where to place it, how long to make the form, and why it isn't the same as a review code. Paste the link to your feedback form, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a receipt, a table card, or a door sign collects comments without anyone typing an address. - Free - no sign-up - Works with any form platform - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Feedback QR Code? A feedback QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a form you own, so scanning it opens that form in the phone's browser. The answers land wherever the form sends them - a spreadsheet, an inbox, a dashboard - and nobody outside your business sees them. That private destination is the whole difference between a feedback code and a review code. ### Feedback Codes and Review Codes Are Not the Same Code Both are a QR code holding a URL. What sits at the end of that URL changes what you may do with it: - **A feedback code points at your own form**: the answers are private, you can ask anything you like, and you can ask everyone. Nothing is published. - **A review code points at a public platform**: Google, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot, Yelp. The answer is published under the customer's name, and the platform's rules apply to how you asked for it. - **Routing people between the two by sentiment is prohibited**: asking how happy someone is and sending only the happy ones to a public review is called review gating, and Google, Trustpilot and Yelp all forbid it. The honest arrangement is to pick one destination per code and print it as what it is. If you want both, put them side by side and let the customer choose - a feedback code labelled “Tell us privately” and a review code labelled “Leave a public review”, with no question in between deciding who sees which. Two codes on one card cost nothing extra to print and cannot be read as filtering. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan opens your form in whatever browser the phone uses, on a screen roughly 6 cm wide, held by someone who is paying, leaving, or waiting for a bus. Three things decide whether an answer arrives. The form must load without a login - a sign-in wall between the scan and the first question loses almost everyone. The first question must be answerable with one tap, because a text box as the opening question reads as work. And the form must be short enough that the whole thing is visible in two or three scrolls; a progress bar showing “1 of 12” is a reason to close the tab. Scan your own printed proof from a phone that is not signed into your form platform, and answer it standing up, to see what your customers actually meet. ## Where Feedback QR Codes Are Used A feedback code works where the experience is still happening, or has just ended - not a week later in an email: - **Table Cards in Restaurants**: Three questions asked while the plates are still on the table, when the detail is accurate and the customer has a minute to spare. - **Printed Receipts**: A code at the foot of the receipt reaches the customer after they have paid, which is the moment the whole visit is settled in their head. - **Hotel Rooms and Checkout Desks**: A card by the kettle catches a problem with the room while it can still be fixed, rather than after it appears in a public review. - **Event and Conference Sessions**: One code per session on the door sign and the last slide, so the feedback is attached to the right talk. - **Product Packaging and Inserts**: A card in the box asks the person who has just unpacked it, which is the only moment they will ever notice the packaging. - **Staff and Internal Feedback**: A code in the break room or on a notice board collects anonymous comments without anyone being seen to fill in a form at their desk. ## How to Create a Feedback QR Code From form to printed code in four steps: - **Build a Form You Can Answer in 30 Seconds**: Three to five questions, the first one tappable. Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, Microsoft Forms and Tally all work - the code only carries the address. - **Take the Shortest Public Link the Platform Offers**: Most form tools publish a short share link alongside the long editor URL. The short one keeps the printed code's modules large and easy to read. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours and a shape that match the receipt, card, or sign the code will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into your form account, submit a real answer, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your feedback QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, kiosk screens, and email signatures - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for table cards, door signs, and packaging inserts - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping into a receipt template at print-ready quality. Receipts are the hard case. Thermal receipt printers work at 203 dpi and print onto paper that fades in a warm car, so a code destined for a receipt should be exported as vector, printed at 20 mm or larger, and tested on the actual till roll rather than on office paper. If the till software only accepts a bitmap, export PNG at the largest size it allows rather than scaling a small one up. ## Best Practices for Feedback QR Codes Feedback codes fail on response rate far more often than they fail on scanning. These habits address both: - **Say How Long the Form Takes**: “Three questions, about 30 seconds” beside the code raises completion more than any change to the code itself. People decline an unknown length, not a short one. - **Ask Everyone the Same Thing**: One code, one form, every customer. Screening by sentiment before deciding what to show is review gating, and it is against the rules of every major review platform. - **Don't Require a Login or an Email Address**: A sign-in wall or a mandatory email field turns a 30-second favour into an account decision. Make contact details optional and say why you want them. - **Prefill the Context You Already Know**: Table number, room, branch, session - fill it in through the form's prefilled-link option and print a code per location, so the answer arrives labelled. - **Put the Code Where the Hands Are**: Table centre, receipt foot, back of the door, top of the box. A code above eye level or behind the till gets looked at and not scanned. - **Keep the First Question Tappable**: A rating, a yes or no, or a set of options. An open text box as question one is where most feedback forms lose their answers. - **Print What Happens Next**: “We read every answer on Monday” or “Reply to the last question and we'll get back to you” gives the reader a reason beyond goodwill. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a busy table card this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a table card held at arm's length, about 20 cm on a wall sign read from 2 metres. - **Review the Form Before Every Reprint**: The printed code never changes, but the form behind it does. A question that no longer matches the business is the most common reason a feedback code stops earning its place. ## FAQ ### What Is a Feedback QR Code? A feedback QR code stores the address of a form you own. Scanning it opens that form on the phone, and the answers go only to you. It differs from a review code, which sends the customer to a public listing on Google, Yelp or Trustpilot. ### How Do I Make a Feedback QR Code for Free? Build a short form on any form platform, copy its public share link, then paste that link into a QR generator as a URL. Style it, test it on a signed-out phone, and export SVG for print. No account or subscription is needed for the code itself. ### What's the Difference Between a Feedback and a Review QR Code? A feedback code opens a private form that only you read. A review code opens a public platform where the comment is published under the customer's name. Feedback lets you ask anything; a review is governed by the platform's rules. ### Can I Send Unhappy Customers to a Form and Happy Ones to Google? No. Filtering customers by how satisfied they are before deciding who is asked for a public review is known as review gating, and Google, Trustpilot and Yelp all prohibit it. Offer both links openly instead and let the customer pick. ### How Many Questions Should a Feedback Form Have? Three to five, with the first answerable in one tap. A scanned form is filled in standing up, one-handed, often while someone else waits. Each extra screen costs answers, and a long form usually collects less usable detail than a short one. ### Can a Feedback QR Code Be Anonymous? Yes, if the form is. The code carries only an address, so anonymity depends entirely on your form settings - turn off email collection and make contact fields optional. Say on the card that the answer is anonymous, because people assume otherwise. ### Where Should I Put a Feedback QR Code? Where the experience ends and the hands are free: the receipt, the table, the checkout desk, the inside of the box, the back of the room door. Placement changes the response rate far more than the size or colour of the code does. ### Can I Use One Code for Every Branch? You can, but the answers arrive unlabelled. Generate one code per branch with the location prefilled in the form link, and you get the same form with the source recorded in the response itself. ### Do Feedback QR Codes Expire? The code does not. The form behind it can - a closing date, a response limit, or a deleted form all end the collection while the printed code keeps scanning. Check the form is still open before every reprint. ### Can I Print a Feedback QR Code on a Receipt? Yes. Print at 20 mm or larger, keep four modules of clear margin, and test on the actual till roll - receipt printers run at around 203 dpi and the paper fades with heat. Export as vector where the till software accepts it. --- # Make a QR Code for Your Linktree Page URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/linktree-qr-code Create a free QR code for your Linktree page. Style it, export print-ready PNG or SVG, and change where it leads without reprinting the code. Enter your linktr.ee address, style the code to match your artwork, and download it print-ready. The links behind it stay yours to change afterwards. - Free - no sign-up - Edit the links, not the code - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Linktree QR Code? A Linktree QR code is a QR code that stores your linktr.ee address - the web address of your link-in-bio page. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser, where every link you have added is listed. The address lives in the pattern; the list behind the address lives in your Linktree account. ### Why This Code Can Be Edited After It Is Printed A printed QR code is fixed. A Linktree page is not, and that difference is the whole point: - **The Code Holds One Address**: linktr.ee/yourname, about 20 characters. It never changes, so the printed pattern never has to. - **The Page Holds the Destinations**: and you edit those in your Linktree account whenever you like. Add a link, reorder, retire an old campaign; the printed code follows along. - **The Account Holds the Handle**: which is the one part that can be lost. A closed or renamed account leaves the printed code pointing at nothing. This is the honest version of what a paid dynamic QR code sells. A dynamic code puts a redirect on the provider's domain and charges monthly to keep it alive; a link-in-bio page puts a page on Linktree's domain and gives you the same after-print edit. Neither is your own domain, so both carry the same underlying risk - see [what actually breaks with subscription QR codes](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). The difference is that one of them costs nothing to keep scanning. ### Linktree's Own QR Code Versus a Generated One Linktree can produce a QR code for your page inside its own dashboard, and it works - it is a standard QR code holding your linktr.ee address, which is exactly what a generated one holds. What differs is what you are allowed to do with it: the styling options in Linktree's own tool depend on the plan you are on, and the download is an image at whatever size that tool gives you. A generated code carries the same address, exports as vector at any size, and can be drawn in your own shape and colours so it sits inside your artwork rather than beside it. For a story sticker or a screen, either is fine. For anything a printer will touch, generate one and export SVG. And where the printed surface is really about one destination rather than a menu of them - a booking page, a repository, a form - a code pointed straight at it converts better: see the [Calendly](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/calendly-qr-code) and [GitHub](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/github-qr-code) pages for those. ## Where Linktree QR Codes Are Used A link-in-bio page earns its place wherever one printed surface has to lead to several destinations: - **Market Stalls and Craft Fairs**: One code on the table reaches the shop, the Instagram account, and the mailing list - and the stallholder reorders those between events without reprinting. - **Musicians' Merch Tables**: Streaming, tickets, and the mailing list change every tour. The card on the merch table does not have to. - **Business Cards for Freelancers**: A portfolio, a rate card, and a booking link behind one code, so the card survives a change of any of them. - **Posters and Flyers for Campaigns**: A flyer printed six weeks before an event can point at the ticket link now and the recap gallery afterwards. - **Packaging and Product Inserts**: Care instructions, a reorder link, and support in one place, on a box that will be printed in a run of ten thousand. - **Shop Windows After Hours**: A closed shop can still hand over the online store, the opening hours, and the delivery partner from one square in the glass. ## How to Create a Linktree QR Code From handle to download in under a minute: - **Settle Your Linktree Handle First**: The handle is the part of the address that gets printed. Change it later and every printed code stops working, so choose the one you intend to keep before generating anything. - **Paste the Full linktr.ee Address**: Choose the URL type and paste linktr.ee/yourname. Include nothing else - no tracking string, no trailing slash - so the pattern stays as sparse as the short address allows. - **Customize the Design**: Pick a shape, set the colors, drop your own logo in the middle. This is the code people will see on a poster, so it should look like your poster. - **Test and Export**: Scan it from a phone before exporting, then take SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Linktree QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for websites, story posts, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for flyers, stickers, and packaging - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a signage supplier at print-ready quality. A linktr.ee address is around 20 characters, which is short enough to encode as a low-version symbol with large, forgiving modules. That is worth protecting. Adding a campaign string like ?utm_source=flyer can push the same code up a symbol version or two and shrink every module in it, and Linktree pages are not where that measurement pays off anyway. ## Best Practices for Linktree QR Codes The code is the easy part here. Almost everything that goes wrong goes wrong on the page behind it: - **Lock the Handle Before You Print**: linktr.ee/yourname is what gets encoded. Renaming the account after a print run leaves every printed code pointing at an address that no longer resolves. - **Put the Most Likely Link at the Top**: Someone who scans a poster in the street is standing up, holding a phone, and will not scroll far. The link the poster is actually about belongs in the first position. - **Say Where the Scan Leads**: “Scan for tickets, menu and directions” sets an expectation. A bare code beside a logo asks the reader to gamble on it. - **Check the Page on a Slow Connection**: A link-in-bio page is a web page with images on it, and it is often scanned in exactly the places with the worst signal - a festival field, a basement bar, a trade-hall aisle. - **Keep the URL Clean**: No tracking parameters, no shortener stacked on top. A shortener adds a second point of failure in front of a page that is already the redirect layer. - **Consider Your Own Domain for Long-Lived Print**: For packaging or signage measured in years, encode a short URL on a domain you own and redirect it to Linktree. A change of platform then costs one edit rather than a reprint. - **Match the Code to the Artwork, Not to Linktree**: The code sits on your flyer, not on your Linktree page. Draw it in the flyer's colours - and keep the modules dark against a light background. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. A busy flyer is the most common place for that margin to be eaten by other artwork. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a business card read at arm's length, about 20 cm on a poster read from 2 metres. - **Rescan After Every Design Change**: A logo enlarged past the error correction budget, or a colour pair with too little contrast, fails on some phones and not others. Test the file you are actually sending to print. ## FAQ ### What Is a Linktree QR Code? A Linktree QR code stores your linktr.ee address. Scanning it opens your link-in-bio page in the phone's browser, listing every destination you have added there. The code holds the address; your account holds the links. ### Can I Change Where the QR Code Leads After Printing? Yes - by editing the links on your Linktree page rather than the code. The printed pattern always points at the same address, so reordering, adding or retiring destinations behind it needs no reprint. ### Do I Need a Dynamic QR Code for This? No. A dynamic code sells an editable redirect on someone else's domain for a monthly fee; a link-in-bio page already gives you that edit for free. Both share the same risk - the address is not on your domain. ### Linktree Has Its Own QR Code - Why Generate One? Linktree's holds the same address, so it scans identically. A generated code exports as vector for print at any size and can be drawn in your own shapes and colours, which matters once it sits on a flyer or a box. ### What Happens if I Change My Linktree Handle? Every printed code pointing at the old handle stops working, with no redirect, and the freed handle can be claimed by someone else. Settle the handle before printing, or encode a redirect on your own domain. ### How Small Can a Linktree QR Code Be Printed? About 2 x 2 cm for close reading, such as a business card or a product tag. The address is short - roughly 20 characters - so the pattern is sparse and tolerates the small end of the range better than most. ### Should I Add a UTM Tag to the Link in the Code? Usually not. A campaign string lengthens the payload and can push the symbol up a version, shrinking every module. If you need to tell one printed code from another, use a separate short redirect on your own domain. ### Can I Put My Own Logo in the Middle of the Code? Yes. Keep it small enough that the error correction can absorb it - as a rule of thumb, no more than about a fifth of the code's width - and rescan the exported file before printing. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Linktree Account? No. A linktr.ee page is an ordinary web page, so any phone camera opens it in the browser. Only the person publishing the page needs an account. ### Can a Linktree QR Code Tell Me How Many People Scanned It? Not by itself - the code is a printed pattern with nothing behind it. Linktree's own analytics count views and clicks on the page, which is the closest measurement and does not distinguish a scan from a tap in a bio. --- # Make a QR Code for a Google Form URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-forms-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Google Form. Use the short forms.gle link, add prefilled answers, and export print-ready PNG or SVG for posters and handouts. Paste your form link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a poster, a handout, or a table card collects answers without anyone typing a URL. - Free - no sign-up - Works with forms.gle short links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Google Forms QR Code? A Google Forms QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Google Form. Scanning it opens the form in the phone's browser, ready to fill in. Nothing about the form lives in the code - only its address - so edits to the questions never affect a code that is already printed. ### Use the Short Link, Not the One in the Address Bar Google gives the same form three different addresses, and they are not equally printable: - **forms.gle/AbCdEf123**: the short link from the form's Send dialog, around 20 characters. This is the one to encode. - **docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc.../viewform**: the address in your browser bar when the form is open. Around 90 characters, and it encodes into a visibly denser pattern. - **.../viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.123456789=Table+4**: a prefilled link. Every answer you prefill adds its field id and its value to the payload, which is how a form link passes 150 characters. The difference is not cosmetic. A payload of about 20 characters fits a small symbol with few, large modules; around 90 characters needs a larger symbol, so the same printed square holds more and smaller modules - each one harder for a camera to resolve at distance or on rough paper. Both scan on a desk. On a poster read from two metres, or on a code printed at 15 mm on a receipt, the short link is what keeps working. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan opens the form in a browser, which means the form's own settings decide what the reader actually sees - and two of those settings turn a working code into a dead end. If “Accepting responses” has been switched off, or a response limit or closing date has passed, the scan lands on a page saying the form is no longer accepting responses; the code is intact, the form is closed. If the form is restricted to your organisation, or set to collect email addresses by requiring sign-in, the scan lands on a Google sign-in screen instead of a question - which is fine for staff and fatal for the public. Check both settings by scanning the printed proof from a phone that is not signed into your account. ## Where Google Forms QR Codes Are Used A form code belongs wherever you want an answer from someone who is standing in front of something, rather than sitting at a computer: - **Feedback Cards on Tables**: A table card asking three questions gets answers while the meal is still on the table, which is when the detail is still accurate. - **Event Sign-Up Sheets**: One code on a poster replaces a clipboard and the handwriting problem that comes with it. - **Classroom Worksheets and Quizzes**: A code at the top of a handout takes a class straight into the quiz without a link written on the board. - **Maintenance and Fault Reports**: A sticker on a machine, a lift, or a meeting room, with the asset already prefilled in the form so the report arrives labelled. - **Conference Session Feedback**: A code on the last slide and on the door sign, one form per session, with the session prefilled in a hidden answer. - **Volunteer and Waiting-List Registration**: A form is enough to collect names and contact details without buying a registration platform for a one-off. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Google Form From form to printed code in four steps: - **Get the Short Link From the Send Dialog**: Open the form, choose Send, pick the link tab, and turn on the shorten-URL option. The forms.gle address it produces is the shortest payload the form has. - **Check the Response and Access Settings**: Confirm the form is accepting responses and that it does not require sign-in, unless every scanner will be signed in to your organisation. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the handout or sign the code will sit on. - **Test and Export**: Scan the code from a phone that is not signed into your Google account, submit a test answer, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google Forms QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, email signatures, and anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for worksheets, posters, table cards, and stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping straight into a handout at print-ready quality. Form codes are printed small more often than most - at the top of a worksheet, on a table card, on an asset sticker - and that is exactly where payload length is felt. A forms.gle link at around 20 characters prints legibly at 15 to 20 mm; the full viewform URL at around 90 characters wants noticeably more room for the same reliability. ## Best Practices for Google Forms QR Codes A form code is scanned once, in a hurry, by someone who is doing something else. These are the habits that respect that: - **Encode the forms.gle Link**: The Send dialog's shortened link is roughly a fifth the length of the address bar URL, which means larger modules in the same printed square. - **Confirm the Form Is Open Before Printing**: A form with responses switched off, a closing date, or a response limit will hand the reader a rejection page. The code cannot tell them that in advance. - **Don't Require Sign-In for a Public Form**: Restricting a form to your organisation, or collecting verified email addresses, puts a Google sign-in screen between the scan and the first question. - **Prefill the Context Instead of Asking for It**: Use the form's own prefilled-link option to fill in the room, table, or machine, so the answer arrives labelled and the reader has one less question to answer. - **Keep Prefilled Values Short**: Every prefilled answer is encoded verbatim, field id included. “Table 4” costs a few characters; a full asset name and a UUID cost enough to change the symbol version. - **Say What the Form Is For and How Long It Takes**: “Three questions, about 30 seconds” beside the code raises completion far more reliably than a larger code does. - **Keep the First Question Answerable on a Phone**: The scan arrives on a phone in portrait. A grid question with eight columns is where a form code loses most of its answers. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a dense worksheet this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a handout, about 20 cm on a hall poster read from 2 metres. - **Test With a Signed-Out Phone**: Your own phone is signed into the account that owns the form, so it sees a version of the page nobody else will. Test on a phone that is not. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Forms QR Code? A Google Forms QR code stores the address of a Google Form. Scanning it opens the form in the phone's browser. The code holds only the address, so editing the questions never breaks a code that is already printed. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Google Form? Open the form, choose Send, take the shortened forms.gle link, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style it, test it on a signed-out phone, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Should I Use the forms.gle Link or the Full URL? Use forms.gle. It is around 20 characters against roughly 90 for the docs.google.com address, so the printed code carries fewer and larger modules - which is what makes it readable at distance and at small sizes. ### Can I Edit the Form After Printing the QR Code? Yes. The code stores the form's address, not its questions, so you can add, reword, or reorder questions freely. What you cannot change is the address itself - that is fixed once the code is printed. ### Why Does My Form Ask People to Sign In? Because the form is restricted to your organisation, or set to collect verified email addresses. Both settings require a Google account. Turn them off for a public form and ask for an email as a normal question instead. ### Can a QR Code Prefill an Answer in the Form? Yes. Use the form's “Get pre-filled link” option and encode that link, and the answer arrives already filled in - useful for the table number, room, or machine the code is stuck to. Keep prefilled values short. ### Do Google Forms QR Codes Expire? The code does not, but the form can. A closing date, a response limit, or responses being switched off will all end the form while the printed code keeps scanning - and the reader only finds out after scanning. ### How Small Can a Google Forms QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm with a forms.gle link, which is small enough for a worksheet header or an asset sticker. The full viewform URL needs noticeably more room for the same reliability. ### Can I Track Which Poster a Response Came From? Yes, by prefilling a hidden question with the location and printing a different code for each one. That is more reliable than scan counting, because it records the answer rather than the scan. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Google Account? Not unless the form requires sign-in. An unrestricted form opens in any phone's browser and can be submitted by anyone, with no account and no app. --- # Make a QR Code for Your Calendly Link URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/calendly-qr-code Create a free QR code for your Calendly booking link. Style it, add tracking or prefilled details, and export print-ready SVG or PNG for cards and signage. Paste your booking link, style the code to match your card or sign, and download it print-ready - so a meeting is booked before the conversation ends. - Free - no sign-up - Any event type or profile - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Calendly QR Code? A Calendly QR code is a QR code that stores a calendly.com booking address. Scanning it opens that booking page in the phone's browser, showing the times you are actually free and the invitee's own time zone. Nothing about your calendar is inside the code - only the address of the page that reads it. ### Which Calendly Link Is Safe to Print? Calendly produces several kinds of link, and they do not all survive being printed: - **calendly.com/yourname**: your profile page, listing every public event type. Around 25 characters, and it stays valid when you add or rename a meeting length. - **calendly.com/yourname/30min**: one event type. The right choice when the printed context already implies the meeting, and it saves the reader a decision. - **A Single-Use or One-Off Meeting Link**: generated for one specific invitee. It stops working once it has been booked or once its window passes, which makes it the one link that must never be printed. The single-use link is the failure worth naming, because it passes every test you are likely to run. You scan it, the page loads, the times look right, and the artwork goes to print. Then one person books, and every subsequent scan of every printed copy lands on a dead link. Before printing, open the link in a private browser window, book nothing, and confirm it is a standing event type or profile rather than a link Calendly generated for a single invitation. ### The Query String Is Where a Printed Code Earns Its Keep A Calendly URL accepts parameters, and two of them turn a printed code from a convenience into something measurable. UTM parameters - utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign - ride through the booking and are recorded with it, so printing calendly.com/yourname/30min?utm_source=booth-sign on the stand and utm_source=business-card on the card tells you which one actually produced meetings. Prefill parameters do the other half: name and email fill the form in advance where you already know them, and a1 fills the first custom question, which is how a code on a property board can arrive with the address already in the booking. Every parameter is encoded verbatim, so keep the values short - “booth” rather than “booth-sign-hall-3-autumn-fair”. Where the meeting that gets booked runs on Zoom, the [Zoom QR code page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/zoom-qr-code) covers what a printed join link hands out, which is a separate problem from getting the booking made. ## Where Calendly QR Codes Are Used A booking code belongs where someone has just decided they want to talk to you and has nothing to write with: - **Trade-Show Stands**: A code on the stand books the follow-up call while the visitor is still standing there, instead of joining a stack of business cards. - **Business Cards and Badges**: A card that books a meeting is doing more than a card that lists an email address nobody will write to. - **Estate Agent Boards and Window Cards**: A viewing booked from the pavement, with the property prefilled in the booking so the appointment arrives labelled. - **Clinic and Salon Reception Desks**: The next appointment booked at the counter without occupying the receptionist or the phone line. - **Printed Proposals and Invoices**: A code at the end of a document is the shortest route from “we should discuss this” to a time in the calendar. - **Office Door and Meeting-Room Signs**: A sign on the door that books office hours or a room walkthrough, instead of a note asking people to email. ## How to Create a Calendly QR Code From booking link to printed card in four steps: - **Copy a Standing Link, Not a Single-Use One**: Take the link from the event type or from your profile page. Never take one generated for a specific invitee - those stop working after one booking. - **Add Tracking or Prefill if You Need It**: Append utm_source to tell one printed surface from another, and name, email, or a1 to prefill the form. Keep every value short - the whole string is encoded. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the address, then style the code so it fits the card or sign it will live on. - **Test and Export**: Scan from a phone in a private window, check the times and the time zone look right, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Calendly QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for email signatures, slide decks, and PDFs read on a screen, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for business cards, stand graphics, and window displays - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or a stand builder at print-ready quality. A bare calendly.com/yourname link is around 25 characters and prints comfortably on a business card at 15 to 20 mm. Adding an event type, two UTM parameters and a prefilled email can triple that, which is enough to move the symbol up several versions - so decide what the query string is worth before spending the modules on it. ## Best Practices for Calendly QR Codes The code is trivial. What makes a booking code work is what the reader finds when the page opens: - **Never Print a Single-Use Link**: It works until the first booking, then fails for every printed copy at once - and the artwork is already out in the world by the time you find out. - **Check the Date Range Setting**: An event type limited to a fixed date range shows no available times once that range has passed, so the scan lands on an empty calendar rather than an error. - **Point Long-Lived Print at the Profile**: calendly.com/yourname survives renaming, adding and retiring individual event types. A specific event-type URL does not. - **Use UTM Parameters to Compare Surfaces**: utm_source=card against utm_source=stand records which printed piece produced each booking, which is more useful than any scan count. - **Prefill What the Context Already Knows**: A code on a property board or a product can prefill the address or the model in the booking form, so the appointment arrives with its subject attached. - **Say What the Scan Books**: “Scan to book a 20-minute call” tells the reader the cost of scanning. A bare code beside a name does not. - **Leave Real Availability Behind It**: A booking page with no free slots for three weeks converts worse than no code at all. Check what the page shows before printing, not after. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side - the first thing squeezed out on a business card where the code shares the back with a logo. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a card held in the hand, about 20 cm on a stand graphic read from 2 metres. - **Test in a Private Window**: Your own browser is signed in and may see the page differently. A private window is the closest thing to the stranger who will actually scan it. ## FAQ ### What Is a Calendly QR Code? A Calendly QR code stores your calendly.com booking address. Scanning it opens the booking page in the phone's browser, showing your real availability in the invitee's own time zone. The code holds only the address. ### Can I Print a Single-Use Calendly Link as a QR Code? No. A single-use link stops working after one booking, so every printed copy dies at once. Print a standing event type or your profile URL, and verify it in a private window before the run. ### Should the Code Point at My Profile or One Event Type? Point at the profile for anything long-lived, because it survives renamed and retired event types. Point at one event type when the printed context already implies the meeting and you want to save a decision. ### Can I Track Which Printed Code Produced a Booking? Yes. Append utm_source to the link - one value per printed surface - and Calendly records it with the booking. That measures outcomes rather than scans, which is the more useful number. ### Can the QR Code Prefill the Booking Form? Yes. Calendly accepts name and email as query parameters, and a1 for the first custom question, so a code on a property board can arrive with the address already filled in. Keep the values short. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Calendly Account? No. The booking page is an ordinary web page and anyone can book from it with a phone camera and a browser. Only the person offering the times needs an account. ### Which Time Zone Does the Scanner See? Their own - Calendly detects the invitee's time zone and shows the times in it. That is what makes a printed code safe to use at an international event or on material that travels. ### How Small Can a Calendly QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm on a business card with a plain calendly.com/yourname link. Adding UTM and prefill parameters lengthens the payload enough to need a larger square for the same reliability. ### What Happens if I Change My Calendly Username? Every printed code pointing at the old address stops working. Settle the username before printing, or encode a short URL on your own domain that redirects to Calendly so a change costs one edit. ### Will the Code Still Work if I Change My Availability? Yes. The code holds the address, not the times, so changing your hours, adding a buffer, or blocking a week changes only what the page shows when someone scans it. --- # Make a QR Code for a Zoom Meeting URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/zoom-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Zoom meeting or webinar link. Understand what a printed join link exposes, style the code, and export print-ready SVG or PNG. Paste the join or registration link, style the code for your signage, and download it print-ready - with a clear view of what a printed join link hands out. - Free - no sign-up - Meetings or webinar registration - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Zoom QR Code? A Zoom QR code is a QR code that stores a Zoom join or registration link. Scanning it opens Zoom on the phone if the app is installed, or Zoom's web page for that meeting if it is not. The meeting ID sits in the link, and on most modern links the passcode sits there too, in the pwd parameter. ### What a Printed Join Link Actually Publishes Three kinds of Zoom link, three very different things to hand a stranger: - **zoom.us/j/?pwd=**: a join link with the passcode embedded. Anyone who photographs the printed code can join, now and at any later occurrence of a recurring meeting. - **Your Personal Meeting ID Room**: a permanent address tied to your account. Print it once and it is a standing door into every meeting you ever hold there. - **zoom.us/webinar/register/...**: a registration link. Each person registers and gets their own unique join link by email, which is the only one of the three designed to be published. A passcode exists to keep uninvited people out of a meeting. Printing the passcode inside a QR code on a public sign removes it - not partially, entirely, and for as long as the sign is up. That is fine for an open community session and wrong for a class, a clinic, a board meeting, or anything covered by a confidentiality obligation. Where the meeting is not public, publish a registration link instead, or publish a page you control that asks for a name before revealing the join link. ### Meeting IDs Have a Shelf Life - Printed Signs Do Not A one-off Zoom meeting ID is retired a while after the meeting date, and a recurring meeting ID is retired after a long enough period without use; Zoom publishes the current windows in its own documentation, and they have changed over time. What matters for print is the shape of the problem rather than the exact number of days: the sign on the wall has no expiry and the meeting ID does. A code printed for a weekly session that pauses over a summer can come back to a dead ID in the autumn. Two things fix it - use a recurring meeting so the ID keeps being used, or point the printed code at a page on your own domain that carries the current join link, so a new meeting costs one edit rather than a reprint of every sign. Where the printed code is meant to let someone choose a time rather than join one already running, a [Calendly booking code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/calendly-qr-code) is the better object to print, because it has no meeting id to expire. ## Where Zoom QR Codes Are Used A Zoom code makes sense where the person joining is physically somewhere else than a keyboard: - **Hybrid Event Signage**: A sign at the venue entrance lets someone who arrived to a full room join the remote stream from the corridor. - **Meeting-Room Door Cards**: A card by the door for the room's standing video link, so a visitor joins without hunting through a calendar invitation. - **Printed Conference Programmes**: One registration code per remote session, printed in the programme, instead of a URL nobody will type from a booklet. - **Classroom and Lecture Handouts**: A code on the handout for the recorded or remote session - with a registration link rather than a bare join link. - **Clinic Appointment Cards**: A telehealth appointment card where the patient scans rather than copying an ID and a passcode by hand. - **Community Notice Boards**: Open sessions - a residents' meeting, a support group, a public consultation - where the meeting is genuinely meant to be public. ## How to Create a Zoom QR Code From meeting link to printed sign in four steps: - **Decide Whether the Meeting Can Be Public**: If it cannot, use a webinar registration link or a page you control instead of a join link. A printed join link with an embedded passcode is a published meeting. - **Copy the Right Link**: Take the invitation link for the specific meeting - not your Personal Meeting ID room, which is permanent and reusable by anyone who kept a photo of the code. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type and paste the whole link, pwd parameter included. Then style the code for the sign it will live on. - **Test and Export**: Scan it from a phone without Zoom installed as well as one with it, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Zoom QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slides, calendar invitations, and digital signage, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for door cards, venue signage, and printed programmes - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for an A4 sign you will print in the office yourself. A Zoom join link with an embedded passcode is one of the longer payloads on this site - commonly 70 to 90 characters, and more on an account with a vanity subdomain. That density is a practical argument for the registration link or your own short redirect: both cut the payload roughly in half, and the same printed square then holds fewer, larger modules. ## Best Practices for Zoom QR Codes Most of these are about who can join rather than about whether the code scans, because that is where a printed Zoom link does its damage: - **Never Print Your Personal Meeting ID**: A PMI room is permanent. A photograph of the code is a permanent key to it, including meetings held in it months later. - **Treat an Embedded Passcode as Published**: The pwd parameter in a join link is the passcode. Once it is printed on a public sign, the meeting is open to anyone who walks past. - **Use a Registration Link for Anything Non-Public**: A webinar registration link gives each attendee their own join link, which is what makes it safe to print in a programme or on a poster. - **Turn On the Waiting Room**: If a join link must be printed, the waiting room puts a host decision between the scan and the room. It is the cheapest available control. - **Prefer a Redirect on Your Own Domain**: A short URL you control lets you change the meeting, add a registration step, or close access entirely without touching the printed signs. - **Watch the Meeting ID's Lifespan**: One-off IDs are retired after the meeting date and unused recurring IDs eventually expire. A permanent sign pointed at a temporary ID is a sign that will stop working. - **Say What the Scan Joins, and When**: “Scan to join the 14:00 session” beside the code prevents the scan at 09:00 that lands in an empty room and reads as broken. - **Test Without the App Installed**: A phone without Zoom lands on Zoom's web page with a download prompt. That is what most first-time scanners see, so it is the path worth checking. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, which is easily lost on an A4 sign where the code is boxed in by a border. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 5 cm on a door card read at arm's length, about 20 cm on a corridor sign read from 2 metres. ## FAQ ### What Is a Zoom QR Code? A Zoom QR code stores a Zoom join or registration link. Scanning it opens the meeting in the Zoom app if installed, or Zoom's web page for it if not. The meeting ID - and usually the passcode - are inside the link. ### Is It Safe to Print a Zoom Join Link as a QR Code? Only if the meeting is genuinely public. Modern join links carry the passcode in the pwd parameter, so a printed code lets anyone who photographs it join. For anything private, print a registration link instead. ### Can I Make a QR Code for My Personal Meeting Room? You can, but you should not print it. A Personal Meeting ID is permanent, so a photograph of the code stays a valid way into any meeting you hold there in the future. ### Do Zoom Meeting IDs Expire? Yes. One-off meeting IDs are retired some time after the meeting date, and recurring IDs are released after a long enough gap without use. Zoom documents the current windows, and they have changed over time. ### What Is the Safest Zoom Link to Print? A webinar registration link, because each attendee receives their own unique join link after registering. Second best is a short URL on your own domain, which you can repoint or switch off without reprinting. ### Does the Person Scanning Need the Zoom App? Not necessarily. Without it, the link opens Zoom's web page, which offers the app and - if the account allows it - a browser join option. Enable browser join before printing codes for the public. ### How Long Is a Zoom Join Link Inside a QR Code? Commonly 70 to 90 characters with the passcode included, and longer on accounts with a vanity subdomain. That is dense enough that a short redirect on your own domain visibly improves a printed sign. ### Can I Change the Meeting Without Reprinting the Sign? Only if the code points at a URL you control. A code holding a zoom.us link is fixed to that meeting; a code holding your own short URL can be repointed at a new meeting in one edit. ### How Big Should a Zoom QR Code Be on a Sign? Roughly a tenth of the reading distance - about 20 cm for a corridor sign read from 2 metres, about 5 cm for a door card. A long join link argues for the larger end of the range. ### Can a Zoom QR Code Track Attendance? Not by itself. A webinar registration link records each registration, which is the closest thing to attendance tracking a printed code can reach - and it is per person rather than per scan. --- # Make a QR Code for a GitHub Profile or Repo URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/github-qr-code Create a free QR code for a GitHub profile, repository, or release. Pick a URL that stays valid, style the code, and export print-ready SVG or PNG. Paste the address, style the code to match your sticker or slide, and download it print-ready - pointed at a URL that will still resolve after the next rename. - Free - no sign-up - Profiles, repos or releases - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a GitHub QR Code? A GitHub QR code is a QR code that stores a github.com address - a profile, a repository, a release, a gist, or a file at a specific commit. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser. GitHub has no app requirement for reading a repository, so the scan works on any phone. ### Which GitHub URL Should Go in the Code? GitHub has several addresses for the same thing, and they age at very different rates: - **github.com/owner/repo/releases/latest**: always redirects to the newest published release. Print this on hardware or documentation instead of a version number that will be wrong within a month. - **github.com/owner/repo/blob//path**: a permalink to a file as it was at one commit. Pressing y on a file page rewrites the branch URL into this form, and it is the only file link that cannot rot. - **github.com/owner/repo/blob/main/README.md**: a branch link. Convenient, but it shows whatever main holds when it is scanned, which for a printed reference may be years of changes later. GitHub does keep redirects when a repository or an account is renamed, so a printed code does not necessarily die on a rename - but the redirect depends on the old name staying unclaimed, and a freed username can be registered by someone else. For anything printed at volume, that is a reason to encode a short URL on a domain you control and point it at GitHub, so a move costs one redirect edit rather than a reprint. ### What the Scan Actually Opens on a Phone A repository page on a phone is a narrow column: the file list, then the README rendered below it. That is readable, and it is why a code on a conference sticker or a dev-board silkscreen works at all. Two things are worth knowing before printing one. A private repository shows a 404 rather than a sign-in prompt to anyone not logged in, so a code pointed at private work looks broken rather than protected - test it from a signed-out phone. And a raw file URL on raw.githubusercontent.com downloads or renders as plain text rather than opening the repository, which is right for a config file and wrong for anything a human is meant to read. ## Where GitHub QR Codes Are Used A code on a physical object is the shortest path from hardware, paper, or a stage to the source behind it: - **Conference Stickers and Badges**: A sticker with a code beats a repository name read aloud from a stage and half-remembered on the way home. - **Hardware and Dev Boards**: A code silkscreened on the board or printed on the box points at the firmware repository and its latest release, for the whole life of the device. - **Printed Documentation and Manuals**: A manual goes out of date the day it is printed. A code to the repository's docs folder is the version that does not. - **Slides and Workshop Handouts**: One code on the final slide, pointed at a permalink, so the example people copy is the example they saw. - **Developer Business Cards**: A profile code carries the work itself rather than a description of it, which is the point of the card. - **Posters at Hackathons and Demo Days**: A judge or a visitor scans the poster and has the project open before they reach the next table. ## How to Create a GitHub QR Code From repository to printed sticker in four steps: - **Choose the URL That Will Age Best**: A profile for a card, /releases/latest for hardware and manuals, a commit permalink for a code excerpt. Avoid branch links and version numbers in anything printed. - **Check It Resolves While Signed Out**: Open the URL in a private window. A private repository returns 404 rather than a sign-in prompt, and that is what your reader will see too. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type and paste the address, then pick a shape and colours. Dark modules on a light ground survive a matte sticker better than an inverted pair. - **Test and Export**: Scan it from a phone, then export SVG or PDF for stickers and silkscreen, PNG for slides. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your GitHub QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slides, READMEs, and documentation sites, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for stickers, silkscreen artwork, and printed manuals - anything scaled without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a sticker printer or a board fabricator at print-ready quality. Payload length is the thing to watch on this page. github.com/owner is around 25 characters and prints small comfortably; a commit permalink to a file deep in a tree can pass 100, which needs a larger symbol or a larger sticker. If a long permalink has to go on something the size of a thumbnail, put a short redirect on your own domain in front of it. ## Best Practices for GitHub QR Codes A printed link to a codebase has one job the code itself cannot do: still be true later. - **Print /releases/latest, Not a Version Number**: That address always redirects to the newest published release, so a manual or a device label never names a version that has been superseded. - **Use Commit Permalinks for Code Excerpts**: A link to a file on a branch shows whatever that branch holds when it is scanned. A permalink to a commit shows what you actually printed alongside. - **Check Private Repositories Return a 404**: GitHub does not prompt signed-out visitors to log in for a repository they cannot see. A code to private work looks broken to everyone outside the org. - **Don't Rely on Rename Redirects for Long-Lived Print**: Renaming a repository or account leaves a redirect, but only while the old name stays unclaimed. Silkscreen and packaging outlive that guarantee. - **Keep the URL Short Enough for the Surface**: A profile URL prints happily at 15 mm. A deep permalink at the same size is a denser symbol on the same square millimetres, and it is where scans start failing. - **Prefer the Repository Page to a Raw File**: A raw.githubusercontent.com link hands a phone plain text or a download. The repository page renders the README, which is what a human scanned for. - **Label What the Code Leads To**: “Firmware and docs” or “source for this talk” beside the code is the difference between a scan and a shrug. - **Watch Contrast on Dark Stickers**: Dark modules on a light ground is what phone cameras expect. If the sticker has to be dark, test the inverted version on several phones before ordering a run. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side - easily lost on a small sticker where the artwork runs to the die line. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a laptop sticker, about 20 cm on a poster read from 2 metres. ## FAQ ### What Is a GitHub QR Code? A GitHub QR code stores a github.com address - a profile, repository, release, or file at a specific commit. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser. No app and no account are needed to read a public repository. ### Which GitHub URL Should I Put in a QR Code? A profile for a business card, github.com/owner/repo/releases/latest for hardware and manuals, and a commit permalink for a code excerpt. Avoid branch links and pinned version numbers in anything printed. ### What Happens if I Rename the Repository? GitHub redirects the old address to the new one, so the printed code usually keeps working - but only while the old name stays unclaimed. If someone else registers it, the redirect stops and the code lands on their project. ### Can I Make a QR Code for a Private Repository? You can, but signed-out visitors get a 404 rather than a sign-in prompt, so the code looks broken to everyone outside the organisation. Point public print at public pages. ### How Do I Link to the Latest Release Without Reprinting? Encode github.com/owner/repo/releases/latest. GitHub redirects it to the newest published release, so a code printed on a device or a manual never names a version that has been superseded. ### How Small Can a GitHub QR Code Be Printed? A profile or repository URL - around 25 to 40 characters - prints reliably from about 15 mm. A long commit permalink needs a larger symbol, so either give it more room or shorten the destination first. ### Why Does My QR Code Download a File? Because it encodes a raw.githubusercontent.com URL, which serves the file itself. Use the github.com/owner/repo/blob/... address if a person is meant to read the page rather than a machine fetch the file. ### Can I Put a QR Code in My README? Yes - export PNG and commit it like any other image. It is worth doing when the README documents hardware, so the printed object and the repository carry the same code. ### Does a GitHub QR Code Work Without the GitHub App? Yes. Public repositories render in any mobile browser, README included. The app changes nothing about whether the scan resolves. ### Can I Tell How Many People Scanned a GitHub Code? Not from the code, and GitHub's traffic insights only cover repositories you own. Encoding a redirect on your own domain is the only reliable way to count scans from a specific poster or sticker run. --- # Make a QR Code for an Online Form URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/form-qr-code Create a free QR code for any online form - Typeform, Jotform, Microsoft Forms, Tally or your own page. Which link to encode, and how to track the source. Paste the link to your form, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a poster, a handout, or a counter card collects submissions without anyone typing a URL. - Free - no sign-up - Works with any form platform - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Form QR Code? A form QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of an online form, so scanning it opens that form in the phone's browser. The questions themselves are never inside the code - only the address - which is why you can rewrite, reorder, or add questions after the code is printed without breaking anything. ### Encode the Share Link, Not the Builder URL Every form platform hands out more than one address for the same form, and they differ in length by a factor of five or more: - **The share link**: tally.so/r/AbCdEf, forms.gle/AbCdEf123, form.typeform.com/to/AbCdEfGh, forms.office.com/r/AbCdEfGhIj. Roughly 17 to 30 characters. This is the one to encode. - **The builder or editor URL**: the address in your browser bar while you are editing. It usually opens a permission-denied page for anyone else, and on some platforms runs past 100 characters. - **The embed URL**: the address inside the iframe snippet. It is written to sit in someone else's page, so on its own it can render without your styling, or not at all. Length is not cosmetic once the code is printed. A payload of around 20 characters fits a small symbol with few, large modules; a payload past 100 needs a larger symbol, so the same printed square holds more and smaller modules - each one harder for a camera to resolve on rough paper, at an angle, or from two metres away. Both scan on a desk. Only the short one keeps working on a poster. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan opens the form in the phone's browser, so the form's own settings decide what the reader sees - and the settings that break a printed code are all invisible from the code itself. A form that has been closed, has hit a response limit, or has passed its deadline will show a rejection page while the code scans perfectly. A form restricted to an organisation, or set to collect verified email addresses, will show a sign-in screen instead of the first question. A form still saved as a draft will show nothing at all. Test the printed proof from a phone that is not signed into the form platform, and submit a real answer, because that is the only check that exercises all three. ## Where Form QR Codes Are Used A form code belongs wherever the person with the answer is standing somewhere, rather than sitting at a computer: - **Job Application Posters**: A code in the window takes a passer-by straight into the application, at the moment they noticed the sign rather than that evening. - **Event Registration and Waiting Lists**: One code on a flyer replaces a clipboard, and with it the handwriting problem and the retyping afterwards. - **Contest and Giveaway Entries**: A code on the stand collects entries with the entrant's own details, typed by them, so nothing is transcribed wrong. - **Fault and Maintenance Reports**: A sticker on a machine or a meeting room, with the asset already prefilled, so the report arrives labelled with what broke. - **Membership and Enquiry Forms**: A code on a leaflet or a counter card catches the enquiry while the person is still interested enough to be holding the leaflet. - **Course and Workshop Sign-Ups**: A code on the noticeboard turns a poster into a booking without a phone number to call during office hours. ## How to Create a Form QR Code From form to printed code in four steps: - **Publish the Form and Copy Its Share Link**: Take the link from the platform's share or send dialog, not from your browser's address bar. Turn on the shortened link option where the platform offers one. - **Add a Source Parameter if You Print More Than One**: Most platforms accept a query parameter that lands in the response - append something like ?source=window-poster so you can tell the placements apart. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the poster, leaflet, or sticker the code will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into the form platform, submit a test answer, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your form QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, social posts, and email signatures - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for posters, leaflets, stickers, and window graphics - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping straight into a handout at print-ready quality. Choose the format before you choose the size, not after. A PNG exported at 300 px is fine on a slide and visibly soft on an A3 poster, because a raster file has one resolution and enlarging it invents nothing. SVG has no fixed size at all - the same file prints a 15 mm sticker and a 1 metre window graphic with identical edges - which is why anything going to a printer should leave as SVG or PDF. ## Best Practices for Form QR Codes A printed form code is scanned once, by someone standing up, who will not come back for a second attempt. These are the habits that respect that: - **Encode the Shortest Public Link**: The share link is typically 20 to 30 characters against 100 or more for a builder URL, which means larger modules in the same printed square. - **Say What the Form Is and How Long It Takes**: “Apply in two minutes” or “Four questions” beside the code raises completion far more reliably than a larger code does. - **Don't Require an Account to Answer**: A sign-in wall between the scan and the first question loses most of the people who scanned. Ask for an email as a normal question instead of a verified one. - **Keep the First Question Tappable**: The scan arrives on a phone in portrait. A rating or a choice opens the form; an essay box, a long grid, or a file upload closes it. - **Tag Each Placement in the Link**: A source parameter per poster tells you which placement worked. It records the answer's origin rather than the scan, which is the more useful of the two facts. - **Check the Form Is Open Before Printing**: Deadlines, response limits, and draft status all leave the code scanning and the form refusing. The reader only discovers that after scanning. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a crowded poster this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a leaflet, about 20 cm on a window poster read from 2 metres. - **Keep the Contrast Dark on Light**: Dark modules on a light background is what phone cameras are tuned for. Inverting it, or dropping the contrast below about 40 per cent, is where a styled code starts hesitating. - **Test on Two Phones Before the Print Run**: One iPhone, one Android, both with the native camera app rather than a scanner app - that is what your readers will use, and it is a two-minute check. ## FAQ ### What Is a Form QR Code? A form QR code stores the web address of an online form. Scanning it opens the form in the phone's browser, ready to fill in. The questions live on the form platform, not in the code, so editing them never breaks a code that is already printed. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Form? Publish the form, copy its short share link, then paste that link into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, scan the proof from a signed-out phone, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Which Form Platforms Work With a QR Code? All of them. Typeform, Jotform, Microsoft Forms, Tally, Google Forms, SurveyMonkey and a contact page on your own site are all just web addresses, and a QR code can hold any web address. ### Which Link Should I Encode? The share link from the platform's share or send dialog, typically 17 to 30 characters. Avoid the builder URL from your address bar, which is longer and often permission-restricted, and the embed URL, which is written to sit inside another page. ### Can I Edit the Form After Printing the Code? Yes. The code holds the address, not the questions, so you can add, reword, or reorder questions freely. What you cannot change is the address itself - that is fixed the moment the code goes to print. ### Can I Tell Which Poster a Submission Came From? Yes. Append a source parameter to the link - one value per placement - and print a different code for each. The value arrives with the response, which is more useful than a scan count because it records completed answers. ### How Small Can a Form QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm with a short share link, which fits a sticker or a worksheet header. A long builder URL needs noticeably more room for the same reliability, which is the practical reason to shorten the link first. ### Do I Need a Dynamic QR Code for a Form? Only if the form's address might change after printing, or you need scan analytics. A static code is free, never expires, and depends on no service staying online - but it points at one address forever. ### Why Does the Code Work for Me but Not for Others? Usually because your browser is signed into the form platform. A draft form, an organisation-restricted form, or an unpublished one opens for the owner and refuses everyone else. Always test signed out. ### Can People Fill In the Form Without an App? Yes. The scan opens a normal web page in the phone's browser, and the native cameras on iOS and Android have handled QR codes without an app for years. No app, and no account unless the form itself demands one. --- # Make a Booking QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/booking-qr-code Create a free booking QR code for appointments, tables or rooms. Link straight to one service, handle timezones, and export print-ready PNG or SVG. Paste your booking link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a door sign, a chair card, or a leaflet takes bookings while nobody is there to answer the phone. - Free - no sign-up - Works with any booking system - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Booking QR Code? A booking QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a booking page, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser with live availability already loaded. The code holds only the address - never the calendar - which is why the slots shown are always current no matter how long ago the sign was printed. ### Link to the Service, Not to Your Account Page Every booking system publishes several addresses for the same business, and the one you choose decides how many taps stand between the scan and a confirmed booking: - **The service or event link**: one treatment, one appointment length, one table type. The scan opens on a calendar of real times. This is what belongs on a printed sign. - **The business or profile page**: your whole menu of services. It costs the reader two or three decisions before they see a single time slot, and each one is a place to give up. - **The dashboard or admin URL**: the address you see while managing bookings. It opens a login screen for everyone else, and it is the single most common wrong link on a printed booking code. The rule of thumb is to print the code beside the thing it books. A code on the door of treatment room two should open treatment room two's calendar; a code on a table should book that size of table; a code on a leaflet about one course should open that course. A business-page link is the right choice in exactly one case - when the sign itself cannot say which service, such as a code on a shop window that covers everything you do. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan opens the booking page live, so the reader sees whatever the system has right now - including nothing. A booking page with no available slots in the visible window shows an empty calendar, and an empty calendar reads as a broken business rather than a busy one. Most systems let you set how far ahead bookings open and how much notice you require; both of those settings decide what a person standing outside your door at nine in the evening sees. Booking pages also render times in the phone's own timezone, which is invisible and correct for a local customer and a real hazard for a remote appointment booked by someone travelling. Scan your printed proof from a phone that is not signed into the booking system, out of hours, before the sign goes up. ## Where Booking QR Codes Are Used A booking code earns its place where somebody wants an appointment at a moment when nobody can take one: - **Salon and Barber Windows**: A code in the window takes the booking from someone who walked past at closing time, which is when a phone number is worth nothing. - **Restaurant Doors and Menus**: A code by the door books a table for another night from the group that just found you full. - **Clinic and Consultation Rooms**: A card at reception books the follow-up before the patient leaves, rather than relying on them to call. - **Trade Stands and Conference Booths**: A code on the stand puts a demo in the visitor's own calendar while they are still standing in front of you. - **Gym and Studio Class Boards**: One code per class on the timetable board turns a wall of times into a booking without the front desk. - **Estate Agent and Property Boards**: A code on the board books a viewing at the moment someone is standing outside the house looking at it. ## How to Create a Booking QR Code From calendar to printed code in four steps: - **Open the Service You Want Booked**: In Calendly, Square Appointments, Fresha, Booksy, Acuity, Setmore, OpenTable or Booking.com, go to the individual service or event and copy its public booking link. - **Check the Availability Window and Notice Period**: Confirm the page shows real slots when you look at it out of hours. Minimum notice and booking-horizon settings are what leave a calendar looking empty. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours and a shape that match the door sign, chair card, or leaflet the code will sit on. - **Test Signed Out, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into the booking system, take a test booking, cancel it, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your booking QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for social posts, email signatures, and screens at reception - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for window vinyl, door signs, chair cards, and leaflets - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping straight into a leaflet at print-ready quality. Window graphics are the case that catches people out. A code applied to the inside of the glass is read through the glass, at an angle, often with the street reflected in it - so it wants to be larger than the same code on paper, matte rather than gloss where the material allows, and positioned out of the direct line of a reflection. Export as SVG and let the sign maker size it; a PNG sent to a vinyl cutter is where soft edges come from. ## Best Practices for Booking QR Codes A booking code is scanned by somebody standing outside, often in the dark, usually once. These are the habits that turn that scan into a confirmed appointment: - **Point at One Service, Not the Whole Menu**: A service link opens on real times. A business page opens on a decision, and every decision between the scan and the calendar costs bookings. - **Print the Words “Book Now” Beside It**: A bare code on a door could be a menu, a website, or a Wi-Fi password. Two words remove the guess and are worth more than a larger code. - **Check the Page Out of Hours**: The most valuable scans happen when you are closed. Look at your own booking page at 9pm on a Sunday and fix whatever it shows then. - **Keep Enough Slots Open to Look Alive**: An empty calendar reads as a closed business. If your notice period hides everything for 48 hours, say so in print rather than letting the page say nothing. - **Say What the Booking Costs and Commits To**: Deposit, cancellation window, duration. Somebody scanning a sign in the street has none of the context a returning customer has. - **Use One Code per Room, Chair, or Table**: A code that books the exact thing it is stuck to needs no explanation, and the booking arrives labelled with where it came from. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a busy window graphic this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 3 cm on a card held in the hand, about 20 cm on a window read from 2 metres across a pavement. - **Mind the Timezone for Remote Appointments**: Booking pages render slots in the visitor's own timezone. That is right for a walk-in and wrong for a call, so state the timezone in print when the appointment is remote. - **Test the Whole Booking, Not Just the Scan**: Scan it, pick a slot, complete the booking, then cancel it. Payment steps, required fields, and confirmation emails all fail after the part most people test. ## FAQ ### What Is a Booking QR Code? A booking QR code stores the address of an online booking page. Scanning it opens that page with live availability, so the customer books directly from a printed sign. The calendar is never inside the code, so the times shown are always current. ### How Do I Make a Booking QR Code for Free? Copy the public booking link for one service from your booking system, paste it into a QR generator as a URL, style the code, and export SVG for print. The code costs nothing and does not expire; your booking system is the only paid part. ### Which Booking Systems Work With a QR Code? Any system with a public booking page - Calendly, Square Appointments, Fresha, Booksy, Acuity, Setmore, SimplyBook, OpenTable, Booking.com and most others. A QR code holds a web address, so whatever opens in a browser can be encoded. ### Should the Code Link to One Service or My Whole Page? One service, whenever the sign itself says which. A service link opens on real times; a business page opens on a menu, and each extra choice between the scan and the calendar loses bookings. Use the business page only for a general shop-window code. ### Can I Take Bookings While I'm Closed? Yes - that is the main reason to print one. The booking page is live around the clock, so a code on the door converts the people who arrive after closing. Check what the page shows at that hour, because notice-period settings can hide every slot. ### Does the Customer Need an App to Book? No. The scan opens a normal web page in the phone's browser, and the native cameras on iOS and Android read QR codes without any app. An account is only needed if your booking system insists on one. ### Will the Times Show in the Customer's Timezone? Usually yes - most booking pages render slots in the visitor's own timezone. That is correct for a walk-in customer and a hazard for a remote appointment, so fix the timezone on the service and print it beside the code when the meeting is online. ### Can I Change the Booking Link After Printing the Code? Not with a static code, which points at one address forever. Either keep the link stable, use your own domain with a redirect you control, or use a dynamic code and accept that it depends on that service staying online. ### How Big Should a Booking QR Code Be on a Window? About a tenth of the reading distance, so roughly 20 cm for a code read from 2 metres across a pavement. Glass adds reflections and an angle, so size up rather than down, and use a matte finish where the material allows. ### Can I See Which Sign a Booking Came From? Yes, if you print a different code per placement and add a source parameter or use a distinct service link for each. That records completed bookings by origin, which is more useful than counting scans. --- # Make a QR Code for a Google Doc URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-docs-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Google Doc. Share a clean read-only view, hand out a copy, or link a PDF - and set the sharing so the scan doesn't ask for access. Paste your document link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a handout, a notice, or a pack of materials opens on a phone without anyone typing an address. - Free - no sign-up - Works with view, copy and PDF links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Google Docs QR Code? A Google Docs QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Google Doc, so scanning it opens that document in the phone's browser. Only the address is inside the code, never the text, which is why you can keep editing the document after the code is printed and every future scan shows the current version. ### Change the End of the Link, Change What the Scan Does A Google Docs URL ends with /edit, and that last segment is interchangeable. Swapping it is the most useful thing you can do to a document link before encoding it: - **/edit**: the address from your browser bar. It opens the editor, with a toolbar, a comment sidebar, and an invitation to change your document. - **/preview**: a clean read-only page with no Docs interface at all. This is the one for a handout, a notice, or anything meant to be read rather than worked on. - **/copy**: opens a “Make a copy” prompt, so the reader ends up editing their own duplicate. This is how you hand out a template without twenty people typing into one file. - **/export?format=pdf**: downloads the document as a PDF instead of opening it. Useful for a form somebody has to print, awkward for anything meant to be read on the phone. All four are roughly the same length, because the document id is 40-odd characters and dominates the URL either way. So the choice costs nothing in module size and changes the whole experience of the scan. Pick /preview for reading, /copy for templates, /edit only when you genuinely want collaborators, and check which one you pasted before the artwork goes to print. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan opens the document under the sharing rules the document has, and that is where printed Docs codes fail. A document left on its default setting is private to you and to anyone you named, so every other scan lands on “You need access” with a request button - and your phone will not show you that, because your phone is signed in as the owner. The fix is one setting: General access set to “Anyone with the link”, with the role set to Viewer for a handout and Commenter or Editor only when you mean it. Organisation accounts add a second trap, because “Anyone in your organisation with the link” looks permissive in the dialog and refuses every scan from outside it. Test the printed proof in a private browser window, which is signed into nothing. ## Where Google Docs QR Codes Are Used A Docs code belongs where a paper thing needs a longer, editable, or shareable companion: - **Classroom Handouts and Reading Lists**: A code at the top of a worksheet opens the full text, the links, and the reading list that would not fit on the page. - **Template Packs for Workshops**: A /copy link gives every attendee their own editable duplicate instead of thirty people typing into the same document. - **Conference Papers and Speaker Notes**: A code on the last slide or the badge opens the written version, which is what people actually cite afterwards. - **Policies and Notices on Staff Boards**: A code beside a summary opens the full policy, and the policy can be corrected without reprinting the board. - **Recipes, Instructions and Assembly Notes**: A code on packaging opens step-by-step text that can be expanded when customers ask the same question twice. - **Meeting Agendas and Minutes**: A code on the printed agenda opens the live minutes, so nobody has to email the document round afterwards. ## How to Create a Google Docs QR Code From document to printed code in four steps: - **Set Sharing to Anyone With the Link**: Open Share, set General access to “Anyone with the link”, and choose Viewer for a handout. This is the step that decides whether strangers can open it at all. - **Decide What the Scan Should Do**: Copy the link, then replace the trailing /edit with /preview for a clean read, /copy to hand out a template, or /export?format=pdf for a download. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the handout, notice, or pack the code will sit on. - **Test in a Private Window, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into your Google account, confirm the document opens, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google Docs QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, email signatures, and shared screens - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for handouts, notices, packs, and labels - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for dropping straight into a document at print-ready quality. A Google Docs URL is around 90 characters, dominated by the 44-character document id, and no amount of tidying will shorten it much. That length is worth planning around rather than fighting: give the code a little more room than you would give a short link, keep the module shape simple, and print at 20 mm or larger on a handout. If the code has to be tiny, put the document behind a short link on your own domain and encode that instead. ## Best Practices for Google Docs QR Codes Almost everything that goes wrong with a printed Docs code is a sharing setting or the wrong link ending. These are the habits that avoid both: - **Set Access Before You Generate the Code**: “Anyone with the link - Viewer” is the setting a public handout needs. Do it first, so the link you copy is one you have already made openable. - **Use /preview for Anything Meant to Be Read**: It strips the toolbars and the comment sidebar, which on a phone screen are most of what the reader sees when you send them to /edit. - **Use /copy to Hand Out a Template**: Every reader gets their own duplicate, your original stays untouched, and you avoid the alternative of granting edit access to strangers. - **Never Print an Edit Link for a Public Audience**: Anyone with an edit link can rewrite or delete the contents. Version history will recover it, but only after somebody notices. - **Check the Document on a Phone First**: Wide tables, multi-column layouts, and large images reflow badly on a 6 cm screen. The scan is a phone scan, so proof it as one. - **Keep the Document, Not the Link, as the Thing That Changes**: The document id survives renaming and moving between folders. Deleting the document and making a new one is what breaks a printed code. - **Say What Is Behind the Code**: “Full policy”, “Editable template”, “Recipe and timings”. A bare code on a notice gives the reader no reason to spend a scan on it. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a dense handout header this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for a Long Payload**: A 90-character URL packs more and smaller modules into the same square, so print at 20 mm or more on a handout and about a tenth of the reading distance on a wall. - **Test From an Account That Isn't Yours**: Your own phone is signed in as the owner and sees a document nobody else can. A private browser window is the two-second version of this check. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Docs QR Code? A Google Docs QR code stores the web address of a Google Doc. Scanning it opens the document in the phone's browser. The text lives in Google Drive, not in the code, so editing the document never breaks a code that is already printed. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Google Doc? Set the document's sharing to “Anyone with the link”, copy the link, replace /edit with /preview, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, test it in a private browser window, and export SVG for print. ### Why Does My Google Docs QR Code Say “You Need Access”? Because the document is still restricted to named people. Open Share and set General access to “Anyone with the link” with the Viewer role. Your own phone hides this problem, because it is signed in as the owner. ### How Do I Share a Google Doc Without the Editing Toolbar? Replace the trailing /edit in the link with /preview before encoding it. That opens a clean read-only page with no Docs interface, which is far easier to read on a phone and cannot be accidentally edited. ### Can a QR Code Give Everyone Their Own Copy of a Document? Yes. Replace /edit with /copy in the link and encode that. Each reader is prompted to make their own duplicate in their own Drive, which is the correct way to hand out a template to a room full of people. ### Can I Link Straight to a PDF of the Document? Yes. Replace /edit with /export?format=pdf and the scan downloads a PDF instead of opening the document. It suits anything meant to be printed, and reads worse than /preview for anything meant to be read on the phone. ### Can I Edit the Document After Printing the QR Code? Yes, and that is the main advantage. The code holds the document's address, so every future scan shows the current version. Renaming the document and moving it between folders are also safe; deleting it is not. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Google Account? Not if the document is set to “Anyone with the link”. It opens in any phone browser without signing in. A /copy link is the exception - saving a copy to Drive does require the reader to have an account. ### Why Is a Google Docs QR Code So Dense? Because a Docs URL runs to around 90 characters, most of it a 44-character document id. More characters mean more and smaller modules in the same printed square, so give the code extra room or hide the link behind a short URL you control. ### Is It Safe to Put a Google Doc Behind a Public QR Code? It is as public as the code. Anyone who photographs the code, or the document link, can pass it on, and link-based sharing has no way to identify who opened it. Keep anything confidential out of a document reached this way. --- # Make a QR Code for Google Slides URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-slides-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Google Slides deck. Share a read-only view, link one specific slide, and set access so the scan doesn't ask for permission. Paste your presentation link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a handout, a poster, or the last slide itself gives people the deck without an email. - Free - no sign-up - Links a whole deck or one slide - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Google Slides QR Code? A Google Slides QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a Slides presentation, so scanning it opens that deck in the phone's browser. The slides themselves stay in Google Drive - only the address is inside the code - which means you can keep editing the deck after the code is printed and every scan shows the current version. ### Four Endings, Four Different Scans A Slides URL ends with /edit, and that final segment decides what the reader gets. All four are within a few characters of each other, so the choice is free: - **/edit**: the address from your browser bar. It opens the editor, complete with the slide panel and an invitation to change your deck. - **/preview**: a clean read-only view with no Slides interface. The best default for a handout: it scrolls, it works one-handed, and nothing can be altered. - **/present**: full-screen presentation mode. Right for a screen you control, harder on a phone, where the reader gets one slide filling the display and has to swipe. - **/export/pdf**: downloads the whole deck as a PDF. Useful when the audience needs to keep or print it, and heavier than a link for anyone just having a look. There is a fifth option that behaves differently from all of these. File, then Share, then “Publish to the web” creates a separate published copy at a /pub address, viewable by anyone with no Drive permissions involved at all - which is what you want when your organisation blocks external sharing. The trade-off is that a published deck is a snapshot Google refreshes on its own schedule rather than a live view, and it has to be republished if you ever unpublish it. ### Link One Slide, Not the Whole Deck Slides writes the current slide into the address bar as you click through a presentation, as a fragment ending in #slide=id.g followed by that slide's own identifier. Copy the address while the slide you want is open, and the code you build from it lands the reader on that slide instead of on slide one. This is what makes a code useful on a poster board, where the deck is a reference and the reader only wants the one diagram, or on a printed agenda, where each session can point at its own section. The fragment adds around 20 characters to an already long URL, and the id belongs to the slide rather than to its position - so reordering the deck keeps the link pointing at the right slide, while deleting that slide breaks it. ## Where Google Slides QR Codes Are Used A Slides code belongs wherever the deck is worth more to the audience than the room it was shown in: - **The Last Slide of Your Own Talk**: A code on the closing slide gives the room the deck while they are still sitting in it, which is the only moment everybody is looking. - **Conference Poster Boards**: A code on the poster opens the full deck, the data, and the slides that would never fit on A0. - **Classroom and Lecture Handouts**: A code at the top of a worksheet opens the lesson slides, so students revise from the same material rather than from their photographs of it. - **Trade Stand Panels**: One code per panel, each pointing at its own slide, turns a static display into a deck the visitor takes with them. - **Onboarding and Training Packs**: A code on the printed pack opens the walkthrough, and the walkthrough can be corrected without reprinting the pack. - **Investor and Client Leave-Behinds**: A code on the one-pager opens the full deck for the people who read it after the meeting, when the room is no longer there to explain it. ## How to Create a Google Slides QR Code From presentation to printed code in four steps: - **Set Sharing to Anyone With the Link**: Open Share, set General access to “Anyone with the link”, and pick Viewer. Without this step, every scan from outside your account asks for permission. - **Open the Slide You Want and Copy the Address**: For the whole deck, take the link and replace /edit with /preview. For one slide, click it first so the address bar carries its #slide fragment, then copy the whole thing. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the slide, poster, or handout the code will sit on. - **Test in a Private Window, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into your Google account, check it opens on the right slide, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google Slides QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for the slide itself, for screens, and for email - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for posters, handouts, and stand panels - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a leave-behind produced at print-ready quality. A code that lives on a projected slide has its own rule: it is read from the back of the room, so size it against that distance rather than against the slide. On a 16:9 deck shown at typical conference scale, a code occupying about a fifth of the slide's height is a safe minimum, placed away from the edges where a projector crops and away from any gradient background. Export PNG for the slide, since the deck is going to a screen, and keep the SVG for the printed version of the same artwork. ## Best Practices for Google Slides QR Codes A deck code is usually scanned by a room full of people at once, from a distance, in one shot. These are the habits that survive that: - **Set Access Before You Generate the Code**: “Anyone with the link - Viewer” is what a public deck needs. Do it first, so the link you copy is already one that opens for strangers. - **Use /preview for Handouts**: It removes the editor interface and reads far better on a phone than either the editor or full-screen presentation mode. - **Leave the Closing Slide Up Long Enough to Scan**: Thirty seconds and a sentence of explanation. A code that appears for four seconds during the applause reaches nobody. - **Point at the Slide, Not the Deck, When It Matters**: The #slide fragment lands the reader on one specific slide. On a poster or a stand panel that is the difference between an answer and a search. - **Never Print an Edit Link**: Anyone with an edit link can rewrite or delete slides. Version history recovers the deck, but only after somebody notices it changed. - **Publish to the Web if Your Organisation Blocks Sharing**: A published /pub link needs no Drive permissions at all, which is the usual way around an admin policy that forbids external link sharing. - **Put the Code on a Plain Background**: Photographs, gradients, and dark themes behind a code all cost the camera contrast. A white panel around the code costs you nothing. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and on a projected slide keep the whole thing clear of the edges, where projectors crop. - **Size It for a Long Payload and a Long Distance**: A Slides URL runs past 90 characters, and with a slide fragment past 110, so it packs small modules - give it about a fifth of the slide height, or a tenth of the reading distance in print. - **Test From an Account That Isn't Yours**: Your own phone is signed in as the owner and opens a deck nobody else can. A private browser window is the two-second version of this check. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Slides QR Code? A Google Slides QR code stores the web address of a Slides presentation. Scanning it opens the deck in the phone's browser. The slides stay in Google Drive, so editing them never breaks a code that is already printed. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Google Slides Presentation? Set sharing to “Anyone with the link”, copy the presentation link, replace /edit with /preview, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, test it in a private browser window, and export SVG for print or PNG for the slide. ### Can a QR Code Open One Specific Slide? Yes. Click the slide you want so the address bar shows a fragment ending in #slide=id.g…, copy the whole address, and encode it. The reader lands on that slide. The id belongs to the slide, so reordering the deck does not break the link. ### Why Does My Slides QR Code Ask for Access? Because the presentation is still restricted to named people. Set General access to “Anyone with the link” with the Viewer role. Your own phone hides the problem, since it is signed in as the owner - always test signed out. ### Should I Link to /preview or /present? Use /preview for anything scanned on a phone. It scrolls, works one-handed, and shows the whole deck. Use /present for a screen you control, where full-screen mode is an advantage rather than a slide filling a 6 cm display. ### Can People View the Deck Without a Google Account? Yes, if sharing is set to “Anyone with the link”. The deck opens in any phone browser with no sign-in. A published-to-the-web link works the same way and needs no Drive permission at all. ### Can I Edit the Presentation After Printing the Code? Yes. The code holds the deck's address, not its contents, so every scan shows the current version - which is exactly why a code on a printed handout beats a PDF attachment. Deleting the presentation is the one change that breaks it. ### How Big Should the QR Code Be on a Slide? About a fifth of the slide height for a room-sized audience, on a plain light panel and away from the slide edges where projectors crop. Size it against the distance from the back row, not against the slide. ### Can I Link to a PDF of the Slides Instead? Yes. Replace /edit with /export/pdf and the scan downloads the deck as a PDF. It suits an audience that needs to keep or print it, and it is a heavier experience than /preview for anyone just taking a look. ### What if My Company Blocks External Link Sharing? Use File, Share, Publish to the web. That creates a separate public copy at a /pub address which needs no Drive permissions. It is a snapshot Google refreshes on its own schedule rather than a live view of the deck. --- # Make a QR Code for Google Drive URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/google-drive-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Google Drive file or folder. Set link sharing, link a direct download, and avoid the quota that kills a popular file. Paste your Drive link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a poster, a pack, or a label hands over a file without an email or a USB stick. - Free - no sign-up - Works with files and folders - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Google Drive QR Code? A Google Drive QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a file or folder in Google Drive, so scanning it opens that item in the phone's browser. The file itself never enters the code - only its address - which is why a 400 MB video and a one-page PDF produce codes of exactly the same size. ### File, Folder, or Direct Download Drive gives three useful addresses, and they behave differently on a phone. Each is built around the same 33-character file id: - **drive.google.com/file/d//view**: one file in Drive's own preview. PDFs, images and video play in the browser, which is what most printed codes should point at. - **drive.google.com/drive/folders/**: a folder listing. The reader sees whatever is in it at the moment they scan, including anything you add later by accident. - **drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=**: starts the download immediately, with no preview. Right for a file meant to be kept, wrong for anything meant to be looked at once. Prefer the file link over the folder link whenever the printed piece names one thing. A folder is a live surface: it shows what is in it right now, its contents can be renamed under a reader who bookmarked it, and it exposes every file you drop in later to everyone who ever scanned the code. A folder code is the right answer for a genuine collection - a conference's slide archive, a product's manual set - and the wrong one for “the PDF from the poster”. ### What Happens After the Scan Two settings decide whether the scan works for anyone but you, and both are invisible from your own phone. The first is sharing: a Drive item defaults to private, so unless General access is set to “Anyone with the link”, every outside scan lands on a request-access screen while your own phone opens the file perfectly. The second is quota. Google applies a download and view limit to files that get an unusual amount of traffic, and a file that hits it answers “Sorry, you can't view or download this file at this time” for roughly 24 hours - to everybody, including you. A QR code printed at scale is exactly the kind of traffic that triggers it, which is why a file expected to be popular belongs on ordinary web hosting rather than in Drive. Test the printed proof in a private browser window before the run, and put anything you expect thousands of scans on somewhere without a quota. ## Where Google Drive QR Codes Are Used A Drive code belongs where a file has to reach somebody who is standing next to a physical thing: - **Manuals on Equipment Labels**: A sticker on the machine opens the manual, and the manual can be updated without anyone recalling the label. - **Menus, Price Lists and Brochures**: A PDF behind a code on the door means one file to update instead of a reprint each time a price moves. - **Event Photo Folders**: A folder code on a table card lets guests collect the photographs afterwards without an app or a mailing list. - **Portfolios and Press Kits**: A code on a business card or a stand hands over the whole pack, at full resolution, without an attachment limit. - **Course Materials and Reading Packs**: One folder per module, one code per printed handout, and students find the files without a login to a learning system. - **Property and Vehicle Documents**: A code on the board or the window opens floor plans, certificates, or a service history at the moment somebody is standing in front of it. ## How to Create a Google Drive QR Code From file to printed code in four steps: - **Set Sharing to Anyone With the Link**: Right-click the file or folder, choose Share, set General access to “Anyone with the link”, and pick Viewer. Nothing else in this list matters until this is done. - **Copy the Link You Actually Want**: Use the file link for a single item, the folder link for a genuine collection, or rebuild it as drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id= to download straight away. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the label, poster, or pack the code will sit on. - **Test in a Private Window, Then Export**: Scan the proof from a phone that is not signed into your Google account, open the file, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Google Drive QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for slide decks, screens, and email signatures - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for equipment labels, posters, packs, and window signs - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a document that carries the code at print-ready quality. Equipment labels are where Drive codes are hardest on the printing. A label on a machine lives with oil, cleaning fluid, sunlight and abrasion, so it wants a laminated or synthetic stock, a size well above the theoretical minimum, and the highest error correction the design allows - which lets the symbol keep decoding with a corner scratched away. Export as SVG so the label printer can scale it, and expect to replace the label long before the file behind it changes. ## Best Practices for Google Drive QR Codes Drive codes fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the code, so most of these habits are about the file behind it: - **Set Access Before You Generate the Code**: “Anyone with the link - Viewer” is what a public file needs. Your own phone will open a private file happily, so this must be set rather than tested for. - **Link a File, Not a Folder, Unless It Is Really a Collection**: A folder shows whatever it contains at scan time. Anything you add to it later becomes public to everyone who has ever seen the code. - **Don't Put a High-Traffic File in Drive**: Drive limits downloads on files with unusual traffic and blocks them for about a day. For a print run of any size, host the file on a normal web server instead. - **Say What the File Is and How Big**: “Manual, PDF, 4 MB” beside the code lets someone on mobile data decide. A bare code that starts a 300 MB download is a bad surprise. - **Keep the Same File Rather Than Uploading a New One**: The file id survives renaming and moving between folders. Uploading a replacement creates a new id and breaks every printed code. - **Use the Direct-Download Link Only When Downloading Is the Point**: It skips the preview entirely, which is right for a template someone must keep and wrong for anything they only want to read once. - **Check Large Files Are Actually Downloadable**: Above roughly 100 MB, Drive shows a page saying it cannot scan the file for viruses before letting the download proceed. It works, but the reader has to tap through it. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On an equipment label crowded with warnings, this is the first thing a layout squeezes out. - **Size It for a Long Payload**: A Drive URL runs to around 60 characters or more, so the symbol packs smaller modules - print at 20 mm or larger on a label, and about a tenth of the reading distance on a sign. - **Test From an Account That Isn't Yours**: A private browser window is signed into nothing, which is the state your readers are in. It catches the sharing mistake that survives every other check. ## FAQ ### What Is a Google Drive QR Code? A Google Drive QR code stores the address of a file or folder in Drive. Scanning it opens that item in the phone's browser. The file stays in Drive, so a code for a 400 MB video is exactly the same size as one for a small PDF. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Google Drive File? Set the file's sharing to “Anyone with the link”, copy its link, then paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, scan the proof in a private browser window, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Why Does My Drive QR Code Ask for Access? Because the file is still private. Open Share and set General access to “Anyone with the link” with the Viewer role. Your own phone opens it either way, since it is signed in as the owner, so always test signed out. ### Can a QR Code Download a File Straight Away? Yes. Rebuild the link as drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id= followed by the file id, and the scan starts the download with no preview. Use it for files meant to be kept, not for anything meant to be read once. ### Should I Link to a File or a Folder? Link a file whenever the printed piece names one thing. A folder shows whatever it contains at the moment of the scan, which means anything you add to it later becomes visible to everyone who ever scanned the code. ### Can a Google Drive QR Code Stop Working From Too Many Scans? Yes. Drive limits downloads on files with unusually high traffic and returns “you can't view or download this file at this time” for around a day. For a large print run, host the file on ordinary web hosting instead. ### Can I Update the File After Printing the Code? Yes, if you keep the same file. Use File, Manage versions to upload a new version, which preserves the id in the printed link. Uploading a separate new file creates a new id and breaks every code already printed. ### Does the Person Scanning Need a Google Account? No, as long as sharing is set to “Anyone with the link”. The file opens in any phone browser without signing in. Saving a copy into their own Drive is the only step that needs an account. ### Is a Drive QR Code Private? No. A link-shared file is open to anyone who has the link, and a printed code can be photographed and passed on. Drive records no identity for link access, so keep anything confidential out of a file reached this way. ### How Big Should a Google Drive QR Code Be Printed? At least 20 mm on a label or handout, and roughly a tenth of the reading distance on a sign. A Drive URL is long, so the symbol packs smaller modules than a short link at the same size - err upwards rather than down. --- # Make a QR Code for an Amazon Product or Store URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/amazon-qr-code Create a free QR code for an Amazon product, storefront, or wish list. Use the short /dp/ URL, style the code, and export print-ready SVG or PNG. Paste the product or storefront link, style the code to match your packaging, and download it print-ready - with a URL short enough to print small. - Free - no sign-up - Products, storefronts or lists - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is an Amazon QR Code? An Amazon QR code is a QR code that stores an amazon.com address - a product page, a seller storefront, a wish list, or a registry. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser, or in the Amazon app if it is installed and set to handle Amazon links. The address is all the code holds; price, stock and reviews come from Amazon at the moment of the scan. ### Shorten the URL Before You Encode It The address Amazon puts in your browser bar is not the address to print: - **amazon.com/dp/B0XXXXXXXX**: the canonical product form. The ten-character ASIN is the product; everything else in a long Amazon URL is decoration. Around 25 characters in total. - **amazon.com/Product-Title-Words-Here/dp/B0XXXXXXXX/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=...**: what copying from the address bar gives you. The title slug and the ref and keyword parameters can push it past 150 characters. - **amazon.com/shops/yourbrand**: a storefront, which stays valid across your whole catalogue and does not die when one ASIN is retired. Length is not a style preference here. A payload of around 25 characters encodes into a small symbol with large modules that survives a 15 mm print on a box; a 150-character payload needs a much larger symbol, so at the same printed size every module shrinks and the scan gets harder in exactly the conditions packaging offers - matte board, curved surfaces, indoor light. Cut the URL back to /dp/ASIN and test it before assuming it redirects the same way. ### Which Country's Amazon Does the Scan Open? An Amazon QR code encodes one marketplace domain, and that decision is printed permanently. A code holding amazon.com opens the United States store for everyone who scans it, including the buyer standing in a shop in Berlin who would have bought from amazon.de. Amazon may offer them a redirect, but it may also show a product that does not ship to their address, in a currency they do not use. There is no single URL that resolves to a reader's own marketplace. If the print run stays in one country, encode that country's domain - amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.co.jp. If it crosses borders, encode a page on your own domain that sends the visitor to the right marketplace, and keep the printed code pointed at that instead. ## Where Amazon QR Codes Are Used Most of these codes are printed by sellers rather than by shoppers, and they cluster around the moment the product is physically in someone's hands: - **Product Packaging and Inserts**: A code on the box that opens the product page for reordering, spare parts, or the rest of the range. - **Instruction Leaflets and Manuals**: Setup video, full manual, and support in one code, so the printed leaflet can stay a single folded sheet. - **Shelf Talkers and Trade-Show Stands**: A code beside a display sample lets a visitor buy the thing they are holding without finding it by name later. - **Author and Maker Promotion**: A code on a bookmark, a poster, or a stall sign points at the listing rather than at a search that may surface a competitor. - **Wish Lists and Registries**: A wedding or baby registry code on an invitation is easier to hand around than a link nobody can type accurately. - **Print Ads and Catalogues**: A catalogue page can carry one code per product, each pointed at its own ASIN, without printing a single URL. ## How to Create an Amazon QR Code From listing to printed code in four steps: - **Find the ASIN and Build the Short URL**: The ASIN is the ten-character code in the product URL after /dp/, and it is also listed in the product details section. Rebuild the address as amazon./dp/ASIN. - **Pick the Right Marketplace Domain**: Encode the domain your buyers actually shop on. For a print run that crosses borders, point the code at your own page and route from there. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the address, then style the code to sit inside your packaging artwork rather than beside it. - **Test and Export**: Scan it from a phone with the Amazon app installed and one without, confirm it lands on the right listing, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Amazon QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for listing images, email newsletters, and slides, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for cartons, labels, leaflets, and shelf talkers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a packaging printer at print-ready quality, alongside the rest of the artwork. Packaging is the hardest surface on this page. Ink spreads on uncoated board, varnish adds glare, and a code on a curved bottle is being read off a distorted plane. Vector export plus a short /dp/ASIN payload is what buys back the margin for all three - and a printed proof scanned under shop lighting is the only test that counts. ## Best Practices for Amazon QR Codes Two of these are about the pattern. The rest are about the fact that Amazon owns the page on the other side of it. - **Encode /dp/ASIN and Nothing Else**: The ten-character ASIN identifies the product. Dropping the title slug and the ref parameters can cut the payload by more than a hundred characters. - **Print the Marketplace You Sell On**: A .com code shows the US store to a reader in Europe. Match the domain to where the printed material will actually be read. - **Prefer a Storefront for Long-Lived Packaging**: An ASIN can be retired, merged, or suppressed. A storefront URL outlives an individual listing, which matters on a carton printed in runs of ten thousand. - **Check What a Package Insert Is Allowed to Say**: Amazon's seller policies restrict inserts: asking for a positive review, offering anything in exchange for one, or using the insert to divert the buyer away from Amazon can all put a selling account at risk. Read the current guidelines before the artwork goes to print. - **Be Careful With Affiliate Tags in Print**: Amazon's Associates terms limit where tagged links may be used, and printed material is not an ordinary approved channel. Check the operating agreement before encoding a tag rather than after. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: “Scan to reorder” or “scan for the full manual” is a reason to lift a phone. A bare code on a box is scanned by almost nobody. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light Board**: Phone cameras expect dark on light. On packaging, an inverted code plus a matte varnish is the combination that fails under shop lighting. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and further from the fold, the seam and the die line than a layout usually wants to allow. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a box held in the hand, about 10 cm on a shelf talker read from a metre. - **Scan the Printed Proof, Not the Screen**: Ink spread, varnish and curvature all happen at the printer. A code that reads perfectly in the artwork can fail on the first carton off the line. ## FAQ ### What Is an Amazon QR Code? An Amazon QR code stores an amazon.com address - a product page, storefront, wish list, or registry. Scanning it opens that page in the browser, or in the Amazon app if the phone is set to handle Amazon links. ### How Do I Shorten an Amazon Product Link for a QR Code? Rebuild it as amazon./dp/ASIN, using the ten-character ASIN from the product URL or the product details. That is around 25 characters, against 150 or more for the full address-bar URL. ### What Is an ASIN? An ASIN is the ten-character identifier Amazon gives every product, shown in the product URL after /dp/ and in the product details. It is all a product URL actually needs. ### Which Amazon Domain Should I Encode? The one your readers shop on. A code holding amazon.com opens the US store for everyone, so print amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, or the local equivalent when the material stays in one country. ### Can I Put a QR Code on My Product Packaging? Yes, and it is the most common use. Check Amazon's current seller guidelines first: inserts and packaging may not ask for positive reviews, offer incentives for them, or divert the buyer away from Amazon. ### Can I Use an Affiliate Link in a Printed QR Code? Check Amazon's Associates operating agreement before you do. It limits where tagged links may be used, and print is not an ordinary approved channel - so this is a terms question rather than a technical one. ### Will the QR Code Still Work if the Listing Changes? A price, title, or image change makes no difference - the code holds only the address. A retired, suppressed, or merged ASIN does break it, which is why long-lived packaging is safer pointed at a storefront. ### How Small Can an Amazon QR Code Be Printed? About 15 to 20 mm with a /dp/ASIN payload on coated board. Uncoated stock, varnish, and curved surfaces all argue for more, and a printed proof is the only honest test. ### Does the Scanner Need the Amazon App? No. The link opens in any mobile browser, where the listing is fully functional. If the app is installed and set to handle Amazon links, the phone may open it instead. ### Can I Track How Many People Scanned the Code? Not from a static code, and Amazon does not report scan counts. Encode a redirect on your own domain if you need to compare one print run against another; the redirect is where the counting happens. --- # Make a QR Code for Your Etsy Shop URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/etsy-qr-code Create a free QR code for your Etsy shop or a listing. Style it to match your packaging, and export print-ready SVG or PNG for tags, cards, and stall signs. Paste your shop or listing address, style the code to match your packaging, and download it print-ready for swing tags, thank-you cards, and market signage. - Free - no sign-up - Shop or single listing - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is an Etsy QR Code? An Etsy QR code is a QR code that stores an etsy.com address - your shop front, a single listing, or a section within the shop. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser, or in the Etsy app if it is installed. The code holds the address only, so prices, stock and photos all come from Etsy at the moment of the scan. ### Shop Link or Listing Link - They Have Different Lifespans Etsy gives you three addresses worth printing, and only one of them is safe on a long print run: - **etsy.com/shop/YourShopName**: your shop front. It survives every listing that comes and goes underneath it, which is what makes it the right code for packaging and tags. - **etsy.com/listing/1234567890**: one item. The numeric id alone resolves, so the title slug after it can be dropped and about forty characters go with it. - **etsy.com/shop/YourShopName?section_id=12345678**: one section of the shop, which is the middle ground: narrower than the shop front, and it does not expire the way a single listing does. Etsy listings run on a four-month cycle: a listing expires and has to be renewed, automatically or by hand. A code printed on a thousand swing tags and pointed at one listing is a code that depends on that renewal continuing for as long as the tags are in circulation - through a sell-out, a seasonal pause, or a decision to relist the item under a new title. The shop URL has no such cycle. Print the listing code for a run you will use up in weeks; print the shop code for anything that outlives the item. ### What the Buyer Sees After the Scan The scan opens the mobile Etsy page, and what happens next is Etsy's decision rather than yours. On many phones the link is handed to the Etsy app if it is installed, which is good for a buyer who already shops there and adds an install prompt for one who does not. Etsy also shows related items from other sellers on a listing page, so a code on your own packaging leads to a page that advertises your competitors - which is a reason to point tags at your shop front, where your own range fills the screen first. Test the scan on a phone without the app to see the version most new customers will get, and check that your shop's banner and first row of listings say what you sell without any scrolling. If the stall sign has to carry the mailing list and the social accounts as well as the shop, a [link-in-bio code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/linktree-qr-code) is the one printed square that holds all three. ## Where Etsy QR Codes Are Used An Etsy code is almost always printed by the maker, and it is at its most useful where someone is already holding the work: - **Craft Fair and Market Stalls**: A code on the stall sign catches the visitor who liked something, had no cash, and will otherwise not find you again. - **Swing Tags and Care Labels**: The tag that comes home with the piece is where a reorder starts, months after the fair is over. - **Thank-You Cards in Orders**: A card in the parcel pointing at the shop front is the cheapest repeat-purchase prompt a small maker has. - **Wholesale and Gallery Displays**: A small card beside the work in a shop or gallery gives a visitor the whole range without a stack of leaflets. - **Workshops and Classes**: A code on the handout points at the materials list or the kit in the shop, so nobody has to write anything down. - **Business Cards for Makers**: One code on the back of a card, pointed at the shop, replaces a URL that people will not type from a photograph. ## How to Create an Etsy QR Code From shop address to printed tag in four steps: - **Choose Between Shop and Listing**: The shop URL for tags, packaging and signage that will be in use for months. A listing URL only for a short run tied to one item. - **Trim the Address**: A listing needs only etsy.com/listing/ and the numeric id - the title slug after it can go. Drop tracking parameters such as ref and click ids entirely. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the address, then style the code in your own colours so it belongs on the tag rather than being stuck to it. - **Test and Export**: Scan from a phone with the Etsy app and one without, then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for social posts. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Etsy QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for listing photos, social posts, and email, where the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for swing tags, stickers, packaging, and stall signage - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a sheet of tags you will cut down yourself. Makers print small, on textured stock, in short runs - kraft card, cotton labels, brown boxes. All three cost contrast and eat fine detail, so a short payload matters more here than on glossy commercial packaging: etsy.com/shop/YourShopName is around 30 characters and prints comfortably at 20 mm on kraft, while a full listing URL with its title slug is the payload that starts failing on the same tag. ## Best Practices for Etsy QR Codes Most Etsy codes are printed once, in bulk, by someone paying for the run themselves. That is the constraint these are written for: - **Print the Shop URL on Anything Long-Lived**: Listings expire on a four-month cycle and can sell out or be relisted. A shop front has no cycle, so it is the address that matches a printed tag's lifespan. - **Drop the Title Slug From a Listing Link**: etsy.com/listing/1234567890 resolves on its own. Removing the words after the id can save forty characters and a symbol version with them. - **Strip Tracking Parameters**: A link copied from Etsy's share sheet or from search often carries ref and click parameters. They add length, and they tell you nothing once the code is printed. - **Confirm the Shop Address Before a Print Run**: Changing your shop name changes the address that gets printed. Test the old address in a browser before assuming anything still redirects to the new one. - **Say What the Scan Leads To**: “Scan to see the full collection” or “scan to reorder” outperforms a bare code on a tag, which most people never lift a phone for. - **Design for Kraft and Uncoated Card**: Brown stock lowers contrast before any ink is laid. Print the modules as dark as the process allows and leave the light half genuinely light. - **Keep Your Own Colours, Within Reason**: A code can carry your palette, but the pattern needs to stay clearly darker than its background. Put the brand colour in the artwork around it if it is too pale to hold the modules. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side - the first casualty on a swing tag where the hole punch and the trim edge are already competing. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a tag held in the hand, about 20 cm on a stall sign read from 2 metres across an aisle. - **Scan the Printed Sample, Not the File**: Textured card, hand-cut edges and a laser printer's toner spread all change the pattern. Scan one tag from the finished run before printing the other nine hundred. ## FAQ ### What Is an Etsy QR Code? An Etsy QR code stores an etsy.com address - your shop, a section, or a single listing. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the Etsy app. The code holds the address only, not the prices or photos. ### Should I Link to My Shop or to a Listing? Link to the shop for tags, packaging and signage that stay in use for months, because listings expire on a four-month cycle. Link to a listing only for a short run tied to that one item. ### How Do I Shorten an Etsy Listing Link? Keep etsy.com/listing/ and the numeric id, and delete the title slug and any ref or tracking parameters after it. That often removes forty characters or more from the payload. ### What Happens if I Change My Etsy Shop Name? The address that was printed changes with it. Test the old etsy.com/shop/ address in a browser before assuming it still leads anywhere, and settle the name before committing to a print run. ### How Small Can an Etsy QR Code Be Printed on a Tag? About 20 mm on kraft or uncoated card with a shop URL. Textured brown stock costs contrast before any ink is laid, so it needs more room than the same code on white coated paper. ### Can I Use My Shop's Colours in the QR Code? Yes, as long as the modules stay clearly darker than the background. A pale brand colour belongs in the artwork around the code rather than in the pattern itself. ### Does the Buyer Need the Etsy App to Scan It? No. The link opens in any mobile browser. If the app is installed the phone may open it instead, and a phone without it may show an install prompt over the page. ### Can I Put a QR Code Inside the Parcel? Yes - a thank-you card pointing at the shop front is one of the most common uses, and one of the few ways a maker reaches a buyer again after Etsy has handled the transaction. ### Do Etsy QR Codes Expire? The code does not. The listing behind it can: Etsy listings run on a four-month renewal cycle, and an expired or relisted item leaves a printed listing code pointing at a page that no longer exists. ### Can I Tell How Many Scans My Stall Sign Got? Not from the code itself. Etsy Stats show traffic sources but cannot separate a scan from any other direct visit, so a redirect on your own domain is the only way to count one print run against another. --- # Make a QR Code for a Shopify Store URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/shopify-qr-code Create a free QR code for a Shopify store, product, or cart. Add to basket in one scan, apply a discount in the link, and keep the code alive after a rename. Paste your store, product, or cart link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so packaging, a market stall, or a magazine page sells without anyone typing an address. - Free - no sign-up - Works with cart and discount links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Shopify QR Code? A Shopify QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a page in a Shopify store - a product, a collection, or a pre-filled cart - so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser. The code holds the address only, so prices, stock and photos all stay live and none of them is fixed at the moment of printing. ### Four Shopify Links Worth Encoding Every Shopify store shares the same URL structure, which means these work on any store without an app or a plugin: - **/products/product-handle**: one product page, with its photos, description and reviews. The right default for anything a customer has not seen before. - **/collections/collection-handle**: a collection page. Right when the printed piece is about a range rather than one item, such as a code on a catalogue spread. - **/cart/variantId:quantity**: adds that variant to the basket and goes straight to it. A cart permalink can carry several items: /cart/123:1,456:2 puts both in. - **?discount=SPRING20**: appended to any of the above, applies the discount code and carries it through to checkout, so the reader sees the reduced price without typing anything. The variant id in a cart permalink is the long number you can read off the product's variant in the admin, or from the ?variant= parameter in the address bar after selecting an option on the product page. Combining the last two gives a single scan that fills a basket and applies an offer - /cart/123:1?discount=SPRING20 - which is the closest a static QR code gets to a one-tap purchase, and it needs nothing installed on either side. ### When to Skip the Product Page, and When Not To A cart permalink is the right choice when the reader already knows what they are buying: a reorder card in a parcel, a table sign at a market stall, a code on the shelf edge beside the physical product. It is the wrong choice for cold traffic, because it skips the photos, the description, the size guide and the reviews - everything that persuades somebody who has not yet decided. Put a product link on the magazine page and a cart link on the packaging insert, not the other way round. There is one more practical difference: a cart permalink is a live stock check, so a customer scanning a sold-out variant lands on a basket that cannot be completed, while a product page at least shows them the alternatives. Test the printed proof through to the payment step, on a phone that has never visited your store, before the run. ## Where Shopify QR Codes Are Used Shopify codes are strongest where a physical object and an online basket are in the same room: - **Market Stalls and Pop-Ups**: A code per product lets a customer buy the size you did not bring, at the moment they are holding the one you did. - **Reorder Cards in Parcels**: A cart permalink in the box makes the second purchase a scan, which is the cheapest sale a store ever makes. - **Shelf Edges in Wholesale Stockists**: A code beside the display sends the customer to your own store when the stockist is out of a size or a colour. - **Magazine and Catalogue Pages**: A product code on the page removes the search that loses most print readers between seeing something and buying it. - **Event and Merch Tables**: A cart code with the queue's most-wanted item pre-filled turns a five-minute wait into a completed order. - **Packaging and Care Labels**: A code on the label opens the exact product again, so a replacement or a refill is one scan rather than a search through a catalogue. ## How to Create a Shopify QR Code From store to printed code in four steps: - **Open the Page You Want the Scan to Land On**: A product, a collection, or your storefront. Copy the address from the browser bar and delete anything after a question mark that you did not add yourself. - **Build a Cart or Discount Link if You Need One**: For add-to-basket, use yourstore.com/cart/ followed by the variant id, a colon and the quantity. Append ?discount= and your code to apply an offer. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the label, insert, or stall sign the code will sit on. - **Test a Real Purchase, Then Export**: Scan the proof on a phone that has never visited your store, reach the payment step, confirm the price and any discount, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Shopify QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for product photos, social posts, and email - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for labels, packaging, shelf talkers, and stall signage - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a catalogue page produced at print-ready quality. Product labels are where the payload length shows. A tidy product link on a custom domain runs around 45 characters and prints comfortably at 15 to 20 mm; a cart permalink with a 14-digit variant id and a discount parameter can pass 70, which wants noticeably more room for the same reliability. If a label is too small for the link you need, put the cart permalink behind a short redirect on your own domain and encode that instead - the scan behaves identically and the symbol is far less dense. ## Best Practices for Shopify QR Codes Shopify codes fail on handles, stock and checkout far more often than on scanning. These habits address all three: - **Keep the Redirect When You Rename a Product**: Changing a product's title can change its handle, and the old URL then 404s. Shopify offers to create a redirect at that moment - accept it, or every printed code dies. - **Use a Product Link for Cold Traffic**: Photos, description, sizing and reviews are what convert a stranger. A cart permalink skips all of them, which suits a reorder and ruins a first sale. - **Use a Cart Permalink for People Who Already Decided**: Reorder cards, shelf edges beside the real product, and event tables. The scan puts the item in the basket and goes straight there. - **Apply Discounts in the Link, Not in Small Print**: ?discount=CODE carries the offer to the checkout, so the customer sees the reduced total rather than being asked to remember a word. - **Print the Expiry of Any Offer**: The code cannot show one, and an expired discount fails silently at the checkout after the customer has already committed to buying. - **Point at the Variant, Not Just the Product**: A code on a specific colour or size should open that variant, with ?variant= in the address, so the customer is not asked a question the label already answered. - **Use Your Own Domain**: A custom domain is shorter than a myshopify.com address, so it produces a less dense code, and it survives a change of platform in a way the Shopify subdomain does not. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a care label crowded with washing symbols this is the first thing squeezed out. - **Size It for the Payload**: About 15 to 20 mm for a short product link, more for a cart permalink with a discount attached, and roughly a tenth of the reading distance on a stall sign. - **Test Through to Payment on a Clean Phone**: Your own device has a session, a saved address and possibly a staff discount. A phone that has never seen your store is the only honest test. ## FAQ ### What Is a Shopify QR Code? A Shopify QR code stores the web address of a page in a Shopify store - a product, a collection, or a pre-filled cart. Scanning it opens that page on the phone, with live prices and stock, because only the address is inside the code. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for a Shopify Product? Open the product page, copy its address, and paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code, scan the proof on a phone that has never visited your store, and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Can a QR Code Add a Product to the Basket? Yes. Encode a cart permalink - yourstore.com/cart/ followed by the variant id, a colon and the quantity - and the scan puts that item in the basket and opens it. Several items can be combined with commas. ### Can a QR Code Apply a Discount Code Automatically? Yes. Append ?discount= and your code to any store link, including a cart permalink, and Shopify applies it through to checkout. The customer sees the reduced total instead of being asked to remember a word. ### Where Do I Find a Shopify Variant ID? Select the option on the product page and read the ?variant= number in the address bar, or open the variant in the admin and take the number at the end of its URL. It is the number a cart permalink needs. ### Why Does My Shopify QR Code Show a 404? Because the product handle changed, usually as a side effect of editing the title, and the old address no longer exists. Add a URL redirect from the old path to the new one and every printed code starts working again. ### Should the Code Open a Product Page or the Cart? A product page for anyone who has not decided yet, because it carries the photos, description and reviews. A cart permalink for reorders, shelf edges and event tables, where the customer already knows exactly what they want. ### Do I Need a Shopify App to Use QR Codes? No. Product links, collection links, cart permalinks and discount parameters are all built into every Shopify store, so any QR generator that encodes a URL will do. Apps only add scan analytics and bulk generation. ### Should I Use My Custom Domain or the myshopify.com Address? Your custom domain. It is shorter, so the code is less dense, it looks legitimate when a phone previews the link, and it survives a change of platform in a way the myshopify.com subdomain does not. ### Can I Change Prices After Printing the Code? Yes. The code holds an address, not a price, so every scan shows whatever the store charges today. What you cannot change is a price printed in words next to the code, which is why offers should carry an expiry date. --- # Make a QR Code for eBay URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/ebay-qr-code Create a free QR code for an eBay listing or store. Why item numbers survive some relists and not others, and which link to print so the code keeps working. Paste your eBay link, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a parcel insert, a market stall, or a shop card opens the listing without anyone typing an item number. - Free - no sign-up - Short 12-digit item links - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is an eBay QR Code? An eBay QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of an eBay listing, store, or seller page, so scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or in the eBay app. The listing lives on eBay and only the address is inside the code, so price changes, bids and stock all stay live after the code is printed. ### Strip the Link Down to the Item Number eBay identifies every listing with a 12-digit item number, and everything else in the address is tracking. Removing it makes the code dramatically less dense: - **ebay.com/itm/123456789012**: the clean listing address, around 25 characters. This is what to encode, and it is as short as a marketplace link gets. - **The address from the share button**: the same listing with tracking parameters attached, often past 150 characters. It works, and it triples the module count for nothing. - **ebay.com/str/yourstorename**: your eBay Store front. The right choice for anything printed in quantity, because it outlives every individual listing. - **ebay.com/usr/yourusername**: your seller page and other items. A good fallback for sellers without a Store subscription. Use the country domain your buyers are on. An ebay.com link opens for a UK or German buyer and lands them in the US site's context, with its own postage and currency; ebay.co.uk and ebay.de give the same listing in a form they can act on. The item number is the same across sites, so the only thing that changes is the domain in front of it - which means one listing can have a different printed code per market without any extra work. ### Printed Codes and Listings That End An eBay listing is temporary in a way a product page is not, and that decides what a printed code should point at. An auction ends, and after it does the item number still resolves but shows a closed listing rather than something to buy. A fixed-price listing set to Good 'Til Cancelled renews itself and keeps its item number, so a code printed against it can last years. But relisting through Sell Similar creates a new listing with a new item number, which silently breaks every code already printed - and Sell Similar is how most sellers relist. So print item-number codes only for listings you intend to renew rather than recreate, and for anything going out in quantity - business cards, parcel inserts, stall signage - print the store or seller address instead, which survives every listing you will ever run. ## Where eBay QR Codes Are Used eBay codes work wherever a physical item, or the person selling it, is in front of the buyer: - **Parcel Inserts and Thank-You Cards**: A store code in the box sends a buyer who already trusts you back to everything else you sell. - **Car Boot Sales and Market Stalls**: A code on the table lets a browser buy the item you did not bring with you, at your listed price rather than a haggled one. - **Auction and Antiques Fairs**: A code beside a piece opens the full listing with its measurements, condition notes and photographs. - **Trade Counters and Spares Cabinets**: A code on the shelf edge sends a customer to your eBay listing when the part is not in stock behind the counter. - **Classified Ads and Shop Windows**: A code on a card in a newsagent's window replaces a phone number with a listing that shows the item and takes the payment. - **Vehicle and Machinery Sales**: A code on the windscreen opens the listing with the full description and history, at the moment someone is standing next to it. ## How to Create an eBay QR Code From listing to printed code in four steps: - **Open the Listing and Take the Item Number**: The 12-digit number is shown on the listing page and sits after /itm/ in the address. Build a clean link from it rather than copying the share URL. - **Choose the Right Country Domain**: Use ebay.co.uk, ebay.de or whichever site your buyers are on. The item number is the same everywhere; only the domain in front of it changes. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick a shape and colours that match the insert, stall sign, or card the code will sit on. - **Test on a Clean Phone, Then Export**: Scan the proof on a phone that is not signed into your seller account, check the listing and the postage shown, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your eBay QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for listing photos, social posts, and email signatures - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a screen. - **SVG**: for parcel inserts, stall signage, shelf labels, and window cards - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a card produced at print-ready quality. A clean item link at around 25 characters is short enough to print at 15 mm and still scan reliably, which is unusual for a marketplace URL and worth protecting. The share-button address for the same listing can run past 150 characters and needs a considerably bigger square for the same reliability, so the single highest-value edit you can make to an eBay code is deleting everything after the item number. Measure the payload, not the brand, when you decide the printed size. ## Best Practices for eBay QR Codes eBay codes are cheap to make and easy to orphan. These habits keep them short, correct and alive: - **Encode the Bare Item Number Link**: ebay plus /itm/ plus the twelve digits. Everything the share button adds is tracking, and it can triple the length of the payload. - **Print Store Codes, Not Item Codes, in Quantity**: A store or seller address outlives every listing. Item numbers are the right choice only for a single object in front of the buyer. - **Relist Rather Than Sell Similar**: Good 'Til Cancelled renewal keeps the item number and the printed code. Sell Similar creates a new number and silently orphans every code. - **Match the Country Site to the Buyer**: The same item number works on every eBay domain. Printing the local one gives buyers their own currency, postage and returns terms. - **Don't Print a Code for an Auction That Ends**: A printed code outlives a seven-day auction by years. Point print at a store, and save item codes for listings you keep running. - **Say What the Code Opens**: “Buy it on eBay - full listing and photos” beside the code. A bare square on a stall table asks a stranger to trust an unknown destination. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a small shelf label a border or a price is the usual intruder. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a card in the hand, about 20 cm on a windscreen read from 2 metres. - **Keep It Dark on Light**: Phone cameras are tuned for dark modules on a light background. An inverted code on a dark stall sign is where scanning starts to hesitate. - **Test Signed Out of Your Seller Account**: Your own account sees the listing as its owner, with editing options and no postage calculation. A signed-out phone sees what a buyer sees. ## FAQ ### What Is an eBay QR Code? An eBay QR code stores the web address of an eBay listing, store, or seller page. Scanning it opens that page in the phone's browser or the eBay app, with live prices and bids, because only the address is inside the code. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for an eBay Listing? Take the 12-digit item number from the listing, build a clean link as the eBay domain plus /itm/ plus those digits, and paste it into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code and export SVG for print or PNG for screens. ### Why Is My eBay QR Code So Dense? Because the address from the share button carries tracking parameters and can run past 150 characters. Trim it back to the domain plus /itm/ plus the item number - around 25 characters - and the code becomes far simpler. ### Will the Code Still Work After I Relist? It depends how you relist. A Good 'Til Cancelled listing renews with the same item number and the code keeps working. Sell Similar creates a new listing with a new number, which breaks every code already printed. ### Should I Link to a Listing or to My eBay Store? Link to the store for anything printed in quantity - inserts, cards, signage - because it outlives every listing. Link to an item only when the code sits beside that specific object and the listing will be kept running. ### Which eBay Domain Should I Use? The one your buyers use. The item number is identical across eBay sites, so ebay.co.uk, ebay.de and ebay.com.au all resolve the same listing while showing local currency, postage and returns terms. ### Can I Use a QR Code for an eBay Auction? You can, but the code outlives the auction by years - once it ends, the scan shows a closed listing. Auctions suit on-screen codes with a short life; printed codes belong on a store or seller page. ### Where Do I Find My eBay Item Number? On the listing page, usually in the item details near the description, and in the address bar directly after /itm/. It is twelve digits and stays with the listing for its whole life, including renewals. ### Does the Buyer Need the eBay App to Scan? No. The listing opens in any phone browser without an app or a sign-in. A phone with the app installed may open it there instead, so it is worth testing both before printing. ### How Small Can an eBay QR Code Be Printed? About 15 mm with a trimmed item link of around 25 characters, which fits a shelf label or a small card. The untrimmed share URL needs several times that area for the same reliability. --- # Make a Coupon QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/coupon-qr-code Create a free coupon QR code that applies a discount on scan. How to limit redemptions, what a static code can't do, and how to print offers that expire. Paste the link that applies your offer, style the code, and download it print-ready - so a flyer, a receipt, or a packaging insert carries a discount that works in one scan. - Free - no sign-up - Applies the discount on scan - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Coupon QR Code? A coupon QR code is a QR code that stores the web address of a page that applies a discount - usually a shop link with the discount code already in it, so the price drops without anyone typing anything. The code carries the address, never the money, so the offer's rules live in your shop or till system rather than in the pattern. ### A QR Code Cannot Be Single-Use on Its Own This is the honest limit, and it decides which of the three patterns below fits your offer. A printed code is copyable by anyone with a camera, and nothing in the symbol counts scans: - **One shared code, unlimited redemptions**: every printed copy carries the same discount link. Simple, cheap, and correct for an acquisition offer you would happily give to anyone. - **A batch of unique codes, one redemption each**: generate a distinct discount code per copy in your shop platform, encode one per printed piece, and set each to a single use. This is real single-use. - **One code, manual redemption**: staff mark, stamp, or take the voucher when it is used. The paper is the limit, not the code, which is why it only works in person. Choose before you print, because the three cost different amounts of work and cannot be swapped afterwards. Shared codes are a single artwork file and no admin. Unique codes need your platform to bulk-generate discount codes and your print run to be variable data, which most digital printers handle but which doubles the setup. If you are printing a shared code, price the offer as though it will be posted online - because eventually one of them will be. ### What Happens After the Scan The scan should land on a page where the discount is already applied and visible, not on a page that asks the reader to type the code they just scanned. Most e-commerce platforms accept the discount in the address itself - on Shopify, appending ?discount=SPRING20 to a product or cart link applies it and carries it through to checkout - so the reader sees the reduced total before deciding anything. If your platform has no such parameter, send the scan to a landing page that states the offer, shows the code in large type, and has a copy button. What never works is encoding the words SPRING20 as plain text: the phone shows a string with nothing to tap, and the reader is left doing the work the code was meant to remove. ## Where Coupon QR Codes Are Used A coupon code works where the offer is being handed to someone who is already holding something of yours: - **Packaging Inserts and Thank-You Cards**: A card in the box reaches a customer who has already paid once, which is the cheapest second sale a shop has. - **Printed Receipts**: An offer at the foot of the receipt is read at the moment the customer is deciding whether the visit was worth it. - **Flyers and Door Drops**: A shared code on a leaflet turns an unmeasurable print run into one you can count, because redemptions are recorded in the shop. - **Trade Shows and Market Stalls**: A stand code lets someone claim the show discount later, from home, without carrying a paper voucher for three days. - **Loyalty and Birthday Cards**: One unique code per card, single-use in the shop platform, so the reward is genuinely once per customer. - **Magazine and Newspaper Ads**: A code per publication tells you which title produced sales, which no ad response rate on its own can. ## How to Create a Coupon QR Code From offer to printed code in four steps: - **Create the Discount in Your Shop or Till System**: Set the value, the products it applies to, the minimum spend, the usage limit, and the end date. Every rule of the offer lives here, not in the code. - **Build a Link That Applies It Automatically**: Use your platform's discount parameter where it has one - for example a Shopify link ending in ?discount=SPRING20 - or a landing page that shows the offer and the code. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the link, then pick colours that suit the flyer, insert, or receipt, keeping the modules dark against a light background. - **Test the Discount, Then Export**: Scan the proof, put an item in the basket, and check the total actually drops. Then export SVG or PDF for print and PNG for screens. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your coupon QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for email campaigns, social posts, and in-store screens - anywhere the code appears at one fixed size on a display. - **SVG**: for flyers, inserts, vouchers, and packaging - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for sending a voucher a customer prints at home. Coupons are printed on the worst papers a QR code meets. Uncoated flyer stock and thermal receipt roll both spread ink slightly, which eats into the white gaps between modules, and a heavily styled code with rounded modules and a large centre logo has less margin for that than a plain one. For anything printed on absorbent stock, keep the module shape simple, raise the error correction, and print a physical proof before committing to the run. ## Best Practices for Coupon QR Codes A coupon code is judged by redemptions, not scans. These habits protect both the redemption rate and the margin: - **Print the Offer in Words Beside the Code**: “20% off your next order” next to the square is what makes someone scan. A bare code asks for a leap of faith on a piece of paper. - **Print the Expiry Date**: The code cannot show one. An offer that has ended scans exactly like one that hasn't, and the reader finds out at the checkout. - **Apply the Discount in the Link**: Landing on a reduced price is a different experience from landing on a code to copy. Where the platform supports a discount parameter, use it. - **Assume a Shared Code Will Be Posted Publicly**: One photograph puts it on a deals forum. Set a usage cap, a minimum spend, or an end date in the platform so the exposure is bounded. - **Use Unique Codes for Anything Genuinely Once-per-Customer**: Bulk-generate single-use discount codes and print one per piece. This is the only arrangement that actually limits redemptions. - **Set the Rules in the Platform, Not on the Paper**: Minimum spend, excluded products, one per customer - enforced at the checkout rather than in small print nobody reads before scanning. - **Give Each Placement Its Own Code**: One per flyer, publication, or box insert, and the redemption report tells you which print run paid for itself. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side. On a dense flyer, a border or a coupon-style dashed cut line is the usual intruder. - **Size It for the Distance**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance: about 2 cm on a card in the hand, about 20 cm on a shop poster read from 2 metres. - **Test a Real Purchase Before the Print Run**: Scan, add to basket, reach the payment step, and confirm the total. Coupon codes fail at the checkout far more often than at the camera. ## FAQ ### What Is a Coupon QR Code? A coupon QR code stores the address of a page that applies a discount - normally a shop link with the discount code built into it. Scanning it opens the shop with the offer already applied, so the customer never types a code. ### How Do I Make a Coupon QR Code for Free? Create the discount in your shop or till system, build a link that applies it, then paste that link into a QR generator as a URL. Style the code and export SVG for print. The code itself costs nothing and never expires. ### Can a QR Coupon Be Used Only Once? Not by itself. A printed code can be scanned by anyone who photographs it, and the symbol counts nothing. Single use has to come from the discount code behind it - generate a batch of unique single-use codes and print one per piece. ### Should I Encode the Discount Code as Text? No. Plain text shows the reader a string with nothing to tap, leaving them to open the shop and type it. Encode a URL that opens the shop with the discount already applied, and the scan does the whole job. ### How Do I Stop a Coupon Code From Being Shared Online? You cannot stop it, so bound it instead. Set a total usage cap, a minimum spend, and an end date in your platform, or issue unique single-use codes. Treat any shared printed coupon as public from the day it is printed. ### Can a Coupon QR Code Expire? The code cannot, but the discount can, and it is the discount that matters. Set the end date in your platform and print it beside the code, because a scan gives the reader no warning that an offer has closed. ### Does a Coupon QR Code Work in a Physical Shop? Yes, if your point-of-sale system holds the same discount. E-commerce and till systems keep separate discount lists on most platforms, so a code that works online can fail at the counter unless it was created in both. ### How Do I Track Which Flyer a Redemption Came From? Give each print run its own discount code, or add a source parameter to the link, and print a different QR code for each. The redemption report then attributes sales to placements rather than counting scans. ### Can I Change the Offer After Printing the Code? You can change the discount's value and rules in your platform at any time, because the code holds only the address. What you cannot change is the address itself, or the offer printed in words beside the code. ### What Size Should a Coupon QR Code Be Printed? At least 2 cm on anything held in the hand, and roughly a tenth of the reading distance on a poster. On receipt roll or uncoated flyer stock, go larger than the minimum - both spread ink into the gaps between modules. --- # Make a QR Code for Your PayPal.me Link URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/paypal-qr-code Create a free QR code for your PayPal.me link, with an amount and currency if you want. Style it and export print-ready SVG or PNG for stalls and invoices. Enter your PayPal.me address - with an amount if you want one preset - style the code, and download it print-ready for a stall sign, an invoice, or a tip jar. - Free - no sign-up - Optional preset amount - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a PayPal QR Code? A PayPal QR code is a QR code that stores a paypal.me address - your personal payment link. Scanning it opens PayPal's payment page for you in the phone's browser or app, where the payer confirms the amount and sends it. The code carries the link, not the money, and it never carries your account credentials. ### You Can Print the Amount Into the Link A PayPal.me address takes optional path segments, and they are the difference between a payment code and a payment code that works at a counter: - **paypal.me/yourname**: the plain link. The payer types the amount themselves, which is what a tip jar or a donation box wants. - **paypal.me/yourname/25**: a preset amount in your account's primary currency. The payment page opens with 25 already filled in. - **paypal.me/yourname/25EUR**: a preset amount and currency. Worth spelling out for anything printed in a place where visitors pay in something other than your own currency. A preset amount removes the most common error at a market stall - the payer typing 5 instead of 50, or paying twice because the first attempt looked wrong. Print one code per price rather than one code with a note asking people to enter an amount, and the mistakes stop being yours to chase. Payments are not final in the way cash is either way: the payer can still open a dispute, so a preset amount is a convenience, not a guarantee. ### PayPal.me Is Not the Same as PayPal's Seller QR Code PayPal offers two different printed codes and conflates them in ordinary conversation, which costs sellers real money. A PayPal.me link is a personal payment link: it is a URL, so any QR generator can encode it and any camera can read it, and the payer chooses on the payment page whether they are sending a personal payment or paying for goods and services. PayPal's own QR code for sellers is generated inside the PayPal app on a business account, marks the transaction as goods and services, and is the one that carries seller protection - and its fees and availability differ by country. If you are trading, generate the seller code inside PayPal and use it. If you are collecting from friends, splitting a bill, taking donations or tips, a PayPal.me code printed the way you like is the more flexible of the two. Fees and protections change and vary by market, so check PayPal's current terms for your country rather than trusting any generator's summary of them, including this one. ## Where PayPal QR Codes Are Used A printed payment code makes sense wherever money changes hands without a card terminal: - **Market and Craft Stalls**: One code per price, printed and laminated, so a customer without cash is not a customer lost. - **Buskers and Street Performers**: A sign in the case reaches the audience that stopped listening thirty seconds ago and has no coins. - **Charity Collections and Fundraisers**: A code on the bucket or the poster collects at a moment when a donation form would lose the donor. - **Freelance and Small-Business Invoices**: A code with the amount preset removes the step where a client mistypes the total or the reference. - **Clubs, Classes and Subscriptions**: Membership fees and session payments collected on a noticeboard rather than by chasing bank details. - **Sales Between People**: A code taped to an item at a car-boot sale or in a shared office is faster than reading out a phone number. ## How to Create a PayPal QR Code From payment link to printed sign in four steps: - **Set Up Your PayPal.me Link**: Claim your paypal.me address in PayPal, where the service is available in your country. The name in it is public, so pick one you are happy to print. - **Decide Whether to Preset an Amount**: Add /25 for a fixed price, or /25EUR to fix the currency as well. Leave it off for tips and donations where the payer decides. - **Paste the Link and Design the Code**: Choose the URL type, paste the address, then style the code. Keep it legible above everything else - this is the one code where a failed scan is a lost sale. - **Test With a Real Payment**: Scan it and take the payment page to the last screen before confirming. Check the name shown is yours and the amount is right, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your PayPal QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for invoices sent by email, websites, and messages, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for stall signs, laminated cards, and window stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a price card you print and laminate yourself. A paypal.me address is short - around 20 characters, or a few more with an amount - so the pattern is sparse and prints small and reliably. Spend the room you save on making the code larger rather than on a longer link: a payment code is scanned in the street, in poor light, by someone holding a bag in the other hand. ## Best Practices for PayPal QR Codes Printed payment codes are targeted by fraud more than any other kind, so half of this list is about the physical object rather than the pattern on it: - **Print Your Name Beside the Code**: The payment page shows who is being paid. Printing the same name next to the code lets a payer check the two match before sending anything. - **Watch for Stickers Placed Over Yours**: Covering a legitimate payment code with a fraudulent one is the standard attack on parking meters and market signage. Use tamper-evident laminate and check your own signs daily. - **Preset the Amount Where There Is One**: paypal.me/yourname/25 removes the mistyped total, the double payment, and the argument about which of the two happened. - **Fix the Currency for Places Visitors Pass Through**: Adding EUR, USD or GBP to the link stops a tourist paying 25 of the wrong unit and asking you to sort it out afterwards. - **Use PayPal's Own Seller Code When You Are Trading**: A goods-and-services transaction is the one that carries seller protection. A PayPal.me link leaves that choice to the payer. - **Don't Print a Code You Cannot Reach**: If the sign is out of your sight - a noticeboard, a shared lobby - assume it will eventually be tampered with, and check it or do not print it. - **Make It Bigger Than You Think**: Payment codes are scanned outdoors, in the rain, at arm's length, by someone in a hurry. This is not the place to be tasteful about size. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Inverted or low-contrast payment codes fail in exactly the low light where money is most often handed over. Dark on light, always. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and keep price text, borders and laminate edges out of it. - **Test the Full Payment Path Before Printing**: Scan the printed proof and go as far as the confirmation screen. A code that resolves but shows the wrong name or currency is worse than one that does not scan. ## FAQ ### What Is a PayPal QR Code? A PayPal QR code stores your paypal.me address. Scanning it opens PayPal's payment page for you, where the payer confirms the amount and sends it. The code holds a link only - never your account details. ### Can I Set the Amount Inside the QR Code? Yes. Add the amount to the link - paypal.me/yourname/25 - and the payment page opens with it filled in. Add a currency code, as in /25EUR, when the sign will be read by people paying in another currency. ### Is a PayPal.me Code the Same as PayPal's Seller QR Code? No. PayPal's seller code is generated in the PayPal app on a business account and marks the payment as goods and services, which is what carries seller protection. A PayPal.me link leaves that choice to the payer. ### Does the Payer Need a PayPal Account? Often, though card payment without an account is offered in some markets and for some transaction types. Availability differs by country, so test the path a customer without an account would actually take. ### What Are the Fees for a PayPal QR Code Payment? They depend on the country, the currency, and whether the payment is personal or for goods and services. PayPal publishes current rates per market - check those rather than any third-party summary, this page included. ### Are Printed Payment QR Codes Safe? The code itself is just a link, but unattended payment signage is a known fraud target: a fraudulent sticker over a real code redirects the money. Laminate the sign, print your name beside the code, and check it regularly. ### How Can a Customer Check They Are Paying the Right Person? The payment page names the recipient. Print the same name beside the code so the two can be compared before anything is sent - that comparison is what defeats a sticker placed over your sign. ### How Big Should a PayPal QR Code Be on a Stall Sign? Roughly a tenth of the reading distance, so about 10 cm for a sign read from a metre across a table. Payment codes are scanned in poor light and in a hurry, so err generously. ### Does a PayPal QR Code Expire? No. A paypal.me link has no expiry, so the printed code keeps working as long as the account and the link exist - which is also why a lost or discarded sign is worth destroying rather than leaving in a bin. ### Can I Use One Code for Different Prices? You can print the plain link and let the payer type the amount, but a card of separate codes - one per price - produces far fewer errors at a counter and needs no explanation. --- # Make a Printable QR Code From Your Pix Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/pix-qr-code Turn your Pix Copia e Cola string into a styled, print-ready QR code. What the BR Code encodes, static vs dynamic, and how to test one before printing. Copy the Pix Copia e Cola string out of your bank app, paste it in, and style the code. Export it print-ready for a counter sign, a delivery bag, or an invoice. - Free - no sign-up - Your bank's exact payload - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a Pix QR Code? A Pix QR code is a QR code that stores a BR Code - the payment string defined by the Banco Central do Brasil for Pix, written in the EMVCo merchant-presented format. Scanning it in a Brazilian bank app opens a transfer already addressed to the receiver, and often with the amount already filled in. The same string, shown as text instead of as a pattern, is what Brazilians call Pix Copia e Cola. ### Static and Dynamic Pix Codes Behave Differently Pix defines two kinds of QR code, and only one of them belongs on something printed: - **Static (QR Estático)**: the whole payment sits inside the string: your Pix key, your name, your city, optionally an amount. It never expires, works offline for the scanner, and can be paid any number of times. This is the one to print. - **Dynamic (QR Dinâmico)**: the string holds a link to a payload your payment provider hosts. The payer's app fetches the details at scan time, so the amount and the due date can be set per transaction - and the code can expire. - **Copia e Cola**: not a third kind. It is the same string in plain text, for pasting into a bank app instead of scanning. If you have the text, you have everything the code contains. Print a static Pix code and it keeps working for years; print a dynamic one and you have printed a link with an expiry date on it. Dynamic codes belong on a screen - a checkout page, a WhatsApp message, a delivered invoice - where a fresh one is generated for each payment. A market stall, a counter sign or a delivery bag wants the static kind, and wants it built from a key that is not going to move. ### KoloQR Encodes the String Your Bank Issued A Pix BR Code is not free text. It is a sequence of length-prefixed fields - the Pix key under the identifier br.gov.bcb.pix, currency 986 for the real, country BR, your name, your city - and it closes with a CRC16 checksum calculated over everything before it. Change one character and the checksum no longer matches, and the payer's app rejects the code rather than paying the wrong person. That is why KoloQR does not assemble a Pix payload from a key: your bank app already issues a valid one, and the safe thing to do with it is copy it, not rebuild it. Open the Pix section of your bank app, choose to receive by QR code, and take the Copia e Cola text it shows you. Paste that string into KoloQR and you get a code that encodes exactly what your bank produced, styled and exported at the size and quality a printer needs - which is the part the bank app does not do. ## Where Pix QR Codes Are Used Pix reaches places a card terminal never did, which is most of where these codes end up: - **Feiras and Street Stalls**: A laminated code on the awning takes payment from a customer with no cash and no card, in the seconds before they walk on. - **Delivery Bags and Motoboy Handoffs**: A code on the bag settles the bill at the door without the driver carrying change or a terminal. - **Counter Signs in Small Shops**: One code beside the till, with the shop's name printed under it so the customer can check it against the name their app shows. - **Salons, Barbers and Home Services**: A code on the mirror or the price card, paid while the next client is already sitting down. - **Church and Community Collections**: A printed code on the bulletin reaches the person who no longer carries notes, which is now most of the room. - **Freelance Invoices and Quotes**: A code on the PDF removes the step where a client retypes a 32-character random key and gets one character wrong. ## How to Create a Pix QR Code From bank app to printed sign in four steps: - **Pick the Pix Key You Want to Print**: A Pix key can be your CPF, CNPJ, phone number, email, or a random key. For anything printed, use a random key: it identifies the account without publishing your document number or your phone on a sign in the street. - **Generate the Static Code in Your Bank App**: In the Pix section, choose to receive by QR code and pick the static option. Set an amount if the sign is for one fixed price; leave it blank if the payer decides. Then copy the Copia e Cola text. - **Paste the String and Design the Code**: Choose the Pix type in KoloQR and paste the payload exactly as copied - no trimming, no line breaks. KoloQR recomputes the checksum and reads the payload back, so the name, the city and the amount shown under the field are the ones the payer will see. Then style the code, and keep contrast high; this is a code scanned outdoors by someone in a hurry. - **Pay Yourself One Real Before Printing**: Scan the finished code with a real bank app and go to the confirmation screen. Check the name and the city shown are yours, send one real, and only then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Pix QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for invoices sent by email or WhatsApp, and for a code shown on a screen at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for counter signs, laminated cards, and adhesive labels - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a gráfica, or for a price card you print and laminate yourself. A Pix payload is long. A static BR Code with a random key, a name and a city usually runs past 100 characters, which is several symbol versions denser than a short link - more modules in the same square, each one smaller. Two things follow. Print it larger than you would print a URL code, and keep the merchant name short: those fields are capped at 25 characters for the name and 15 for the city, and every character you do not use is a slightly coarser, slightly more forgiving pattern. ## Best Practices for Pix QR Codes A printed payment code is the most attacked object in this entire collection, so half of this list is about the sign rather than the pattern: - **Use a Random Key on Anything Public**: A random key exposes nothing. A CPF or phone key printed on a street-facing sign publishes a document number or a number people can call, and neither is recoverable once it is on a hundred flyers. - **Print Your Name Beside the Code**: The payer's app shows who is being paid before they confirm. Printing the same name next to the code turns that screen into a check the customer can actually make. - **Print Static Codes, Show Dynamic Ones**: Dynamic codes carry an expiry and depend on a hosted payload. Anything laminated, stuck down, or sent to a printer should be static. - **Watch for Stickers Placed Over Yours**: Covering a real payment code with a fraudulent one is the standard attack on unattended signage. Use tamper-evident laminate, and check your own signs at the start of every day. - **Preset the Amount Where There Is One**: A code per price removes the mistyped total and the argument about which of the two people got it wrong. A code with no amount belongs on a tip jar, not on a menu. - **Keep the Merchant Name and City Short**: 25 characters for the name, 15 for the city. Staying under both keeps the payload shorter, which keeps the printed pattern coarser and easier to scan. - **Reprint When You Move the Key**: Pix keys are portable between banks and can be deleted outright. A printed code built on a key you no longer hold is a sign that quietly stops taking money. - **Make It Bigger Than You Think**: Pix payloads are dense and the codes are scanned outdoors, at arm's length, often in bright sun. Roughly a tenth of the reading distance is the floor, not the target. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Inverted or low-contrast payment codes fail in exactly the light where money is most often handed over. Dark on light, always, and four modules of clear quiet zone on every side. - **Test With a Real Payment, Not a Scanner App**: A generic scanner tells you the string decoded. Only a bank app tells you the checksum passed, the key resolved, and the name on the confirmation screen is yours. ## FAQ ### What Is a Pix QR Code? A Pix QR code stores a BR Code - the Banco Central do Brasil's payment string, written in the EMVCo format. Scanning it in a Brazilian bank app opens a transfer already addressed to the receiver, often with the amount filled in. ### Can KoloQR Create a Pix Code From My Pix Key? No. A Pix payload ends in a checksum the payer's bank validates, so it has to come from a source Pix trusts. Generate it in your bank app, copy the Copia e Cola string, and use KoloQR to encode, style and print that exact string. ### What Is Pix Copia e Cola? Pix Copia e Cola is the BR Code shown as text instead of as a QR code, so it can be pasted into a bank app. The text and the code carry identical data - if you have one, you can produce the other. ### Should I Print a Static or a Dynamic Pix Code? Static. A static code holds the payment details in the pattern, never expires, and can be paid any number of times. A dynamic code points at a hosted payload that can expire, which is not a property you want laminated to a counter. ### Which Pix Key Should I Use on a Printed Code? A random key. It identifies your account without publishing your CPF, your phone number or your email on a sign anyone can photograph. Keys are free to create and you can hold several. ### Can I Set the Amount Inside a Static Pix Code? Yes. Your bank app offers an amount field when generating a static code, and the payer sees it already filled in. Leave it blank for tips and donations, where the payer decides what to send. ### Does a Pix QR Code Expire? A static one does not - it works as long as the Pix key behind it stays registered to your account. A dynamic one can expire, because the details live in a payload your provider hosts rather than in the pattern. ### Why Doesn't My Phone Camera Open Anything? A BR Code is not a link, so a native camera has nothing to open and usually just shows the raw string - unlike [a UPI code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/upi-qr-code), which is a URI a phone can act on. That is not a fault in the code. Test it with a bank app's Pix scanner instead. ### Are There Limits on What Someone Can Pay by Pix? Yes, and they are set by each bank rather than by the code. Lower limits at night are common. A printed code cannot raise them, so a customer paying a large amount may need to adjust the limit in their own app first. ### How Big Should a Pix QR Code Be on a Counter Sign? About a tenth of the reading distance, so roughly 10 cm for a sign read from a metre away. Pix payloads are denser than a link, so err generously - the [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) works it out from your own distance and payload. --- # Make a Printable PromptPay QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/promptpay-qr-code Turn the PromptPay payload from your bank app into a styled, print-ready QR code. What Thai QR Payment encodes, and how to test a code before printing it. Take the PromptPay payload from your bank app, paste it in, and style the code. Export it print-ready for a counter standee, a market stall, or a delivery bag. - Free - no sign-up - Your bank's exact payload - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a PromptPay QR Code? A PromptPay QR code is a QR code that stores a Thai QR Payment string - Thailand's national payment format, written in the EMVCo merchant-presented layout. Scanning it in a Thai banking app opens a transfer already addressed to the receiver's PromptPay ID, with the amount filled in if the code carries one. Every Thai bank app reads the same code, which is the whole point of the standard. ### The Code Carries a PromptPay ID, Not an Account Number PromptPay works by proxy: a short identifier is registered against a bank account, and the code carries the identifier. The payload names which kind it is holding: - **Mobile Number**: the common one for individuals, written in the payload as 0066 followed by the number without its leading zero, so 081 234 5678 becomes 0066812345678. - **National ID or Tax ID**: thirteen digits, used by people registering their citizen ID and by sole traders registering a tax ID. - **e-Wallet ID**: fifteen digits, for accounts held with an e-money issuer rather than with a bank. All three sit inside the payload under the PromptPay application identifier A000000677010111, which is what tells a Thai bank app that this is a PromptPay transfer rather than any of the other schemes the same EMVCo container can carry. Registered billers use a different identifier and a Biller ID instead, which is why a code from a utility company looks similar but is not the same thing. What matters for a printed code is the choice above: a mobile number is easy to check against a sign, and a national ID is not something to print in a public place. ### KoloQR Encodes the Payload Your Bank Issued A Thai QR Payment string is a sequence of length-prefixed fields - the PromptPay ID, currency 764 for the baht, country TH, a static or dynamic flag, an optional amount - and it closes with a CRC16 checksum over everything before it. One altered character breaks the checksum and the payer's app refuses the code, which is the correct behaviour and also the reason a design tool has no business assembling one. Your bank app already produces a valid payload: open the receive-by-QR section, generate the code, and take the payload string it exposes. Paste that string into KoloQR and you get the same payment encoded in a pattern you control - your shape, your colours, your logo in the middle - exported at a size and quality a print shop can actually use, which is the part the banking app was never going to do for you. ## Where PromptPay QR Codes Are Used PromptPay reached the parts of Thai commerce a card terminal never did, and the printed code is how: - **Street Food Carts and Night Markets**: A laminated code clipped to the cart takes payment from a customer with no cash, in the ten seconds before the queue moves. - **Counter Standees in Shops and Cafés**: An acrylic tent card beside the till, with the shop's name printed under the code so the customer can check it against their app. - **Delivery Riders and Home Drop-Offs**: A code on the bag settles the bill at the door with no change to carry and no terminal to charge. - **Salons, Massage Shops and Clinics**: A code on the price card, paid while the next customer is already being seated. - **Temple and Community Donations**: A printed code on the donation box reaches the visitor who stopped carrying notes, which is now most of them. - **Freelance Invoices and Rent**: A code on the invoice removes the step where someone retypes a thirteen-digit ID and drops a digit. ## How to Create a PromptPay QR Code From bank app to printed standee in four steps: - **Register a PromptPay ID**: Link your mobile number or your national ID to your Thai bank account in the bank's app. For a code that will be printed and left in public, a mobile number is the safer of the two to have on display. - **Generate the Code in Your Bank App**: Open the receive-by-QR section and generate a PromptPay code. Set an amount if the sign is for one fixed price; leave it blank if the payer decides what to send. - **Paste the Payload and Design the Code**: Choose the PromptPay type in KoloQR and paste the payload exactly as it was issued - no trimming, no line breaks. KoloQR recomputes the checksum and reads the payload back, so you can check the receiver name and the amount before anything goes to print. Then style the code, and keep contrast high; this is a code scanned outdoors in bright sun. - **Pay Yourself One Baht Before Printing**: Scan the finished code with a Thai bank app and take it to the confirmation screen. Check the receiver name shown is yours, send one baht, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your PromptPay QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for invoices sent by LINE or email, and for a code shown on a screen at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for standees, laminated cards, and stall signage - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a card you print and laminate yourself. A PromptPay payload is short by payment-code standards - a mobile-number code with no amount is often under 60 characters, which is a noticeably coarser pattern than a Pix or a UPI code carrying the same information. Spend that margin on size rather than on decoration: a sparser grid tolerates a larger centre logo and a heavier module shape without losing scans, and a market stall is exactly where that tolerance gets used up. ## Best Practices for PromptPay QR Codes A printed payment code is attacked more than any other kind, and in Thailand the attack usually comes at the moment the customer shows you the slip: - **Read the Slip, Don't Glance at It**: Forged payment slips are an ordinary scam, and a screenshot is trivial to edit. Check your own bank notification or balance before handing over goods, especially for anything expensive. - **Print Your Name Beside the Code**: The payer's app shows the receiver's name before they confirm. Printing the same name under the code turns that screen into a check the customer can actually make. - **Prefer a Mobile Number Over a National ID**: Both work. Only one of them is a document number you have printed on a sign that anyone in the street can photograph. - **Watch for Stickers Placed Over Yours**: Covering a real payment code with a fraudulent one is the standard attack on unattended signage. Use tamper-evident laminate and check your own signs at the start of each day. - **Preset the Amount Where There Is One**: A code per price removes the mistyped total and the argument about who got it wrong. A code with no amount belongs on a donation box, not on a menu. - **Laminate Against Sun and Rain**: A code taped to a cart lives through wet season and full afternoon sun. Ink fades and paper cockles, and a cockled code is a code that stops scanning at an angle. - **Reprint When the Registration Changes**: A PromptPay ID can be moved to another bank or deregistered. A printed code built on an ID you no longer hold is a sign that quietly stops taking money. - **Make It Bigger Than You Think**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance is the floor - about 10 cm for a code read from a metre. Payment codes are scanned one-handed, in a hurry, over a counter. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Inverted or low-contrast payment codes fail in exactly the light where money changes hands. Dark on light, always, with four modules of clear quiet zone on every side. - **Test With a Bank App, Not a Scanner App**: A generic scanner only tells you the string decoded. A Thai bank app tells you the checksum passed, the PromptPay ID resolved, and the name on the confirmation screen is yours. ## FAQ ### What Is a PromptPay QR Code? A PromptPay QR code stores a Thai QR Payment string - Thailand's national payment format in the EMVCo layout. Scanning it in a Thai bank app opens a transfer addressed to the receiver's PromptPay ID, with the amount filled in if the code carries one. ### Can KoloQR Create a PromptPay Code From My Phone Number? No. A PromptPay payload ends in a checksum the payer's bank validates, so it has to come from a source the scheme trusts. Generate it in your bank app, then use KoloQR to encode, style and print that exact payload. ### What Can a PromptPay Code Be Registered To? A mobile number, a national ID or tax ID, or an e-wallet ID. All three identify a bank account without exposing the account number. For a code left on display, a mobile number is the safer choice to print. ### Can I Set the Amount Inside the Code? Yes. Your bank app offers an amount field when generating the code, and the payer sees it already filled in. Leave it blank for donations and tips, where the payer decides what to send. ### Does a PromptPay QR Code Expire? A static code does not - it works as long as the PromptPay ID stays registered to your account. Codes generated for a single transaction can expire, so print the static kind and keep the dynamic ones on screens. ### Why Doesn't My Phone Camera Open Anything? A PromptPay payload is not a link, so a native camera has nothing to open and usually shows the raw string. That is not a fault in the code. Test it with a Thai banking app instead. ### Can Tourists Pay a PromptPay Code? Sometimes. Cross-border links connect PromptPay to schemes such as [Singapore's PayNow](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/paynow-qr-code), but coverage depends on the visitor's bank and country. Keep a second payment route rather than assuming every foreign phone can pay. ### How Do I Know a Customer Really Paid? Check your own bank notification or balance. A payment slip on the customer's screen is a screenshot, and forged slips are a routine scam - the customer's phone is evidence of nothing on its own. ### How Big Should a PromptPay QR Code Be on a Stall? About a tenth of the reading distance, so roughly 10 cm for a code read from a metre away. PromptPay payloads are short and print small well, so use the margin for size rather than trimming the code. ### Can I Put My Shop's Logo in the Middle? Yes, and a PromptPay code tolerates it better than most payment codes because the payload is short and the pattern coarse. Keep the logo under roughly a fifth of the width, raise the [error correction level](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction), and test the printed proof with a bank app. --- # Make a QR Code for Your UPI ID URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/upi-qr-code Create a free QR code for your UPI ID, with an amount if you want one. See what upi://pay encodes, what it cannot do, and how to test one before printing. Build the upi://pay link from your UPI ID - with an amount if you want one preset - style the code, and download it print-ready for a counter card, a stall sign, or an invoice. - Free - no sign-up - Optional preset amount - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a UPI QR Code? A UPI QR code is a QR code that stores a upi://pay link - the deep link defined by NPCI for the Unified Payments Interface. Scanning it in an Indian payment app opens a transfer already addressed to your UPI ID, with the amount filled in if the link carries one. The code holds a link, never your bank account number and never your PIN. ### The Link Is Made of Named Parameters A UPI link is an ordinary URI with query parameters, which is why you can read it, check it, and write it yourself: - **pa**: the payee address, meaning your UPI ID: yourname@bank. This is the only parameter a code cannot work without. - **pn**: the payee name shown to the payer. Spaces have to be encoded, so Chai Point becomes Chai%20Point. - **am and cu**: the amount, written with two decimals, and the currency, which UPI only accepts as INR. Leave both off and the payer types the amount. - **tn**: an optional note that appears on the payment screen, useful for a table number, a stall number, or an invoice reference. Put together, a working code is as short as upi://pay?pa=yourname@bank&pn=Your%20Name&am=250.00&cu=INR. Because there is no checksum, you can read a UPI code back and check it character by character - a genuine advantage over [Pix](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/pix-qr-code), [PromptPay](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/promptpay-qr-code) and [PayNow](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/paynow-qr-code), whose codes can only be verified by scanning them. It also means a typo produces a code that scans perfectly and pays the wrong UPI ID, so the paying-yourself-one-rupee step at the end of this page is not optional advice. ### A Self-Made Code Is Not a Merchant QR A UPI code you build yourself sends a person-to-person payment to your UPI ID, and that is all it does. A merchant QR issued by a bank or a payment provider is a different object: it is registered against a merchant account, it carries a signature the payment app can verify, and it produces the settlement reports, transaction references and dispute handling a business needs. Payment apps can tell the two apart, and some of them warn the payer that a self-made UPI ID is unverified - which is a reasonable thing for them to do and an unhelpful thing to have happen in front of a customer. So the line to draw is the same one every payment page here draws. If you are running a shop, get the merchant QR from your bank or PSP and print that. If you are collecting from friends, splitting a bill, taking donations, charging for a class, or invoicing as a freelancer, a self-made UPI code you can style and print is the more flexible of the two, and this is the page for it. ## Where UPI QR Codes Are Used A printed UPI code turns up wherever money moves without a card machine: - **Market Stalls and Street Vendors**: A laminated card taped to the cart takes payment from a customer with no change, in the seconds before the queue moves on. - **Tuition Fees and Class Payments**: A code on the noticeboard collects monthly fees without chasing parents for a UPI ID over WhatsApp. - **Freelance and Small-Business Invoices**: A code on the PDF with the amount preset removes the step where a client retypes a UPI ID and gets one character wrong. - **Temple and Charity Collections**: A code on the donation box reaches the visitor who stopped carrying notes, which is now most of them. - **Rent, Bills and Shared Households**: A printed code on the fridge is faster than reading a UPI ID out loud every month and correcting it twice. - **Event Stalls and Society Fundraisers**: One code per price on a table card, so nobody has to type an amount at a counter with a queue behind them. ## How to Create a UPI QR Code From UPI ID to printed card in four steps: - **Find Your UPI ID**: Open your payment app and copy your UPI ID - it looks like yourname@bank. Copy it rather than reading it off the screen; a mistyped ID is the one error this page cannot protect you from. - **Fill In the UPI Form**: Choose the UPI type in KoloQR and paste your UPI ID into the first field. Add the name the payer should see, and an amount and a note if the code is for one fixed price. KoloQR assembles the upi:// link and writes it out under the fields, percent-encoding included, so there is nothing to type by hand. - **Read the Link Back and Design the Code**: Read the link under the fields character by character - it is the only check UPI allows, since no checksum exists to catch a wrong ID. Then style the code. Keep contrast high and the pattern clean - this is a code scanned outdoors, one-handed, in a hurry. - **Pay Yourself One Rupee Before Printing**: Scan the finished code with a real payment app and check the name and the UPI ID on the confirmation screen are yours. Send one rupee, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your UPI QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for invoices sent by email or WhatsApp, and for a code shown on a screen at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for counter cards, laminated signage, and stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a price card you print and laminate yourself. The length of a UPI code is entirely under your control, which is not true of the other national payment codes. A bare pa and pn is often under 50 characters and prints as a coarse, forgiving pattern; add a long trade name, a transaction note and a reference and you can double it and lose a print size. Keep the payee name to the shortest form a customer would still recognise, drop tn unless it earns its place, and spend what you save on making the printed code bigger. ## Best Practices for UPI QR Codes Printed payment codes are targeted by fraud more than any other kind, so half of this list is about the physical sign rather than the pattern on it: - **Copy the UPI ID, Never Retype It**: A UPI link has no checksum, so a wrong character produces a code that scans perfectly and pays somebody else. Copy and paste is the only safe way to move a UPI ID. - **Print the Payee Name Beside the Code**: The payment app shows who is being paid before the payer confirms. Printing the same name under the code turns that screen into a check the customer can actually make. - **Use the Merchant QR When You Are Trading**: A merchant code from your bank or PSP is signed, registered and reconciled. A self-made code is a person-to-person transfer with no reporting behind it. - **Preset the Amount Where There Is One**: &am=250.00&cu=INR removes the mistyped total, the double payment, and the argument about which of the two happened. - **Encode Spaces and Special Characters**: A raw space in pn or tn can truncate the link when an app parses it. Use %20, and keep punctuation out of the name entirely. - **Watch for Stickers Placed Over Yours**: Covering a real payment code with a fraudulent one is the standard attack on unattended signage. Use tamper-evident laminate and check your own signs daily. - **Don't Print a Code You Cannot Reach**: If the sign is out of your sight - a shared noticeboard, a lobby, a stall you pack away - assume it will eventually be tampered with, and check it or do not print it. - **Make It Bigger Than You Think**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance is the floor, so about 10 cm for a code read from a metre. Payment codes are scanned in bright sun, at arm's length, by someone in a hurry. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Inverted or low-contrast payment codes fail in exactly the light where money changes hands. Dark on light, always, with four modules of clear quiet zone on every side. - **Test on Both an Android and an iPhone**: upi:// is handled by the payment apps installed on the phone, and which apps claim it differs by device. A code that works from your own phone has been tested once, not tested. ## FAQ ### What Is a UPI QR Code? A UPI QR code stores a upi://pay link containing your UPI ID. Scanning it in an Indian payment app opens a transfer already addressed to you, with the amount filled in if the link carries one. The code holds a link, never your bank details. ### Can I Set the Amount Inside a UPI QR Code? Yes. Add &am=250.00&cu=INR to the link and the payment screen opens with the amount filled in. UPI only accepts INR as the currency, so cu never changes. Leave both off for donations and tips. ### Is a Self-Made UPI Code the Same as a Merchant QR? No. A merchant QR is issued by your bank or PSP, registered to a merchant account and signed so payment apps can verify it. A self-made code is a person-to-person transfer with no settlement reporting or dispute path behind it. ### Which UPI Apps Can Scan the Code? Any of them. UPI is one interface across every participating app, so a code built with a valid UPI ID is readable by every Indian payment app rather than tied to the one that issued it. ### Why Doesn't the iPhone Camera Open My UPI Code? The iPhone camera opens web links; upi:// is only handled if an installed app has claimed the scheme. Scan from inside a payment app instead, and test both phone platforms before printing. ### Do I Need a Bank Account to Receive UPI Payments? Yes. A UPI ID is an address that resolves to a bank account. The code carries only the address, so the account details are never printed and never travel in the pattern. ### Are There Limits on What Someone Can Pay by UPI? Yes, and they are set by NPCI and by each bank rather than by the code. A printed code cannot raise them, so a payer sending a large amount may hit their own daily cap and need a second transfer. ### Can I Put My Logo in the Middle of a UPI Code? Yes, if the link is short. A code carrying only pa and pn is a coarse pattern with room for a centre logo of roughly a fifth of the width. Add an amount and a note and that margin shrinks - test the printed proof. ### Does a UPI QR Code Expire? No. The link has no expiry, so the printed code keeps working as long as the UPI ID does - which is also why a discarded sign is worth destroying rather than leaving in a bin. ### Can I Use One Code for Different Prices? You can print a code with no amount and let the payer type it, but a card of separate codes - one per price - produces far fewer errors at a counter and needs no explanation to the customer. --- # Make a Printable PayNow QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/paynow-qr-code Turn the PayNow payload from your bank app into a styled, print-ready QR code. What the code encodes, the editable-amount and expiry fields, and how to test one. Take the PayNow payload from your bank app, paste it in, and style the code. Export it print-ready for a counter card, a stall sign, or an invoice. - Free - no sign-up - Your bank's exact payload - Print-ready SVG export ## What Is a PayNow QR Code? A PayNow QR code is a QR code that stores a PayNow payload - Singapore's transfer format, written in the EMVCo merchant-presented layout and carried inside the national SGQR standard. Scanning it in a Singapore banking app opens a transfer already addressed to a mobile number, an NRIC, or a business UEN, with the amount filled in if the code carries one. ### Two Fields No Other Payment Code Has A PayNow payload holds more than an address and an amount. Two of its fields decide what the printed object actually does: - **The Proxy**: what the money is addressed to: a mobile number or NRIC for an individual, a UEN for a registered business. A UEN code shows the registered entity name to the payer, which a mobile number does not. - **Editable Amount**: a flag saying whether the payer may change the amount you set. Locked, it is a fixed price. Editable, it is a suggested one, which is what a donation or a tip wants. - **Expiry Date**: an optional date after which the code stops being accepted. Useful on an invoice, and the single worst field to leave set on anything laminated to a counter. None of the three is visible in the pattern, and none of them is visible in a bank app after the code has been generated. So a printed PayNow code carries decisions you made once and cannot inspect later, which is why the sensible habit is to note them beside the file: proxy, amount, editable or locked, expiry or none. A code that quietly stopped working three months after it went on the counter is almost always an expiry date somebody set and forgot. ### KoloQR Encodes the Payload Your Bank Issued A PayNow payload is a sequence of length-prefixed fields - the SG.PAYNOW identifier and the proxy under it, currency 702 for the Singapore dollar, country SG, the amount and its editable flag - closing with a CRC16 checksum over everything before it. Change one character and the checksum fails, and the payer's app rejects the code rather than sending money to the wrong place. That is why KoloQR does not assemble a PayNow payload from a phone number: your bank app already issues a valid one. Generate the code there, take the payload string, and paste it in here to get the same payment in a pattern you control - your shape, your colours, your logo - exported at print quality. There is one case where you should not do this at all: a registered merchant is meant to display the standard SGQR label supplied to them, with its scheme logos and its printed SGQR ID. If that is you, display the label. If you are an individual, a freelancer, a society or a stallholder collecting on your own account, a styled PayNow code is yours to design. ## Where PayNow QR Codes Are Used A printed PayNow code turns up wherever a transfer is faster than a card terminal: - **Hawker Stalls and Market Pitches**: A laminated card clipped above the counter takes payment in the seconds before the queue moves on. - **Freelance and Consultancy Invoices**: A code on the PDF with the amount locked removes the step where a client mistypes a total or a reference. - **Tuition, Classes and Enrichment Fees**: A code on the schedule collects the term's fee without a parent asking for the number again every month. - **Society, Club and CCA Collections**: A code on the noticeboard collects subs and event fees against a UEN, so the entity name shows on the payer's screen. - **Charity Drives and Flag Days**: A code on the collection tin with an editable amount lets a donor give what they intended rather than what you guessed. - **Home Businesses and Craft Fairs**: One code per price on a table card, faster and less error-prone than reading a mobile number out over a busy stall. ## How to Create a PayNow QR Code From bank app to printed card in four steps: - **Register the Proxy You Want to Print**: Link your mobile number or NRIC to your bank account, or your UEN if you are collecting for a registered entity. A UEN shows the entity name to the payer, which is the stronger check on a public sign. - **Generate the Code in Your Bank App**: Open the PayNow section and generate a QR code. Set the amount and decide whether it stays editable, and leave the expiry date off for anything that will be printed. - **Paste the Payload and Design the Code**: Choose the PayNow type in KoloQR and paste the payload exactly as issued - no trimming, no line breaks. KoloQR recomputes the checksum and reads the payload back - proxy, name, amount - and says so when the code is a one-time one, which is not the kind to print. Then style the code, and keep contrast high; this is a code scanned across a counter in a hurry. - **Pay Yourself One Dollar Before Printing**: Scan the finished code with a Singapore banking app and take it to the confirmation screen. Check the name shown is yours and the amount behaves as you set it, then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your PayNow QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for invoices sent by email or WhatsApp, and for a code shown on a screen at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for counter cards, laminated stall signage, and stickers - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop, or for a price card you print and laminate yourself. PayNow payloads sit in the middle of the payment codes for length - longer than PromptPay, shorter than a Pix code with a random key - so a mobile-proxy code with an amount usually prints at a comfortable density. The one thing that lengthens it noticeably is a long reference or merchant name, so keep those short. Print at roughly a tenth of the reading distance, and remember that a counter code is read at an angle, under a downlight, by someone holding a bag. ## Best Practices for PayNow QR Codes Printed payment codes are attacked more than any other kind, so half of this list is about the physical sign rather than the pattern on it: - **Leave the Expiry Date Off Anything Printed**: An expiry set in the bank app is invisible on the printed code and invisible in the app afterwards. It is the most common reason a working counter code silently stops working. - **Use a UEN Where You Have One**: A UEN code shows the registered entity name on the payer's confirmation screen, which is a far stronger check than a mobile number nobody can verify. - **Decide Editable or Locked Deliberately**: Lock the amount on a price card so a customer cannot underpay by accident. Leave it editable on a donation tin, where a fixed figure suppresses what people would have given. - **Print the Payee Name Beside the Code**: The payer's app names who is being paid before they confirm. Printing the same name under the code turns that screen into a check the customer can actually make. - **Display the SGQR Label If You Have One**: A registered merchant is issued a standard SGQR label with its own printed ID. A styled code of your own is for personal and small-group collection, not a replacement for that label. - **Watch for Stickers Placed Over Yours**: Covering a real payment code with a fraudulent one is the standard attack on unattended signage. Use tamper-evident laminate and check your own signs at the start of each day. - **Note What Each Printed Code Contains**: Keep a line beside the file: proxy, amount, editable or locked, expiry or none. The pattern will not tell you later and neither will your bank. - **Make It Bigger Than You Think**: Roughly a tenth of the reading distance is the floor - about 10 cm for a code read from a metre. Payment codes are scanned one-handed, at an angle, over a counter. - **Keep the Modules Dark on Light**: Inverted or low-contrast payment codes fail in exactly the light where money changes hands. Dark on light, always, with four modules of clear quiet zone on every side. - **Test With a Bank App, Not a Scanner App**: A generic scanner only tells you the string decoded. A Singapore banking app tells you the checksum passed, the proxy resolved, and the name on the confirmation screen is yours. ## FAQ ### What Is a PayNow QR Code? A PayNow QR code stores Singapore's PayNow payload in the EMVCo layout, carried inside the national SGQR standard. Scanning it in a Singapore banking app opens a transfer addressed to a mobile number, an NRIC, or a business UEN. ### Can KoloQR Create a PayNow Code From My Mobile Number? No. A PayNow payload ends in a checksum the payer's bank validates, so it has to come from a source the scheme trusts. Generate it in your bank app, then use KoloQR to encode, style and print that exact payload. ### What Is the Difference Between PayNow and SGQR? PayNow is the transfer service; SGQR is Singapore's unified QR label standard that can carry PayNow alongside other schemes on one printed label. A PayNow code is one scheme inside that container. ### Should I Register a Mobile Number, an NRIC, or a UEN? A UEN if you are collecting for a registered entity, because the payer's app shows the entity name. A mobile number for personal collection. An NRIC works but publishes an identity number on anything you print. ### Can the Payer Change the Amount? Only if the code says so. PayNow payloads carry an editable-amount flag set when the code is generated. Lock it for a fixed price, leave it editable for donations where a fixed figure would cap what people give. ### Does a PayNow QR Code Expire? It can. PayNow payloads have an optional expiry date, set when the code is generated and invisible afterwards. Leave it empty for anything printed, or the sign stops taking money on a date nobody remembers. ### Why Doesn't My Phone Camera Open Anything? A PayNow payload is not a link, so a native camera has nothing to open and usually shows the raw string. That is not a fault in the code. Test it with a Singapore banking app instead. ### Can Someone Overseas Pay My PayNow Code? Sometimes. Cross-border links connect PayNow to schemes such as [Thailand's PromptPay](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/promptpay-qr-code) and [India's UPI](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/upi-qr-code), but coverage depends on the payer's bank and country. Keep a second payment route rather than assuming every foreign phone can pay. ### How Big Should a PayNow QR Code Be on a Counter Card? About a tenth of the reading distance, so roughly 10 cm for a code read from a metre away. Counter codes are read at an angle under a downlight, so err generously rather than trimming the code to fit. ### Can I Put a Logo in the Middle? Yes. Keep it under roughly a fifth of the code's width, keep the payload short by using a brief merchant name, and test the printed proof with a banking app rather than trusting the on-screen preview. --- # Make a Bitcoin QR Code From Your Wallet Address URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/bitcoin-qr-code Create a free Bitcoin QR code from your wallet address, with an optional amount. BIP-21 format, read by every wallet. Export print-ready PNG or SVG. Paste your address, add an amount if you want one, and download a code that any Bitcoin wallet reads - styled to match your artwork and exported at print quality. - Free - no sign-up - BIP-21 payment URI - Nothing sent to a server ## What Is a Bitcoin QR Code? A Bitcoin QR code is a QR code that stores a Bitcoin payment URI - an address, and optionally an amount, written in the BIP-21 format. Scanning it in a wallet app fills in the recipient so nobody has to retype 42 characters. The address lives in the pattern; no transaction happens until the sender approves one. ### What BIP-21 Puts Inside the Pattern The payment URI is a small, well-defined structure, and each part changes what the receiving wallet does: - **bitcoin:**: the scheme. It is what makes a phone offer the code to a wallet app rather than to a browser. - **The Address**: where the funds go. A modern bech32 address starts bc1 and runs 42 characters; older formats start 1 or 3 and run 26 to 35. - **?amount=0.05**: optional, and always in decimal BTC rather than satoshis. The wallet pre-fills the amount, and the sender can still change it before approving. Nothing else is required, and nothing about the code touches the network. A Bitcoin QR code is a piece of text about where to send money - it cannot move funds, cannot be spent from, and works identically whether it is on a screen or printed on paper. ### Uppercase a bech32 Address to Halve the Pattern Bech32 addresses - the ones beginning bc1 - are defined as case-insensitive, and BIP-173 recommends using the uppercase form specifically inside QR codes. The reason is how QR codes encode data. Mixed-case text has to go into byte mode at 8 bits per character; text limited to digits, uppercase letters, and a handful of symbols qualifies for alphanumeric mode at 5.5 bits. For a 42-character address that is roughly a third fewer bits, which typically drops the symbol a version or two: fewer modules in the same square, each one larger, and a code that reads from further away and survives a worse print. The saving is real and free - BC1QAR0SRRR7XFKVY5L643LYDNW9RE59GTZZWF5MDQ is the same address as its lowercase form to every wallet that implements the standard. It applies only to bech32. Legacy addresses starting 1 or 3 are Base58Check, where case is significant and changing it produces a different, invalid address - and Ethereum goes further still, using case to carry a checksum, which is why [an Ethereum address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/ethereum-qr-code) must never be uppercased. ## Where Bitcoin QR Codes Are Used The code exists to stop people transcribing a 42-character string, which is why it turns up wherever an address has to leave a screen: - **Point-of-Sale Displays**: A shop taking Bitcoin shows a fresh address and amount per sale, on a screen rather than on paper, so no address is reused. - **Donation Signs and Tip Jars**: A printed donation code is the one case where a static address is normal - and the one case where address reuse is an accepted trade-off. - **Invoices and Statements**: A code beside the total lets a payer scan rather than copy, which removes the most common cause of a payment going nowhere. - **Conference and Meetup Signage**: Bitcoin events pay each other constantly, and a stand code is faster than reading an address aloud. - **Paper Wallets and Cold Storage Backups**: The receiving address is printed as a code so funds can be sent in without exposing anything that can spend them. - **Streamer and Creator Support Pages**: An overlay code collects tips from viewers who already hold coin, without a payment processor in the middle. ## How to Create a Bitcoin QR Code Address, amount, download - and one check that matters: - **Copy the Receiving Address From Your Wallet**: Copy and paste it; never type it out. A single wrong character produces either an invalid address or, in rare cases, a valid one belonging to nobody. - **Open the Type Picker and Choose Bitcoin**: Bitcoin sits under More, in the Crypto group. Paste the address, and add an amount in BTC if you want the wallet to pre-fill one. - **Style It, but Keep It Readable**: Choose a shape and colors if the code is going into branded artwork. Contrast matters more here than on any other type, because a misread character is a failed payment. - **Verify by Scanning, Character by Character**: Scan the exported file with a real wallet app and compare the address it shows against the one you copied - all of it, not the first and last four. Then export SVG or PDF. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Bitcoin QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for point-of-sale screens, overlays, and web pages, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for donation signage, invoices, and printed cards - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into an invoice template at print-ready quality. Print quality is not cosmetic here. A soft or broken module in a link code costs a page view; in a payment code it either fails to scan or, in the worst case, forces the sender to fall back on typing the address by hand. Export vector, print large, and keep the contrast absolute. ## Best Practices for Bitcoin QR Codes A payment code has a failure mode no other QR type has, so the habits are stricter: - **Uppercase bech32 Addresses Before Encoding**: An all-uppercase bc1 address qualifies for alphanumeric encoding, roughly a third fewer bits than mixed case. Same address, sparser pattern, better scan distance. - **Never Uppercase a Legacy Address**: Addresses starting 1 or 3 use Base58Check, where case is significant. Changing it does not produce the same address - it produces an invalid one, or somebody else's. - **Verify the Full Address After Generating**: Scan the exported file in a wallet and compare every character. Checking only the first and last four is exactly the shortcut address-swapping malware is built to exploit. - **Think Twice Before Printing a Static Address**: Reusing one address links every payment to it in the public ledger, which is a privacy loss for you and for everyone who pays you. Point-of-sale should generate a fresh address per sale. - **Be Careful With Fixed Amounts**: An amount in BTC is fixed the moment it is printed, while the exchange rate is not. For anything priced in local currency, print the address alone and let the till supply the amount. - **State the Network Beside the Code**: “Bitcoin (BTC) only” prevents the most expensive mistake in crypto payments - coins sent on the wrong network are usually unrecoverable. - **Keep the Modules Pure Black**: Styling is fine around the code. Inside it, this is the one type where a marginal contrast ratio is not worth the design, because the cost of a misread is a payment that does not arrive. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and more on a busy sign. Error correction can rebuild damaged modules; it cannot find a code with no margin. - **Size It Generously**: At least a tenth of the reading distance, and then a step larger. A Bitcoin URI is a long payload, so the symbol is dense even at its best. - **Never Put a Private Key or Seed in a QR Code You Publish**: A receiving address is safe to show anyone. A private key or seed phrase in a code is the whole wallet, readable by every camera pointed at it. ## FAQ ### What Is a Bitcoin QR Code? A Bitcoin QR code stores a payment URI - an address, and optionally an amount - in the BIP-21 format. Scanning it in a wallet app fills in the recipient, so nobody has to retype a 42-character address. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Bitcoin Address? Copy the receiving address from your wallet, choose Bitcoin in KoloQR's type picker, and paste it in. Add an amount if you want one pre-filled, then download PNG or SVG. Nothing is sent to a server. ### Is It Safe to Share a Bitcoin QR Code? Yes, if it holds a receiving address - that's public information and can only be used to send you funds. Never put a private key or seed phrase in a code you publish; that is the entire wallet. ### Why Should I Uppercase a bech32 Address? Because bech32 is case-insensitive, and an uppercase address qualifies for the QR alphanumeric encoding at 5.5 bits per character instead of 8. That's about a third fewer bits and a visibly sparser, easier-to-scan code. ### Can I Uppercase Any Bitcoin Address? No - only bech32 addresses starting bc1. Legacy addresses starting 1 or 3 use Base58Check, where case is significant. An [Ethereum address](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/ethereum-qr-code) must never be uppercased either - there the casing carries the EIP-55 checksum. ### Should I Put an Amount in the Code? Only on a screen that regenerates per transaction. An amount is fixed in BTC at the moment of printing while the exchange rate moves, so a printed amount drifts away from the price you meant. ### Can I Reuse the Same Bitcoin QR Code for Every Payment? It works, but every payment to that address is publicly linked to every other one. For a donation sign that's an accepted trade-off; for a point of sale, generate a fresh address per transaction. ### Does Scanning the Code Send Any Bitcoin? No. The scan fills in the recipient and, if present, the amount. The sender still reviews and approves the transaction in their wallet - a QR code cannot move funds on its own. ### Does the Code Work Without Internet? The code itself is just text, so it scans offline. Broadcasting the transaction needs a connection - which is what makes these codes usable on paper wallets and in cold-storage setups. ### Why Won't My Phone Open a Wallet When I Scan It? Because no app on that phone is registered for the bitcoin: scheme. That's normal on a phone with no wallet installed. Test with a real wallet app rather than from a device that has none. --- # Make an Ethereum QR Code From Your Wallet Address URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-types/ethereum-qr-code Create a free Ethereum QR code from your wallet address, with an optional amount. EIP-681 format, read by every wallet. Export print-ready PNG or SVG. Paste your 0x address, add an amount if you want one, and download a code that any Ethereum wallet reads - exported at print quality, with the checksum casing left intact. - Free - no sign-up - EIP-681 payment URI - Nothing sent to a server ## What Is an Ethereum QR Code? An Ethereum QR code is a QR code that stores an Ethereum payment URI - an address, and optionally a value - written in the EIP-681 format. Scanning it in a wallet app fills in the recipient so nobody has to retype a 42-character hex string. The address lives in the pattern; no transaction happens until the sender approves one. ### What EIP-681 Puts Inside the Pattern The payment URI is a compact structure, and one of its parts trips up almost everyone the first time: - **ethereum:**: the scheme. It is what makes the phone offer the code to a wallet app rather than to a browser. - **The 0x Address**: 42 characters: the 0x prefix and 40 hexadecimal digits. Its mixed case is not decoration, and the next section explains why. - **?value=**: optional, and expressed in wei rather than in ether. One ETH is 10^18 wei, so 0.5 ETH is written as 500000000000000000 - eighteen zeros are easy to miscount by hand. KoloQR converts the amount you type in ETH into wei for you, which removes the most common hand-built-URI error. Nothing in the code touches a network: an Ethereum QR code is text about where to send funds, and it cannot move anything on its own. ### Never Uppercase an Ethereum Address An Ethereum address is hexadecimal, so its letters could in principle be written in either case - and EIP-55 uses exactly that freedom to carry a checksum. The pattern of capitals and lowercase letters across the 40 hex digits is derived from a hash of the address itself, which lets every wallet detect a mistyped or corrupted address before it sends anything. Flatten the case and you throw that protection away: the address still points at the same account, but no wallet can tell whether it is the address you meant, and some refuse a mixed-case address whose checksum does not validate. This is the exact opposite of the [Bitcoin bech32 trick](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/bitcoin-qr-code), where uppercasing is recommended because it makes the QR pattern sparser - and it is why the two must never be treated as the same technique. On Ethereum, copy the address exactly as your wallet gives it to you, never retype it, and never let a design tool or a spreadsheet normalise the case. The denser pattern is the price of a checksum that catches errors, which on a payment code is a good trade. ## Where Ethereum QR Codes Are Used Forty-two hexadecimal characters is not something anyone should transcribe, which is why the code turns up wherever an address has to leave a screen: - **Donation and Tip Signage**: A printed code by a till or on a stand collects from people who already hold ETH, with no processor in the middle. - **Conference and Hackathon Stands**: Ethereum events settle payments and bounties on the spot, and a stand code is faster than reading hex aloud. - **Invoices for Crypto-Native Clients**: A code beside the total lets the payer scan rather than copy, which removes the most common cause of a failed transfer. - **Artist and Creator Support Pages**: A code on a print, a sleeve, or an overlay gives collectors a direct route that a payment page cannot. - **Hardware Wallet Setup Cards**: The receiving address is printed as a code so funds can be sent in without exposing anything that can spend them. - **Point-of-Sale Screens**: A merchant screen regenerates the code per sale with the amount already converted to wei, which is where fixed amounts belong. ## How to Create an Ethereum QR Code Address, amount, download - and one check that matters: - **Copy the Address Exactly From Your Wallet**: Copy and paste it, never retype it, and never change the capitalisation. The mixed case is the EIP-55 checksum, and flattening it removes the only error protection the address has. - **Open the Type Picker and Choose Ethereum**: Ethereum sits under More, in the Crypto group. Paste the address, and enter an amount in ETH if you want one - KoloQR converts it to wei for the URI. - **Say Which Network It Is For**: The same address exists on every EVM chain. Print “Ethereum mainnet” - or the L2 you mean - beside the code, because the code itself cannot say it. - **Verify by Scanning, Character by Character**: Scan the exported file with a real wallet and compare the whole address against the one you copied, not just the first and last four. Then export SVG or PDF for print. ## Which File Format Should You Download? KoloQR exports your Ethereum QR code in three formats. Pick by where it will be seen: - **PNG**: for point-of-sale screens, overlays, and web pages, where the code appears at one fixed size. - **SVG**: for donation signage, invoices, and printed cards - anything a printer scales without softening the edges. - **PDF**: for handing to a print shop or dropping into an invoice template at print-ready quality. Ethereum codes are among the densest on this site: a 42-character mixed-case address cannot use the alphanumeric encoding, and a value in wei adds eighteen more digits. That combination needs vector export and generous sizing - a payment code that fails to scan sends someone back to typing hex by hand. ## Best Practices for Ethereum QR Codes A payment code has a failure mode no other QR type has, and Ethereum adds a second one on top of it: - **Preserve the Address Casing Exactly**: The mixed case is the EIP-55 checksum. Flattening it to all lower or all upper strips the wallet's ability to detect a corrupted address before sending. - **Always Name the Network**: The same 0x address exists on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Base and every other EVM chain. Funds sent on the wrong one are usually unrecoverable, and the code cannot say which you meant. - **Let the Generator Convert ETH to Wei**: EIP-681 expresses value in wei - eighteen decimal places. Typing that by hand is how an amount ends up a thousand times too large or too small. - **Verify the Whole Address After Generating**: Scan the exported file in a wallet and compare every character. Checking only the first and last four is exactly the shortcut address-swapping malware relies on. - **Be Careful With Fixed Amounts in Print**: A value in wei is fixed the moment it is printed while the exchange rate is not. Print the address alone on anything long-lived and let the sender enter the amount. - **A Plain Address Code Won't Move Tokens**: It requests ETH. Sending USDC or any other ERC-20 needs a token transfer, which a plain address URI does not express - so label the code with the asset you expect. - **Keep the Modules Pure Black**: Style the artwork around the code, not the pattern. This is the one type where a marginal contrast ratio is never worth the design. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Four modules of clear margin on every side, and more on a busy sign. Error correction can rebuild damaged modules; it cannot find a code with no margin. - **Size It Generously**: At least a tenth of the reading distance, then a step larger. These are dense symbols, and density is the thing print quality punishes first. - **Never Publish a Private Key or Seed Phrase as a Code**: A receiving address is safe to show anyone. A private key or seed in a QR code is the entire wallet, readable by every camera in the room. ## FAQ ### What Is an Ethereum QR Code? An Ethereum QR code stores a payment URI - an address, and optionally a value - in the EIP-681 format. Scanning it in a wallet app fills in the recipient, so nobody has to retype a 42-character hex string. ### How Do I Make a QR Code for My Ethereum Address? Copy the address from your wallet, choose Ethereum in KoloQR's type picker, and paste it in. Add an amount in ETH if you want one pre-filled, then download PNG or SVG. Nothing is sent to a server. ### Why Must I Keep the Address Capitalisation? Because it's the EIP-55 checksum. The pattern of upper and lowercase letters is derived from a hash of the address, and it's what lets a wallet detect a corrupted address before sending. Flattening it removes that check. ### Can I Uppercase an Ethereum Address Like a Bitcoin One? No. Uppercasing a bech32 Bitcoin address is recommended because it makes the pattern sparser and the case carries no meaning. On Ethereum the case carries the checksum, so uppercasing destroys real error protection. ### Does the Amount Go in ETH or Wei? EIP-681 expresses it in wei - one ETH is 10^18 wei. Enter the amount in ETH and let the generator convert it; hand-typing eighteen zeros is how amounts end up a thousand times off. ### Does the Code Say Which Network to Use? A plain address URI doesn't. The same 0x address exists on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and every other EVM chain, so print the network name beside the code - it's the most expensive mistake to get wrong. ### Can I Use an Ethereum QR Code to Receive USDC or Other Tokens? A plain address code requests ETH. Tokens are moved by a contract call that a simple address URI doesn't express, so label the code with the asset you expect - senders choose the token in their wallet. ### Is It Safe to Share an Ethereum QR Code? Yes, if it holds a receiving address - that's public and can only be used to send you funds. Never publish a private key or seed phrase in a code; that is the entire wallet, readable by any camera. ### Does Scanning the Code Send Any ETH? No. The scan fills in the recipient and, if present, the value. The sender still reviews and approves the transaction in their wallet - a QR code cannot move funds on its own. ### Why Is My Ethereum QR Code Denser Than a Bitcoin One? Because the mixed-case address forces byte-mode encoding at 8 bits per character, where an uppercased bech32 address gets alphanumeric mode at 5.5. Add a wei value and the payload grows again - so print larger. --- # Where Can You Put a QR Code? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on Where a QR code goes decides whether it scans. Sizes, finishes and quiet zones for packaging, labels and printed products - and a free generator for the file. Almost anywhere, but not at the same size and not with the same finish. A carton, a bottle, a T-shirt and a vehicle each break a QR code in their own way. Each page below takes one surface and covers the size it needs there, what the scan should open, and what stops it working. ## One Surface at a Time Every page here is about the thing the code is printed on, rather than about the business printing it - the measurements, the material and the production step where codes usually die. ## The Part That Is the Same Everywhere Surfaces differ; the code does not. Whatever it is printed on, a QR code needs enough width for the distance it is read from, a clear margin around it, and real contrast between the pattern and its background. ### Design It for the Surface It Lands On A code is artwork before it is a scan target, and it has to belong on the piece it sits on. KoloQR gives you the control to make it fit without making it unreadable. - **Shapes and Colours**: circular, hexagonal, triangular or square, with a logo in the middle and full colour control to match a brand palette. - **Vector Export**: SVG, PDF and EPS for pre-press, so the same file places on a label and on a shop window without softening. - **Free, No Account**: generate and download without signing up, whether it is one code or a set for a whole product range. Styling changes how a code looks, not how it decodes. Keep the finder patterns intact and the contrast strong and a decorated code scans exactly like a plain one. ### Test It Where It Will Actually Be Scanned A code that works on a monitor has been tested under the best conditions it will ever meet: backlit, flat, full size and at arm's length. Nothing it faces afterwards is that kind. Print the piece, put it where it will live, and scan it there - in that light, at that distance, at that size, after whatever varnish or lamination it gets. Two phones, one iPhone and one Android, is the whole test, and it is the step that catches the failures nothing on screen can show you. ## FAQ ### Where Should a QR Code Go on a Product? On the flattest panel that a buyer can see while holding the product, away from folds, seals and the retail barcode. Back and side panels work well on cartons; a bottle wants the flattest part of the label. Wherever it goes, leave a clear margin of four modules around it. ### What Is the Smallest a Printed QR Code Can Be? About 2 x 2 cm for a code read in the hand, which keeps each module near half a millimetre at typical densities. Smaller codes do exist, but they need a short URL, good print and clean contrast, and they lose scans in poor lighting. When space is tight, shorten the link rather than the code. ### Do QR Codes Work on Fabric, Metal and Curved Surfaces? Yes, with allowances. Fabric needs a larger code because the weave blurs the module edges; metal and gloss need a matte treatment so they stop mirroring the phone's light; a curve needs the code to stay on a shallow part of the face. In each case, print a test piece before the run. ### Does the Surface Change Which QR Code Type I Need? No. The surface decides the size, the finish and the placement; the type decides what happens on scan. A URL code behaves the same on a pouch and on a poster. Choose the type for the action you want, then size and finish it for the material it is printed on. ### Can I Use One QR Code Across a Whole Product Range? You can, and usually you should not. One code pointing at a homepage makes the scanner do the searching that the code was supposed to save. One code per product, each pointing at that product's own page, costs nothing extra to generate and is the difference between a scan that helps and a scan that annoys. ### How Long Does a Printed QR Code Keep Working? A static code works for as long as its destination does, because the link is encoded in the pattern itself - there is nothing to renew and no service to keep alive. What expires is the page behind it, so keep that URL on a domain you control and the printed code outlives the campaign that made it. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on Product Packaging? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging How to put a QR code on product packaging that still scans: minimum size, quiet zone, foil and varnish, what to link to, and what to test before the run. A QR code on packaging turns the few square centimetres you can spare into everything that never fit on the pack: ingredients, instructions, disposal, a reorder link. Make one below, then read on for the size it has to be printed at, the finishes that stop it scanning, and what to check before a print run you cannot recall. ## What Size Should a QR Code on Packaging Be? Print it at 2 x 2 cm or larger. The working rule is ten to one: a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a pack picked up and held at 30 cm wants roughly 3 cm, and a code meant to be read from the shelf at 60 cm wants about 6 cm. - **Module Size**: the module is the smallest square in the pattern. Keep it at 0.5 mm or larger at final printed size; below that, ink spread on absorbent board starts closing the gaps between modules and the camera stops resolving them. - **Quiet Zone**: the quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins. The standard asks for four modules on every side: on a 2 cm code with 25 modules across, that is about 3 mm of blank pack with nothing crossing it. - **Error Correction**: error correction is the redundancy that keeps a code readable when part of it is damaged. Level M recovers roughly 15% and is the sensible default; level Q (about 25%) is worth the extra density on a pouch that creases or a label that scuffs. - **The Panel, Not the Layout**: measure the flat area you actually have once the die-line, the seal and the folds are drawn. A code that fits the layout but lands across a crease is a code nobody in a shop can scan. None of this replaces a printed proof. Ink spread, board colour and varnish all change the finished contrast, so the only size that counts is the one that scans on the real substrate with an ordinary phone - the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide covers how that number is arrived at. ## What to Link a Packaging QR Code To The pack has run out of room; the page behind the code has not. These are the destinations that repay the space a code takes on a carton, pouch or label. - **Ingredients and Allergens**: Full ingredient lists, allergen warnings and nutrition tables, in every language you sell in, without a fold-out label. EU wine labelling rules that took effect in December 2023 can be met this way: the ingredient list and nutrition declaration sit on an e-label reached by a QR code on the bottle. - **How to Use It**: Assembly, dosage, first wash, running-in - the instructions that get thrown out with the box. A ninety-second video answers what a folded leaflet in six languages never does, and it can be corrected long after the packaging is printed. - **Recycling and Disposal**: Which part of the pack goes in which bin, under the scheme that applies where the buyer actually lives. Collection rules differ by country and often by city, and a web page can be regional in a way a printed symbol cannot. - **Reorder in One Scan**: A link straight to the product page for the consumable that has just run out. The empty pack is in the customer's hand at the exact moment the decision gets made, which is the one advantage packaging has over every other channel you own. - **Proof of Authenticity**: A different code on every unit, printed as variable data, so a scan can report whether that code has been seen before. Worth it in categories with a counterfeiting problem - and it needs variable-data printing and a service behind it, not a single static code repeated across the run. - **Registration and Recalls**: Warranty registration, batch lookup, or a safety notice published after the product shipped. The scan reaches an owner you would otherwise have no way to contact once the pack has left the shop. ## How to Make a QR Code for Product Packaging Five steps from an empty panel to a file your printer can place in the artwork. The whole of it takes a few minutes, and only the last step is hard to undo. - **Decide What the Scan Opens**: Pick one destination and write it down before you design anything. A code that leads to a homepage is scanned once and never again; a code that leads to the allergen table for the product in the buyer's hand is one they show to someone else. - **Point It at a URL You Control**: Encode a link on your own domain, such as example.com/p/oat-drink-1l. A static code cannot be edited after printing, but a redirect on your own domain can, so the destination stays changeable for as long as the pack is in circulation. - **Build It at Print Quality**: Open the KoloQR generator, choose the URL type, paste the link, then set the shape, colours and logo to match the pack. Export SVG, PDF or EPS - a vector file places at any size in the artwork without the modules softening. - **Fit It to the Panel**: Place the code on flat board, away from folds, seals and the retail barcode, with four modules of quiet zone clear on every side. Add four or five words of instruction beside it - 'Scan for ingredients' - so the scan has a stated reason. - **Test the Printed Proof, Not the Screen**: Scan the actual proof, on the actual substrate, with an ordinary phone, in shop lighting rather than at your desk. Test it again after varnish or lamination: that is the step that most often turns a working code into a dead one. ## Printing a QR Code on Packaging Packaging is where most QR codes fail, and it is almost always the finish rather than the code. Foil, gloss varnish and metallised board reflect the phone's own light straight back into the lens, so a pattern that scans perfectly on plain paper reads as a bright blank on the shelf. - **Vector, Not Pixels**: place an SVG, PDF or EPS in the artwork. A PNG dropped into a layout and then scaled up is the usual cause of soft, thickened modules coming off press - see [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) for what each format does at size. - **One Flat Colour**: print the dark modules as a single solid ink or a spot colour. A code built out of four-colour halftone loses its edges to registration drift, and a half-millimetre module cannot afford any of it. - **Matte Beats Gloss**: a matte varnish or laminate scatters light; a gloss one mirrors it. Where the pack has to be glossy, ask for a matte spot varnish over the code panel alone. - **Not on the Curve, Not on the Seal**: keep the symbol on the flattest panel available. On a bottle or a can, a code wrapping much more than a third of the visible face [distorts enough for a phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) to give up on it. One more thing to leave alone: the retail barcode. A marketing QR code is not a replacement for the EAN or UPC at the till, and each needs its own quiet zone. GS1's Sunrise 2027 programme is working towards checkouts that can read 2D codes carrying a GTIN, but until a retailer's scanners actually do, the linear barcode stays exactly where it is. ## Before You Send Packaging to Print A run of fifty thousand cartons is the least forgiving place a QR code can fail. These are the checks worth doing while the file is still changeable. - **Scan the Proof, Not the PDF**: A screen is backlit, flat and unvarnished; a pack is none of the three. Scan the printed proof with two phones, one iPhone and one Android, before the file goes to plate. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Empty**: Four modules of blank space on every side, with no ingredient text, no rule, no fold and no die-line crossing it. This is the most common reason a well-made code stops scanning on a busy pack. - **Keep the Dark Modules Dark**: A dark pattern on a light background, with a real difference between the two rather than two mid-tones. Inverted codes - light modules on a dark pack - are read by many phones and not by all, which is a coin flip to avoid on a print run. - **Say What the Scan Does**: Four or five words beside the code: 'Scan for ingredients', 'Scan to recycle'. A code with no promise next to it is scanned by almost nobody, and the words cost less pack space than the code does. - **Own the Destination**: Encode a URL on your own domain rather than a third-party short link that stops working when a subscription lapses. The pack outlives the campaign, and a dead link on a shelf cannot be recalled. - **Keep the Landing Page Light**: The scan happens in a shop, on mobile data, often on one bar of signal. A page that needs three seconds and several megabytes to show an allergen table has already lost the reader standing in the aisle. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on Product Packaging? At least 2 x 2 cm, and larger when the pack is read from further away. The working rule is 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a box held at 30 cm wants about 3 cm. Below 2 cm, ink spread and shop lighting start costing you scans - the [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) works it out from your own distance. ### Will a QR Code Printed on Foil or Gloss Still Scan? Often not. A metallised or high-gloss surface reflects the phone's own light back into the camera, and the code reads as a bright blank. The usual fixes are a matte spot varnish over the code panel, or printing the code inside a matte white window on the foil. Test the varnished proof, never the flat artwork. ### Can I Change Where a Packaging QR Code Points After Printing? Not the code itself - a static QR code carries the link inside the pattern. Encode a URL on your own domain and change the redirect behind it whenever you need to. That gives you one permanent code on the pack with an editable destination, and no subscription that can switch it off. See [URL QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) for how the payload works. That matters most for seasonal inserts: a [Black Friday parcel insert](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday) is often opened after the sale has ended. ### Does a QR Code Replace the Barcode on Packaging? No. The retail barcode is what the till scans, and it stays. A QR code sits beside it for the shopper, with its own quiet zone. GS1's Sunrise 2027 programme aims to have point-of-sale scanners read 2D codes carrying a GTIN, but until a given retailer's checkout does, removing the linear barcode makes the product unsellable. ### What File Format Should I Send to the Printer? A [vector file](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) - SVG, PDF or EPS - so the code stays crisp at whatever size the layout needs and the modules keep hard edges on press. PNG is a raster image: fine for a mockup, wrong for production artwork. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG, so you can send the first three and keep the last for the presentation. ### Can I Put My Logo in a QR Code on a Pack? Yes, within limits. Error correction rebuilds the covered part, so a logo of roughly a tenth of the symbol's area at level Q is safe. Resist enlarging it until it only just scans on your desk: a shelf has less light and a shopper has less patience than you do, and both are what the margin is for. ### Why Does My Packaging QR Code Work at My Desk but Not in the Shop? Three usual causes: shop lighting is dimmer and more directional than office light; the varnish went on after you tested; and the printed code is smaller than the one you scanned on screen. Retest on the varnished proof, at final printed size, in the worst lighting you can find. ### Is a Free Static QR Code Enough for Packaging? For most packs, yes. A static code never expires, needs no account, and depends on no one's servers staying up. You need more only for per-scan analytics or a unique code on every unit, which means variable-data printing and a service to check them against. Everything else is a redirect you already control. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Business Card? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/business-cards A QR code on a business card should be 1.5-2 cm, on the back, 4 mm clear of the trim. Sizes, finishes that stop a scan, and what to link to. A business card is the smallest surface a QR code is regularly asked to work on: 85 x 55 mm, most of it already spoken for. Make the code below, then read on for the size it needs, where on the card it belongs, and the finishes that stop it scanning. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Business Card? Print it at 1.5 to 2 cm square. A card is read at 15-20 cm, and the ten-to-one rule - about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - puts the working minimum at 1.5 cm. Below that, the card stock's own texture starts costing you scans. - **The Card, in Millimetres**: 85 x 55 mm across most of Europe, 3.5 x 2 in (89 x 51 mm) in North America. Allow 3 mm of bleed and keep everything that must survive trimming 4 mm inside the finished edge. - **Quiet Zone**: the quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol begins. Four modules on every side: on a 1.5 cm code that is roughly 2.5 mm of blank card, and it cannot be shared with the trim margin. - **Shorten the Link, Not the Code**: fewer characters means fewer modules, and fewer modules means each one is larger at the same printed size. A short path on your own domain buys more scanning margin than any design change. - **Trim Tolerance**: a guillotine cuts to about a millimetre either way through a stack. A code sitting 2 mm from the edge on screen can lose part of its quiet zone on the finished card. Business cards are handed over, not scanned from a distance, so the size is set by print quality rather than by reach. If the code has to go under 1.5 cm, shorten the URL and raise the contrast before shrinking anything else - see the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) for where that floor comes from. ## What to Link a Business Card QR Code To One card, one code, one destination. These are the six that earn the square centimetre they take, each of them something a printed card cannot carry on its own. - **A Contact Page**: A page on your own domain holding your phone, email, address and a save-to-contacts button. It updates when your details change, which a printed card never does, and the person scanning keeps the link rather than the card. - **Your Portfolio**: Work is the argument a card cannot make. A code that opens a portfolio, a showreel or a case study hands over the evidence at the moment someone has decided you might be worth a look. - **A LinkedIn or Social Profile**: The professional network where the follow-up will actually happen. Scanning a code beats spelling a handle out at a noisy event, and the connection is made while you are still standing there. - **A Booking Page**: Calendly, Cal.com or your own booking form. The meeting the card was meant to produce gets booked on the spot instead of after an email that never gets sent. - **A Price List or Menu of Services**: What you do and what it costs, in the detail a card has no room for. Useful for trades and freelancers, where the first question after 'what do you do' is always the second one. - **A Payment Link**: For anyone who invoices small amounts in person: a PayPal.me, Revolut or Stripe payment link that opens ready to pay. Keep the amount out of the code so the same card works for every job. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Business Card Five steps from a link to a file your printer can place. The whole of it takes a few minutes, and the only step that cannot be undone is the last one. - **Pick One Destination**: One code, one link. A card carrying three codes asks the person holding it to choose, and someone who has just met you will not choose - they will put the card down. - **Use a Short Link on Your Own Domain**: A path like example.com/hello encodes into a smaller, coarser pattern than a long tracked URL, so it scans better at 1.5 cm. It also stays yours: a redirect you control can be repointed after the cards are printed. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the link, then set the shape, colour and logo to match the card. Keep the modules dark on a light background and the logo small enough that the pattern around it stays intact. - **Export Vector for the Printer**: Download SVG, PDF or EPS and place that in the artwork. A PNG scaled up in a layout program is the usual cause of soft, thickened modules on a card, where there is no size to spare. - **Scan the Printed Proof**: Print one card on the real stock, hold it at arm's length, and scan it with an ordinary phone in ordinary indoor light. Do it after any lamination or varnish, which is the step that changes the answer. ## Finishes That Stop a Business Card QR Code Scanning Spot UV, foil and heavy embossing are what break codes on business cards, not the code itself. Each of the three either mirrors the phone's light straight back into the lens or deforms the modules, and all three are exactly what a designer reaches for to make a card feel expensive. - **Never Spot-UV the Code**: a gloss varnish over the pattern turns it into a mirror under any overhead light. Spot-UV everything else on the card and leave the code panel matte, for the reasons in [matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing). - **Foil Is a Mirror Too**: a foil-stamped code reflects rather than absorbs, so the camera sees a bright blank. If the code must sit on a foil panel, print it as a matte window inside the foil. - **Letterpress and Emboss Deform Modules**: deep impression rounds the edges of every square and casts its own shadow. On a 1.5 cm code that is enough to lose the pattern; print the code flat and let the type carry the impression. - **Uncoated Stock Spreads Ink**: absorbent cotton and recycled boards let ink bleed into the fibre, thickening dark modules and closing the light gaps. On uncoated stock, size up to 2 cm rather than trusting a 1.5 cm code. Dark cards deserve their own warning. [Inverted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code) - light modules on a dark background - are read by many phones and not by all, so a black card wants a light panel behind the code rather than a white code printed straight onto it. ## Before You Print a Thousand Cards A box of cards is cheap to reprint and expensive to hand out wrong. These are the checks worth doing while the file is still open. - **Put It on the Back**: The back of a card is usually empty and the front is already carrying a name, a logo and four lines of contact detail. The back gives the code the quiet zone it needs without fighting anything. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: Three words beside the code - 'Scan for portfolio', 'Book a call' - turn a decorative square into a reason. A code with no label is scanned by almost nobody. - **Keep the Printed Details Too**: A QR code is an addition to a phone number and an email, not a replacement for them. Some people will type; some will scan; a card that only scans is useless to whoever is holding it with no phone in hand. - **Check the Landing Page on a Phone**: Every scan of a business card happens on mobile, often on one bar of signal in a venue basement. If the page needs a desktop to make sense, the code has made things worse. - **Test Both Platforms**: Scan the printed proof with an iPhone and an Android before signing off. Camera apps differ in how tolerant they are of a small, low-contrast code, and the card will be handed to both. - **Keep the Redirect Alive**: Cards stay in wallets for years. Whatever the code points at, keep that URL resolving on a domain you own - a dead link on a card you handed someone is worse than no code at all. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Business Card? Between 1.5 and 2 cm square. A card is scanned from about 15-20 cm, and the ten-to-one rule puts 1.5 cm at the bottom of what prints reliably. Go to 2 cm on uncoated or textured stock, where ink spread thickens the modules. The [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) works it out from your own distance. ### Where Should the QR Code Go on a Business Card? On the back, in a corner, at least 4 mm inside the trimmed edge. The back is usually the emptiest surface on the card, and the margin protects the quiet zone from the guillotine. Avoid the centre of the front, where it competes with the name that is the point of the card. ### Can a QR Code Save My Contact Details Straight to a Phone? A contact-card code can, because the details are encoded in the pattern itself. KoloQR generates codes for a link, a phone number, an email, a message or a social profile rather than full contact cards, so the practical route is a contact page on your own domain with a save-to-contacts button on it. ### Will a QR Code Work on a Black Business Card? Only with care. Inverted codes - light modules on a dark background - are read by many phone cameras and rejected by some, which is a coin flip on a card you only hand over once. The reliable answer is a light panel behind a dark code, printed matte. ### Why Does My Business Card QR Code Stop Working After Printing? Almost always the finish. Spot UV or gloss lamination over the code turns it into a mirror under office lighting, and foil does the same. Emboss and letterpress deform the modules. Print the code flat and matte, then rescan the finished card rather than the artwork. ### Should I Put More Than One QR Code on a Card? No. Two codes on 85 x 55 mm means two small codes and a decision nobody makes. Point one code at a page that links onward to everything else - portfolio, LinkedIn, booking - and the card keeps its space and its manners. ### Can I Add My Logo to a Business Card QR Code? Yes, if it stays small. Error correction rebuilds the covered area, so a mark of roughly a tenth of the symbol at level Q is safe. On a 1.5 cm code that is a very small logo - resist enlarging it until the code only just scans on your desk, because a card is scanned in worse light than that. ### Is a Free Static QR Code Enough for a Business Card? Yes. A static code never expires and needs no account or subscription, which matters on something that sits in a wallet for years. If you want to change where it points later, encode a redirect on your own domain and edit that - see [QR codes for business cards](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) for the wider setup. --- # How Do You Add a QR Code to a Flyer? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/flyers A QR code on a flyer wants 2-3 cm, a bottom corner and a reason beside it. Sizes for A5, A6 and DL, plus the print mistakes that cost scans. A flyer has seconds to work and no way to know whether it did. A QR code fixes both: it carries the reader straight to the offer, and it tells you which drop produced the traffic. Make one below, then read on for sizes, placement and the print details that decide whether it scans. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Flyer? Print it at 2 to 3 cm. A flyer is held at 30-40 cm, and the ten-to-one rule - roughly 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of scanning distance - puts 3 cm at the comfortable end. Go no smaller than 2 cm on any flyer that will be handed out rather than posted. - **The Formats, in Millimetres**: A5 is 148 x 210 mm, A6 is 105 x 148 mm, DL is 99 x 210 mm. A 3 cm code takes about 4% of an A5 face and around 9% of an A6, which is the real reason small flyers end up with small codes. - **Quiet Zone**: four blank modules on every side of the symbol. On a 2 cm code that is about 3 mm with no headline, rule or photograph edge crossing it, and it is separate from the flyer's own 5 mm safety margin. - **Bleed and Safety**: 3 mm of bleed, and nothing that matters within 5 mm of the trim. A code sitting tight to the edge on screen is a code with a shaved quiet zone in the box. - **Paper Weight and Coating**: 130-170 gsm silk holds a crisp module. On 80-100 gsm uncoated, ink spreads into the fibre and closes the light gaps, so size up to 3 cm rather than trusting 2 cm. Flyers pinned to a noticeboard are a different problem. If people will scan the flyer while it is on the wall rather than in their hand, size the code for the distance they can actually stand at - a metre back means a 10 cm code, as the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide works through. ## What to Link a Flyer QR Code To A flyer works when the scan finishes what the paper started. These six destinations do that, and each one is measurable in a way a printed phone number is not. - **The Offer Itself**: A landing page for the discount, class or event the flyer is about, with the terms and the sign-up on it. Not a homepage: the reader has already agreed to be interested, and a homepage makes them start their search over. - **A Booking or Order Form**: The table, the appointment, the delivery order. The scan lands on the one form that turns a leaflet into a transaction while the reader is still holding it. - **A Menu or Price List**: Prices change more often than flyers get reprinted. Linking to a live price list means the paper stays truthful for longer, and no reprint is needed when a number moves. - **A Map and Opening Hours**: For anything with a door, the scan should be able to answer 'where and when'. A maps link opens navigation in one tap, which a printed address never does. - **A Video or Demo**: Sixty seconds of showing beats a paragraph of telling, and a flyer has room for neither. Useful for services that are hard to describe and easy to recognise. - **A Campaign-Tagged Link**: The same landing page with a different tag per drop - one for the letterbox round, one for the market stall. It is the only honest way to learn which distribution earned its cost. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Flyer Five steps from an idea to a file the printer can place, with a tracked link that survives the campaign. - **Write the Landing Page First**: Decide what the scan opens before designing the flyer. A page that repeats the flyer's headline and carries one action converts; a homepage that makes the reader hunt does not. - **Tag the Link Per Drop**: Give each distribution its own URL or UTM parameter - example.com/spring?src=market against ?src=letterbox. Both land on the same page, and your analytics then tell you which round of flyers was worth printing. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the tagged link, then set the shape, colours and logo so the code belongs on the flyer rather than sitting on it. Keep dark modules on a light background. - **Place It Bottom-Right, With a Line of Text**: Bottom-right is where a thumb already is and where headlines are not. Put four or five words beside the code saying what it opens, and keep the quiet zone clear of every other element. - **Proof It on the Real Paper**: Print one flyer on the stock you have ordered and scan it at arm's length in room light. Uncoated paper and small codes are the usual pairing that passes on screen and fails in the hand. ## The Print Details That Decide a Flyer Scan Most flyer codes that fail were printed too small on paper that was too absorbent, in a colour that was not dark enough. All three are decisions made in the layout, not at the press, and all three are cheap to fix before the run. - **Vector Into the Layout**: place an SVG, PDF or EPS. A PNG dragged into InDesign and stretched to fit is the usual reason modules come off press with soft edges - [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) sets out the difference. The export step for a flyer built in Canva is covered in [how to create a QR code in Canva](https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva). - **Solid Ink, Not a Tint**: print the pattern as one solid colour rather than a screened tint. A halftone code at 2 cm loses its module edges to the dot pattern and to registration drift. - **Dark Enough to Read**: a mid-grey or pastel code on white looks tasteful and scans badly. Keep a clear light-to-dark difference, and check it before printing rather than after. A soft look comes from a muted ground and rounded modules, as in [aesthetic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/aesthetic-qr-codes), not from a pale code. - **Off the Fold**: on a folded DL leaflet, keep the code on one panel with its quiet zone intact. A crease through the pattern breaks the modules the camera needs to lock on to. Flyers are short-lived, so a static code is the right call: it never expires and costs nothing per scan. Point it at a redirect on your own domain anyway - campaigns get extended, and the ability to repoint the same printed code is worth the five minutes it takes to set up. ## Before the Flyer Goes to Press A flyer run is fast, cheap and completely uncorrectable once it is in letterboxes. These checks take ten minutes between them. - **Give the Code a Reason**: 'Scan for 20% off', 'Scan to book a table'. A bare square gets ignored; a square with a promise attached gets scanned. The words matter more than the design of the code. - **One Code, One Action**: Two codes on an A6 flyer means two small codes and a decision. Pick the single action the flyer exists to produce and let the landing page carry everything else. - **Keep It Out of the Corner Bleed**: Bottom-right is right; bottom-right at 3 mm from the trim is not. Hold the whole symbol plus its quiet zone inside the 5 mm safety margin. - **Print the Link as Text Too**: A short readable URL under the code catches the reader with no phone to hand and the one whose camera will not focus. It costs one line of type. - **Check the Page on Mobile Data**: Every flyer scan is on a phone, often outdoors. Load the landing page on a real handset with Wi-Fi off before signing off the artwork. - **Keep the Link Alive After the Campaign**: Flyers stay on fridges and pinboards for months. When the offer ends, redirect the URL somewhere useful rather than letting it 404. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Flyer? 2 to 3 cm for a flyer held in the hand at 30-40 cm. Use 3 cm on A5 where there is room, and never drop below 2 cm on uncoated paper, where ink spread thickens the modules. A flyer pinned to a wall is a different case: size it for the distance people can actually stand at. ### Where Should the QR Code Go on a Flyer? Bottom-right, inside the safety margin, with a line of text beside it saying what it opens. Bottom-right is where a thumb rests and where headlines are not, and it keeps the code clear of the fold on a DL leaflet. ### How Do I Track How Many People Scanned My Flyer? Give each distribution its own tagged URL and read the traffic in your web analytics: example.com/offer?src=market against ?src=letterbox. This counts page visits rather than raw scans, so the number runs slightly low, but the comparison between drops is reliable and it needs no subscription. ### Do I Need a Dynamic QR Code for a Flyer Campaign? Usually not. A static code costs nothing, never expires and cannot be switched off by a lapsed subscription. Point it at a redirect on your own domain and you keep the one thing a dynamic code offers - an editable destination - without renting it. Per-scan analytics is the one case that genuinely needs more. ### Why Isn't the QR Code on My Flyer Scanning? In order of likelihood: it is under 2 cm, it was printed as a pale tint rather than a solid dark ink, something crosses its quiet zone, or it sits across a fold. Rescan the printed flyer rather than the PDF - the paper is where the difference shows up. ### Can I Put the QR Code on the Back of a Flyer? You can, but the front is where the reader is looking during the two seconds a flyer usually gets. A back-page code works on a leaflet people will keep - a menu or a timetable - and works poorly on one that gets glanced at and dropped. ### Should the QR Code Match My Brand Colours? Yes, within contrast limits. Colour and shape do not affect how a code decodes as long as the modules stay clearly darker than their background and the finder patterns are intact. Check the pairing with the [contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) before it reaches the press. ### What Happens to the Code When the Offer Ends? Nothing, unless you plan for it. Flyers survive on fridge doors for months after a campaign closes, so redirect the URL to something still useful - the current offers page - rather than leaving a 404 that the paper keeps sending people to. A [QR code on a poster](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/posters) has the same afterlife, at a larger size. [QR codes for Black Friday](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday) walks through that redirect for a sale weekend, from early access to the offers that follow. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Sticker or Label? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/stickers-and-labels A QR code sticker needs about 3 cm to hold a 2 cm code and its margin. Sizes, thermal printing, curved jars, clear labels and laminate reflections. A sticker is the smallest thing a QR code gets printed on that still has to survive a jar, a shelf and a thumbnail. Make the code below, then read on for the sticker size it needs, what thermal printers do to the pattern, and why clear labels are the one substrate to avoid. ## What Size Should a QR Code Sticker Be? Order stickers at 3 cm or larger. A 2 cm code is the working minimum for a hand-held scan, and it needs four blank modules on every side, so a 3 cm sticker leaves about 4 mm of white margin around a 2 cm pattern. A 2.5 cm sticker forces the code down to about 1.7 cm. - **Sticker Size Minus Quiet Zone Equals Code Size**: work backwards from the die. The printable area is the sticker minus a 2 mm die tolerance, and the code is that minus its quiet zone. Design the code last, not first. - **The Sticker Edge Is Not the Quiet Zone**: a white margin only counts as quiet zone if it stays white on the product. On a dark jar or a coloured box, the substrate showing past the die cut becomes the background, and the margin disappears - see [the quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) for what the scanner is actually looking for. - **Thermal Printers Round Everything**: a 203 dpi label printer puts down 0.125 mm dots, so every module is a whole number of them: 0.5 mm is four dots, 0.6 mm is not. Design at a module size that divides cleanly, or the printer will round it for you and distort the grid. - **Curved Surfaces Need Slack**: on a jar or a bottle, keep the whole symbol within about a third of the visible face. Past that [the curvature skews the corner finder patterns](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) enough that a phone stops recognising them. Small round stickers are the hardest case on this page. A 25 mm circular label has roughly 20 mm of usable width across its middle, which is one 1.5 cm code and no room for a mistake - shorten the URL before shrinking the pattern. ## What to Link a Sticker or Label QR Code To Stickers go where packaging cannot: on someone else's product, on a jar you filled this morning, on a parcel already in transit. These are the destinations that suit that. - **Batch and Best-Before Detail**: For small-batch food and cosmetics, a label code can open the batch record - what went in, when it was made, how long it keeps. It puts full traceability on a 3 cm circle that has room for a name and nothing else. - **Care and Usage Instructions**: Washing, dosing, storing, refilling. The instructions that never fit on a jar and get thrown away with the box, kept at a URL that can be corrected after the labels are printed. - **A Reorder Link**: Straight to the product page for the thing that has just run out, scanned off the empty jar. Refill and subscription businesses live on this, and it costs one code on a label you were printing anyway. - **Asset and Equipment Records**: An inventory sticker on a laptop, a tool or a service panel that opens the maintenance log or the manual. Whoever is standing in front of the thing gets its history without knowing which system holds it. - **Shipping and Returns**: A label on the parcel that opens tracking, the returns form, or the assembly video. The customer is holding the box at the exact moment those three questions arrive. - **An Event or Table Sticker**: Stuck to a table, a stall or a laptop lid: menu, price list, playlist, socials. Stickers are the cheapest way to put a scan somewhere you do not own and cannot print on. ## How to Make a QR Code Sticker Five steps from a link to a die-cut file, with the two checks that catch the failures particular to labels. - **Measure the Sticker, Not the Code**: Start from the die size you are ordering and subtract the quiet zone and the cutting tolerance. That number is how big the code can be, and it is usually smaller than the one in your head. - **Shorten the Link**: Fewer characters means fewer modules, and on a 2 cm code every module saved is real width. A short path on your own domain buys more margin than any other single decision here. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the link, and keep the pattern dark on a solid light background rather than on the sticker material itself. Add the logo only if the code stays comfortably above 2 cm. - **Give It a Printed Background**: Print a white panel behind the code rather than relying on the label stock. That is what keeps the quiet zone white on a brown kraft label, a clear film or a coloured jar. - **Stick One On and Scan It**: Apply a proof sticker to the actual jar, at the actual curvature, under the light it will live in, and scan it. Flat on a desk is not the test; on the product is. ## Substrates and Finishes That Break Label Codes Three label choices account for most scanning failures: clear film, gloss laminate and metallic stock. Clear film lets the product's own colour become the code's background, while gloss and metallic reflect the phone's light back into the lens, so the camera sees a bright rectangle instead of a pattern. - **Clear Labels Need a White Patch**: transparent film has no background of its own. Print an opaque white block under the code, or the amber glass behind it becomes the light half of the pattern. - **Matte Laminate, Not Gloss**: laminate protects a label from oil and water and is worth having. Ask for matte, or for a matte panel over the code area on an otherwise glossy label - see [matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing). - **Kraft and Recycled Stock Darken the White**: brown paper labels reduce the contrast between modules and background before the ink is even dry. Print the code inside a white panel rather than directly on the kraft. - **Direct Thermal Fades**: direct thermal labels darken in heat and fade in sunlight, which is fine for a parcel in transit and wrong for a jar on a shelf. Use thermal transfer or conventional print for anything that has to scan in six months. One more thing worth knowing before ordering: variable-data label printing can put a different code on every sticker, which is what per-unit authenticity and batch tracking need. It costs more per roll and requires a service that can answer for each code, so use it deliberately rather than by default. ## Before You Order the Roll Labels are ordered in thousands and applied by hand or machine within a day. These checks belong before the file is sent, not after the roll arrives. - **Order 3 cm or Bigger**: A 3 cm sticker holds a 2 cm code with its quiet zone intact. Anything smaller forces a compromise, and the compromise is always made on the part the camera needs. - **Print a White Panel Behind the Code**: It costs nothing on a printed label and it makes the code independent of what it is stuck to. This is the single fix that covers kraft, clear film and dark packaging at once. - **Keep It Off the Seam**: On a bottle or a jar, the label's overlap and the container's seam both deform the pattern. Position the code on the flattest part of the front face. - **Check the Die Tolerance**: Die cutting moves by a millimetre or two across a roll. Keep the whole symbol and its margin at least 2 mm inside the cut line so no sticker in the batch loses a corner. - **Scan a Proof on the Product**: Apply one to the real jar, under shop lighting, and scan with an iPhone and an Android. A curve, a laminate and a dim aisle are three variables that a flat proof on a desk hides. - **Keep the Destination Editable**: Labels outlive campaigns. Point the code at a URL on your own domain so the batch page, the manual or the reorder link can move without the roll becoming waste. ## FAQ ### How Small Can a QR Code Sticker Be? About 3 cm for a reliable hand-held scan, which fits a 2 cm code plus its four-module quiet zone. You can go to 25 mm with a short URL, high contrast and good print, but the failure rate climbs in poor light. Shorten the link before shrinking the sticker. ### Will a QR Code Work on a Clear or Transparent Label? Only with an opaque white panel printed behind the pattern. Clear film has no background of its own, so whatever the label is stuck to becomes the light half of the code - and an amber bottle or a brown box removes the contrast the scanner needs entirely. ### Can I Put a QR Code Label on a Curved Bottle or Jar? Yes, if the code stays on a shallow part of the curve. Keep the whole symbol inside about a third of the visible face, so the corner finder patterns stay square enough for a camera to lock on. Test on the real container - a curve that looks gentle can still defeat a small code. ### Do QR Codes Print Properly on a Thermal Label Printer? Yes, as long as the module size fits the printer's dot grid. A 203 dpi printer lays down 0.125 mm dots, so keep modules at a clean multiple - 0.5 mm is four dots. Sizes that fall between dots get rounded and the grid distorts, which is what usually causes patchy scanning off roll stock. ### Should I Use Matte or Gloss Labels for a QR Code? Matte. A gloss laminate mirrors the phone's own light straight back into the lens, and a code under a spotlight reads as a bright blank. If the product needs a glossy label, ask the printer for a matte panel over the code area alone. ### How Long Will a QR Code on a Label Keep Scanning? As long as the print and the destination last. Direct thermal labels fade in heat and sunlight within months; thermal transfer and conventional print hold for years. The code itself never expires, because a static pattern carries the link inside it - see [QR codes on product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging) for the longer-lived version of the same problem. ### Can Every Sticker in a Batch Have a Different QR Code? Yes, with variable-data printing, which is how per-unit authenticity and batch tracking work. It costs more per roll and needs a service that can answer for every code. A single static code repeated across the run is the right default for everything else. ### Why Does My Label QR Code Scan Flat but Not on the Jar? Three usual causes: the curve of the jar, the laminate that went on after your test, and the shop lighting reflecting off it. Retest by applying a real sticker to a real container under the light it will live in, rather than scanning the artwork on a screen. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Poster? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/posters A poster QR code needs about 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scanning distance - 20 cm at 2 m. Sizes for A3 to A0, hanging height, and glass reflections. A poster is read from across a room and scanned from an arm's length away, and those two distances want different things. Make the code below, then read on for the size it needs, the height it should hang at, and why the glass in front of it matters as much as the print behind it. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Poster? Size it for the closest a person can get, not for how far away the poster is readable. The ten-to-one rule is about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance: 10 cm of code for a metre, 20 cm for two metres, 30 cm for three. Below 5 cm, a poster code is decoration. - **The Formats, in Millimetres**: A3 is 297 x 420 mm, A2 is 420 x 594 mm, A1 is 594 x 841 mm, A0 is 841 x 1189 mm. A 10 cm code is a quarter of the short side of an A3 and a twelfth of an A0, which is why the same design rarely scales between them. - **Measure the Approach, Not the Wall**: if a barrier, a counter or a road keeps people two metres back, that is the scanning distance. A poster behind a shop window is scanned from the pavement, however close the wall is on the inside. - **Hanging Height**: put the code between 1.2 and 1.6 metres from the floor. Above 1.8 m people cannot hold a phone steady on it, and below a metre they have to crouch in public. - **Quiet Zone at Scale**: four modules on every side still applies. On a 20 cm code that is roughly 3 cm of blank poster, which at that size looks like a design mistake and is not one. Posters in transit spaces are the exception worth planning for. Someone on a platform has thirty seconds and cannot approach the wall, so the code needs to work from where they are standing - which usually means a much larger code and a much shorter URL than the design wants. The [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide has the arithmetic. ## What to Link a Poster QR Code To A poster gets a glance and a decision. These six destinations are the ones worth the scan that follows, each of them something a wall cannot hold. - **Tickets and Registration**: The event the poster is advertising, one tap from booking. This is the highest-converting poster code there is, because the reader has already decided and only needs somewhere to do it. - **The Full Programme**: Times, rooms, line-ups and changes. A poster fixes a schedule at the moment it was printed; a linked page keeps it true when a slot moves. - **A Map or Directions**: A wayfinding poster that opens navigation to the door, the entrance or the room. In a hospital, a campus or a festival site this is the scan people actually want. - **A Trailer or Sample**: Thirty seconds of the film, the band or the class. A poster can show one frame; the scan hands over the rest, at the moment interest is highest. - **A Feedback or Report Form**: Common on public-service and workplace posters: report a fault, leave a comment, raise a concern. The code removes the step where someone has to remember a URL until they are somewhere private. - **A Donation Page**: For campaign and charity posters, a scan that opens a payment page with the amount already suggested. It converts the moment of sympathy rather than hoping it survives the walk home. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Poster Five steps, starting from a measurement rather than from a design. On a poster the size is the decision that everything else follows. - **Measure the Closest Approach**: Stand where a reader would stand and measure back to the wall. Multiply that distance by 0.1 - two metres becomes 20 cm - and that is the code width the poster needs. - **Shorten the URL**: A short link encodes into fewer, larger modules at the same printed size, which is worth more on a poster than on anything else. Use a short path on your own domain rather than a long tracked address. - **Build the Code in Vector**: Open the generator above, paste the link, style it to match the poster, then export SVG, PDF or EPS. Large format is where a raster file's softness becomes obvious, and vector removes the question entirely. - **Place It Low and Label It**: Bottom third of the poster, between 1.2 and 1.6 m from the floor once hung, with a line of text saying what the scan opens. Keep the quiet zone clear of the border and of any other element. - **Proof It at Full Size**: Print the poster, hang it where it will live, and scan it from where people will stand - in that light, through that glass. A test on a desk proof at A4 tells you nothing about an A1 on a wall. ## Glass, Gloss and Light on a Poster Code Most poster codes that fail are the right size and are behind the wrong surface. A glossy laminate, a frame's glass or a shop window each mirror the phone's own light and the venue's overhead lighting back into the lens, which is why a code that scanned in the studio reads as a bright blank in the corridor. - **Matte Lamination**: ask for matte on any poster that will live under spotlights. Gloss looks richer on the desk and reflects a light fitting straight into the camera on the wall; [matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) has the comparison. - **Non-Reflective Glass, or None**: a framed poster behind ordinary glass reflects the room. Anti-glare glass helps; an unframed poster or a snap frame with a matte anti-reflective panel helps more. - **Large Format Prints Coarse**: wide-format printers work at 100-150 dpi at final size, which is fine for a code with modules measured in millimetres. Supply vector artwork so the modules stay square rather than resampled. - **Watch the Backlit Case**: a lightbox poster is lit from behind, which washes out the difference between dark and light modules. Increase the contrast and the size, and test in the actual case before printing the run. Posters outlive their campaigns, especially in venues where nobody is paid to take them down. Point the code at a redirect on your own domain so the destination can be moved when the event has passed, rather than leaving a wall full of codes that lead to a 404. ## Before the Poster Goes Up A poster is printed once and hung for months, usually somewhere nobody responsible ever walks past. These are the checks worth making first. - **Size From the Barrier, Not the Wall**: Counters, rails, roads and desks decide how close a phone can get. Measure to the obstacle rather than to the poster, and size the code from that number. - **Hang It Between 1.2 and 1.6 Metres**: That band is where a standing adult can hold a phone steady without stretching or crouching. A poster hung at eye level puts its bottom-third code exactly there. - **Say What the Scan Does**: 'Scan for tickets', 'Scan for the timetable'. A code on a poster competes with everything else on the wall, and a promise is what wins the second of attention. - **Print the URL as Text**: A short readable address under the code serves the reader across the road, the one with a flat battery, and anyone whose camera will not focus in low light. - **Test It Through the Glass**: Scan the finished poster in its frame, in the venue's own lighting, from the standing position. Glass and spotlights are the two variables no desk test reproduces. - **Plan the Afterlife of the Link**: Posters stay up long after an event, in venues where nobody is paid to take them down. Redirect the URL to the next thing rather than letting it die. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Poster? About 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance: 10 cm at one metre, 20 cm at two, 30 cm at three. Size it for the closest someone can physically stand, not for how far away the poster can be read. On A3 that usually means 5-10 cm; on A1, 15-20 cm. ### How High Should a QR Code Be Placed on a Wall? Between 1.2 and 1.6 metres from the floor. Higher than 1.8 m and a standing adult cannot hold a phone steady against it; lower than a metre and they have to crouch in a public corridor. Putting the code in the bottom third of an eye-level poster lands it in that band. ### Will a QR Code Scan Through Glass or a Frame? Usually yes, but reflections are the problem rather than the glass. A framed poster under spotlights mirrors the light fitting back into the camera. Anti-glare glass, matte lamination, or angling the frame away from the light source all fix it - and the only real test is scanning it in place. ### Can a QR Code Be Scanned From Across the Street? Only if it is enormous. Ten metres of distance needs roughly a metre of code by the ten-to-one rule, which is most of a large format poster. For anything read at street width, print a short URL in large type as well - people can read and type an address they cannot scan. ### What File Should I Send to a Large-Format Printer? Vector - SVG, PDF or EPS. Wide-format printers work at 100-150 dpi at final size, and a raster code enlarged to 20 cm arrives with soft, uneven module edges. A vector file redraws at any size, which is exactly what a poster asks for. Check the finished proof with the [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator). ### Why Does My Poster QR Code Not Scan in the Venue? Three usual causes: it is too small for the distance people can actually stand at, the laminate or glass is reflecting the venue's lighting, or the poster is hung too high to hold a phone against. Rescan it in place from a standing position rather than on the studio proof. ### Should a Poster Carry More Than One QR Code? Rarely. Two codes on a wall is two decisions for someone walking past, and neither gets made. Use one code for the primary action - tickets, registration, the programme - and let the page behind it carry every other route. ### Is a Static QR Code Enough for Event Posters? Yes. A static code never expires and needs no subscription keeping it alive, which matters on something hung for a season and forgotten. Point it at a redirect on your own domain and you can move the destination after the event without touching the printed poster - the same habit that keeps a [flyer](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/flyers) useful months later. For a time-limited promotion such as a [Black Friday sale](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/black-friday), encode a short URL on your own domain so the poster can point somewhere current once the sale ends. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on an Invitation? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/invitations A QR code on an invitation wants 1.5-2.5 cm, on the details card rather than the main one. Sizes, dark stock, foil, vellum, and what to link to. An invitation is the one printed piece where a QR code has to be useful without being loud. Make the code below, then read on for the size it needs, which card it belongs on, and why dark stock, foil and vellum are the three things most likely to stop guests scanning it. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on an Invitation? Print it at 1.5 to 2.5 cm. An invitation is read at 25-35 cm, and the ten-to-one rule puts the comfortable size around 2.5 cm; 1.5 cm is the floor, and only on smooth coated stock with a short link behind it. Textured or cotton card wants the larger end. - **The Formats, in Millimetres**: A6 is 105 x 148 mm and 5 x 7 in is 127 x 178 mm, with A7 (74 x 105 mm) common for the details or RSVP card. A 2 cm code takes about 3% of an A6 face, which is small enough to sit quietly in a corner. - **Quiet Zone**: four blank modules on every side, which is what [the quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) is for. On a 2 cm code that is roughly 3 mm with no script, rule or border crossing it - and calligraphic type with long ascenders is the usual thing that does. - **Textured Stock Costs Sharpness**: cotton, laid and hammer-finish boards scatter ink across the fibre and soften every module edge. On textured card, print at 2.5 cm rather than 2 cm and keep the ink solid. - **Shorten the Link**: a wedding site at example.com/anna-and-tom encodes into far fewer modules than a long hosted URL with a query string. Fewer modules means bigger squares at the same size, which is the whole game on a small card. There is a manners question as well as a measurement one. A QR code on the face of a formal invitation reads as administrative; on the accompanying details or RSVP card it reads as helpful. The card that carries the practical information is the card that should carry the code. ## What to Link an Invitation QR Code To An invitation has room for the occasion and almost nothing else. These six destinations carry everything the card cannot, and each saves a guest an email to the host. - **The RSVP Form**: The reply, with dietary requirements and plus-ones, straight into a spreadsheet rather than onto a stack of returned cards. It is the single most useful code an invitation can carry, and the one that saves the host the most work. - **A Wedding or Event Website**: Timings, dress code, directions, accommodation, the running order. Everything that would need a second printed insert lives on a page that can be updated after the invitations are posted. - **Directions and Parking**: A maps link that opens navigation to the venue entrance rather than to the postcode centroid. For a rural venue this is the difference between guests arriving and guests phoning. - **Add to Calendar**: A calendar code drops the date, time and place into a guest's phone in one tap. It is the quiet fix for the invitation that gets admired, propped on a shelf, and then forgotten. - **A Gift List**: The registry or the honeymoon fund, without printing a line about money on the invitation itself. The code keeps the request out of the formal card and one tap away on the details card. - **A Photo Album to Fill Later**: The same code, reused on the day's table cards, pointing at a shared album guests upload to. It turns an invitation into the first step of collecting the photographs afterwards. ## How to Make a QR Code for an Invitation Five steps from a link to a card at the printer, with the two checks that matter on stock nobody wants to reprint. - **Set Up the Page First**: Build the RSVP form or the details page before the invitation goes to design, and give it a short address on a domain you keep. The code is the last thing to make, not the first. - **Decide Which Card It Sits On**: Put the code on the details or RSVP card, not on the face of the main invitation. That keeps the formal card formal and gives the code a surface with room around it. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the link, and match the ink to the rest of the printing. Keep the modules clearly darker than the card - a soft grey on ivory looks right and scans badly. - **Add a Line of Text**: 'Scan to reply' or 'Scan for details and directions', set small beside the code. Guests who have never scanned a code from a card need to be told that this one does something. - **Proof on the Real Stock**: Print one card on the chosen board, under warm indoor lighting, and scan it with two phones. Cotton and coloured stock behave differently from the white paper in your office printer. ## Dark Stock, Foil and Vellum Three invitation finishes account for nearly every code that fails to scan: dark card, metallic foil and vellum overlays. Dark stock inverts the pattern, foil mirrors the phone's light back into the lens, and vellum sits between the camera and the code, scattering it - and all three are chosen precisely because they make an invitation feel special. - **Dark Card Wants a Light Panel**: inverted codes, light on dark, are read by many phones and not by all. On navy or charcoal stock, print the code inside a light panel rather than reversing it out - the [minimum contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) shows where the limit sits. - **Never Foil the Code**: a foil-stamped code reflects instead of absorbing, and reads as a bright blank under any lamp. Foil the names and print the code in flat ink. - **Vellum Blocks the Scan**: a translucent overlay diffuses the pattern enough to defeat most cameras. Keep the code on a card the guest can see directly, not under a sheet they have to lift. - **Letterpress Deforms Modules**: deep impression rounds every square edge and casts a shadow inside it. Print the code flat, even where the rest of the invitation is pressed. Wax seals, ribbon and belly bands are the other three things that end up over the code. Whatever the finishing, keep the symbol and its quiet zone on a part of the card that stays visible when the invitation is assembled, not just when it is designed. ## Before the Invitations Are Posted Invitations are printed once, on expensive stock, and sent to people who will not tell you the code failed. These checks are the substitute for that feedback. - **Keep It Off the Main Card**: The formal invitation carries the occasion; the details card carries the logistics. A code belongs with the logistics, where it looks like a service rather than an interruption. - **Print the Address as Well**: Not every guest scans, and older guests often will not. A short readable URL and, where it matters, a phone number keep the invitation usable for everyone on the list. - **Test on a Warm-Lit Table**: Invitations are opened indoors, often in the evening. Scan the proof under a table lamp rather than at a bright desk, because that is the light the code will actually meet. - **Check the Form on a Phone**: Every scan opens on mobile. An RSVP form that needs pinching and zooming loses replies from exactly the guests who were trying to be helpful. - **Keep the Link Alive Until After the Day**: Guests scan invitations weeks later, and again on the morning itself for the address. Keep the page up until the event is over, then redirect it to the photographs. - **Match the Ink to the Card**: A dark, solid code on a light panel scans; a tone-on-tone code chosen for elegance does not. If the design needs subtlety, get it from the shape and the layout rather than from low contrast. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Wedding Invitation? 1.5 to 2.5 cm, with 2.5 cm the safe choice on textured or cotton stock. An invitation is read at about 30 cm, and the ten-to-one rule puts the comfortable size at 2.5-3 cm. Below 1.5 cm you are relying on smooth board, a short URL and good lighting all at once. ### Is It Rude to Put a QR Code on an Invitation? Not if it sits on the details or RSVP card rather than on the face of the invitation itself. Guests read the main card as the occasion and the enclosure as the logistics. A small code with a line of explanation beside it reads as consideration, not as a shortcut. ### Will a QR Code Scan on Dark or Coloured Card? Not reliably when reversed out. Light modules on a dark background are read by many phone cameras and refused by some, which is a poor bet on an invitation you send once. Print the code inside a light panel on the dark card and it behaves like any other code. A pumpkin-orange party invitation is a common case, and [Halloween QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes) measures which orange still works under black modules. ### Can I Foil or Emboss the QR Code? No. Foil mirrors the phone's light back into the lens and the code reads as a bright blank, while letterpress and embossing round the module edges and cast shadows inside the pattern. Keep those finishes for the names and print the code in flat, solid ink. ### Can a QR Code Add My Event to a Guest's Calendar? Yes. A calendar code carries the date, time and location in the pattern itself, so one scan offers to save the event to a phone. It is the most underused invitation code there is - see [event QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/event-qr-code) for what it encodes and how phones handle it. ### What Should the QR Code on an Invitation Link To? The RSVP form, or a details page carrying the timings, dress code, directions and accommodation. Both remove a printed insert and can be corrected after posting. Whatever you choose, put it on a domain you control so the address survives the year between sending and celebrating - see [QR codes for weddings](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/weddings) for the full set of cards a wedding uses. ### Will the Code Still Work Under a Vellum Overlay? Usually not. Vellum scatters the pattern enough to defeat most phone cameras, and guests will not think to lift the sheet. Keep the code on a card that is visible when the invitation is assembled, alongside any belly band, ribbon or wax seal. ### Do I Need a Paid QR Code Service for an Invitation? No. A static code is free, never expires and depends on no subscription staying paid between the invitation going out and the day itself. Point it at a short URL on your own domain and you can change what it opens - RSVP first, photographs afterwards - without reprinting anything. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Menu or Table Tent? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/menus-and-table-tents A table tent QR code wants 3-4 cm and a matte laminate. Sizes, tent height and angle, restaurant lighting, and why a PDF menu loses customers. A table tent is scanned by a seated guest in restaurant lighting, through a laminate, at about 40 cm. Make the code below, then read on for the size that survives that, the tent height and angle that make it easy, and the landing page mistake that loses more customers than any print error. ## What Size Should a Table Tent QR Code Be? Print it at 3 to 4 cm. A seated guest scans a tent from 35-45 cm across a table, and the ten-to-one rule puts that at 3.5-4.5 cm. Restaurant lighting is dimmer than any office, so take the upper end: 4 cm scans first time where 2.5 cm makes people lean in. - **The Tent, in Millimetres**: an A6 tent stands about 105 mm tall on a 74 mm face, an A5 tent about 148 mm. Put the code in the upper half of the face, so a guest is not scanning downwards into the tablecloth. - **Angle and Height**: a tent leaning back 20-30 degrees puts its face square to a seated phone. Flat on the table means scanning from directly above, which is the awkward angle every guest resolves by picking the card up. - **Quiet Zone**: four blank modules on every side. On a 4 cm code that is roughly 6 mm, and the tent's own border is the thing most likely to eat it. A [QR code frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) has to start outside those four modules. - **Dim Light Wants Contrast**: restaurant lighting is a fraction of office lighting, and a phone camera compensates by raising exposure and losing detail. Black on white on a menu is not a lack of imagination; it is the margin that keeps the code working at dinner. A code printed on the menu itself is a different measurement: menus are held at 30-35 cm, so 3 cm is enough, which the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide explains. The table tent is the harder case because it stays on the table and is scanned across it. ## What to Link a Menu or Table Tent Code To One table, several jobs. These are the six destinations worth a tent face, and the reason each beats asking a member of staff. - **The Menu as a Web Page**: A responsive page, not a PDF. A PDF menu opens in a viewer, arrives zoomed out, and has to be pinched and dragged - which is the single most common reason guests give up on a menu code and ask for paper. - **The Wine or Drinks List**: The list that changes weekly and costs the most to reprint. A tent code that opens the current pour list keeps the printed food menu stable while the wines move. - **The Wi-Fi Network**: A Wi-Fi code joins the network without anyone spelling out a password with capitals in it. On a tent it belongs on the reverse face, so the menu code keeps the side that faces the guest. - **A Review Form**: Goodwill peaks with the bill, not the next morning. A tent or bill-fold code opening a review form catches it while the meal is still the most recent thing that happened. - **Order and Pay at Table**: For venues running table service through an app, the tent carries the table number in the link. Fewer trips to the counter, and no guessing which table an order belongs to. - **Events and Bookings**: Quiz night, the tasting menu, next month's supper club, the booking form. A tent is the only advertising space in a restaurant where the audience is already seated and reading. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Menu or Table Tent Five steps, and one of them is about the page rather than the print. On menu codes the landing page is where most of the failures live. - **Publish the Menu as a Web Page**: Put the menu at a URL as ordinary HTML, so it opens at readable size on a phone. If a PDF is the only option, at least make it a single portrait page with large type. - **Use One Short Link per Purpose**: example.com/menu for the menu, example.com/wine for the list. Short paths encode into coarser, more forgiving patterns, and they read sensibly when printed as text beneath the code. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the link, and style it to match the tent. Keep the modules dark on a light background - contrast is worth more here than on any other surface in this collection. - **Design the Tent Around the Code**: Code in the upper half of the face, at 3-4 cm, with its quiet zone clear of the border, and four or five words beside it saying what it opens. Put a different code on the reverse face rather than crowding two onto one side. - **Test It Seated, at Dinner Service**: Sit at a table with the finished, laminated tent in place, under evening lighting, and scan it from where a guest's phone actually is. This is the test that catches laminate glare and undersized codes at once. ## Laminate, Glare and Grease A table tent lives under a downlight and gets handled with buttery fingers, which makes the finish the most consequential decision on the piece. Gloss lamination mirrors the ceiling light straight into the camera, and the smear from the last guest scatters what is left. - **Matte Laminate, Always**: matte scatters light, gloss reflects it. On a table under a spotlight, matte lamination is what makes the difference between a code that works and one that guests hold at an angle - see [matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing). - **Wipeable, Because It Will Be Wiped**: laminated 350 gsm board survives a service; uncoated card curls and stains within a week. A stained code is a low-contrast code. - **Print the Code Flat**: no spot UV, no foil, no embossing on the pattern. Every finish that makes the tent feel premium makes the code reflective or uneven. - **One Code per Face**: menu on the front, Wi-Fi or reviews on the back. Two codes on one face at tent size means two codes too small for dim light. Tents get replaced far more often than menus, which makes them the right place for anything seasonal. Keep the printed food menu pointing at a stable URL and let the tent carry the code that changes - and point both at your own domain, so a change of booking platform does not mean a reprint. ## Before the Tents Reach the Tables A menu code is scanned by every table, every service, by people who will not come back if it is annoying. These checks cost one evening. - **Never Link Straight to a PDF**: A PDF opens zoomed out in a viewer and has to be pinched into readability. A plain web page is the single biggest improvement available to any menu code, and it costs nothing per scan. - **Keep the Page Under a Second**: Guests scan on mobile data inside a building with thick walls. A menu page carrying full-resolution food photography is a menu page nobody sees before the waiter arrives. - **Keep Paper Menus Available**: Some guests have no phone, no data, or no interest. A QR menu is an addition to the printed one, and treating it as a replacement is what gave menu codes their reputation. - **Label Every Code**: 'Scan for the menu', 'Scan for Wi-Fi'. Two unlabelled codes on a table are indistinguishable, and a guest who joins the Wi-Fi expecting the menu blames the restaurant, not the tent. - **Scan It Under Service Lighting**: Test at the table, in the evening, through the laminate, with two phones. Daylight at the pass is not the condition the code will be used in. - **Check It Weekly**: Tents get scratched, greasy and swapped. Scanning one from each section at the start of a shift takes a minute and catches the dead link before a hundred guests do. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Table Tent? 3 to 4 cm, and 4 cm if the room is dimly lit. A seated guest scans from 35-45 cm across a table, which the ten-to-one rule puts at 3.5-4.5 cm of code width. On the menu itself, held at 30 cm, 3 cm is enough. ### Should a Menu QR Code Link to a PDF? No. A PDF opens in a viewer, arrives zoomed out and has to be pinched and dragged before anything is readable, which is why guests abandon menu codes. Publish the menu as an ordinary web page instead; it loads faster, reads at phone size, and can be edited without regenerating anything. ### Why Won't the QR Code on My Menu Scan in the Evening? Restaurant lighting plus gloss lamination. Dim light makes a phone raise its exposure and lose module detail, and a glossy laminate mirrors the downlight straight back into the lens. Matte lamination and a 4 cm code fix nearly every case of this. ### Can I Put Two QR Codes on One Table Tent? Yes, one per face - menu on the front, Wi-Fi or reviews on the back. Two codes on the same face means both are too small for dim light and neither is labelled clearly enough. Whatever you choose, put a few words beside each saying what it opens. ### Do QR Code Menus Still Need Printed Menus? Yes. Some guests have no phone, no signal or no patience, and a venue that offers only a code turns them away at the table. Treat the code as the fast route for people who prefer it and keep enough printed menus for the rest - see [QR codes for restaurant menus](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) for how venues run both together. ### Should the Wi-Fi Code and the Menu Code Be the Same? No - they encode different things. A Wi-Fi code joins the network directly and a menu code opens a web page, and a guest who scans the wrong one gets a confusing result. Print them on separate faces with clear labels; see [Wi-Fi QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) for what the network code contains. A [coffee shop](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops) usually wants both on the same tent, which is where the labels earn their keep. ### How Often Should I Replace Table Tents With QR Codes? Whenever the code gets scratched, greasy or faded, which in a busy room is every few months. A dulled or smeared pattern loses contrast long before it looks damaged, so scan a sample from each section at the start of a shift rather than waiting for a complaint. ### Can I Change the Menu Link Without Reprinting the Tents? Yes, if the code points at a URL on your own domain. Change the redirect behind it and every printed tent follows. That is also the reason not to encode a booking platform's own address directly - switching supplier would otherwise mean reprinting every table in the room. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Banner? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/banners A banner QR code needs about 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scan distance - 30 cm at 3 m. Roll-up heights, mesh, vinyl glare and outdoor movement. A banner is scanned by someone standing in front of it, not by the crowd that reads it from across a hall. Make the code below, then read on for the size that distance demands, the height on a roll-up that people can actually reach, and the two outdoor conditions that stop a banner code working. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Banner? Apply the ten-to-one rule: about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Someone standing a metre from a roll-up needs 10 cm; a trade stand read from three metres needs 30 cm. On an outdoor banner people cannot approach, size for the fence line rather than for the fabric. - **The Standard Sizes**: a roll-up banner is typically 850 x 2000 mm, exhibition backdrops run 2-3 m wide, and outdoor PVC banners are made to order. A 20 cm code is a quarter of the width of a roll-up, which surprises people the first time they place one. - **Height Off the Floor**: keep the code between 1.2 and 1.6 metres from the ground. The bottom 300 mm of a roll-up is usually behind a table or a passing shoulder, and the top metre is above where anyone can steady a phone. - **Quiet Zone at Scale**: four modules on every side still applies, so a 30 cm code needs roughly 5 cm of clear banner around it. At banner scale that reads as a design gap and is a functional requirement. - **Movement Costs You Focus**: an outdoor banner in wind never holds still long enough for a camera to lock on a small pattern. Outdoors, take the size a step up from what the distance alone suggests. Exhibition stands are the case where the rule gets ignored most often. The banner is designed to be read from the aisle at four metres, so the code gets sized for the aisle - but nobody scans from the aisle; they step in to a metre and hold up a phone. Size for the step-in, and the aisle takes care of itself; the [resolution guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) covers what large format does to the modules. ## What to Link a Banner QR Code To A banner has one job for a few seconds. These six destinations are what a scan should do with the attention it just won. - **A Lead Form**: The reason most exhibition banners carry a code at all: a short form that captures a name and an email without a clipboard. Keep it to three fields - anything longer is filled in by nobody standing up. - **A Product or Service Page**: What the banner is advertising, in the detail a two-metre print cannot hold. The visitor has already read the headline, so the page should start where the banner stopped. - **A Brochure or Spec Sheet**: A downloadable PDF replaces the tote bag of paper nobody carries home from a trade show. It also survives the flight back, which printed literature rarely does. - **A Booking or Demo Slot**: For stands with a diary to fill: the code opens the calendar and the visitor books while standing in front of you. It converts interest before the next stand takes it. - **A Video Loop or Case Study**: Sixty seconds of the thing working, for a product too large or too abstract to bring. Useful on construction, machinery and services stands where the real object cannot be in the hall. - **An Event Programme or Map**: On venue and festival banners, the code should answer 'what is on and where'. A live page beats a printed schedule the moment anything moves. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Banner Five steps, beginning with a tape measure. On a banner, size is the only decision that cannot be fixed on site. - **Measure Where People Will Stand**: Walk to the position a visitor takes when they stop - usually about a metre from a roll-up, further from a stage backdrop. Multiply that distance by 0.1 and that is the code width. - **Shorten the Link**: A short path on your own domain encodes into fewer, larger modules, which matters most on a surface printed at 100 dpi. It also prints readably as text beneath the code, for the people standing too far back. - **Build the Code in Vector**: Open the generator above, paste the link, style it to match the banner, and export SVG, PDF or EPS. Wide-format printing at final size is where raster artwork shows its edges. - **Place It in the Reachable Band**: Between 1.2 and 1.6 metres from the floor, clear of the bottom third that furniture and crowds block. Keep the quiet zone free of graphics and put a line of text beside it. - **Test It Standing Up, in the Venue**: Scan the finished banner from the visitor's position, under the hall's own lighting, before the doors open. Exhibition lighting is harsher and more directional than any office, and vinyl reflects it. ## Vinyl, Mesh and Weather Banner material decides whether a code survives its environment. Gloss vinyl mirrors venue lighting back into the camera, mesh perforations physically remove part of the pattern, and outdoor movement stops a phone from focusing at all - none of which shows up on the artwork proof. - **Matte Vinyl Over Gloss**: ask for a matte finish on any banner going under exhibition lighting. Gloss PVC under a spotlight produces exactly the bright rectangle a camera cannot decode. - **Avoid Mesh for Codes**: mesh banners are perforated to let wind through, and the holes eat modules. If the code has to go on mesh, oversize it heavily so each module spans many holes, and test the printed sample. - **Print at Final Size in Vector**: large-format printers work at 100-150 dpi at final size. Supply SVG, PDF or EPS so the modules are drawn rather than resampled, whatever scale the file is placed at - [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers why. - **Tension the Banner**: a slack banner curves, and a curved code distorts its finder patterns. Bungees, weights and a taut hem are scanning equipment as much as rigging. Roll-up banners get reused for years across different events, which is an argument for encoding a permanent URL on your own domain rather than a campaign address. Change the redirect for the next show and the same banner keeps earning, instead of pointing at a landing page that closed two seasons ago. ## Before the Banner Is Printed A banner is a single large print with a long life and no way to patch a mistake. These are the checks that pay for themselves on the first stand. - **Size for the Step-In, Not the Aisle**: People read banners from a distance and scan them from close up. The scanning distance is the one that sets the size, and it is almost always shorter than the design assumes. - **Keep It Out of the Bottom Third**: Tables, plants, queues and shoulders occupy the lowest 700 mm of every stand. A code there is a code nobody can point a phone at during the busy hour. - **Give It a Reason and a URL**: A line of text saying what the scan opens, and the short address printed underneath. The address catches everyone standing too far back to scan. - **Ask for Matte**: Matte vinyl costs the same as gloss and removes the single most common banner failure. Specify it on the order rather than hoping. - **Scan It in the Hall**: Test on site before the doors open, from a standing position, under the venue's lighting. This is the only test that includes the lights, the glare and the crowd distance together. - **Use a Link You Can Repoint**: Banners outlive campaigns by years. A redirect on your own domain lets the same printed banner serve the next event, rather than pointing at a landing page that closed two seasons ago. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Roll-Up Banner? Around 10-15 cm for a visitor standing a metre or so away, which is how roll-ups are actually used. The ten-to-one rule gives 1 cm of code per 10 cm of distance. Go larger for a stage backdrop or anything behind a barrier, where nobody can step closer. ### How High Should a QR Code Be on a Banner? Between 1.2 and 1.6 metres from the floor. The bottom third of a roll-up is blocked by tables and people during any busy period, and above 1.8 m a standing adult cannot hold a phone steady against it. That band is also roughly chest height, which is where a phone naturally goes. ### Do QR Codes Work on Mesh Banners? Poorly. Mesh is perforated to let wind through, and the holes physically remove parts of the pattern that the camera needs. If a code must go on mesh, oversize it heavily so each module covers many holes, and scan a printed sample before committing to the run. ### Why Won't My Exhibition Banner QR Code Scan? Usually glare or size. Gloss vinyl under directional hall lighting reflects straight into the lens, and codes are routinely sized for the aisle rather than for the metre at which people actually scan. Matte material and a larger code fix most cases; test on site before the doors open. ### Can a QR Code Be Scanned on a Banner Outdoors in Wind? Only if it is large and the banner is tensioned. A moving surface never holds still long enough for a phone to lock focus on small modules. Tension the hem, use weights or bungees, and take the code a size up from what the distance alone suggests. ### What File Should I Send for a Large Banner? Vector - SVG, PDF or EPS. Wide-format printers output at 100-150 dpi at final size, so a raster code scaled to 30 cm arrives with soft, uneven modules. Vector artwork is redrawn at whatever size the banner needs; verify the finished print with the [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator). ### Should the Banner Show the Web Address as Well? Yes. A short readable URL under the code serves everyone standing too far back to scan, everyone with a dead battery, and everyone photographing the banner to deal with later. It costs one line of type on a two-metre print. ### Can I Reuse a Banner With a QR Code at the Next Event? Yes, if the code points at a URL on your own domain rather than at a campaign address. Change the redirect and the same printed banner serves the next show. Encoding a one-off landing page is what turns a reusable banner into a single-use one - the same trap that catches a [poster](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/posters) left hanging for a season. --- # Where Should a QR Code Go on a Brochure? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/brochures A brochure QR code wants 2-2.5 cm, one per panel, never across a fold. Panel sizes for tri-folds, gutters in stitched booklets, and coated stock. A brochure is the one printed piece with several surfaces and a crease through the middle of most of them. Make the code below, then read on for the panel it belongs on, the fold it must avoid, and how to find out which section of the brochure people actually scanned. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Brochure? Print it at 2 to 2.5 cm. A brochure is held at 30-40 cm, which the ten-to-one rule puts at 3-4 cm, but a brochure code sits inside a designed panel rather than alone on a page - 2.5 cm scans reliably on coated stock and leaves the layout intact. - **The Panels, in Millimetres**: an A4 tri-fold gives three panels of about 99 x 210 mm, and the tucked-in panel is 2-3 mm narrower so it folds cleanly. An A4 bi-fold gives two A5 panels at 148 x 210 mm. - **Never Across the Fold**: a crease through the pattern breaks the modules the camera needs, and the paper never lies flat again afterwards. Keep the whole symbol and its quiet zone on one panel, at least 5 mm from the crease. - **Mind the Gutter**: in a saddle-stitched booklet, the inner margin curves into the spine. Keep codes at least 12 mm from the gutter on a stitched job, more on anything over 32 pages. - **Quiet Zone Inside the Panel**: four blank modules on every side, about 4 mm on a 2.5 cm code, and it cannot be shared with the panel's own margin or with a background image edge. [The quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) explains what it is protecting. Brochures are the one format where several codes are right. Each panel covers a different subject, so each can carry its own code and its own URL - which is also the only way to learn which section of the brochure did the work. ## What to Link a Brochure QR Code To A brochure is already the long version. A code should open what even a brochure cannot carry - the moving parts, the heavy files and the human being. - **Current Prices**: Prices are what date a brochure fastest and what forces the reprint. Printing 'current prices' with a code beside it keeps the brochure accurate for years while the numbers move on a page you control. - **The Full Specification**: Dimensions, materials, compliance, technical drawings. A brochure sells; the specification sheet answers the questions that follow, and it belongs behind a code rather than in eight pages of tables. - **A Video Walkthrough**: Property tours, machinery in operation, a treatment explained. It is the content a brochure most obviously cannot hold, and the one readers most want after the photographs. - **Availability or Stock**: Course dates, room availability, delivery times. Anything that has a calendar attached is out of date the day the brochure is printed and current the moment it is a link. - **A Contact or Booking Form**: The action the brochure exists to produce. On the back panel, beside the address block, where a reader looks once they have decided. - **A Panel-Specific Landing Page**: One code per panel, each with its own URL, so your analytics show which section of the brochure people acted on. It is the closest a printed piece gets to knowing what was read. ## How to Make QR Codes for a Brochure Five steps for a piece with several codes, several panels and a fold that decides where none of them can go. - **Map the Panels First**: Lay out the fold plan and decide what each panel is about before placing a single code. A code belongs to a subject, and the subject belongs to a panel. - **Give Each Panel Its Own URL**: example.com/spec, example.com/prices, example.com/book. Distinct links cost nothing, encode more coarsely than one long tracked address, and tell you afterwards which panel earned the scan. - **Build the Codes**: Open the generator above and make each code in turn, keeping the same shape, colour and logo treatment across the set so the brochure reads as one piece rather than three. - **Place Them Away From the Creases**: At least 5 mm from any fold, 12 mm from a stitched gutter, and inside the panel's own margin with the quiet zone intact. Add a short line of text beside each one. - **Fold a Proof and Scan Every Code**: Print, fold and scan the finished piece, not the flat artwork. Folding is what reveals a code sitting a few millimetres too close to a crease, and a stitched proof is what reveals the gutter. ## Coated Stock, Varnish and the Fold Brochures are printed on coated paper and finished with varnish or lamination, which is good for photography and hostile to a QR code. A gloss finish across a whole page mirrors overhead light into the camera, and the folding line running through a code destroys the pattern permanently. - **Matte or Silk, Not Gloss**: silk and matte coatings hold detail and scatter light. A full gloss varnish over a code turns it reflective under any office or showroom lighting. - **Score Before Folding**: on 170 gsm and above, unscored folds crack the ink along the crease. Cracking near a code takes modules with it, so specify creasing on any heavy stock. - **Solid Ink, Not a Tint**: print the pattern as one solid colour rather than a screened tint of a brand shade. At 2.5 cm the halftone dot pattern and registration drift both eat into the module edges. - **Consistent Placement Across Panels**: put every code in the same position on its panel. A reader who has scanned one knows where to look for the next, which is worth more than any individual placement decision. Run the [print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) over the finished file. Brochures have unusually long lives - they sit in reception areas and glove boxes for years after the campaign that produced them. That is the strongest argument on this page for encoding URLs on your own domain: the printed piece stays useful only as long as its links resolve, and those are the only part you can still change. ## Before the Brochure Goes to Print A brochure is the most expensive piece per copy in this collection and the one most likely to be printed in the thousands. These checks come before the file goes. - **Fold the Proof**: Every fold-related failure is invisible on a flat PDF and obvious on a folded sheet. Print one, fold it by hand, and scan every code on the finished object. - **One Code per Subject**: Codes should map to sections, not decorate them. Three codes on three panels about three things is clear; three codes on one panel is a reader deciding not to scan any. - **Keep 5 mm From Every Crease**: The crease moves by a millimetre or two in finishing, and a code sitting on the tolerance loses modules in part of the run rather than all of it - which is worse, because it passes inspection. - **Label What Each Code Opens**: 'Scan for current prices', 'Scan for the full specification'. With several codes on one piece, labels are what stop them reading as decoration. - **Track Panels Separately**: Distinct URLs per panel turn the brochure into something measurable. Same page, different paths, and your analytics answers which section did the work. - **Keep Every Link Resolving**: Brochures outlive campaigns by years in waiting rooms and glove boxes. Redirect old paths rather than deleting them, the way any long-lived printed code has to be maintained. ## FAQ ### Where Should a QR Code Go on a Tri-Fold Brochure? Inside a single panel, at least 5 mm from every crease, with its quiet zone clear of the panel margin. The back panel beside the contact details is the conventional place for the main code; panel-specific codes go with the section they belong to. ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Brochure? 2 to 2.5 cm. A brochure is held at 30-40 cm, and 2.5 cm scans reliably on coated stock while still fitting inside a designed panel. Go to 3 cm on uncoated or recycled paper, where ink spreads into the fibre and thickens the modules. ### Can a QR Code Cross a Fold? No. A crease breaks the modules the camera needs and the paper never lies flat again, so the failure is permanent rather than occasional. Keep the whole symbol and its four-module quiet zone on one panel, 5 mm clear of the fold line. ### How Many QR Codes Should a Brochure Have? One per subject, which usually means one per panel. Brochures are the one format where several codes make sense, because each panel covers something different. What does not work is several codes on one panel - the reader treats a cluster as decoration and scans none of them. ### How Do I Know Which Panel People Scanned? Give each code its own URL - example.com/spec against example.com/prices - and read the traffic in your web analytics. This measures page visits rather than raw scans, so the numbers run slightly low, but the comparison between panels is reliable and needs no subscription. ### Will a Gloss-Laminated Brochure Still Scan? Often not under direct light. Gloss lamination mirrors overhead lighting straight into the camera, so the code reads as a bright rectangle. Silk or matte lamination scatters that light instead, and it is the finish to specify on any brochure carrying codes. ### Where Do Codes Go in a Stitched Booklet? At least 12 mm from the gutter, and further on anything over 32 pages. The inner margin curves into the spine as the page count grows, and a code sitting close to it is scanned at an angle that distorts the finder patterns. ### How Long Will the Codes in a Brochure Keep Working? As long as the links resolve. A static code never expires, because the address is encoded in the pattern itself - but a brochure in a reception area outlives most campaign URLs. Point every code at your own domain and redirect rather than delete when a page moves, as a code on [product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging) has to be maintained. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Ticket? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/tickets A ticket usually carries two codes: the one the gate scans and the one the guest scans. How to keep them apart, sized, and readable on thermal stock. A ticket is the one surface here that usually carries two QR codes with completely different jobs: the one the door staff scan to let someone in, and the one the guest scans to find out where to go. Make the second one below, then read on for how to keep the two apart. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Ticket? Print the guest-facing code at 2 to 2.5 cm and the entry code at whatever size the access-control system specifies - usually 2.5 to 3 cm, because a gate scanner reads it from a fixed distance in poor light. Keep at least 1 cm of clear space between the two so neither falls inside the other's quiet zone. - **The Stock, in Millimetres**: a classic thermal ticket is 54 x 140 mm, a home-printed A4 ticket has a stub across the top, and a wristband tab is often under 25 mm wide. The wristband is the constraint that forces every other decision. - **Two Codes, One Metre Apart in Meaning**: the entry code carries a token the venue's system checks; the information code carries a URL. Label both, keep 1 cm between them, and never let a design decision swap their positions between batches. - **Never Across the Perforation**: the tear line removes part of the pattern the moment the stub is separated. Keep each code entirely on its own side of the perforation, with the quiet zone intact. - **Quiet Zone**: four blank modules on every side, roughly 3 mm on a 2 cm code. On a busy ticket the terms and conditions text is what usually creeps into it. The entry code is not yours to design. Its size, [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) and content are set by the access-control system, and changing any of them to fit a layout is how a queue stops moving at 7 p.m. Design the ticket around it. ## What to Link a Guest-Facing Ticket Code To The entry code gets someone through the door. These six are what the second code should do once they are inside - each one a question the box office would otherwise answer by phone. - **Doors, Times and the Running Order**: When to arrive, when the support act starts, when it ends. Printed times change; a linked page does not have to be reprinted when the curfew moves. - **Directions and Parking**: A maps link to the correct entrance rather than to the venue's postcode, plus where to park and which gate to use. It is the most-asked question at every event and the easiest to answer with a code. - **The Venue's Access Information**: Step-free routes, accessible seating, quiet spaces, assistance contacts. Putting this behind a code on every ticket reaches the people who need it without making them ask. - **Bag Policy and Conditions of Entry**: What is allowed through the door. A scan on the way from the car park saves a bag being turned away at the front of a queue, which is the worst place to learn a rule. - **Transfer or Resale**: The official route for passing a ticket on. Making it one scan from the ticket itself is the practical alternative to the secondary market that fills the gap otherwise. - **The Programme or Set List**: A digital programme, cast list or exhibition guide, replacing a printed booklet nobody carries home. It also survives the event, which is where the follow-up email finds its audience. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Ticket Five steps for the guest-facing code - the one you control. The entry code comes from your ticketing system and this process does not touch it. - **Confirm the Entry Code's Footprint First**: Ask the ticketing or access-control provider what size and position their code needs. That block is fixed; everything else on the ticket is designed around it. - **Write One Page That Answers the Door Questions**: Times, entrance, parking, accessibility, bag policy - on one short page at a short URL on your own domain. That page is what the guest code opens. - **Build the Code**: Open the generator above, paste the link, and keep the pattern dark on white. Thermal stock is grey rather than white and prints at limited contrast, so this is not the place for a brand-coloured code. - **Place and Label Both Codes**: 'Scan at the door' beside the entry code, 'Scan for directions and times' beside yours, with 1 cm between them and neither crossing the perforation. - **Test the Real Ticket, at the Gate**: Print on the actual stock and scan both codes: yours with a phone, the entry code with the venue's scanner. Do it in the lighting the door has at night, not in the office. ## Thermal Stock, Fading and the Queue Most ticket codes fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the design. Direct thermal stock darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, screen brightness decides whether a phone ticket scans at all, and a gate scanner has about a second per person before a queue starts backing up. - **Thermal Transfer, Not Direct Thermal**: direct thermal tickets go grey in a hot car and fade in a wallet over a summer. Thermal transfer or conventional print survives the months between sale and event. - **Print Dark on White**: thermal stock is off-white and its blacks are grey. Contrast that would be comfortable on coated paper is marginal here, so keep the code plain rather than branded. - **Keep the Codes Apart**: 1 cm of clear space between the entry code and the guest code, and clear labels on both. A scanner presented with two codes in one frame is a scanner that reads the wrong one. - **Design for the Gate's Second**: door staff scan in low light, at speed, on a moving ticket. Larger modules and higher error correction on the entry code cost paper and save the queue; [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) covers the rest of the failure list. Phone tickets are the other half of this. A screen at low brightness with auto-dimming on is the most common scanning failure at a door, and it is fixed by telling the guest to raise their brightness on the same page the ticket code opens - which is one more reason for that page to exist. ## Before the Tickets Are Printed A ticket has one moment where it must work, in front of a queue. These checks belong to the weeks before, not the evening of. - **Never Redesign the Entry Code**: Its size, content and error correction come from the access-control system. Recolouring it, shrinking it or adding a logo to it is how a gate stops reading tickets on the night. - **Label Which Code Is Which**: 'Scan at the door' and 'Scan for information'. Two unlabelled codes on one stub means guests presenting the wrong one at the gate, which costs seconds each at exactly the wrong time. - **Keep Both Off the Perforation**: A torn stub takes whatever crosses the tear line with it. Each code belongs entirely on one side, with its quiet zone. - **Use Print That Lasts to the Event**: Tickets bought in March are scanned in August, after a season in a drawer or a glove box. Direct thermal fades in that time; specify stock that does not. - **Test With the Venue's Own Scanner**: A phone camera is more forgiving than a gate scanner. Verify a printed sample on the equipment that will be at the door, in the light that will be there. - **Keep the Information Page Live After the Event**: People scan tickets afterwards, for the set list, the photographs or a refund. Redirect the page rather than deleting it, the same way a save-the-date link is kept alive until the day. ## FAQ ### Why Does a Ticket Have Two QR Codes? Because they do different jobs. The entry code carries a token the venue's access-control system validates, and it is generated by the ticketing platform. The second code is yours: it opens a page with times, directions, parking and accessibility. Keep 1 cm between them and label both clearly. ### What Size Should the QR Code on a Ticket Be? 2 to 2.5 cm for the guest-facing code, and whatever the access-control provider specifies for the entry code - usually 2.5 to 3 cm. The gate scanner reads at a fixed distance in poor light and at speed, which is why its code is the larger of the two. ### Can I Add My Logo or Brand Colours to a Ticket Code? To your information code, yes, if contrast stays strong. To the entry code, no. Its appearance is set by the system that validates it, and restyling it is one of the few reliable ways to stop a queue moving on the night. ### Will a QR Code on Thermal Ticket Stock Fade? Direct thermal will. It darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, so a ticket bought in spring and left in a car can be unreadable by the event. Thermal transfer or conventional printing holds for years, and it is worth specifying for anything sold more than a few weeks ahead. ### Why Won't the Scanner Read a Ticket on Someone's Phone? Screen brightness, nearly every time. A dimmed screen with auto-brightness in a dark doorway gives a gate scanner almost nothing to work with, and a cracked screen or a heavy privacy film finishes the job. Ask guests to raise brightness before they reach the door. ### Can the Same QR Code Be Used on Every Ticket? Only for the information code. Entry codes must be unique per ticket, which means variable-data printing and a system that can mark each one used - otherwise one photographed ticket admits an unlimited number of people. The information page is identical for everyone and can be a single static code. ### Where Should the Codes Go on a Ticket With a Stub? Each entirely on one side of the perforation, never crossing it. The entry code belongs on the part the venue keeps or scans, the information code on the part the guest keeps. A torn stub takes any pattern crossing the tear line with it. ### What Should Happen to the Ticket Link After the Event? Redirect it rather than delete it. People scan tickets weeks later looking for the set list, the photographs or a refund policy, and a 404 at that point is a support email. Keeping the URL on your own domain is what makes that redirect possible at all - see [QR codes for events](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/events) for the wider set-up around a ticketed event. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Vehicle? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/vehicles A parked van is scanned from 2-4 m, so the code needs 20-40 cm. Sizes for wraps and magnets, vinyl over rivets, and why a moving vehicle never scans. A vehicle QR code is scanned when the van is parked and someone is standing on the pavement beside it, never at 50 km/h. Make the code below, then read on for the size that distance asks for, the panel it belongs on, and what vinyl laid over a rivet does to it. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Vehicle? Size it for the kerb, not for the road. Someone scanning a parked van stands two to four metres away, and the ten-to-one rule asks for about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of that distance: 20 cm at two metres, 40 cm at four. Below 15 cm, livery codes are decoration. - **The Widths That Hold Up**: 20 cm on a car door read from the pavement, 30-40 cm on the side of a van, 50 cm on a box truck or trailer read across a car park. Adding about a quarter to the arithmetic is what absorbs poor light and a reader who stands further back than planned. - **There Is a Maximum as Well as a Minimum**: a QR code is comfortably readable from roughly its own width out to about ten times it. A 40 cm code works between 40 cm and 4 m, so one code cannot serve both the car park and someone leaning on the wing. - **Height Off the Ground**: put the code between 1 and 1.5 metres up, which on most vans is the upper half of the side panel or the top of the rear doors. Lower sits in the road spray; above 1.8 m nobody can hold a phone level on it. - **Moving Is Not a Scanning Distance**: a code on a vehicle in traffic has no scanning distance at all, because the reader is either driving or watching it leave. Livery codes are scanned in car parks, at the kerb and on a stand at a trade show, and that is what the width should be for. Fleet livery is where the arithmetic gets skipped, because artwork is approved on a screen at A4 and a 40 cm code looks the same there as a 10 cm one. Print the code at full size on paper, tape it to the door, and scan it from the pavement before the wrap is cut. [The minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) has the table these figures come from, and the [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) runs the same sum for your own distance and payload. ## What to Link a Vehicle QR Code To A van is scanned by someone standing beside it with a reason: they want the trade, the job, or the food. These six destinations are the ones that reward walking over to a parked vehicle. - **A Quote or Booking Form**: The highest-value scan on a trade vehicle. A phone number on a van goes to voicemail while the driver is up a ladder; a form takes the job details at the moment someone decides they need the work done. - **A Job Application**: Recruitment livery is scanned by drivers and passers-by who are already watching your vehicles work. Point the code at the application form itself rather than at a careers page that makes them search for it. - **The Menu and Order Page**: On a food truck the code is read from the queue, which is a metre away rather than four. Print a second, smaller code on the serving hatch for that distance, and keep the large one on the side for the car park. - **Recent Work or a Portfolio**: Fitters, landscapers and detailers sell on evidence. A gallery of finished jobs answers the question a van in a driveway raises, which is whether these people are any good. - **A Reviews Page**: Scanned by neighbours watching a job happen and by the customer at the end of it. Sending them to one named platform rather than to a homepage is the difference between a review and an abandoned tab. - **Service or Delivery Status**: On courier and utility fleets, a code that opens tracking, a delivery window or an outage page takes the question off the driver, who is usually the person least able to answer it. ## How to Make a QR Code for Vehicle Livery Five steps, in the order a wrap shop needs them. The size comes first, because on a vehicle it decides which panel the code can even go on. - **Measure From the Kerb**: Stand where a person would stand to scan the parked vehicle, and measure back to the panel. Multiply by 0.1 - three metres becomes 30 cm - and that is the code width the livery needs. - **Shorten the Destination**: A short URL encodes into fewer, larger modules at the same printed width, which buys distance for free. Use a short path on a domain you own rather than a long tracked address. - **Export Vector for the Wrap Shop**: Open the generator above, paste the link, style it to the livery, then download SVG, PDF or EPS. Wrap printers place artwork at full size, and vector is what keeps the module edges square at 40 cm. - **Place It on One Flat Panel**: Clear of door gaps, handles, fuel flaps, rivet lines and body creases, with the quiet zone on the same panel as the code. Above the road-film line, below 1.8 m. - **Proof It on the Vehicle**: Print the code at full size, tape it where it will be applied, and scan it from the pavement in daylight and again under a street light. That test costs a sheet of paper and catches everything a screen proof hides. ## Vinyl, Rivets and Road Film Vehicle livery is the one print job where the substrate flexes, curves and gets washed at pressure. Most livery codes that fail are the right size and are laid over the wrong part of the bodywork - a shut line, a rivet head or a body crease that distorts the pattern as soon as the vinyl settles. - **One Panel, Whole Code**: never let a code cross a door gap, a panel seam or a handle recess. A shut line moves every time the door opens, and the two halves of the symbol stop lining up long before anyone inspects the wrap. - **Rivets and Corrugations**: on a Luton box or a riveted trailer, every rivet lifts the vinyl into a small dome that bends the modules over it. Keep the code and its quiet zone inside a rivet-free area, or move the code to the doors. - **Cast Vinyl on Anything Curved**: cast film conforms to a curve and stays where it is laid; calendered film shrinks back over months and pulls at the edges, which is what quietly bows a square module out of shape. - **Matte Overlaminate, Always**: gloss livery mirrors the sky and the street lighting straight into the camera, and a code that scanned in the workshop reads as a bright blank on the forecourt. Matte film costs the same - [matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) has the comparison. Road film is the failure nobody designs for. Everything below about a metre on the side of a van carries a grey film within a week of winter driving, and a QR code under it loses the contrast a scanner needs long before the vehicle looks dirty. Put the code high on the panel, and add a scan to whatever list gets worked through when the vehicle is washed. The pre-print half of that discipline is [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist), which is worth running before the wrap is cut rather than after. ## Before the Wrap Is Cut Livery is bought once and lives on the vehicle for years, usually driven by someone who never sees the code from the outside. These are the checks worth making while it is still a file. - **Size From the Pavement, Not the Road**: The scanning distance is where a person can stand beside the parked vehicle. Two to four metres for most vans, which is 20 to 40 cm of code, whatever the artwork looks like on screen. - **Keep the Whole Symbol on One Panel**: Door gaps, seams, handles and fuel flaps all break a code that straddles them. Check the placement on the actual vehicle, not on a side-elevation drawing where the shut lines are hairlines. - **Stay Above the Road Film**: Lower panels are grey from November to March. A metre off the ground is the floor, and the upper half of the side panel is the safer home for anything that has to be read. - **Say What the Scan Opens**: 'Scan for a free quote', 'Scan to apply'. A code on a van competes with the phone number, the web address and the traffic behind it, and a promise is what earns the walk over. - **Print the URL as Text as Well**: A short readable address serves the driver behind you, who can remember it at the lights, and everyone whose camera will not focus in the rain. The code and the text are not alternatives. - **Point It at a Domain You Control**: Livery lasts six to ten years and campaign URLs do not. A redirect on your own domain lets the destination change without the vehicle going back to the wrap shop. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Vehicle Wrap? Between 20 and 40 cm on the side of a van, sized for where a person stands beside the parked vehicle: about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of distance. Two metres needs 20 cm, four metres needs 40 cm. Add roughly a quarter on top for poor light, and never go below 15 cm on livery. ### Can Someone Scan a QR Code on a Moving Vehicle? No, and no size fixes it. A scan needs the camera held steady on the whole symbol for a moment, which nobody driving behind a van can do and no passenger can reliably manage at road speed. Print a short memorable URL for the moving case and size the QR code for the parked one - the same conclusion [a billboard](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/billboards) reaches from the other direction. ### Where on a Van Should the QR Code Go? On the upper half of a flat side panel or the rear doors, between 1 and 1.5 metres from the ground, clear of shut lines, handles and rivets. Rear doors are the strongest position on a working vehicle: they face the pavement when the van is parked and stay cleaner than the sides in winter. ### Will a QR Code Scan Over Rivets or a Curved Panel? A gentle curve is fine; rivets and creases are not. Scanners tolerate a shallow, even bend across the symbol, which is why a code on a car door works. A rivet head domes the vinyl locally and [distorts the modules](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) over it, and a body crease folds the pattern. Keep the code and its quiet zone on flat, unbroken metal. ### Can I Put a QR Code on a Dark or Coloured Wrap? Yes, but keep dark modules on a light background. Print the code inside a white or pale panel on the wrap rather than reversing it out as light modules on a dark body colour: inverted codes decode on some phones and not others, and livery is not the place to find out which. Contrast is what the scanner is actually reading. ### Do Magnetic Door Signs Work for QR Codes? They work if they stay flat. A magnetic panel that has bubbled or lifted at a corner curves the code in a way vinyl on metal does not, and the gap under it collects grit that scratches the print. Check the panel is fully seated before relying on it, and re-seat it after a wash. ### How Long Does a QR Code on Vehicle Livery Last? As long as the vinyl and the destination do, which for a laminated wrap is usually five to seven years of outdoor life. The code itself never expires, because a static pattern carries the link inside it. What fails first is the print - UV fade lowers contrast - and the URL, if it pointed at a campaign instead of a domain you own. ### Should Every Van in a Fleet Have a Different QR Code? Only if you want per-vehicle attribution, and there is a cheaper way to get it. One code per vehicle means one artwork per vehicle and a wrap shop invoice to match. A single code pointing at a redirect you control, with a different query string per vehicle, gives the same reporting from one design. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a T-Shirt? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/t-shirts A T-shirt chest code needs 6-8 cm, not one inch. Where the fabric module floor comes from, which print method holds the edges, and what the wash does. Fabric is the coarsest surface a QR code gets printed on, and the advice for it runs from one inch to twelve centimetres with no reasoning attached to either end. Make the code below, then read on for where the real floor comes from: the thread, the print method, and the distance a person will actually stand at. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a T-Shirt? Print a chest code at 6-8 cm and a back code at 15-20 cm. Two numbers produce the chest figure: a scan happens at arm's length, about 50-60 cm, which the ten-to-one rule turns into 5-6 cm, and woven fabric needs modules around 0.8 mm, which turns a short URL into 3.3 cm at the absolute floor. Take the larger and leave margin. - **Where the Fabric Floor Comes From**: a short URL at error correction M lands on a version 4 symbol, which is 41 modules wide including the quiet zone. At 0.8 mm per module - roughly double the 0.4 mm floor for coated paper, because ink spreads into the weave - that is 33 mm before any allowance for the wearer. - **Why One Inch Fails**: 2.5 cm across a 41-module symbol puts each module at 0.6 mm, under what a cotton jersey holds. It decodes on a flat sample under a desk lamp and stops decoding on a person, at a distance, in a room with normal lighting. - **A Back Print Is a Different Sum**: backs are read from 1.5 to 2 metres, which the same rule turns into 15-20 cm, about the width of an A5 sheet. A back code and a chest code are never the same artwork scaled; they are two sizes answering two distances. - **The Distance Manners Set**: the scanning distance for a chest print is decided by how close a stranger will come, not by optics. Nobody leans in to 30 cm, so a code sized for 30 cm is sized for a distance that never happens. Test the size on the garment rather than on the screen. Print one shirt, put it on a person, and scan it from where someone would really stand: fabric drapes, a chest curves, and both take tolerance out of a symbol that a flat sample keeps. The [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) gives the starting width for a distance and a payload, and the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide has the module arithmetic behind it. ## What to Link a T-Shirt QR Code To A shirt is worn by a person, which makes the scan a small social act. These six destinations are the ones worth that, most of them on shirts somebody is wearing as part of a job. - **Event Staff Information**: The strongest case on the list. A code on a crew shirt at a festival or a conference opens the schedule, the map or the guest Wi-Fi, and asking a person wearing it is already the normal thing to do. - **A Merch or Release Page**: Band and brand tees where the shirt is the advert. Point the code at the release, the tour dates or the shop, and keep the destination alive after the drop rather than letting it 404 while people still wear the shirt. - **A Donation Page**: Charity runs and awareness campaigns, where the wearer is asked about the shirt anyway. A code takes the conversation straight to a payment page while the person is still interested. - **A Booking or Menu Page**: Uniform shirts in cafes, salons and gyms. The code answers the question staff get asked twenty times a shift, and it works best on the back of the shirt where a customer can look without staring. - **A Lead Form for Trade Shows**: Booth shirts where the scan captures interest without a badge scanner. Keep it on the back or the sleeve, because a stand visitor will read a back at two metres and never lift a phone to a chest. - **A Personal Profile or Portfolio**: Hackathons, meetups and job fairs, where a shirt is the only thing you are guaranteed to be wearing. One link to a profile page beats a stack of cards that go in a bag. ## How to Make a QR Code for a T-Shirt Five steps in the order the garment forces. The print method comes first here, because it sets the smallest module the fabric will hold. - **Pick the Print Method First**: DTF and heat transfer hold the crispest module edges, screen print spreads, DTG depends on the garment colour, and embroidery cannot do it at all. That choice sets your module floor before any size is decided. - **Shorten the URL**: Fewer characters means a lower symbol version, which means fewer and larger modules at the same printed width. On fabric that is the cheapest size you will ever buy. - **Choose Error Correction With the Size in Mind**: Higher correction adds modules, and more modules inside a 6 cm print means smaller modules. On a chest code, larger modules at level M or Q beat smaller ones at level H. - **Build It in Vector**: Open the generator above, paste the link, keep dark modules on a light background, then export SVG or PDF. Transfer and screen workflows both want vector, so the modules are drawn rather than resampled. - **Print One and Wash It**: Sample one shirt, scan it on a person from two metres and from arm's length, then wash it ten times and scan it again. That is the whole quality test, and it is the step a bulk order skips. ## Dot Gain, Drape and the Wash Fabric fights a QR code in three ways paper does not: the ink spreads into the weave, the garment curves on a body, and the print is then washed and tumbled. Each one takes tolerance out of the same symbol, which is why a T-shirt code has to start with more of it than a printed page needs. - **Screen Print Spreads Into the Gaps**: plastisol sits proud of the fabric and creeps outwards, and on a code that creep closes the white gaps between modules rather than just thickening a line. Print the code larger rather than asking the shop to trap it thinner. - **DTF and Heat Transfer Keep the Edge**: a transfer film carries the module edges as printed, which makes it the safest method for anything under 8 cm. It is also the method that cracks first, so nobody should iron over the print. - **DTG Depends on the Garment**: direct-to-garment on white cotton is clean. On a dark shirt it needs a white underbase, and any misregistration between base and code shows up as grey fringing around every module, which is contrast the scanner was relying on. - **Embroidery Is Not a QR Code**: stitch cannot hold a one-millimetre square, and thread rounds the corners of the finder patterns that a scanner locates the symbol by. Print it, or leave it off the garment. Error correction is the trap on fabric. Level H recovers about 30% of a damaged symbol, which sounds exactly right for something that gets washed - but H adds modules, and more modules inside a fixed 6 cm print means smaller modules, which is the one thing fabric cannot hold. Keep the URL short and take level Q or M with larger modules over level H with smaller ones; [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) sets out what each level actually buys. Then run the file past [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) before the order goes in. ## Before the Print Run Shirts are ordered in dozens and discovered to be wrong one at a time. These are the checks that fit between the artwork and the order. - **Size for Arm's Length, Not for the Mockup**: A code looks generous on a flat product mockup and small on a person. Six to eight centimetres on the chest, fifteen to twenty on the back, and check it on a wearer before the quantity is confirmed. - **Keep It Off Seams, Pockets and Ribbing**: A side seam, a pocket edge or a collar rib puts a step through the middle of the symbol. Centre chest and centre back are flat; almost everything else on a T-shirt is not. - **Give the Quiet Zone Real Fabric**: Four modules of blank garment on every side, which on a 6 cm code is about 6 mm. On a graphic tee the surrounding artwork is what eats it, and the code stops being findable rather than stops being readable. - **Keep Dark Modules on Light Fabric**: Print the code inside a light panel on a dark shirt rather than reversing it out. Inverted codes decode on some phones and not others, and a bulk order is a bad place to discover which phones your audience carries. - **Wash the Sample Ten Times**: Cold wash, inside out, no tumble dry, then scan it again. Cracking and fade lower contrast gradually, and ten cycles is enough to show whether the print will outlive the season. - **Check the Scan Is Worth Asking For**: Pointing a phone at a person's chest is uncomfortable, and no size fixes that. Put the code on the back, or on a shirt worn by someone whose job is to be asked, and the awkwardness goes away. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a T-Shirt? About 6-8 cm on the chest and 15-20 cm on the back. The chest figure comes from arm's length - roughly 50-60 cm of scanning distance at 1 cm of code per 10 cm of distance - and from the fabric floor, which needs modules near 0.8 mm. Both land in the same place, so anything under 5 cm is optimistic. ### Can a QR Code Be Printed at 1 Inch on Fabric? Not reliably. A short URL at error correction M is 41 modules wide including its quiet zone, so 2.5 cm puts each module at 0.6 mm, below what woven cotton holds once the ink spreads. It scans on a flat sample under good light and fails on a person across a room, which is where the code has to work. ### Which Print Method Is Best for a QR Code on Fabric? DTF or heat transfer, because the film carries the module edges exactly as printed. Screen print works above about 8 cm if the printer knows a code is on the artwork and does not trap it thinner. DTG is fine on white cotton and needs care on dark garments, where the white underbase has to register precisely. ### Will a QR Code on a T-Shirt Survive the Wash? Usually, if the print does. The code has no expiry of its own - a static pattern holds the link inside it - so what degrades is the ink: transfers crack, prints fade, contrast drops. Wash inside out, cold, without tumble drying or ironing the print, and test a sample through ten cycles before ordering in bulk. ### Should I Use the Highest Error Correction on a T-Shirt? Usually not on a small chest print. Level H recovers about 30% of a damaged symbol but adds modules, and inside a fixed 6 cm print those extra modules are smaller ones - the opposite of what fabric needs. Shorten the URL and take Q or M with bigger modules. On a large back print, H costs nothing worth having. ### Can I Print a QR Code on a Black T-Shirt? Yes, by printing a light panel and putting a dark code inside it. Reversing the code out as white modules on black relies on the phone handling an inverted symbol, which iOS and Android decoders do not treat identically. A pale rectangle behind the code keeps the contrast the scanner expects and reads on any camera. [Halloween QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/halloween-qr-codes) covers costume codes, where black fabric is the usual starting point. ### Do QR Codes on Clothing Actually Get Scanned? On staff and event shirts, often. On a stranger's chest, rarely - lifting a phone to someone's torso is uncomfortable, and most people will not do it. A back print scanned at two metres removes the problem, which is why crew shirts, festival staff and stand teams are where clothing codes earn their place. ### Can a QR Code Be Embroidered? Not usefully. Stitch cannot hold module edges at the sizes a garment allows, and thread rounds the finder patterns a scanner uses to locate the symbol. An embroidered code has to be very large before it decodes at all. Print the code on a transfer and embroider the logo instead - see the same trade-off on [stickers and labels](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/stickers-and-labels), where the substrate also sets the floor. --- # How Do You Put a QR Code on a Billboard? URL: https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/billboards A billboard read from 20 m needs a 2 m code. The arithmetic for 6-sheets and 48-sheets, what the viewing angle costs, and when a short URL beats a code. Carefully, and often not at all. The same rule that sizes a poster says a billboard read from twenty metres needs two metres of QR code, and the people looking at one are usually moving. Make the code below, then read on for what each format needs and for the sites where a code earns the space it takes. ## What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Billboard? One centimetre of code width for every 10 cm of viewing distance, the same rule as every other surface: 20-30 cm on a 6-sheet read from two or three metres, and about 2 m on a 48-sheet read from twenty. A 2 m code is two thirds the height of a 48-sheet, and that is the arithmetic most billboard codes lose to. - **The Formats, in Metres**: a 6-sheet is 1.2 x 1.8 m and stands at pavement level, a 48-sheet is 3 x 6 m, a 96-sheet is 3 x 12 m. The 6-sheet is the only one of the three whose reader can walk up to it, which is why it is the only one where a code is routine. - **Measure the Line of Sight, Not the Ground**: a panel 5 m up and 20 m back is 20.6 m away, and a building wrap 15 m up and 10 m out is 18 m away rather than 10. Take the diagonal, because that is the distance the camera actually works over. - **Angle Costs Width**: a panel read at 45 degrees presents about 70% of its width to the camera, so the code needs to be roughly 40% wider to compensate. A billboard angled to catch passing traffic is almost never read square on. - **There Is a Maximum Range**: a QR code is readable from about its own width out to roughly ten times it. A 2 m code works between 2 m and 20 m, so a reader standing at 40 m cannot scan it at any size the panel can hold. Run the numbers before the layout, because a billboard code is either enormous or absent and there is no useful middle. The [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) does the sum for a distance and a payload, and [the minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide has the distance table it comes from. A code that works out larger than the space the design can give it is the answer rather than a number to round down. ## What to Link a Billboard QR Code To A billboard code is scanned by someone standing still near the panel - waiting for a bus, a train or a lift. These six destinations suit a reader who has a minute and nowhere else to be. - **A Job Application**: Recruitment hoardings on a pavement are the clearest win on this list. The reader is walking past the site they would work at, and the code removes the gap between noticing and applying. - **A Ticket or Timetable**: Station and airport panels, where the reader is already waiting and the scan answers the thing they are waiting about. Point it at the live timetable rather than at a transport homepage. - **A Development or Property Page**: Site hoardings around a build. Floor plans, availability and a contact form answer what a fence cannot, and the audience is standing on the street the development is on. - **An App Download**: Works only where the reader is stationary, which means concourses and shelters rather than roadsides. Link to a page that detects the platform instead of showing two store badges. - **A Donation Page**: Charity panels in transit spaces, where a scan converts the moment of attention. Suggest an amount on the page so the decision is one tap rather than a form. - **A Local Offer**: A voucher or booking for something within walking distance of the panel. The code's advantage over a printed URL is that it can carry the location and the offer without the reader typing anything. ## How to Make a QR Code for a Billboard Five steps, starting with the question that decides whether the other four are worth doing. - **Decide Whether the Reader Can Stand Still**: Bus shelters, concourses, malls and pavement hoardings pass. Motorway and arterial sites do not, because the reader is driving. If nobody can stop, print a short URL and skip the code. - **Measure the Diagonal and the Angle**: Take the line of sight from where people stand to the middle of the panel, not the distance along the pavement, then add about 40% to the width if the panel is read at 45 degrees. - **Cut the URL to the Fewest Modules**: A short link drops the symbol version, and at billboard scale each version you avoid is centimetres added to every module. Use a short path on a domain you own. - **Build It in Vector**: Open the generator above, paste the link, then export SVG, PDF or EPS. Billboard artwork is usually supplied at a tenth of final size, and vector is what makes that scaling a non-event. - **Proof It at a Tenth, at a Tenth of the Distance**: You cannot print a 2 m test, but you can print a 20 cm one and scan it from 2 m. The optics are the same ratio, and it catches a payload that is too dense long before the panel goes up. ## Pasted Sheets, Lighting and Dwell Time A billboard is printed in sections, pasted by hand and then looked at by people who are either passing it or waiting near it. At that scale a module is the size of a beer mat, so print quality stops being the risk and placement, lighting and time take over. - **Modules the Size of a Beer Mat**: a 2 m code on a version 4 symbol has 41 modules across, so each module is about 5 cm. Nothing in the printing threatens a square that big; the file only has to be vector so the edges stay hard. - **Seams Survive, Peeling Does Not**: a pasted 48-sheet is assembled from sections, and a seam a few millimetres out inside a 5 cm module changes nothing. A lifting corner across a finder pattern kills the code outright, because that is the shape the scanner locates first. - **Illuminated Panels at Night**: front-lit sites throw hot spots across the face and back-lit ones flatten the difference between dark and light modules. Look at the panel after dark before assuming the daytime scan still works. - **Digital Panels Have a Clock**: on a digital billboard the code exists only while the slot runs. Ask the site owner how long that is, keep the code on screen for all of it, and hold it in the same position in every frame - [QR codes in video ads](https://koloqr.com/blog/qr-codes-in-video-ads) works through the same arithmetic for screens. The honest conclusion for roadside sites is that a short memorable URL beats a QR code. A driver at 50 km/h cannot hold a camera on a symbol, a passenger has a couple of seconds, and neither is served by two metres of pattern occupying the space the message needed - which is the same conclusion [vehicle livery](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/vehicles) reaches about codes in traffic. Keep codes for panels people stand near, and run those files through [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) like any other print job. ## Before the Site Is Booked Outdoor media is bought by the two-week cycle and printed once. These are the checks that decide whether the code belongs on the artwork at all. - **Ask Where the Reader Stands**: The site owner knows the viewing position for every panel they sell. A pavement, a platform or a queue makes a code viable; a carriageway does not, whatever the panel costs. - **Size From the Diagonal, Then Add for the Angle**: Height and set-back both add distance, and an angled panel loses width. Both corrections push the same way, so a code sized from the ground plan alone is always too small. - **Put the Code Where a Phone Can Reach It**: On a pavement-level panel that means the lower third, near eye height. On a raised panel it means accepting that the code is far away and sizing it accordingly. - **Test the Ratio, Not the Poster**: Print the code at a tenth of its final width and scan it from a tenth of the viewing distance. Same optics, same answer, one sheet of paper. - **Print the URL Large as Well**: Everyone who cannot stop, cannot scan or is too far away still has a way in. On a roadside site the readable URL is the primary route and the code is the extra. - **Point It at a Redirect You Control**: A campaign runs for two weeks; a photograph of the panel lives online for years. A redirect on your own domain means a scan from that photo lands somewhere useful long after the site is repapered. ## FAQ ### What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Billboard? About 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of viewing distance. A 6-sheet read from two or three metres needs 20-30 cm; a 48-sheet read from twenty metres needs roughly 2 m, which is two thirds of its height. Measure the diagonal line of sight rather than the distance along the ground, and widen the code by about 40% if the panel is viewed at 45 degrees. ### Can You Scan a QR Code From a Car? No, and this is the limitation worth designing around. Scanning needs a camera held steady on the whole symbol, which a driver cannot do and a passenger at road speed manages unreliably at best. For roadside sites, print a short memorable URL in large type and keep the QR code for panels people stand near. ### Do QR Codes Work on Digital Billboards? They work where the reader is stationary and the code stays on screen long enough to be noticed, framed and decoded. Ask the site owner for the slot length, keep the code visible for the whole slot rather than the last seconds, and hold it in the same position throughout so a phone raised late still finds it. ### How Big Is the QR Code on a 48-Sheet? About 2 m across for a panel read from twenty metres, on a face that is 3 x 6 m. At that width a version 4 symbol has modules roughly 5 cm square. If the layout cannot give up two metres, the honest options are moving to a pavement-level format or dropping the code and printing the URL. ### Does the Viewing Angle Change the Size? Yes. A panel read at 45 degrees presents about 70% of its width to the camera, so the code has to be roughly 40% wider to look the same to a scanner. Angled sites facing traffic flow are the usual case. Ask which way the panel faces relative to the approach before finalising the artwork. ### Where Should the QR Code Go on a Billboard? As low on the face as the design allows, and in the same place on every panel in the campaign. Low keeps the code nearer the reader on a raised site and puts it at eye height on a pavement-level one. Leave the quiet zone clear of the frame, which at billboard scale is a wide band of empty artwork. ### Is a QR Code Worth Putting on a Roadside Billboard? Usually not. The arithmetic asks for a code larger than the layout wants to give, and the audience is moving past at speed with no way to hold a camera steady. A short URL does the job the code cannot. Codes belong on the outdoor formats people wait beside: shelters, concourses, hoardings and mall panels. ### What File Should I Send to a Billboard Printer? A [vector file](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) - SVG, PDF or EPS - even though the modules end up enormous. Billboard artwork is typically supplied at a tenth of final size, and a raster code scaled ten times arrives with soft edges no amount of size compensates for. Check the finished file with the [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) before it goes to press. --- # Guides to QR Codes That Actually Work URL: https://koloqr.com/guides Practical guides to QR codes: how they compare with barcodes, how much they hold, what breaks a scan, and how to choose the right format for print. The details that decide whether a QR code does its job are the ones nobody writes down: what it can hold, how big it has to be for the distance it's read from, and where a different symbol would serve you better. These guides answer one of those questions each. ## FAQ ### Do I Need to Read These Before Making a QR Code? No. The generator's defaults produce a code that scans, and most people never need to change them. These guides are for the cases where the defaults aren't enough - a logo in the middle, a billboard, or a code that won't read. ### Which Guide Should I Read First? Whichever names the decision in front of you - each guide takes one and answers it end to end, so there's no order to work through. If you're choosing between symbol types at all, start with QR code vs barcode, since that decision sits above the rest. ### Do These Guides Only Apply to KoloQR Codes? No. Error correction levels, quiet zones, and module sizes are part of the QR standard, so everything here holds for a code made with any generator. Where a setting is named, KoloQR exposes it in the generator on the homepage. ### How Often Are These Guides Updated? When something changes that would change the advice. Each guide shows the date it was published, and a revised guide shows when it was last updated, so you can see how current what you're reading is. --- # QR Code vs Barcode: How They Differ and When to Use Each URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-vs-barcode A QR code holds up to 4,296 characters in a square matrix; a UPC barcode holds 12 digits in one line. Compare capacity, scanning, print size and cost. Basics · 2026-08-05 A linear barcode stores data in one direction and holds about 12–20 characters. A QR code stores data in two directions and holds up to 4,296 alphanumeric characters in the same footprint. A QR code is technically a barcode too - a two-dimensional one - so the real question is 1D versus 2D, not "barcode versus QR". ## Key points - A linear barcode encodes data along one axis; a QR code encodes data along two, which is why a QR code of the same width holds hundreds of times more information. - A UPC-A barcode stores 12 digits. A QR code stores up to 7,089 digits or 4,296 alphanumeric characters at its largest symbol size and lowest error correction level. - QR codes are free to generate and require no registration; a UPC or EAN barcode requires a paid GS1 company prefix, because the number itself must be globally unique. - A QR code stays readable with roughly 30% of its area damaged at error correction level H. A linear barcode has no error correction, only a check digit, so a scratch across the bars usually makes it unreadable. - Phone cameras detect QR codes natively; reading a UPC barcode normally requires a dedicated scanning app or a retail scanner. ## What is the difference between a QR code and a barcode? A linear barcode is a machine-readable symbol that encodes data as parallel bars and spaces of varying width, read along a single horizontal axis. Common formats are UPC-A and EAN-13 on retail packaging, and Code 128 in logistics. A QR code is a two-dimensional matrix symbol, defined by ISO/IEC 18004, that encodes data as light and dark squares called modules, read in both directions at once. QR stands for Quick Response. A module is one square cell of a QR code, and the smallest unit a scanner has to resolve. Module size, not overall size, is what decides whether a printed QR code scans. ## Side-by-side comparison | Criterion | Linear barcode (UPC-A, EAN-13, Code 128) | QR code | | --- | --- | --- | | Dimensions | One - data read across the width | Two - data read across width and height | | Typical capacity | 12–13 digits (UPC-A, EAN-13); variable for Code 128 | Up to 7,089 digits or 4,296 alphanumeric characters | | Data types | Digits, or ASCII with Code 128 | Digits, alphanumeric, raw bytes, Kanji | | Error correction | None - a single check digit only | Four levels: L, M, Q, H, recovering roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol | | Orientation | Must be aligned with the scan line, or scanned by an omnidirectional imager | Any rotation - three finder patterns locate the symbol | | Reading hardware | Laser scanners and camera imagers | Camera imagers only, including phone cameras | | Registration | UPC and EAN require a paid GS1 company prefix | None - anyone can generate one | | Editable after printing | No | No, if the code is static; only dynamic codes with a redirect service can be edited | | Minimum practical print size | UPC-A at 80% magnification, about 30 × 21 mm | About 20 × 20 mm for close-range scanning | | Quiet zone | 9 modules each side for UPC-A; 11 left and 7 right for EAN-13 | 4 modules on all four sides | | Best at | Fast, repeated scanning of one fixed identifier | Carrying a URL, Wi-Fi credentials, contact data or a batch record | ## How much data can a QR code store compared with a barcode? A UPC-A barcode stores exactly 12 digits and nothing else. A QR code at its largest symbol version, with the lowest error correction, stores up to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, or 2,953 raw bytes. In practice, most QR codes on printed material carry a URL of 30–80 characters. Capacity in a QR code drops as error correction rises, because the redundancy occupies the same modules that would otherwise carry data. A QR code holding the same URL at level H is visibly denser than the same code at level L, and each module is smaller at the same print size. The practical limit on a QR code is not the specification but the print. A long URL forces a higher symbol version with more, smaller modules, and small modules are what fail on uncoated paper, textured card and low-resolution printing. Shortening the URL is usually more effective than enlarging the code. ## Which one should you use? Use this decision rule: - If the code identifies a product for sale in [shops](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/retail-stores), use a linear barcode - a UPC or EAN carrying your GTIN, obtained from GS1. No other format is accepted at most checkouts today. - If the code takes a person to a [web page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code), use a QR code. Menus, posters, business cards, packaging inserts, event badges and Wi-Fi sharing all fall here. - If the code is scanned by staff on a handheld laser scanner in a warehouse, use a linear barcode - Code 128 or GS1-128. Laser scanners cannot read QR codes at all. - If the code must survive damage - abrasion, folding, partial coverage - use a QR code at error correction level Q or H. - If the code must fit on a very small part or component, use Data Matrix, not a QR code. Data Matrix carries the same kind of data in a smaller footprint and is the standard choice in electronics and healthcare. - If you need both consumer engagement and checkout scanning today, print both. GS1 recommends this dual-marking approach during the current transition period, and [a code on product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging) has to keep clear of the linear barcode either way. ## Can a phone scan a barcode as well as a QR code? Phone cameras detect QR codes natively - pointing the camera app at a QR code surfaces the link without any extra software. Reading a UPC or EAN barcode is less reliable: it usually requires a dedicated app such as a shopping, library or inventory app, and results vary by device and operating system version. This asymmetry is the single most practical difference for anyone printing a code for the public. A linear barcode on a poster asks the reader to install something first. A QR code on the same poster works with the camera the reader already has open. The reverse holds in retail operations. A fixed laser scanner at a supermarket checkout reads a linear barcode in a fraction of a second at any angle across the belt, and cannot read a QR code at all unless the scanner is a camera-based imager. ## Do you need to register a QR code the way you register a UPC? No. A QR code requires no registration, no licence and no central authority, because a QR code is only a container - it encodes whatever text you put into it. A UPC or EAN barcode requires a GS1 company prefix, which is a paid subscription, because the number encoded must be unique across every product in global trade. This is a difference in what the two symbols mean, not just in cost. A UPC is meaningful because a retailer's database recognises the number. A QR code is meaningful because it points at a destination you control. Creating a QR code is free with KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, which exports PNG and SVG without an account. Obtaining a GTIN for a linear retail barcode is a separate process handled through your national GS1 member organisation. ## Print size and quiet zone requirements for each A QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with a practical minimum of 20 × 20 mm for close scanning. A UPC-A barcode has a nominal size of roughly 37 × 26 mm including quiet zones, and GS1 permits magnification between 80% and 200% of that. A quiet zone is the empty margin around a barcode that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. A QR code requires 4 modules of clear space on all four sides. A UPC-A barcode requires 9 modules of clear space to the left and right; EAN-13 requires 11 modules on the left and 7 on the right. Bar height matters for linear barcodes and does not exist as a concept for QR codes. Shortening a UPC below its nominal 25.9 mm height - often done to save packaging space - reduces the angles at which a laser scanner can cross all the bars, and is the most common cause of repeated failed scans at checkout. For print, export vector rather than raster wherever the workflow allows. An SVG scales to any size without softening module edges; a PNG sized up in a layout application produces blurred edges that cost scan reliability at small module sizes. This applies equally to both symbol types. ## What happens when the code gets damaged A QR code survives partial damage; a linear barcode does not. QR codes carry Reed–Solomon error correction at four levels - L, M, Q and H - recovering roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol respectively. Linear barcodes carry only a check digit, which detects an error but cannot reconstruct the missing data. This is why [logos can sit on QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) and not on barcodes. A logo covering the centre of a QR code at level H removes modules the error correction can rebuild. Anything covering bars in a UPC removes data with no way to recover it, which is why retail barcodes are always printed clean. The 30% figure is a ceiling, not a budget to spend fully. Keep a logo under about 25% of the QR code area and never over a finder pattern - the three large squares in the corners - because those patterns are how the scanner locates the symbol in the first place and are not protected by error correction. ## Will QR codes replace barcodes on packaging? Not entirely, and not immediately. GS1 has set an industry goal, known as Sunrise 2027 in the US and 2D migration elsewhere, for retail point-of-sale systems to be capable of reading 2D barcodes carrying GS1 standards by the end of 2027. UPC and EAN barcodes are expected to continue being accepted after that date. The mechanism is GS1 Digital Link, a URI syntax that lets a QR code carry a GTIN and a web address at the same time. One symbol then serves both the checkout and the shopper's phone. Until enough point-of-sale scanners are upgraded, GS1 guidance is to print both a linear barcode and a 2D code on the pack. For a small business today, the practical reading is straightforward: a QR code you generate yourself will not scan at a supermarket checkout. It is a marketing and information carrier, not a product identifier, unless it is built to GS1 Digital Link syntax with a GTIN you own. ## Other 2D codes worth knowing Data Matrix is a 2D matrix code that packs the same kind of data into a smaller area than a QR code, and is the standard for marking small components, electronics and pharmaceutical packaging. Choose it when space is the binding constraint and the reader is a dedicated scanner rather than a phone. PDF417 is a stacked linear code used on driving licences, boarding passes and shipping labels. It holds more than a linear barcode but is read with the same scan-line logic, and it is wider than it is tall. Aztec is a 2D code used heavily in transport ticketing, and needs no quiet zone - useful when a ticket is printed edge to edge or shown on a phone screen. Micro QR codes and rMQR are smaller relatives of the QR code with a single finder pattern and a two-module quiet zone, built for circuit boards, components and cable labels. Like Data Matrix, they are read by industrial scanners rather than phone cameras. For anything aimed at the general public, QR remains the right default among 2D codes, because it is the only one phone cameras detect without an app. ## Common mistakes when choosing between the two - Printing a QR code and expecting it to scan at checkout. A self-generated QR code contains no GTIN and is not registered with any retailer. Use a UPC or EAN for point of sale. - Removing the quiet zone. Placing either symbol flush against a border, a fold or a colour block is the most frequent cause of a code that scans on screen and fails in print. - Inverting the colours. Light modules on a dark background break many scanners, which expect dark data on a light background. Keep the dark elements dark, and keep contrast high. - Shortening the bar height on a linear barcode to fit a layout, which reduces the scan angles available to a laser scanner. - Enlarging a small PNG for print. Export SVG for anything going to press; a raster file scaled up softens module edges and lowers the scan success rate. - Raising QR error correction instead of shortening the URL. Higher error correction adds modules, making each one smaller at the same print size - which can make a marginal code worse rather than better. - Skipping the physical test. Print the code at final size, on the final material, and scan it with an ordinary phone under the lighting where it will actually be used. ## FAQ ### Is a QR code a type of barcode? Yes. A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode. The word "barcode" in everyday use usually means the linear, one-dimensional kind found on retail packaging, but both are machine-readable symbols defined by ISO standards. The accurate distinction is 1D versus 2D. ### Which is better, a QR code or a barcode? Neither is better in general - they solve different problems. Use a linear barcode when a scanner needs to read one fixed product number quickly and repeatedly. Use a QR code when a person needs to reach a web page, a Wi-Fi network or contact details using a phone camera. ### Can a QR code contain a UPC number? Yes, through GS1 Digital Link, which encodes a GTIN inside a web URI so a single QR code serves both a checkout scanner and a shopper's phone. A QR code you generate yourself with a plain URL does not contain a GTIN and will not work at point of sale. ### Will a supermarket checkout scan my QR code? Usually not today. Most point-of-sale scanners still read only linear barcodes, and those that read 2D codes expect GS1 syntax. GS1's stated goal is for point-of-sale systems to accept 2D barcodes by the end of 2027, with linear barcodes still accepted afterwards. ### Can I add a logo to a barcode the way I can to a QR code? No. A linear barcode has no error correction, so covering any part of the bars destroys data that cannot be reconstructed. Logos work on QR codes because error correction levels Q and H rebuild the covered modules - up to a limit of roughly 25% of the code area. ### Why does my QR code fail in print when the barcode next to it scans fine? The usual cause is module size. A long URL forces more, smaller modules into the same physical square, and small modules blur on absorbent or textured stock. Shorten the URL, enlarge the code, or print from SVG rather than a scaled PNG. ### Do QR codes expire? Static QR codes do not expire - the data is inside the symbol and works permanently. Dynamic QR codes point to a redirect owned by a service provider and stop working if that subscription lapses. KoloQR generates static QR codes, so the destination cannot be changed after printing. ### Can a QR code be as small as a barcode on packaging? Sometimes, but not always. A QR code carrying only a short URL can sit within roughly 20 × 20 mm. A longer payload needs a higher symbol version with smaller modules, which raises the minimum printable size. Data Matrix is the better choice where space is genuinely tight. ### Are QR codes slower than barcodes for inventory scanning? For a fixed laser scanner reading one number thousands of times a day, a linear barcode is faster and cheaper to support. Camera-based imagers read both, but retrofitting an existing laser-scanner fleet costs more than the extra data usually justifies. --- # QR Code Error Correction: How L, M, Q and H Actually Work URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction QR error correction levels recover roughly 7% (L), 15% (M), 25% (Q) and 30% (H) of a damaged code - but higher levels shrink each module. How to choose. Basics · 2026-08-05 Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets a scanner rebuild the data when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. A QR code stores its payload twice over in a sense: once as data, and again as mathematically derived recovery information spread across the symbol. If some of the code is scratched, smudged, folded or hidden behind a logo, the scanner reconstructs the missing pieces from what survives. ## Key points - Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets a scanner rebuild the data when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. - The four levels defined in ISO/IEC 18004 recover approximately 7% (L), 15% (M), 25% (Q) and 30% (H) of the code's data. - Higher error correction reduces data capacity, so the same URL needs a larger symbol version - at a fixed printed width, that means smaller modules and a harder scan. - Error correction repairs only the data area. Damage to a finder pattern, the timing patterns or the quiet zone usually makes the code unreadable no matter which level was used. - Error correction cannot compensate for low contrast, blur, glare or a code printed too small, because those degrade the entire symbol at once rather than one region of it. ## What is QR code error correction? The mechanism is Reed–Solomon coding, the same family of codes used on CDs and in deep-space transmission. Reed–Solomon coding is the scheme that generates a QR code's error correction codewords and reconstructs missing data from the ones that remain intact. It works on codewords, not on individual squares. A codeword is a group of eight modules that a QR code treats as one unit - either one unit of data or one unit of error correction. Error correction is chosen once, at generation time, and baked into the symbol. The level is written into the format information next to the finder patterns, so any scanner can read which level was used, and the [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder) shows it for any code image. A printed QR code's error correction level cannot be changed afterwards; changing it means regenerating and reprinting the code. ## What do error correction levels L, M, Q and H mean? The four QR error correction levels recover approximately 7% (L), 15% (M), 25% (Q) and 30% (H) of the code's codewords. Every QR code uses exactly one of them. Higher levels add more recovery codewords, which leaves fewer codewords for your actual data at any given symbol size. | Level | Nominal recovery | Bytes at version 1 (21×21) | Bytes at version 10 (57×57) | Typical use | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L (Low) | ~7% | 17 | 271 | Screens, apps, long URLs, clean indoor surfaces | | M (Medium) | ~15% | 14 | 213 | The common default; general print work | | Q (Quartile) | ~25% | 11 | 151 | Small centre logo, handled or outdoor material | | H (High) | ~30% | 7 | 119 | Larger logo, industrial marking, abrasion, weathering | Capacity figures are from the ISO/IEC 18004 character-capacity tables, byte mode. The percentages describe codewords, not surface area, and they are nominal rather than exact. Version 1 makes the arithmetic visible: the symbol holds 26 codewords in total, and Reed–Solomon can repair up to half of the error correction codewords in a block, minus a small reserve the standard sets aside to reduce the risk of decoding wrong data. | Level (version 1) | Data codewords | EC codewords | Codewords repairable | Share of the 26 total | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L | 19 | 7 | 2 | 8% | | M | 16 | 10 | 4 | 15% | | Q | 13 | 13 | 6 | 23% | | H | 9 | 17 | 8 | 31% | In larger symbols the data is split into several Reed–Solomon blocks and the codewords are interleaved across the whole symbol, so a single blot is distributed over many blocks and each block repairs its own share. Interleaving is why a coffee ring in one corner is usually survivable and why the nominal percentage is a reasonable guide even though correction happens block by block. ## Which error correction level should you use? Use M for most printed QR codes, Q or H when a logo sits on the code or the surface takes abuse, and L only on screens or where the payload is long and the code must stay coarse. M is the level most generators default to, and for a poster, flyer, menu or business card that will not be scuffed, M is the right answer. Decision rules: - **If the code will be displayed on a screen, choose L.** Screens have no dirt, no folding and perfect contrast, so recovery capacity is wasted redundancy that only makes the code denser. - **If the code is printed on paper and will not carry a logo, choose M.** M covers normal handling, ink spread and light smudging. - **If the code carries a centre logo, choose Q as a minimum and H if the logo is large.** The logo consumes recovery capacity that would otherwise absorb print and scanning errors. - **If the code goes outdoors, onto packaging, onto a machine, or anywhere it will be rubbed, folded or weathered, choose H.** Abrasion removes modules permanently. - **If the payload is long and the code must stay physically small, choose L or M and shorten the payload instead.** Raising the level on a long URL forces a denser symbol, which is usually the bigger risk. A worked counter-example is useful here. The Swiss QR-bill, the national payment standard for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, specifies error correction level M, a fixed 46 × 46 mm symbol, a minimum module size of 0.4 mm, and a 7 × 7 mm Swiss cross in the centre of the code. That cross covers about 2.3% of the symbol area. A national banking standard puts a logo on a QR code at level M - because the logo is small and the module size is guaranteed. Level H is not a requirement for a logo; it is compensation for a large one. ## How error correction changes the size of a printed QR code Raising the error correction level makes each module smaller at a fixed printed width, because the same data needs [a higher symbol version](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity) with more modules per side. This is the trade-off most people miss: the level that protects against damage also increases the density that causes scan failures in the first place. Take a 44-character URL such as https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops, encoded in byte mode and printed at 25 mm wide: | Level | Symbol version | Grid | Module width at 25 mm | Minimum symbol width at 0.4 mm modules | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L | 3 | 29 × 29 | 0.86 mm | 11.6 mm | | M | 4 | 33 × 33 | 0.76 mm | 13.2 mm | | Q | 4 | 33 × 33 | 0.76 mm | 13.2 mm | | H | 5 | 37 × 37 | 0.68 mm | 14.8 mm | Two things fall out of that table. First, moving from L to H shrinks each module by about 21% at the same printed size - on absorbent stock, that is the difference between crisp modules and modules that bleed into each other. Second, M and Q produce the identical symbol version for this payload, which means Q is free: the same physical code, the same module size, 25% recovery instead of 15%. Check that second point every time. Because capacity moves in steps, stepping up one error correction level often costs nothing at all. Generate the code at your chosen level, note the grid size, generate it one level higher, and compare. If the grid is unchanged, take the higher level. ## How much of a QR code can a logo cover? A centre logo covering up to about 20% of a QR code's area is reliably recoverable at level H in most print workflows. The theoretical ceiling at H is close to 30%, but spending the entire recovery budget on the logo leaves nothing for ink spread, glare, a fingerprint or a slightly out-of-focus camera - and those errors are drawn from the same budget. A practical rule that is easy to check: a circular logo whose diameter is half the width of the QR code covers about 20% of the symbol area. A square logo of side 0.45 × the code width covers about the same. Keep to that and level H leaves roughly a third of its capacity in reserve. Rules that matter more than the percentage: - **Keep the logo in the centre.** A centred logo spreads its damage evenly across interleaved Reed–Solomon blocks. An off-centre logo of the same size concentrates damage and is more likely to exhaust one block. - **Never let the logo touch the three finder patterns.** Those large squares in the corners are how a scanner locates the code at all, and they carry no error correction. - **Give the logo a solid background.** A logo placed directly over modules with a transparent background creates ambiguous half-modules around its edge, which produces errors the decoder still has to spend capacity fixing. - **On version 7 and larger symbols, watch the alignment patterns.** Versions 7 and above place alignment patterns inside the data area, including near the centre. A large centre logo can bury one, which usually still scans flat-on but can fail at an angle or on a curved surface. - **Test the printed code, not the screen preview.** A logo that works at 400% zoom on a monitor can fail at 25 mm on uncoated paper. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, supports logo placement and lets you set the error correction level before export. Decorative module shapes - rounded dots, circular modules - reduce the printed ink area of each module, so they consume some of the same tolerance the error correction is there to provide. Styling never improves scan performance; error correction is what absorbs the difference. See [branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) for what that looks like in practice. ## Which parts of a QR code error correction cannot repair Error correction protects the data area only. The structural patterns a scanner needs before it can decode anything are not covered by Reed–Solomon correction, so damage there is usually fatal regardless of whether the code was generated at L or at H. - **Finder patterns.** [The three concentric squares in the top-left, top-right and bottom-left corners](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) tell the scanner where the symbol is and how it is rotated. No redundancy protects them. Covering one typically means the code is never detected. - **Quiet zone.** The quiet zone is the empty margin of four modules around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. Text, a border or a photograph pushed into that margin breaks detection while every module inside the code is still perfect. - **Timing patterns.** The alternating single-module lines running between the finder patterns set the module grid. Damage here misaligns the entire read. - **Alignment patterns.** Present from version 2 upward, these correct perspective distortion. Losing one is often survivable on a flat, straight-on scan and much less so on a curved bottle or an angled sign. Format information is the exception. The strip of modules beside the finder patterns that records the error correction level and mask pattern is itself protected by a BCH code and stored twice in the symbol, so it survives a fair amount of damage on its own. Of the four, the quiet zone is the one a layout removes rather than damage: it is the only item on the list that can be lost by a file being placed too close to something. [The quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) takes that margin end to end - how wide it has to be in millimetres, what breaks it, and how to check a file for it. ## What error correction does not protect against Error correction fixes localised damage, not global degradation. Raising the level from M to H does nothing for a code that is too small, too pale, blurred or lit badly - those problems affect every module at once, and there is no undamaged region left for the decoder to reconstruct from. Failures that a higher error correction level will not solve: - **A code printed too small for its data.** Below roughly 0.4 mm per module in print, phone cameras struggle to resolve the grid. Raising the level makes modules smaller and the problem worse. - **Low contrast.** A scanner needs a clear light/dark distinction. A pale grey code on a cream background fails at every level. - **Inverted colours.** Light modules on a dark background are not universally supported; several scanning apps and native cameras expect dark-on-light. - **Glare and lamination.** Gloss lamination under a spotlight reflects into the camera and wipes out the whole symbol. - **Motion blur and low light.** Both degrade the entire image, not one corner of it. - **A wrong or dead destination URL.** Error correction guarantees the scanner reads the encoded string correctly. It says nothing about whether that address still resolves. When a code fails intermittently in the field and the printed sample looks clean, the cause is nearly always module size, contrast or lighting - not the error correction level. ## Error correction on screen versus in print On a screen, level L is usually the better choice; in print, M is the sensible floor. A QR code on a display faces none of the physical risks error correction exists to handle - no ink spread, no folding, no abrasion, no dirt - so the recovery capacity buys nothing and the extra modules make the code denser than it needs to be. Screen-specific considerations: a code shown on a phone being scanned by another phone competes with screen glare and brightness, which higher error correction does not address. Increase the displayed size and screen brightness instead. Print-specific considerations: absorbent stock spreads ink, and each module grows slightly into its neighbours. That dot gain is a real source of errors and it is exactly what levels M and Q absorb. Coated stock spreads less; newsprint, kraft paper and fabric spread more. Export as SVG rather than a scaled-up PNG so the modules stay geometrically exact at the printer's resolution - KoloQR exports both PNG and SVG. ## How to test how much damage your QR code actually survives Test the real printed code rather than trusting the nominal percentage - the level tells you the budget, the print run tells you how much of it was already spent. The procedure below takes about fifteen minutes and gives you a number you can rely on. The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) reads the level back off a finished file, which is worth doing first: an export does not always carry the level the generator was set to. 1. **Generate the code at final settings.** Same payload, same error correction level, same logo, exported as SVG. 2. **Print at production settings on the production stock.** Same printer, same paper, same lamination. A laser proof on office paper will not predict how uncoated card behaves. 3. **Scan the undamaged print at the intended distance with two phones.** One iOS and one Android, using the native camera. If it fails here, stop and fix the size or contrast before testing damage. 4. **Cover 10% of the symbol area in the centre with opaque tape.** For a 25 mm code, a 8 × 8 mm square is close to 10%. Scan again. 5. **Increase the covered area in 5% steps until the code stops scanning.** Record the last percentage that worked - that is your real tolerance. 6. **Repeat with the damage placed at one edge and across one corner.** Avoiding the finder patterns. Edge damage often fails earlier than centre damage. 7. **Repeat under the actual lighting.** The shop floor, the restaurant at night, the warehouse aisle. 8. **Compare the result to the nominal level.** If a level H code fails at 12% coverage, the remaining budget was consumed by print quality. Enlarge the code, shorten the URL, or move to a less absorbent surface. Record the number. It is the single most useful figure to have before committing to a print run. ## Common mistakes when choosing an error correction level The most common error correction mistake is selecting H by default on the assumption that more protection is always safer. On a long URL at a small printed size, H produces a denser code that fails more often than the M version it replaced. | Do | Why | | --- | --- | | Shorten the URL before raising the level | Fewer characters means a lower symbol version, larger modules and more real-world tolerance than any level change delivers | | Check whether the next level up changes the grid size | Capacity moves in steps, so a level increase is frequently free | | Use H for outdoor, industrial and packaging codes | Abrasion and weathering remove modules permanently, which is exactly what recovery capacity is for | | Test the printed sample with damage applied | The nominal percentage is a ceiling, not a guarantee | | Don't | Why | | --- | --- | | Use H to compensate for a small code | Smaller modules cause more failures than error correction repairs | | Fill the entire recovery budget with a logo | Print, glare and focus errors draw from the same budget and there is nothing left | | Assume H protects the finder patterns | No error correction level protects them; a covered finder pattern means no detection | | Rely on error correction to survive a missing quiet zone | Detection fails before decoding starts, so recovery capacity is never used | | Raise the level after a code fails in the field | Diagnose contrast, size and lighting first; the level is rarely the cause | ## FAQ ### What error correction level should I use for a QR code with a logo? Use Q as a minimum and H if the logo covers more than about 15% of the code. Keep the logo centred, on a solid background, and within roughly 20% of the symbol area at level H. That leaves recovery capacity for print and camera errors, which draw from the same budget as the logo. ### Does a higher error correction level make a QR code more reliable? Not always. Higher levels absorb more damage but reduce data capacity, so the same content needs a larger symbol version and smaller modules at the same printed width. For a long URL on a small printed code, level M frequently scans more reliably than level H. ### Can I change the error correction level of an existing QR code? No. The level is encoded in the symbol's format information and determines how the entire code is built, so it cannot be edited afterwards. Regenerate the code with the new level and reprint. If the destination also needs to change, that is a separate problem - static codes point at a fixed URL. ### What happens if a QR code is damaged beyond its error correction capacity? The scanner normally reports a failed read rather than returning wrong data. QR codes reserve a small number of misdecode-protection codewords in the smallest symbol sizes specifically to lower the chance of a corrupted code decoding into a plausible but incorrect value. ### Does error correction protect the finder patterns in the corners? No. The three finder patterns, the timing patterns and the quiet zone carry no error correction. A scanner needs them to locate and align the symbol before decoding begins, so covering one usually means the code is never detected - even at level H with an otherwise perfect data area. ### Why does my level H QR code still fail to scan? The usual cause is module size or contrast, not damage. Level H reduces data capacity, so the symbol grows denser at the same printed width. Measure one module: below roughly 0.4 mm in print, phone cameras struggle regardless of level. Enlarge the code or shorten the URL. ### Which error correction level do QR codes use by default? Most generators default to level M, which recovers around 15%. The default is a reasonable compromise for print, but it is worth checking rather than assuming - some tools default to L, and some silently raise the level when you add a logo, which changes the symbol version and the printed density. ### Does error correction level affect scanning speed? Barely. Higher levels add modules, so the camera resolves a slightly denser grid and the decoder runs a slightly longer Reed-Solomon pass, but on modern phone hardware the difference is not perceptible. Scanning speed is determined far more by lighting, focus distance and module size. ### Can I use error correction to hide data or add a second message? No. Error correction codewords are mathematically derived from the payload and hold no independent content. Anything that appears to add a hidden layer - a shape, a colour, an artistic overlay - is decoration that consumes recovery capacity rather than a second channel of data. --- # QR Code Resolution: How Many Pixels and How Much DPI a QR Code Actually Needs URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution A QR code needs 300 DPI for print: pixels = cm ÷ 2.54 × 300. Vector SVG has no limit. Sizes, module rules and a checklist for sharp, scannable codes. Print · 2026-08-05 A QR code for print should be exported at 300 DPI at its final printed size, which means centimetres ÷ 2.54 × 300 pixels wide. A 3 cm table-tent code needs about 354 pixels, a 10 cm poster code about 1,181 pixels, and a 30 cm large-format code about 3,543 pixels. For screens, 4 pixels per module is enough. ## Key points - For print, a QR code needs 300 DPI at its final printed size. The pixel width is centimetres ÷ 2.54 × 300, so a 5 cm code needs about 591 pixels and a 20 cm code needs about 2,362 pixels. - A vector file - SVG, PDF or EPS - has no resolution at all. It stores the code as geometry, so the same file prints at 2 cm or 2 m without softening. - Resolution does not make a QR code scannable. Physical size and contrast do. Resolution only decides whether the module edges stay hard instead of turning grey. - A raster QR code prints cleanly up to roughly pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 centimetres. A 1024 × 1024 PNG reaches about 8.7 cm; beyond that the edges soften. - Never save a QR code as JPEG. JPEG compression adds ringing artefacts around exactly the kind of hard black-and-white edges a QR code is made of. ## What resolution should a QR code be? That formula covers raster files. A [vector QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) has no pixel dimension to choose, because SVG, PDF and EPS store the code as shapes rather than as a grid of pixels. If the code is going to print, exporting vector removes the resolution question entirely, and it is the reason print shops ask for vector artwork. The number that trips people up is DPI written into the file. A PNG carries a DPI tag in its metadata, but that tag does not change a single pixel. What matters is the effective resolution: the pixel width divided by the size the code is actually placed at in the layout. A 600-pixel code placed at 10 cm in InDesign is a 152 DPI code, whatever its metadata claims. ## Resolution and size are different problems, and only one of them makes a code scan Physical size decides whether a QR code can be scanned. Resolution decides whether the printed edges are crisp. A 1 cm code exported at 4,000 pixels still fails at arm's length, and a 20 cm code exported at 400 pixels scans fine from three metres despite visibly soft edges. A phone camera decodes a QR code by resolving individual modules - the small black and white squares that carry the data. As a rule of thumb, the camera needs roughly two to three of its own [pixels per module](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) in the captured image, which is why distance and physical size dominate. Print resolution only affects how sharply each module boundary is reproduced on paper. The practical consequence: fix size first, then resolution. A printed QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 × 2 cm as the working floor for close reading. Once the physical size is settled, the pixel count follows from the formula, and not the other way round. ## The print formula, in both directions At 300 DPI, one pixel is 0.0847 mm. To go from a printed size to a pixel count, multiply centimetres by 118.1. To go the other way, divide the pixel width by 118.1. The [QR code DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) runs it in both directions. Resolution is the fourth of nine checks a print file has to pass; [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) puts it in sequence with the other eight. | Printed size | Pixels at 300 DPI | Pixels at 600 DPI | | --- | --- | --- | | 2 cm | 236 px | 472 px | | 3 cm | 354 px | 709 px | | 5 cm | 591 px | 1,181 px | | 10 cm | 1,181 px | 2,362 px | | 20 cm | 2,362 px | 4,724 px | | 30 cm | 3,543 px | 7,087 px | | 50 cm | 5,906 px | 11,811 px | Going above 300 DPI rarely changes the printed result for a QR code. A QR code has no fine gradients or hairlines - it is a grid of solid blocks - so 600 DPI mainly produces a heavier file. The exception is a very small code, under about 1.5 cm, where doubling the resolution keeps the few pixels that form each module edge from rounding unevenly. Include the quiet zone in the measurement. The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. If the 5 cm in a layout means the black artwork only, the true footprint is larger, and the pixel count has to cover the whole footprint. ## How large can you print a PNG you already have? A raster QR code prints cleanly up to roughly pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 centimetres. Past that point, each module edge is being reproduced by fewer than the dots the printer would like, and the black-to-white transition starts to spread. | PNG export | Max size at 300 DPI | Max size at 150 DPI (large format) | | --- | --- | --- | | 512 × 512 | 4.3 cm | 8.7 cm | | 1024 × 1024 | 8.7 cm | 17.3 cm | | 2048 × 2048 | 17.3 cm | 34.7 cm | | 4096 × 4096 | 34.7 cm | 69.4 cm | | 8192 × 8192 | 69.4 cm | 138.7 cm | This ceiling is the reason free-plan resolution caps on hosted QR platforms matter. A tool that exports a maximum of 1024 × 1024 pixels is a tool that stops at roughly A6-postcard scale for print work, regardless of what the code itself contains. Soft edges do not fail gracefully in one visible step. A code with spread edges usually still scans on a clean white sheet under good light, then stops working on absorbent stock, in dim light, or at an angle - which is exactly the situation the printed run will meet. ## Module size is the real minimum, and it is measured in millimetres The smallest safe unit in a printed QR code is the module, not the pixel. As a rule of thumb, keep printed modules at 0.4 mm or larger for close scanning with a phone, and at 0.5 mm or larger on absorbent stock such as uncoated paper, cardboard or a receipt, where ink spread thickens the dark modules. Module count depends on the symbol version, which is set by how much data the code carries. Version 1 is 21 × 21 modules, and each step adds four modules per side, up to version 40 at 177 × 177. More characters in the URL means a higher version, which means smaller modules at the same printed size. | Version | Modules | With quiet zone | Footprint at 0.5 mm modules | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 21 × 21 | 29 | 14.5 mm | | 2 | 25 × 25 | 33 | 16.5 mm | | 3 | 29 × 29 | 37 | 18.5 mm | | 4 | 33 × 33 | 41 | 20.5 mm | | 5 | 37 × 37 | 45 | 22.5 mm | | 6 | 41 × 41 | 49 | 24.5 mm | | 10 | 57 × 57 | 65 | 32.5 mm | The 2 cm minimum quoted for printed QR codes is this arithmetic, not a convention. A short URL with medium error correction lands around version 3 or 4, and a version 4 symbol at 0.5 mm modules is 20.5 mm wide including its quiet zone. Shorten the URL and the symbol drops a version or two, which buys back real millimetres at the same printed size. ## Export a whole number of pixels per module Divide the export width by the module count including the quiet zone. If the result is not a whole number, some modules will be rendered one pixel wider than others and every module edge will pick up a grey anti-aliased fringe. Choosing an export width that divides evenly removes both problems. A worked example: a version 3 code is 37 modules wide including its quiet zone. Exporting at 591 pixels - the exact figure for 5 cm at 300 DPI - gives 15.97 pixels per module. Exporting at 592 pixels instead gives exactly 16, every module is identical, and the printed size changes by a third of a millimetre. Grey fringes matter because scanners binarise the image before decoding: every pixel is forced to black or white against a threshold. A hard edge lands on the same side of that threshold under any lighting. A soft grey edge shifts sides as the light changes, which moves the apparent module boundary and eats into the decoder's margin for error. This is a raster-only concern. A vector export has no pixel grid, so the module edges are mathematically exact at every size and the question does not arise. ## Which file format to export | Format | Type | Resolution ceiling | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | SVG | Vector | None | Print of any size, large format, print-shop handoff, editing in Illustrator or Figma | | PDF | Vector | None | Sending to a printer, placing in a document layout | | EPS | Vector | None | Legacy print workflows that require it | | PNG | Raster, lossless | Pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 cm | Screens, email, slides, social, small print at known size | | JPEG | Raster, lossy | Not suitable | Nothing - compression artefacts damage module edges | Choose vector whenever the code will be printed, and raster whenever it will be shown on a screen. That single rule resolves most resolution problems before they start, because the print side is where resolution ceilings cause damage and the screen side is where a fixed pixel size is what the medium wants anyway. JPEG deserves the hard rule. JPEG compresses by discarding high-frequency detail, and a QR code is almost entirely high-frequency detail: thousands of abrupt black-to-white transitions. The result is faint ringing around every module, which survives into print and reduces contrast exactly where the decoder measures it. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG and PNG for this reason and does not offer JPEG at all. Watch out for transparent backgrounds in PNG exports. A transparent quiet zone is not a white quiet zone: dropped onto a dark or patterned background, the margin disappears and the scanner loses the boundary of the symbol. Export on solid white unless the layout genuinely places the code on a light, flat surface. ## Resolution for screens, slides and video On a screen, aim for at least 4 CSS pixels per module and export at twice that for high-density displays. For a version 3 code at 37 modules including the quiet zone, that is roughly 150 CSS pixels displayed, exported at 300 pixels so it stays sharp on a 2× device. - **Website and email:** 300–600 px PNG, displayed at 150–300 px. Anything smaller starts to lose module definition on standard-density screens. - **Presentation slides:** size the code for the room, not the slide. A code read from ten metres away needs about 1 metre of projected width by the distance rule, which is usually impractical - put the URL on the slide as well. - **Video and broadcast:** the code has to survive the stream's compression and stay on screen long enough to be scanned. Keep it large, keep it static for at least eight to ten seconds, and expect motion-compensated compression to soften it. - **Screen-to-screen scanning:** a code shown on a phone and scanned by another phone works, but glare and refresh-rate banding cause more failures than resolution does. Raise the display brightness first. ## Resolution for thermal printers, engraving and embroidery Match the module size to the device's dot pitch instead of picking a DPI. A thermal receipt printer typically prints at 203 DPI, where one dot is 0.125 mm, so a module of exactly 4 dots is 0.5 mm and every module lands on a whole number of dots. Three dots gives 0.375 mm, which is below the practical floor on receipt paper. Receipt paper is the harshest common substrate for QR codes. It is absorbent, low-contrast, thermally uneven, and it fades. Keep receipt codes at 2 cm or larger, use the shortest possible URL so the symbol version stays low, and print a plain text URL underneath - a faded code with no fallback is a dead end for the customer. For laser engraving, dot-peen marking and embroidery, the constraint is the marking head, not DPI. Send vector artwork, confirm the minimum feature size the machine can hold, and keep the module at or above it with margin. Engraved and stitched codes also lose contrast rather than sharpness, so test a physical sample under the light the code will actually be read in. ## Large-format printing: when 300 DPI is a waste Large-format printers usually work at 100–150 DPI because the output is read from a distance, and QR codes follow the same logic. A 60 cm code exported at 300 DPI is a 7,087-pixel file that no banner printer will reproduce at that fidelity, while the same code at 150 DPI is 3,543 pixels and prints identically. Send vector for anything above roughly 30 cm. At that scale the raster file becomes large enough to be awkward, and a print shop will usually ask for SVG, PDF or EPS anyway. Vector also survives the rescaling that happens when a banner size changes late in production, which raster artwork does not. Size a large code for the closest realistic scanning position, not the furthest. People walk up to a poster. A code sized for a three-metre read still scans at one metre, but a code sized for one metre cannot be read from three, so the closer figure is the safe error. ## Why a printed QR code looks blurry - and which causes actually break scanning | What you see | Cause | Does it break scanning? | | --- | --- | --- | | Soft, fuzzy module edges | Raster file printed above its resolution ceiling | Sometimes - it narrows the decoder's margin | | Grey halo around each module | Non-integer pixels per module, or an upscaled export | Sometimes - under poor lighting | | Speckled or ringed edges | Saved as JPEG at some point in the workflow | Sometimes - combines badly with any other fault | | Modules bleeding into each other | Ink spread on absorbent stock, or modules below 0.4 mm | Often | | Sharp code that still fails | Physical size too small, low contrast, or missing quiet zone | Always | The last row is the important one. Most QR codes that fail in the field are perfectly sharp. They are too small for the distance, printed in a colour pair without enough contrast, or laid out with the quiet zone cropped away by a designer who needed the space. Resolution is the visible problem and rarely the actual one. Colour separation is a related trap that no amount of resolution fixes. A dark code printed in a rich black or a spot colour that registers slightly off will pick up coloured fringes at the module edges in CMYK. Use a single flat dark colour and keep the background genuinely light. ## Can you enlarge a QR code you already have? Regenerate it rather than enlarging it. Upscaling a raster QR code interpolates new pixels from existing ones, which turns hard module edges into gradients - the exact defect that lowers scanning margin. The original data is gone and no filter recovers it. Two rules cover the cases in practice: - **If you can regenerate the code**, do that and export vector. Regenerating takes less time than any repair, and the result has no ceiling. In KoloQR the SVG export is free and carries no watermark, so there is nothing to weigh up. - **If you cannot regenerate it** - the code came from a client, a supplier or an old print file - upscale by a whole-number factor with nearest-neighbour interpolation, never bicubic or "smart" AI upscaling. Nearest-neighbour at 2× or 4× duplicates pixels and keeps the edges hard; smoothing algorithms blur them and can invent detail that was never in the symbol. Vectorising an existing code by hand is the last resort and it is more reliable than it sounds, because a QR code is a grid of identical squares. Trace it at integer scale, verify that the module grid is uniform, and scan the result on both an iPhone and an Android phone before it goes anywhere near a print run. Decoding the old code and rebuilding it from the URL is better than either. Scan the existing code, read out the destination, and generate a fresh symbol from that string - the new code is mathematically clean and you have also verified where the old one actually points, which is worth knowing before reprinting it. ## Pre-print resolution checklist 1. **Set the physical size.** Decide the physical size from the scanning distance - about 1 cm of code width per 10 cm of distance, and never below 2 cm. 2. **Check the module size.** Printed width ÷ modules including quiet zone. Aim for 0.4 mm or more, 0.5 mm on uncoated stock. 3. **Choose the format.** Export vector for print, raster for screens. 4. **Calculate the pixels.** If exporting raster, calculate the pixels: cm ÷ 2.54 × 300, then round up to a whole number of pixels per module. 5. **Confirm the effective DPI.** Check it in the layout file, not the DPI tag in the image metadata. 6. **Verify the quiet zone survived the layout.** Four modules of clear space on all four sides. 7. **Check the file format.** Confirm the file is PNG or vector, never JPEG, and that nothing in the workflow re-saved it as JPEG. 8. **Print and scan a proof.** Print one proof at final size on the real stock, and scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone in the lighting where the code will live. The last step is the one that catches what the arithmetic misses. Ink spread, lamination gloss, substrate colour and ambient light are all invisible on screen and all decide whether the code works in the room. ## FAQ ### What DPI should a QR code be for printing? 300 DPI at the final printed size, which is the standard for offset and digital print. For large-format output read from a distance, 150 DPI is enough and produces a far smaller file. DPI written in a file's metadata is only a tag - the pixel count at the placed size is what actually determines print quality. ### How many pixels is a 5 cm QR code? About 591 pixels at 300 DPI, from 5 ÷ 2.54 × 300. Round up to a whole number of pixels per module - 592 pixels for a 37-module symbol gives exactly 16 pixels per module and eliminates anti-aliased edges. At 600 DPI the same 5 cm code is 1,181 pixels, which is rarely necessary at that size. ### Is 1000 × 1000 pixels enough for a QR code? Yes for screens, and yes for print up to about 8.5 cm at 300 DPI. Above that the module edges start to soften. A 1000 × 1000 PNG is not enough for a poster, a window decal or a banner - those need a vector file, or a raster export sized from the print formula. ### Does higher resolution make a QR code scan better? No, beyond the point where module edges are already crisp. Scanning depends on physical module size, contrast and the quiet zone, not on pixel count. A 4,000-pixel code printed at 1 cm fails at arm's length, and a 400-pixel code printed at 20 cm scans from across a room. ### Should I use SVG or PNG for a QR code? SVG for anything printed, PNG for anything on a screen. SVG stores the code as geometry, so it scales to any size with mathematically exact edges and no resolution ceiling. PNG is fixed at its exported pixel dimensions, which is what a screen wants and what a print job eventually runs out of. ### Why does my QR code stop working after printing? Usually size, contrast or the quiet zone rather than resolution. The most common causes are a code shrunk to fit a layout, modules below 0.4 mm bleeding together on absorbent stock, a cropped quiet zone, gloss lamination reflecting light back into the camera, and a dark-on-dark colour pair. A sharp code with any of these still fails. ### Can I enlarge a QR code without losing quality? Only if it is vector. A raster QR code loses edge definition when upscaled, because interpolation invents intermediate pixels and turns hard boundaries into gradients. If the code has to be enlarged and no vector exists, upscale at a whole-number factor with nearest-neighbour interpolation, or scan the old code and generate a fresh one from the URL. ### Can I save a QR code as a JPEG? Technically yes, practically no. JPEG compression discards high-frequency detail and a QR code is nothing but high-frequency detail, so faint rings appear around every module and reduce contrast at the edges the decoder measures. Use PNG for raster and SVG or PDF for print. Check that no step in the workflow silently re-saves the file as JPEG. ### What resolution do I need for a QR code on a receipt? Match the printer's dot pitch instead of choosing a DPI. A 203 DPI thermal printer has a 0.125 mm dot, so a 4-dot module is 0.5 mm and lands evenly on the grid. Keep receipt codes 2 cm or larger, use a short URL to keep the symbol version low, and print the URL as text underneath, because thermal print fades. ### Does adding a logo change the resolution I need? No, but it changes the error correction level, which changes the symbol version and therefore the module size. A centre logo requires error correction H, which reserves about 30% of the symbol for recovery data and pushes the version up. At the same printed size, higher versions mean smaller modules - so a code with a logo often needs to be printed slightly larger, not exported at more pixels. --- # How to Copy a QR Code Into Figma as Editable Vectors URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma Copy a QR code from KoloQR and paste it into Figma as editable vector layers, no plugin. Which format to use, which edits break scanning, how to export. Design · 2026-08-08 Generate the code, open the download menu in KoloQR and choose Copy to Figma. That puts the code's SVG markup on your clipboard. Click an empty spot on the Figma canvas, press Cmd+V or Ctrl+V, and the code arrives as named vector layers rather than a flat picture. No plugin is involved, and downloading the SVG file and dragging it onto the canvas produces the same result. ## Key points - Copy to Figma puts the QR code's SVG markup on the clipboard as text. Figma parses that text on paste and builds vector layers, so the code arrives editable instead of as a picture of itself. - Paste onto empty canvas. If a text layer is in edit mode when you press Cmd+V, Figma inserts the markup as visible characters rather than drawing the code. - Figma imports SVG and PNG. It does not import PDF or EPS, so those two exports are for the printer rather than for the design file. - A pasted QR code is static geometry. Recolouring, rotating, framing and proportional resizing are safe; changing where the code points is not, because a new destination needs a new symbol. - Resize with width and height locked together. A QR code stretched on one axis is no longer a square grid, and that single edit breaks scanning more often than every other Figma edit combined. ## How to copy a QR code into Figma Copying a QR code into Figma takes four actions and no plugin: build the code in the browser, copy it as SVG, paste it onto an empty part of the canvas, then set its size numerically with the proportion lock on. The whole route takes under a minute, and the result is a group of vector layers you can recolour and export like any other Figma artwork. 1. **Build the code.** Open [the generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator), enter the URL or other content, and set the shape, pattern, eyes, colours, frame and logo. What lands in Figma is exactly what the preview shows, so styling belongs here rather than after the paste. 2. **Open the download menu.** Click the arrow beside the Download button and choose Copy to Figma. The button flashes Copied, which is the confirmation that the SVG markup reached your clipboard. 3. **Paste onto empty canvas.** Switch to Figma, click an empty area so nothing is selected and no text layer is in edit mode, then press Cmd+V on macOS or Ctrl+V on Windows. 4. **Check the layers.** The code arrives as a group containing Background and QR-code, plus Frame and Logo when the design used them. Seeing those names is how you know Figma parsed vectors rather than pasting an image. 5. **Lock the proportions before resizing.** Turn on the proportion lock in the right-hand panel, then type the width you need instead of dragging a corner handle. Width and height must stay equal. 6. **Scan it on screen.** Zoom the canvas to 100% and scan the code with a phone. Confirm the destination that opens is the one you meant before the file goes to anyone else. Copy to Figma sits in the download menu beside the file formats, and copies rather than downloads. Copy to Figma does nothing while the content field is empty. The generator shows a styled placeholder code before you type anything, and copying that placeholder would put a code pointing nowhere into your design, so the button flashes the empty input instead of writing to the clipboard. ## What actually lands on the Figma canvas A pasted KoloQR code arrives as a named layer group rather than a flat image: a container holding Background and QR-code, with Frame and Logo added when the design uses them. Every module is a real vector path, so any layer can be selected, recoloured, hidden or exported on its own. The layer names come from the SVG itself, which is why the pasted code is navigable instead of being one anonymous vector. The SVG carries an explicit width and height taken from its viewBox, so the code lands at its true size instead of the default box Figma falls back to when a file declares no dimensions. That matters mainly because a code pasted at the wrong scale is usually fixed by dragging a handle, which is how proportions get lost. Frame labels arrive as outlined paths rather than live text. A curved label is emitted as one merged path instead of one object per letter, so the words are a single shape you can recolour and move but not retype. Changing the wording means editing the label in the generator and copying the code again - which is the right order anyway, since the label's arc is computed from the frame. Copying several codes into one Figma file is safe. Every id the markup references - clip paths, the invisible path a curved label runs along - is given a unique prefix at the moment you copy. Two SVGs sharing one id is the usual reason a second pasted graphic renders with the first one's clipping, and this workflow avoids it by construction. The purely cosmetic layer names are left clean on purpose. Background, QR-code, Frame and Logo are never referenced by anything inside the file, so they keep their readable names in the Figma layers panel instead of carrying a random prefix. ## SVG or PNG: which format to bring into Figma Use SVG for anything that will be resized, recoloured or printed, and PNG only for a mockup you will throw away. SVG is the only one of the two that stays editable in Figma; a PNG is a finished picture the moment it is exported, and enlarging it in a frame softens every module edge. | Format | What lands in Figma | Still editable? | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | SVG (Copy to Figma, or the SVG download) | Vector paths in named layers | Yes - colours, layers, size, export settings | Design files, print handoff, anything that will be resized | | PNG | A raster image at its exported pixel size | No - only scale, crop and opacity | A quick mockup or a wireframe placeholder | | PDF | Nothing - Figma cannot import PDF | - | Sending a finished layout to a printer, outside Figma | | EPS | Nothing - Figma cannot import EPS | - | Print workflows that still require it | KoloQR exports all four formats. Only the first two are formats Figma can bring in. The asymmetry catches people out at handoff: Figma exports PDF but does not import it. A PDF QR code from any generator has to be converted, or replaced with the SVG, before it can go into a Figma layout. PNG is not wrong, it is just final. KoloQR's PNG export renders the code at four times its on-screen size, which is enough for a mockup and for small print at a known size, but those pixels are fixed. If the layout later needs the code at twice the size, the PNG has to be regenerated rather than scaled - see [QR code resolution](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) for the arithmetic that decides how large a raster code can safely print. ## Why a paste sometimes produces text, or nothing at all Almost every failed paste is one of three things: a text layer was in edit mode, the clipboard write was blocked, or the paste went into a surface that does not parse SVG markup. None of them are faults in the code itself, and all three have the same fallback - download the SVG file and drag it in. - **The markup appears as visible characters.** A text layer was in edit mode when you pressed Cmd+V, so Figma inserted the clipboard's text as text. Press Escape, click empty canvas, and paste again. - **Nothing appears.** The browser refused the clipboard write. Clipboard access requires a secure HTTPS page and a real click, and some privacy extensions block it outright. Use the SVG download instead of arguing with the permission. - **A different surface behaves differently.** FigJam and Figma Slides do not handle pasted markup the same way the design canvas does. If the paste lands as text there, drag the downloaded .svg file onto the board instead. - **The Copy to Figma button flashes the input field.** The content field is empty, so there is no real code to copy yet. Enter the [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) or other content first. The fallback route is worth knowing before you need it: Download, then SVG, then drag the .svg file from your file manager onto the Figma canvas. Figma imports a dropped SVG file into the same vector layers a paste produces, so nothing about the result differs - only the number of steps. ## Which Figma edits are safe, and which break the code Recolouring, moving, rotating, grouping, framing and proportional resizing are safe. Stretching one axis, cropping the quiet zone, dropping contrast and boolean operations that remove geometry are not. A QR code is decoded from the geometry of a square grid, so any edit that changes that grid changes what the scanner reads. | Edit in Figma | Safe? | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Recolour the dark modules | Safe if contrast stays high | A scanner reduces the image to black and white against a threshold, so it needs a clear light-to-dark separation, not a specific colour | | Invert to light modules on a dark background | Risky | Native camera apps on iOS and Android usually cope; dedicated scanner hardware and older apps often do not. Test before shipping | | Resize with proportions locked | Safe | The geometry is unchanged, and vectors have no resolution to lose | | Stretch width or height alone | Breaks it | The modules stop being square and the three finder patterns stop being recognisable as squares | | Rotate to any angle | Safe | Scanners establish orientation from the finder patterns, so a rotated code reads normally | | Flatten with Cmd+E | Safe, but lossy for you | The merged path has identical geometry; what you lose is the layer structure and the ability to recolour parts separately | | Boolean subtract or intersect | Breaks it | It removes modules, and removed modules are removed data | | Drop shadow, blur or glow on the code layer | Risky | Effects soften exactly the module edges the decoder measures, and reduce contrast where it counts | | Place the code over a photo or gradient | Risky | The quiet zone stops being quiet. Put the code on a solid light plate instead | | Trim the margin to fit the layout | Breaks it | That margin is the quiet zone - four modules on every side - and cropping it removes the boundary the scanner looks for | Contrast is the edit worth settling before the copy rather than after the paste. The generator's preview reports a contrast ratio for the pair you have chosen and says plainly when a combination may be difficult to scan, which is a check Figma has no equivalent of - Figma will happily render a mid-grey code on a mid-beige background and show you nothing wrong. If the design covers part of the symbol - a logo in the middle, a shape crossing a corner - the tolerance that absorbs it is set at generation time, not in Figma. See [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) for how much of a symbol each level recovers, and generate at the level the design needs before you copy. One honest limitation: no rule here guarantees a scan on someone else's hardware. Contrast ratios, module sizes and error correction levels all shift the odds in your favour, and a physical test on two phones is what actually settles it. ## Sizing a QR code inside a Figma frame Figma measures in pixels and has no physical units, so size a QR code by deciding what one pixel means in the final medium and holding to it. At 96 px per inch, 1 cm is 37.8 px, so a 2 cm code is 76 px. At 300 px per inch the same 2 cm code is 236 px. For screen designs, aim for at least 4 px per module. Module count follows the content, not the design. A short URL with medium error correction usually lands at 29 or 33 modules, which is 37 or 41 including the quiet zone. At 4 px per module that is roughly 150–165 px on screen, and anything much below it starts losing module definition on a standard-density display. The printed rules do not change because the layout lives in Figma. A printed code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of reading distance, with 2 × 2 cm as the working floor for close reading, and printed modules should stay at 0.4 mm or larger - 0.5 mm on uncoated stock, where ink spread thickens the dark modules. Set the width numerically rather than dragging a handle. A dragged corner with the proportion lock off is the single most common way a QR code leaves a Figma file subtly stretched, and a 4% distortion is invisible on screen and fatal at the scanner. ## Exporting the QR code back out of Figma Select the code's top-level layer and export SVG for vector handoff, PDF for print, or PNG at 3x or 4x for screens. Exporting the frame instead of the code exports the layout around it, which is what a printer wants and almost never what a developer wants. - **SVG.** Keep "Include id attribute" on if you want the layer names to survive into the file. "Outline text" changes nothing here, because the frame labels arrived as paths already. - **PDF.** Figma exports PDF even though it cannot import it, which makes PDF the natural handoff for a printed layout that contains the code. - **PNG at 3x or 4x.** A 100 px code exported at 4x is 400 px, which is a screen asset. Do not treat it as a print asset - work back from the print size instead. - **Nothing at 1x for print.** A raster export is only ever as large as the pixels in it, and the print ceiling is roughly pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 centimetres. For a code that will appear on a website, the better handoff is often not an export at all. A developer can generate the code at build time or ship the SVG file directly, and either beats a picture exported from a design file that nobody will remember to update when the URL changes. ## Copy to Figma versus a Figma QR code plugin A plugin generates the code inside Figma and can regenerate or batch-generate without leaving the file. The clipboard route generates it in the browser and gives more control over shape, frame and logo. Both produce a static code: neither can change where an already-placed code points without replacing the artwork. | Question to ask | Clipboard SVG | Figma plugin | | --- | --- | --- | | Where the code is generated | In the browser, then pasted | Inside the Figma file | | What you install | Nothing | The plugin, plus whatever permissions it asks for | | What lands on the canvas | Named vector layers | Varies - some plugins output vectors, some output a raster image | | Design control | Shape, pattern, eyes, frames, colours, logo | Usually colour and size; some add a logo | | Forty codes from a list of URLs | One at a time, by hand | The main reason to use a plugin | | Changing the destination later | Generate a new code and replace the artwork | Generate a new code and replace the artwork | | Where the URL travels | Stays in the browser tab that rendered it | Worth checking - some plugins render server-side | Use a plugin when volume is the problem. Generating forty event badges from a spreadsheet inside Figma is work the clipboard route cannot make pleasant, and a batch plugin is straightforwardly the better tool for it. KoloQR has no Figma plugin, and this page is not going to pretend that is an advantage. Use the clipboard when design is the problem. Circular and other custom-shaped codes, frames, decorative eye styles and a logo placed with the right error correction behind it are decisions made in a generator, and they arrive in Figma fully formed - see [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) and [branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) for what that looks like. One durable difference is worth naming: a plugin is a dependency. Figma plugins are updated by their authors, break when the plugin API changes, and occasionally disappear from the Community. Clipboard SVG is a paste - there is nothing in the path that can stop being maintained. ## What you cannot do once the code is in Figma The pasted code is a static QR code, so the destination is written into the geometry rather than stored beside it. Figma can restyle that geometry but cannot recompute it, which puts four common wishes out of reach. - **Change where it points.** Editing the URL means generating a new symbol. There is no field to edit, in Figma or anywhere else. - **Raise the error correction level after the fact.** The level decides how the data is laid out, so it changes the symbol itself rather than being a property of the finished artwork. - **Retype a frame label.** The words arrived as outlined paths. Change them in the generator and copy the code again. - **Sharpen a raster logo.** A logo uploaded as PNG or JPG is embedded inside the SVG as an image, so it stays raster inside an otherwise vector file and will not sharpen when the code is scaled up. The raster logo is the one with a clean workaround. Upload the logo as SVG when you have a vector version, or delete the Logo layer in Figma and place your own vector logo in the space it occupied - the symbol has already been generated with room cleared for it, and the error correction that recovers the covered modules does not care which artwork sits on top. There is also no analytics, and that is a property of static codes rather than of this workflow. If the brief needs scan counts or a destination that can be changed after printing, a dynamic code from a hosted platform is the right tool, and the design still comes into Figma the same way. ## Keeping the code maintainable in a design system Make the pasted code a Figma component the first time you use it. When the destination changes, paste the new code into the main component once and every instance across every file updates - which is the closest a static QR code gets to being editable. Name the component after the destination rather than after the design. A QR code is unreadable to a human, so the layer name is the only place the URL is legible: "QR / spring-menu" tells the next designer what they are looking at, and "QR code 3" tells them nothing. Put the full URL in the component description, where it survives copy-pasting between files. Keep the source settings somewhere the next person can find them. Shape, colours, frame, logo and error correction level are not recoverable from the artwork, so a note in the component description - or the generator link that produced it - is what makes the code reproducible six months later. Do not let two versions of the same code live in one file. The failure mode is specific and common: an old code stays on an artboard nobody re-exported, gets printed, and sends people to a URL that has been retired. One component, one destination, one place to update. ## A scan test before handoff 1. **Scan the canvas at 100%.** Zoom Figma to 100% and scan the code on screen with a phone. A failure here is a design problem - contrast, distortion or a covered quiet zone. 2. **Read the destination character by character.** Check the URL that opens against the one you meant, including the protocol and any tracking parameters. A code that scans perfectly to the wrong page is the expensive failure. 3. **Scan the export, not the canvas.** Export the artboard the way it will actually ship and scan that file. Effects, opacity and background layers behave differently in an export than they look on canvas. 4. **Print a proof at final size.** If the design is going to print, print one page at final size on the real stock and scan it there. Screen contrast flatters everything. 5. **Test on both platforms.** Scan with an iPhone and an Android phone. Their camera apps binarise differently, and a marginal code often passes on one and fails on the other. 6. **Test in the room's light.** Scan in the lighting the code will live in - a dim bar, a sunlit window, a glossy laminated card at an angle. The last two steps are the ones that catch what the layout cannot show. A code that passes on a bright desktop monitor and fails on a laminated menu in low light has not changed at all - the reading conditions have. ## The same clipboard SVG works outside Figma The clipboard holds standard SVG markup, not a Figma-specific format, so the same copy pastes into Illustrator, Sketch, Affinity Designer and Inkscape as editable vectors. Nothing in the workflow is tied to Figma except the name of the menu entry. Tools that expect a file rather than markup - document editors, presentation software, most browser-based design tools - want the [SVG file download](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) instead. Downloading and placing the file gives the same vector artwork; only the transport differs. Where a tool accepts neither, PNG is the fallback, and the size decision moves earlier. Export the code at the pixel size the final medium needs rather than at a convenient one, because a raster code that has to be enlarged later has no good repair. ## FAQ ### Do I need a plugin to put a QR code in Figma? No. Figma parses SVG markup pasted from the clipboard, so a QR code copied as SVG becomes editable vector layers with nothing installed. A plugin is worth it for one thing the clipboard cannot do well: generating many codes from a list of URLs without leaving the file. ### Why did my QR code paste into Figma as text? A text layer was in edit mode when you pasted, so Figma inserted the clipboard's contents as characters instead of parsing them. Press Escape, click an empty area of the canvas so nothing is selected, and paste again. If it still lands as text, download the SVG file and drag it onto the canvas instead. ### Can I change the URL of a QR code after pasting it into Figma? No. A static QR code stores its destination in the pattern of modules itself, so there is no editable field - changing the URL means generating a new code and replacing the artwork. Making the code a Figma component first turns that replacement into one edit rather than one per artboard. ### Can I recolour a QR code in Figma? Yes, and the pasted layers are separated so you can recolour the modules, the background and the frame independently. Keep a clear light-to-dark separation: scanners reduce the image to black and white against a threshold, so a mid-tone code on a mid-tone background fails even though it looks fine on screen. ### Why is my logo blurry when I scale the pasted code up? Because the logo was uploaded as a PNG or JPG, and a raster upload is embedded inside the SVG as an image rather than converted to paths. Everything else scales cleanly; that one layer does not. Upload an SVG logo instead, or delete the Logo layer in Figma and place your own vector logo in the cleared space. ### What size should a QR code be in a Figma design? For screens, at least 4 px per module - roughly 150 px for a typical short URL. For print, size it from the physical rule and convert: at 300 px per inch, 1 cm is 118 px, so a 2 cm code is 236 px. Set width and height numerically with the proportion lock on rather than dragging a handle. ### Does flattening or outlining break a QR code? Flattening does not - the merged path has identical geometry, so it scans the same. What you lose is the layer structure and the ability to recolour parts separately. Boolean subtract and intersect are a different matter: they remove modules, and removed modules are removed data. ### Can I paste several QR codes into one Figma file? Yes. Each copy rewrites the ids its markup references with a unique prefix, so clip paths and label paths from one code cannot be picked up by another. Two SVGs sharing an id is the usual reason a second pasted graphic renders with the first one's clipping applied to it. ### Can Figma import a PDF or EPS QR code? No. Figma imports SVG and raster images; it exports PDF but cannot bring one in, and EPS is not supported in either direction. If a printer sent back a PDF containing the code, get the SVG instead rather than converting - a regenerated code is cleaner than a converted one. ### How do I export a print-ready QR code from Figma? Select the layer and export SVG, or export the whole layout as PDF. Both are vector, so there is no resolution to get wrong. Avoid a PNG export for print unless you have worked back from the physical size: a raster code prints cleanly only up to about its pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 centimetres. ### Does this work in FigJam or Figma Slides? Not reliably - those surfaces handle pasted markup differently from the design canvas, and the SVG may land as text. Download the SVG file and drag it in instead, which works consistently across all three. The artwork is identical either way; only the transport changes. --- # QR Code Minimum Size for Print: How Small a Code Can Go Before It Stops Scanning URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print A printed QR code needs at least 2 × 2 cm, plus 1 cm of width per 10 cm of scanning distance. Size charts by medium, module maths, and a pre-print test. Print · 2026-08-17 A printed QR code should be at least 2 × 2 cm (0.8 × 0.8 in) including its quiet zone, and larger whenever it is read from more than about 20 cm away. Allow roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance: a menu read at 30 cm needs 3 cm, a poster read at 1 m needs 10 cm, and a banner read at 3 m needs 30 cm. ## Key points - The working minimum for a printed QR code is 2 × 2 cm (0.8 × 0.8 in), measured across the black artwork plus the quiet zone around it. - Above arm's length, size follows distance: about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, or 1 inch for every 10 inches. - The real floor is the module, not the code. Keep printed modules at 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock, and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated or absorbent stock. - A longer URL raises the minimum size. A 20-character URL fits a version 2 symbol; a 120-character URL needs version 7, which is about 60% wider at the same module size. - There is a maximum too. A QR code is comfortably readable from about its own width up to roughly ten times its width, because a phone camera cannot focus closer than 7–10 cm and has to fit the whole symbol in frame. ## What is the minimum size for a printed QR code? The minimum size for a printed QR code is 2 × 2 cm, measured across the black artwork plus its quiet zone. That figure is arithmetic rather than convention: a short URL at error correction M lands on a version 4 symbol, which is 41 modules wide including the quiet zone, and 41 modules at 0.5 mm each is 20.5 mm. In inches, the same floor is 0.8 × 0.8 in, and the distance rule converts directly: allow 1 inch of code width for every 10 inches of scanning distance. A code read from 3 feet needs about 3.6 in. Smaller codes do scan, under conditions a print run cannot rely on. A 1.5 cm code holding a 15-character URL, printed on coated stock, held 10 cm from a recent phone in good light, will decode. The same code on kraft cardboard, in a dim restaurant, at an angle, held by someone whose camera lens is scratched, will not. The 2 cm floor is the size at which the code stops depending on any of that. Measure the footprint, not the design. If a layout says the QR code is 2 cm, check whether that measurement covers the whole symbol or only the dark modules: the quiet zone adds four modules on each side, which on a version 4 code is roughly 12% of the total width per side. ## The distance rule: 1 cm of code for every 10 cm of reading distance Size a QR code by dividing the scanning distance by ten, then never go below the 2 cm floor. A code read from 50 cm needs 5 cm, a code read from 2 m needs 20 cm, and a code read from 10 m needs a metre of width. The [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) runs the same arithmetic for a given distance, payload and material. | Scanning distance | Minimum code width | Typical case | | --- | --- | --- | | 15 cm | 2 cm (the floor) | Business card held in the hand | | 30 cm | 3 cm | Menu, leaflet, product carton | | 50 cm | 5 cm | Shelf label, counter sign | | 1 m | 10 cm | A3 poster in a corridor | | 2 m | 20 cm | Window decal read from the pavement | | 3 m | 30 cm | Exhibition stand banner | | 5 m | 50 cm | Wall graphic in a lobby | | 10 m | 1 m | Building sign, stage screen | | 20 m | 2 m | Billboard | The 10:1 ratio assumes a typical phone camera and a symbol of around version 3 to 6 - a short or shortened URL. A denser code packs more modules into the same width, so each module shrinks and the usable distance falls short of the ratio. Where the payload is long and the read is far, size from the module table below instead of from the ratio. Size is the first of nine checks a file has to pass; [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) has the rest in order. Size for the closest realistic reading position, not the furthest. People walk up to posters. A code sized for a 3 m read still works at 1 m, but a code sized for 1 m cannot be read from 3 m, so erring towards the larger figure is the safe direction of error. ## QR code size and dimensions by what you are printing on These are the sizes that hold up in production for common print media. The minimum column is the smallest width that decodes reliably at that reading distance; the recommended column adds about 25%, which is the margin that absorbs bad light, a cheap phone, and a reader standing further back than planned. | What you are printing | Typical read distance | Minimum width | Recommended width | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Business card | 20–25 cm | 2 cm | 2.5 cm | | Restaurant menu page | 30 cm | 2.5 cm | 3 cm | | Table tent or table talker | 40 cm | 3 cm | 4 cm | | A5 flyer or leaflet | 30 cm | 2.5 cm | 3 cm | | Product packaging, flat carton | 25 cm | 2 cm | 2.5 cm | | Bottle or jar label, curved | 25 cm | 2.5 cm | 3 cm | | Thermal receipt | 25 cm | 2 cm | 2.5 cm | | Event badge or lanyard | 30 cm | 2.5 cm | 3 cm | | Shelf talker in an aisle | 50 cm | 5 cm | 6 cm | | A3 or A2 poster | 1–1.5 m | 10 cm | 15 cm | | Window decal read from outside | 2 m | 20 cm | 25 cm | | Exhibition stand banner | 3 m | 30 cm | 35 cm | | Vehicle livery | 4 m | 40 cm | 50 cm | Business cards are the tightest case on the list, because 2 cm of a 85 × 55 mm card is a quarter of its height and the design rarely has that space to give. The usual fix is not a smaller code but a shorter destination: a 20-character URL drops the symbol to version 2, which is 33 modules including the quiet zone and fits 2 cm with modules at 0.6 mm. See what else belongs on a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) before deciding the code has to shrink. Every surface in that table brings constraints beyond size - a finish that reflects, a fold that cuts the pattern, a curve that skews the finder squares - which are covered per surface under [QR codes by surface](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on). Billboards are the case where the arithmetic argues against the code entirely. A billboard read from 20 m needs 2 m of QR code, and the people reading it are usually moving, often driving, and rarely able to hold a phone steady on a symbol that far away. A memorable short URL does the job that a 2 m code cannot. ## The real minimum is the module, measured in millimetres A module is one of the small black and white squares that carry a QR code's data, and the smallest unit a scanner has to resolve. Every minimum size on this page is a module size in disguise: keep printed modules at 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock, and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated or absorbent stock, where ink spread thickens the dark modules and closes the gaps between them. Multiply the module floor by the module count to get the minimum width for a specific code. [The count depends on the symbol version](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity), and every version adds four modules per side to the one before it. | Version | Modules | With quiet zone | Minimum width at 0.4 mm | Minimum width at 0.5 mm | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 21 × 21 | 29 | 11.6 mm | 14.5 mm | | 2 | 25 × 25 | 33 | 13.2 mm | 16.5 mm | | 3 | 29 × 29 | 37 | 14.8 mm | 18.5 mm | | 4 | 33 × 33 | 41 | 16.4 mm | 20.5 mm | | 5 | 37 × 37 | 45 | 18.0 mm | 22.5 mm | | 6 | 41 × 41 | 49 | 19.6 mm | 24.5 mm | | 8 | 49 × 49 | 57 | 22.8 mm | 28.5 mm | | 10 | 57 × 57 | 65 | 26.0 mm | 32.5 mm | Work the arithmetic in the other direction to check a size you have been given. Divide the printed width by the module count including the quiet zone: a 25 mm code at version 6 is 25 ÷ 49, or 0.51 mm per module, which clears the floor. The same 25 mm at version 10 is 0.38 mm per module, which does not. Module size is also where print resolution meets physical size. A module of 0.4 mm is about 5 pixels at 300 DPI, so the pixel count has to follow the physical decision rather than lead it - the arithmetic for that side of the job is in the guide to [QR code resolution](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution). ## How the length of the URL changes the minimum size Every extra character in the encoded data can push the code to a higher symbol version, and a higher version means more modules inside the same width. The symbol version is the QR standard's name for a code's module count, running from version 1 at 21 × 21 modules up to version 40 at 177 × 177. Smaller symbols exist - Micro QR codes and rMQR - but they are built for parts and labels, not for phones. | URL length | Symbol version | Modules with quiet zone | Minimum width at 0.5 mm | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Up to 14 characters | 1 | 29 | 14.5 mm | | 15–26 characters | 2 | 33 | 16.5 mm | | 27–42 characters | 3 | 37 | 18.5 mm | | 43–62 characters | 4 | 41 | 20.5 mm | | 63–84 characters | 5 | 45 | 22.5 mm | | 85–106 characters | 6 | 49 | 24.5 mm | | 107–122 characters | 7 | 53 | 26.5 mm | | 123–152 characters | 8 | 57 | 28.5 mm | Byte mode at error correction level M, the usual combination for a URL. Character counts include https:// and every tracking parameter. Shortening the destination is the cheapest way to shrink a QR code. A URL of 140 characters with UTM parameters sits at version 8; the same destination behind a 25-character short link sits at version 2, and the difference at 0.5 mm modules is 28.5 mm against 16.5 mm. Nothing about the printed design changed - only the string being encoded. Three edits shrink most URLs by enough to drop a version or two: remove tracking parameters and use a redirect that adds them server-side, drop www and any trailing slash, and use uppercase for the domain if the code carries no path, since alphanumeric mode packs uppercase more tightly than byte mode. The first of those usually does the whole job on its own. Payload type matters as much as length. A [URL](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) is compact; a vCard with a name, two phone numbers, an email address and a postal address routinely runs past 300 characters, which is version 13 or higher and needs about 45 mm at 0.5 mm modules. A contact code on a business card is the most common case of a symbol that will not fit the space it was designed into. ## The quiet zone counts towards the size The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. A 2 cm minimum means 2 cm including that margin, not 2 cm of dark modules with the margin trimmed away to save space. Cropping the quiet zone is the most common way a correctly sized code fails. A designer fits the code into a tight panel, the margin is what gives, and the symbol lands flush against a border, an image edge, or a block of text. The modules are all present and the size is right, and the scanner still has nothing to lock onto. White space that belongs to something else does not count. A quiet zone has to be flat and light: a photograph behind the code, a gradient, a texture, or a coloured panel all break the boundary the scanner is looking for, even where the background looks pale on screen. Fold lines, die cuts and trim edges eat quiet zones after the file leaves the studio. Keep a QR code at least 5 mm from any trim edge on packaging and at least 10 mm from a fold, and check the code against the die line rather than against the flat artwork. Detection is decided in that margin rather than in the data, which is why it has a page of its own. [The quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) covers what counts as one, what four modules come to in millimetres at each printed size, and how to measure the margin a file actually carries. ## When to size up beyond the minimum Six conditions each justify making a printed QR code larger than the table says, and they stack. Two of them together is a good reason to add 50% rather than 25%. - **Uncoated, kraft or corrugated stock:** ink spreads into the fibres and thickens the dark modules, which narrows the light gaps. Work from the 0.5 mm module floor rather than 0.4 mm, which is a 25% larger code at the same version. - **A curved surface:** a code on a bottle, jar, cup or tube is foreshortened at the edges. Keep the code width under about a quarter of the circumference so the surface it sits on stays close to flat, and add 20% to the width. - **Dim or coloured light:** restaurants, bars, cinemas and evening events all reduce the contrast the camera actually captures. Add 25%, and never combine a small code with a dark background in a dim room. - **A logo in the middle:** a centre logo needs error correction H, which reserves about 30% of the symbol for recovery data and pushes the version up. The same URL that fits version 3 at level M lands on version 5 at level H, which is 22% wider at the same module size. The full trade-off is in the guide to [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction). - **An audience with older phones:** a five-year-old mid-range camera resolves fewer modules per frame than a current flagship. Public-sector, healthcare and community printing is where this matters most, and 25% extra width covers it. - **Any read through glass, at an angle, or in motion:** window decals, drive-through signage and shop-front graphics all lose effective resolution to reflection and perspective. Size these from the far end of the distance range, not the near end. Sizing up costs nothing in scanning terms. There is no failure mode where a QR code is too large for its reading distance, provided the reader can still step back far enough to frame it - which is the subject of the next section. ## Is there a maximum size for a QR code? A QR code is comfortably readable from about its own width up to roughly ten times its width. The lower bound exists because a phone camera cannot focus closer than 7–10 cm and has to fit the whole symbol plus its quiet zone inside the frame, so a 50 cm code cannot be scanned by someone standing next to it. That range is what makes very large codes awkward rather than impossible. A 2 m billboard code needs the reader to stand between 2 m and 20 m away, which is a reasonable ask on a plaza and an unreasonable one beside a motorway. Check that the near limit is somewhere a person can actually stand before committing to a size. Large-format codes also change file format rather than size rules. Above roughly 30 cm, export vector: an [SVG or PDF file](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) has no resolution ceiling, and print shops working at banner scale ask for vector artwork anyway. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG and PNG, and the SVG carries no watermark or size cap. ## Why a small QR code fails, and how to tell which fault it is | Symptom | Most likely cause | Fix | | --- | --- | --- | | Scans on screen, fails on paper | Modules below the print floor, or ink spread on absorbent stock | Enlarge to reach 0.4 mm modules, 0.5 mm on uncoated stock | | Scans held close, fails at arm's length | Code sized below the 10:1 distance rule | Divide the real reading distance by ten and resize | | Scans on one phone, not another | Code sitting on the edge of the size margin | Add 25% width rather than debugging the camera | | Camera never recognises a code is there | Quiet zone cropped, or a background that is not flat and light | Restore four modules of clear space on all four sides | | Worked in the proof, fails in the print run | Different stock, different ink, or the artwork scaled during imposition | Test on the production substrate at final size | | Fails only in the evening | Contrast too low for the light, compounded by size | Increase size and use a genuinely dark code on a light background | The first two rows account for most real failures, and they fail in opposite directions. A code that is too dense for its size breaks at every distance; a code with healthy modules breaks only past the distance it was sized for. Testing at one distance hides the difference, which is why the pre-print test below uses three. ## How to test the minimum size before the print run 1. **Fix the final destination first.** Encode the exact URL that will ship, including any parameters. Changing the URL later changes the symbol version, which changes the minimum size. 2. **Calculate the module size.** Divide the intended printed width by the module count including the quiet zone. The result must be 0.4 mm or more, and 0.5 mm or more on uncoated stock. 3. **Print a size ladder.** Print the same code at the intended size, one step smaller and one step larger - for example 2 cm, 2.5 cm and 3 cm - on one sheet. 4. **Use the production substrate.** Print the ladder on the stock the job will actually run on. A laser proof on office paper hides the ink spread that decides the outcome on kraft, newsprint or thermal paper. 5. **Scan at three distances.** Scan each size from half the intended distance, the intended distance, and twice it. The smallest size that passes all three is the true minimum for that code. 6. **Repeat in the real light.** Scan again in the light the code will live in - the restaurant at dinner service, the aisle under fluorescents, the pavement at dusk. 7. **Test two phones and one bad angle.** Use one iPhone and one Android phone, at least one of them a few years old, and hold the camera at roughly 30 degrees off square. 8. **Take the next size up.** Ship the size above the smallest that passed. The margin costs a few millimetres of layout and covers the conditions the test could not reproduce. The size ladder is what turns a guess into a measurement, and it takes one sheet of paper. Most sizing arguments in a studio end the moment somebody prints three versions and scans them across the room. ## Common mistakes when sizing a QR code for print - **Scaling the code to fit the space left over.** The layout is decided first and the code is squeezed into what remains. Size the code from its reading distance, then find the space - a code that does not scan occupies less useful area than one that does not exist. - **Measuring the dark modules and forgetting the quiet zone.** The stated size has to include four modules of clear margin on every side, which on a small code is a meaningful share of the width. - **Testing at desk distance only.** A code checked on the screen and again on a proof held 10 cm away tells you nothing about the 2 m read it was designed for. - **Encoding a placeholder URL during design.** A short test URL produces a low-version symbol, and swapping in the real URL late can add modules and break a size that was signed off. - **Assuming a shape or a logo is the problem.** Custom module shapes and centre logos have their own limits, but a code that fails at 1.5 cm fails because of its size. Check the millimetres before redesigning the artwork. - **Printing dark on dark to match the brand.** Size and contrast fail together: a code that is marginal at 2 cm becomes unreadable when the contrast between modules and background is also marginal. Sizing is a decision worth making before the design starts. The minimum width follows from the destination URL, the substrate and the reading distance, and all three are usually known on day one - so the code's footprint can be blocked into the layout as a fixed constraint rather than negotiated at artwork stage. If the code needs to be built to a specific size, the [generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) takes the URL and exports vector, which resizes without loss. ## FAQ ### What is the smallest a QR code can be? About 1 cm in laboratory conditions, and 2 cm in practice. The absolute limit is the module: a version 1 symbol at 0.4 mm modules is 11.6 mm wide including the quiet zone. Anything that small requires a very short URL, coated stock, good light and a close, steady hold, so 2 × 2 cm is the size a print run can depend on. ### What is the minimum QR code size in inches? 0.8 × 0.8 inches, including the quiet zone. Scale from there with 1 inch of code width for every 10 inches of scanning distance: 1.2 in for a read at 1 foot, 3.6 in for 3 feet, and 12 in for a code read from 10 feet away. US letter flyers and 3.5 × 2 in business cards both work at 1 inch. ### Is a 1 cm QR code too small? For a print run, yes. A 1 cm code only holds modules above the 0.4 mm floor if the symbol is version 1 or 2, meaning a URL under about 26 characters, and it leaves no margin for ink spread, dim light or an older camera. Use 1 cm only where the code is decorative and a text URL is printed alongside it. ### What size QR code should I put on a business card? 2 cm minimum, 2.5 cm if the layout allows. The constraint on a card is rarely the space but the payload: a full vCard runs past 300 characters and needs about 4.5 cm, while a short link to a contact page fits 2 cm comfortably. Link to a page rather than embedding every contact field in the symbol. ### Does the quiet zone count towards the minimum size? Yes. Every size on this page includes the quiet zone, which is four modules of clear space on each side. On a version 4 code, the quiet zone is roughly 12% of the total width per side, so a symbol measured across the dark modules alone is about a quarter narrower than the size actually required. ### Why does my QR code fail even though it looks sharp? Sharpness and size are different problems, and size is the usual culprit. A crisply printed code fails when the modules are below 0.4 mm, when the reading distance is more than ten times the code width, when the quiet zone was cropped, or when contrast is too low for the light. Resolution only decides how hard the printed edges are. ### Can I use error correction L to make a QR code smaller? Sometimes, by one or two versions, and it is a trade. Level L reserves about 7% of the symbol for recovery instead of level M's 15%, so the same URL may fit a smaller symbol. That buys millimetres and spends damage tolerance, which is the wrong direction on packaging, receipts or anything handled repeatedly. ### Does adding a logo mean a bigger QR code? Usually yes. A centre logo requires error correction H, which reserves about 30% of the symbol for recovery data and typically pushes the code up two versions. At the same module size that is roughly 20% more width, so a branded code that fits 2 cm without a logo should be planned at 2.5 cm with one. ### What size QR code do I need for a poster? Divide the closest realistic reading distance by ten. An A3 poster in a corridor read from 1 m needs 10 cm; a large poster read from 3 m needs 30 cm. Size for where people stop walking rather than where they first see the poster, because a code sized for the far distance still scans up close. ### Can a QR code be too big to scan? Yes, if the reader cannot stand far enough back. A phone has to fit the whole symbol and its quiet zone in frame and cannot focus closer than 7–10 cm, so a code is readable from about its own width outwards. A 1 m code on a corridor wall fails for anyone standing beside it and works from three paces away. ### What size QR code works on a bottle or a curved label? Add about 20% to the flat-surface size, and keep the code narrower than a quarter of the circumference. On a 65 mm bottle that means a code up to about 50 mm wide, so a 3 cm code sits on a near-flat arc. Place it on the flattest part of the label and keep it clear of the seam. ### What is the minimum size for a QR code on a receipt? 2 cm, with a short URL and a printed text fallback. Thermal paper is absorbent, low in contrast and fades over weeks, so the modules need the full 0.5 mm floor. A 203 DPI receipt printer has a 0.125 mm dot, which makes a 4-dot module exactly 0.5 mm and lands every module on a whole number of dots. --- # SVG vs PNG vs PDF vs EPS: Which QR Code File Goes Where URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png SVG for print and design files, PNG for screens, PDF for the printer, EPS for legacy print. What each QR file holds, where each fails, how to convert safely. Basics · 2026-08-18 Download SVG for anything that will be printed, resized or edited, and PNG for anything that will be shown on a screen. That one split settles most cases: SVG stores the code as geometry and scales without a ceiling, PNG is fixed at the pixels it was exported with. PDF is the file a print shop or a document layout expects, and EPS exists for older production workflows that still ask for PostScript artwork. ## Key points - SVG for print, design work and anything that might be resized later. PNG for screens, email, slides and social. Those two cover the large majority of QR code exports. - PDF and EPS are handoff formats, not working formats. Send one when a print shop, a production department or a document layout asks for it by name. - File format does not change what a QR code encodes. The same URL is in the SVG, the PNG, the PDF and the EPS - the format only decides how well the module edges survive the trip to paper or screen. - Never send a QR code as JPEG. JPEG compression adds ringing around exactly the hard black-and-white edges a QR code is made of, and the damage cannot be undone afterwards. - A raster QR code cannot be converted into a real vector one by renaming it. Regenerate the code from its destination instead - it takes less time than any repair and the result is mathematically clean. ## SVG or PNG: which one should you download? Choose SVG if the code will be printed, placed in a design file, or resized by anyone at any point. Choose PNG if the code will be displayed on a screen at a size you already know. A QR code on a poster, a menu, a label or a business card is an SVG job; a QR code in an email, a slide, a web page or an Instagram post is a PNG job. The reason is what each file stores. A vector file is an image stored as shapes and coordinates rather than pixels, so it can be redrawn at any size without losing edge definition. A raster file is an image stored as a fixed grid of pixels, so enlarging it past its exported size softens every edge. A QR code is read by a camera that has to tell dark modules from light ones, and soft edges are the one defect that narrows a decoder's margin for error. When the answer is genuinely unclear, download both. The two files are the same code, they take a second each to export, and having the SVG on hand is what prevents the common failure a year later: a poster that needs the code at 30 cm when the only file left is a 600-pixel PNG from an email thread. ## What the four formats are, in one sentence each SVG is a vector image format written as plain XML text, which is why an SVG QR code opens in any browser, edits in any design tool, and scales without a resolution ceiling. PNG is a lossless raster format with transparency support, which is why it reproduces a QR code's hard edges exactly at the size it was exported. PDF is a page format that can hold either vector or raster content, which is why a PDF QR code has to be inspected rather than assumed. EPS is a vector format based on PostScript, kept alive by print and production workflows that predate PDF. | Format | Type | Resizes without loss | Opens in | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | SVG | Vector | Yes | Browsers, Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape, Affinity | Print, design files, anything that may be resized | | PNG | Raster, lossless | No | Everything | Screens, email, slides, social, print at a fixed known size | | PDF | Page format, vector or raster | Only if its content is vector | Everything | Print-shop handoff, document layouts, sending a proof | | EPS | Vector | Yes | Illustrator, older RIPs and production software | Legacy print workflows that ask for EPS by name | | JPEG | Raster, lossy | No | Everything | Nothing - compression artefacts damage module edges | Note the third row. PDF is the only one of the four whose name does not tell you what is inside it: a PDF can hold clean vector artwork or a photograph of a screen, and both look identical in a file listing. That single ambiguity causes more print problems than the other three formats combined. ## Which file goes where | Where the code is going | Send | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Poster, banner, window decal | SVG or PDF | The size usually changes at least once before printing | | Business card, flyer, packaging | SVG | The designer places it in a layout and scales it to fit | | Restaurant menu or table tent | SVG | Reprinted at different sizes across table, bar and window | | Print shop that asked for artwork | PDF, or SVG if they accept it | PDF is the format most shops name in their upload form | | Old production system or RIP | EPS | Some pre-PDF workflows accept nothing else | | Web page or online store | SVG or PNG | SVG stays sharp on every display; PNG is simpler to drop in | | Email signature or newsletter | PNG | Email clients block SVG, so a raster image is the only reliable option | | Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube | PNG | Social platforms accept raster uploads only | | Slide deck or PDF report | PNG at 2x the displayed size, or SVG | Office apps take both; PNG avoids per-app SVG quirks | | Figma, Illustrator or Canva file | SVG | It arrives as editable vector layers rather than a flat picture | | Laser engraving, vinyl cutting, embroidery | SVG or EPS | The machine follows paths, so it needs geometry rather than pixels | | Thermal receipt or label printer | PNG sized to the printer's dots | These printers are raster devices with a fixed dot pitch | Two rows on this table are worth reading as a pair. A print shop asking for PDF and an engraver asking for SVG want the same thing - geometry the machine can redraw - and they name different formats only because their software chains differ. If a supplier names a format you cannot produce, ask whether they accept SVG; most modern production software does. ## What a KoloQR export actually contains KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS from the same download menu, and copies the SVG markup straight to the clipboard for Figma. The four files are built differently, and the differences decide which one is right for a job. - **SVG:** true vector, with the code's parts on named layers and any curved label text converted to outlines, so no font has to be installed anywhere downstream. There is no watermark and no size cap. - **PNG:** rendered at 40 pixels per module. A typical short-URL code is 41 modules wide including its quiet zone, which lands at about 1,640 pixels - enough for roughly 14 cm at 300 DPI. The background is whatever colour the design uses, and the area outside a non-square frame is transparent. - **PDF:** a single page sized to the code itself at one point per 10 units of geometry, holding the code as a lossless image at 80 pixels per module. That works out at 576 DPI at the page's native size, so it stays above 300 DPI up to roughly 1.9x enlargement - about 28 cm for a code that opens at 15 cm. - **EPS:** a real vector conversion, written as PostScript Level 2 paths in RGB. Every module, frame and outlined label becomes a filled path, which is why the file scales like the SVG rather than like the PDF. - **Copy to Figma:** the same SVG markup, placed on the clipboard instead of downloaded. Paste lands editable vector layers on the canvas, covered in the guide to [copying a QR code into Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma). Two honest limits follow from that list. The KoloQR PDF is a high-resolution image on a PDF page rather than vector geometry, so a job that will be scaled far beyond A4 should be sent as SVG or EPS instead. And the EPS conversion reads shapes, not embedded pictures: a logo uploaded as your own image file is dropped from the EPS, while the built-in brand logos are vector paths and survive. Check the EPS before sending it if the code carries an uploaded logo. Everything else about the code is identical across the four files. The payload, the symbol version, the error correction level and the quiet zone are decided when the code is generated, not when it is exported, so no format choice can make an unscannable code scan or a scannable one fail on its own. ## SVG: the file to keep, and usually the file to send Treat the SVG as the master copy of a QR code. It has no resolution, so it prints at 2 cm or 2 m from the same file; it is plain text, so it stays small and survives being emailed and versioned; and it opens in every design tool, so a colleague can place it without asking for a re-export. SVG also keeps the code editable in the correct sense. The modules stay individual shapes, which means a designer can recolour the code or change its background inside Illustrator or Figma without touching the module grid. What a designer must not do is nudge, stretch non-proportionally, or delete parts of that grid - the arrangement of modules is the data, and rearranging it changes what the code says. Where SVG gets refused is worth knowing in advance: - **Email:** mail clients strip or block SVG for security reasons, so a code in an email body has to be a PNG. - **Social platforms:** Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and YouTube accept raster uploads only. - **Some website builders and template tools:** SVG upload is sometimes restricted to paid plans or blocked outright. Canva is the one people hit most often. - **Older office documents:** SVG support in Word and PowerPoint is fine on current versions and unreliable on much older ones, so a PNG is the safer attachment when you do not know what the recipient runs. None of those are reasons to skip the SVG export. They are reasons to keep the SVG as the archive file and export a PNG from it whenever a platform will not take vector. For a free sample SVG QR code to inspect, and tool-by-tool instructions for placing an SVG in Illustrator, Figma, Canva, InDesign, Word and PowerPoint, see [QR code SVG and vector files](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files). ## PNG: right for screens, bounded for print PNG is the correct choice whenever the display size is known and fixed. It is lossless, so every module edge is reproduced exactly as exported, and it is accepted everywhere, which is the practical reason it remains the default download on most QR generators including KoloQR. Its limit is arithmetic rather than opinion. A raster QR code prints cleanly up to roughly pixel width divided by 300, times 2.54 centimetres. A 1,000-pixel PNG reaches about 8.5 cm; a 1,640-pixel KoloQR export reaches about 14 cm; past that the module edges begin to spread. The full formula, including the large-format case where 150 DPI is enough, is in the guide to [QR code resolution](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution). For screens, aim for at least 4 CSS pixels per module and export at twice the displayed size so the code stays sharp on high-density displays. A typical short-URL code at 41 modules wants roughly 165 pixels displayed and 330 pixels exported. Sizing below that is where on-screen codes start failing when someone scans them from a phone held at an angle. The transparency setting deserves a deliberate decision rather than a default. A transparent PNG dropped onto a dark or patterned background loses its quiet zone, and a scanner that cannot find the boundary of the symbol will not decode it. Export on solid white unless you know the code will sit on a light, flat surface. ## PDF: what a print shop means when it asks for one A print shop asking for PDF is asking for a file its workflow can place, proof and impose - not making a claim about vectors. Because a PDF page can hold vector artwork or a raster image, the format alone guarantees nothing about how far the code can be scaled. Check before sending. Open the PDF and zoom to 1,600%: vector artwork stays perfectly hard-edged at any zoom, while a raster image inside a PDF turns into visible squares. That thirty-second test tells you whether the file can be enlarged for a banner or is fixed near the size it was made at. If the code needs to be truly resolution-free in a PDF, build the PDF from the SVG rather than exporting one: 1. **Download the SVG.** Export the code as SVG rather than PNG or PDF - the SVG is the file that holds the geometry. 2. **Open it in a vector editor.** Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity Designer and Figma all open SVG directly. Inkscape is free and is enough for this job. 3. **Set the document size.** Set the artboard or document to the final printed size in millimetres, then scale the code proportionally to fill it, including the quiet zone. 4. **Save or export as PDF.** Use Save As PDF in Illustrator or Inkscape, or Export as PDF in Figma and Affinity. Keep any option that preserves vector data and do not rasterize. 5. **Verify the result.** Reopen the PDF and zoom to 1,600%. If the module edges are still hard, the file is vector. 6. **Scan the printed proof.** Print one page at final size and scan it with an iPhone and an Android phone before the file goes to the run. A second use of PDF has nothing to do with print: the code inside a document you are sending, such as an invoice, a ticket or an event pack. A QR code placed in a PDF document scans perfectly well from a screen, which is why boarding passes work that way - but keep it at 2 cm or larger on the page, because readers will scan it from a laptop screen at arm's length. ## EPS: a legacy format with two live uses Export EPS when a supplier asks for it by name, and not otherwise. Adobe has treated PDF and AI as the successors to EPS for years, and most current software handles SVG or PDF better - but screen printers, embroiderers, sign makers and older prepress systems still list EPS as their required format, and those requests are real. Two EPS properties change how you use it. EPS does not support live transparency, so any transparent area is flattened when the file is written - a reason to export a code on a solid background rather than expecting the paper colour to show through. And EPS carries colour as RGB in most exports, including the one KoloQR writes, so a printer running CMYK will convert it. For a pure black code that conversion is uneventful; for a brand colour, ask the printer for the CMYK build you want rather than letting the conversion decide. The trap specific to QR codes is what does not survive the conversion. Because EPS is written from the shapes in the artwork, anything that is an embedded picture rather than a shape - most commonly a logo you uploaded as your own PNG - is skipped. The code itself is unaffected and still scans; the logo simply is not there. Open the EPS once before sending it and you will see the difference immediately. ## Formats that damage a QR code: JPEG, WebP and the screenshot Never save or send a QR code as JPEG. JPEG compresses by discarding high-frequency detail, and a QR code is almost nothing but high-frequency detail: thousands of abrupt black-to-white transitions. The result is faint ringing around every module, which survives into print and reduces contrast exactly where the decoder measures it. The failure is quiet rather than obvious. A JPEG-damaged code usually still scans on a bright screen and then stops working on absorbent paper, in dim light, or at an angle - which is precisely the situation a printed run meets. Because the artefacts are baked into the pixels, re-saving that file as PNG later does not repair anything. | Format | Verdict for QR codes | What actually goes wrong | | --- | --- | --- | | JPEG / JPG | Avoid | Lossy compression puts ringing artefacts on every module edge | | WebP | Avoid for handoff | Fine visually in lossless mode, but print tools and many uploaders reject it | | GIF | Avoid | 256-colour palette and heavy dithering on any non-flat background | | BMP / TIFF | Works, rarely needed | Lossless but large; PNG does the same job at a fraction of the size | | Screenshot of a code | Avoid | Captures at screen resolution, often re-compressed, and usually crops the quiet zone | | Photo of a printed code | Avoid | Perspective, glare and paper texture, on top of JPEG compression | The screenshot row is the one that reaches print most often. A code screenshotted from a preview, pasted into a document and sent to a printer arrives at roughly 100 DPI with its margin clipped, and the printer has no way to tell that a better file existed. Regenerating the code takes less time than the email asking whether the screenshot will do. ## How to tell which kind of file you have been sent The extension is a claim, not a guarantee. When a code arrives from a client, an agency or an old archive, four checks settle what it really is in about a minute. 1. **Open the SVG in a browser and zoom to 1,000%.** A real vector stays hard-edged. If it turns into squares, the SVG is a raster image wrapped in an SVG tag - which is a real thing some converters produce. 2. **Check the file size.** A vector QR code is usually a few kilobytes to a few tens of kilobytes. A multi-megabyte SVG or EPS almost always contains an embedded bitmap. 3. **Zoom the PDF to 1,600%.** Same test, same tell: vector stays crisp, raster pixelates. 4. **Look for the quiet zone.** Whatever the format, there must be a clear margin of four modules on all four sides. A tightly cropped file has already lost something no format can restore. If any check fails, regenerate the code rather than repairing the file. Scan the existing code with a phone to read its destination, paste that destination into a generator, and export fresh files. The new code is mathematically clean, and you have also verified where the old one actually points - worth knowing before reprinting anything. ## Converting between formats without breaking the code Converting down is safe and converting up is not. Vector to raster - SVG to PNG, EPS to PNG - is a clean operation at any size you choose. Raster to vector - PNG to SVG - cannot recover geometry that was never in the file, and an automatic trace produces slightly rounded, slightly misaligned modules that eat into the decoder's margin. | Conversion | Safe? | How to do it | | --- | --- | --- | | SVG to PNG | Yes | Export from the generator at the size you need, or open the SVG in a design tool and export | | SVG to PDF or EPS | Yes | Save As or Export from Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity or Figma | | PNG to SVG | No | Regenerate the code from its destination URL instead of tracing it | | PDF to SVG | Only if the PDF is vector | Open in Inkscape or Illustrator and save as SVG; check the zoom test first | | PNG to PDF | Yes, with limits | The result is still capped by the PNG's pixel count, so keep it at or below its print ceiling | | Anything to JPEG | No | There is no reason to and the damage is irreversible | If a raster code truly cannot be regenerated - the original file is gone and the client wants it larger - upscale by a whole-number factor with nearest-neighbour interpolation rather than bicubic or AI upscaling. Nearest-neighbour duplicates pixels and keeps the edges hard; smoothing algorithms blur exactly the boundaries a scanner measures. Whichever route you take, scan the result before it ships. A converted code that scans on an iPhone and an Android phone, printed at final size on the real stock, is a converted code that works; anything less is an assumption. ## Common file-format mistakes, and how they show up | What happened | Where it shows up | The fix | | --- | --- | --- | | A PNG sent to a large-format printer | Soft, grey-fringed modules on the banner | Send SVG or EPS for anything above roughly 30 cm | | A transparent PNG placed on a dark background | Code looks fine on screen, will not scan | Re-export on solid white, or set a light background in the layout | | A JPEG somewhere in the chain | Faint rings around modules, unreliable scans in poor light | Regenerate and export PNG or vector; the JPEG cannot be repaired | | An SVG emailed to a client | Blocked attachment, or a blank image in the mail body | Attach a PNG for viewing and send the SVG via a file link | | An EPS with an uploaded logo | The code prints correctly, the logo is missing | Send SVG or PDF instead, or use a built-in vector logo | | A code cropped to remove white space | Intermittent failures at every size | Restore four modules of quiet zone on all sides | The pattern across these rows is that format problems rarely announce themselves. The code looks right on the screen where it was made, and fails on the material where it lives - which is why the last step of any format decision is a printed proof scanned in the light the code will actually be read in. Choosing the format before the design starts avoids most of the list. If the code will be printed, generate it, export the SVG, and hand that file to whoever builds the layout. The [generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) produces all four formats from the same code, so the decision costs nothing but attention. Format is settled at the fourth of nine checks; [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) runs through the rest in order. ## FAQ ### Should I use SVG or PNG for a QR code? SVG for anything printed or resized, PNG for anything shown on a screen. SVG stores the code as geometry, so it scales to any size with mathematically exact edges and no resolution ceiling. PNG is fixed at its exported pixel dimensions, which is what a screen wants and what a print job eventually outgrows. When unsure, download both. ### Is PNG good enough for printing a QR code? Yes, up to a size the pixel count decides. A raster code prints cleanly to about pixel width divided by 300, times 2.54 centimetres - roughly 8.5 cm for a 1,000-pixel file and 14 cm for a 1,640-pixel one. Business cards, flyers and menus are comfortably inside that. Posters, banners and window decals are not. ### Is a QR code PDF vector or an image? It depends on the tool that made it, which is why PDF has to be checked rather than trusted. Zoom to 1,600% in any PDF viewer: vector artwork stays hard-edged, a raster image pixelates. The KoloQR PDF is a lossless image at 576 DPI on a page sized to the code, so it holds 300 DPI up to about 1.9x its opening size; beyond that, send the SVG or EPS. ### Does the file format change whether a QR code scans? Only indirectly. The payload, symbol version, error correction level and quiet zone are fixed when the code is generated, and every format carries the same data. What format changes is edge quality: a lossy or under-resolution file softens module boundaries, which narrows the decoder's margin in poor light or at an angle. ### Why can't I attach an SVG QR code to an email? Most mail clients strip or block SVG because it can contain scripts, so an SVG in an email body often renders as nothing at all. Use PNG for anything that has to appear inside an email, and share the SVG as a file link or a zipped attachment when a designer needs the vector. ### Can I convert a PNG QR code to SVG? Not usefully. Tracing a PNG produces approximate shapes with rounded corners and slight misalignment, which is exactly the defect that costs a decoder margin. Regenerate instead: scan the existing code to read its destination, paste that into a generator, and export a fresh SVG. It takes less time than tracing and the result is exact. ### Which format should I upload to Canva, Figma or Illustrator? SVG in all three, because it arrives as editable vector shapes rather than a flat picture. Figma and Illustrator take SVG directly; Canva restricts SVG upload on some plans, in which case upload a PNG exported at two to three times the size it will be used at. In Figma, pasting the copied SVG markup is faster than importing a file. To make the code inside Canva instead, see [how to create a QR code in Canva](https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva). ### Do I need EPS for a QR code? Only if a supplier asks for it. Screen printers, embroiderers, sign makers and older prepress systems still specify EPS, and for them it is the right file. Everyone else is better served by SVG or PDF. Note that EPS flattens transparency and is usually written in RGB, so a printer running CMYK will convert the colours. ### Why is my logo missing from the EPS export? Because EPS is written from the shapes in the artwork, and a logo you uploaded as your own image file is an embedded picture rather than a shape. The code itself converts and scans normally; only the uploaded logo is dropped. Send the SVG or the PDF instead, or use one of the built-in vector logos, which are paths and survive the conversion. ### Should a QR code PNG have a transparent background? Usually not. A transparent quiet zone is not a white quiet zone: on a dark or patterned background the margin disappears and the scanner loses the symbol's boundary. Export on solid white unless you have confirmed the code will sit on a light, flat surface, and check the placed layout rather than the file preview. ### What is the best format for a QR code on a T-shirt or engraving? SVG, or EPS if the shop asks for it. Screen printing, vinyl cutting, laser engraving and embroidery all drive machines that follow paths, so they need geometry rather than pixels. Confirm the minimum feature size the machine can hold, keep the module above it with margin, and test a physical sample - stitched and engraved codes lose contrast rather than sharpness. --- # Matte or Gloss: How the Finish Decides Whether a Printed QR Code Scans URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing Gloss laminate reflects flash and breaks scans on some phones. Test results for matte, gloss and satin finishes - and what to tell your printer. Print · 2026-08-19 Specify matte lamination for any QR code fixed in place under a light the reader cannot escape - wall signs, window decals, menu boards, table tents under pendant lamps. Gloss is safe wherever the reader holds the object and can tilt it, such as business cards, packaging and flyers. Gloss reflects light back into the camera as a bright patch that erases part of the symbol; matte scatters the same light in every direction. ## Key points - Choose the finish by one question: can the reader change the angle? A card, a pack or a flyer is picked up and tilted, so gloss is survivable. A code fixed to a wall, a window or a menu board under a fixed light cannot be tilted, so specify matte. - Gloss does not lower the design contrast. It adds a bright patch over part of the symbol at one specific angle, which is why the tell is that tilting the phone fixes it instantly. - Matte lamination lightens the dark modules slightly and costs a little edge sharpness. Both are affordable for a black code on white paper at roughly 21:1, and neither is affordable for a coloured code already near the 7:1 print floor. - Uncoated stock spreads ink further than coated stock, which narrows the light gaps between modules. Work from a 0.5 mm module floor on uncoated and 0.4 mm on coated, and size the code from the floor rather than from the layout. - Build the dark modules from 100% K alone, never a four-colour rich black. Typical sheetfed registration tolerance is around 0.1 mm, which on a 0.4 mm module is a quarter of its width softened on every edge at once. - Never put spot UV, foil or any mirror-finish ink over or inside a QR code. A specular surface inside the symbol is not a finish choice, it is a missing module. ## Matte or gloss: which finish should a printed QR code have? Specify matte for any QR code the reader cannot re-angle, and gloss only where the object is held in the hand. That single test settles most jobs, because glare is an angle problem rather than a brightness problem: a gloss surface returns light at the mirror angle, and whether that angle points into a camera depends on where the light, the code and the phone are - three things that are fixed on a wall sign and free to move on a business card. The finish is a scanning decision before it is a design decision. A QR code that measures 3 cm, holds 0.5 mm modules and prints at 21:1 contrast is a good code, and a gloss laminate under a ceiling spotlight can still make it unreadable for everyone standing in the one place people naturally stand. Nothing in the artwork file predicts that, which is why the finish belongs on the print spec rather than in the design review. Gloss is not the wrong answer everywhere, and treating it as one leads to worse packaging. A gloss film typically deepens the dark modules by a visible step and resists scuffing better than matte, so on a carton picked up in a shop aisle - diffuse overhead light, reader free to tilt - it is both the more durable and the higher-contrast choice. See [QR codes on product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging) for the rest of what a pack asks of a code. | Situation | Can the reader change the angle? | Finish to specify | | --- | --- | --- | | Business card, flyer, leaflet, ticket | Yes, it is held in the hand | Gloss or matte, both work | | Product packaging, bottle label, box | Usually, the pack is picked up | Gloss is fine; matte on curves | | Restaurant menu, table tent, laminated card | Partly, but the light is directly above | Matte | | Wall sign, poster, museum label, lift lobby panel | No, it is mounted and lit from above | Matte | | Window decal read through glass | No, and the glass reflects too | Matte film | | Vehicle livery, exhibition graphic | No, and the reader is outdoors | Matte vinyl | | Screen, kiosk, acrylic-faced display | No, and the face is glossy by construction | Anti-glare face, matte print | Where the answer is genuinely ambiguous, specify matte. The cost of matte on a job that would have tolerated gloss is a slightly lighter black and a slightly softer edge, both of which a black-on-white code has enormous margin for. The cost of gloss on a job that needed matte is a code that fails for a whole class of readers in a way nobody discovers until the print run is on the wall. ## Why the finish changes a scan at all A finish changes a scan because it changes what fraction of the light arriving at the print is sent back towards the camera in one direction. Specular reflection is light bouncing off a surface at the same angle it arrived at, which is what puts a bright patch of glare over part of a printed QR code. A matte surface scatters that light across a wide cone instead, so no single viewing position collects it all. Glare does not dim the code. It adds the same amount of white light to the dark modules and the light ones inside the patch, which raises the black level and compresses the ratio between them. The decoder measures contrast locally, in small blocks, so the modules under the bright patch lose their difference while the rest of the symbol is untouched - a partially readable code, which is a code that does not read. That is why the diagnosis is a movement rather than a measurement. If tilting the phone 20 or 30 degrees makes the code decode instantly, the fault is specular and the fix is the finish or the mounting angle. If the code fails from every angle, the fault is size, contrast or the quiet zone, and changing the laminate will not help. The [contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) sets out how to separate the two on a printed sheet. The working contrast targets are 4:1 on a screen and 7:1 in print, and a black code on white paper sits near 21:1, so it has room to lose some. A finish spends part of that room: gloss spends it only at the mirror angle, matte spends a little of it everywhere by lifting the darkest reflectance. A brand-coloured code designed at 7:1 has nothing left to spend either way, which makes finish and colour one decision rather than two. Matte also costs a small amount of edge definition, because the scattering surface that removes the glare slightly diffuses the boundary between a dark module and a light one. On modules at or above the print floor this is invisible to a decoder. Below the floor it compounds with ink spread, which is the case where a matte laminate and a small code fail together and each looks innocent on its own. ## The finishes compared, and what each one costs Every finish trades glare against durability and black density. This table is the trade in one place, with the QR-specific verdict rather than the print-buying one. | Finish | Glare risk | Effect on the dark modules | Use it for a QR code when | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | No finish, uncoated stock | Lowest | Lightest black; most ink spread | Short-lived print that is never handled or wiped | | No finish, coated silk or satin stock | Low | Good density, controlled spread | Menus, leaflets and cards where durability is not critical | | Matte lamination | Very low | Slightly lighter black, slightly softer edges | Anything mounted, lit from above, or read through glass | | Soft-touch lamination | Lowest of the films | Lighter black; shows oils and scuffs | Premium packaging where the code is large and dark on white | | Anti-scuff matte lamination | Very low | As matte, with better mark resistance | Dark packaging and folding cartons that are handled a lot | | Gloss lamination | High at the mirror angle | Deepest black, sharpest edges | Held objects: cards, packs, flyers, tickets | | Aqueous or machine-seal varnish | Low to moderate | Small density gain, minimal protection | Volume print where a film is not budgeted | | UV varnish, flood | Highest of all | Very deep black, very reflective | Not over a QR code that is mounted anywhere | | Spot UV or foil over the symbol | Total, in patches | Mirror surface inside the pattern | Never | Varnish is a coating applied on press; lamination is a plastic film bonded to the sheet afterwards. A matte varnish is far less matte than a matte film, which is why the two are not interchangeable on a spec. Soft-touch is the finish that surprises people. It is the least reflective surface on the list and therefore excellent for scanning, but it lightens the black more than a standard matte film and it holds fingerprints, so on a dark or coloured code that was already marginal it makes a small problem visible. On a black code at full size it is the safest premium finish available. Spot UV and foil are the only entries here that are categorically wrong rather than situational. A mirror-bright patch inside a QR code does not carry a reflectance value the decoder can bin as dark or light: it carries whatever is in front of it, which is usually a ceiling light or the phone. Keep both outside the symbol and outside its quiet zone. ## Coated or uncoated: the stock decides more than the finish Uncoated stock is the bigger scanning variable, because it changes the geometry of the modules rather than the light coming off them. Dot gain is the spread of printed ink beyond the size it has in the file, which thickens a QR code's dark modules and narrows the light gaps between them. Coated stock holds the ink on the surface; uncoated stock lets it wick into the fibres, and ISO 12647-2 sets different tone value increase targets for the two for exactly that reason. The practical consequence is a module floor, not a percentage. Keep printed modules at 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock, and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated, kraft or recycled stock. A code sized from those floors survives the spread; a code sized from the space left in the layout finds out on press. The arithmetic that turns a floor into a width is in the guide to the [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print). Measure the spread on a real sheet rather than trusting a number. Scan the printed proof on a flatbed at 1200 dpi, measure the width of a light module against the nominal module size, and halve the difference to get the growth per edge. Anything that consumes more than about a quarter of a light module is a code that needs to be larger, not a code that needs a different finish. | Stock | Ink behaviour | Module floor | What to change | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Gloss or silk coated | Sits on the surface, minimal spread | 0.4 mm | Nothing; this is the reference case | | Uncoated offset | Wicks into the fibres | 0.5 mm | Add roughly 25% to the code width | | Kraft, recycled, newsprint | Heavy spread and a dark base tone | 0.5 mm and up | Add width and check contrast against the paper colour | | Thermal receipt paper | Low contrast, fades within months | 0.5 mm | Keep the URL short and print a text fallback | | Corrugated, direct print | Flute texture breaks module edges | 0.6 mm | Print on a label rather than on the board | | Vinyl, film, synthetic | Very controlled | 0.4 mm | Choose matte film if the code is mounted | | Fabric and textile | Weave dominates the module edge | 0.8 mm | Enlarge substantially and test on the real cloth | Coated stock and a matte laminate together are the combination that scans best in the widest range of conditions: the coating keeps the modules geometrically correct, and the film keeps the light diffuse. That pairing is worth specifying by name on menus, signage and anything mounted, because a print quote that says only "matte" may still arrive on uncoated stock. ## CMYK: build the dark modules from 100% K Build a printed QR code's dark modules from black ink alone - 100% K, with cyan, magenta and yellow at zero. A four-colour rich black needs all four plates to register perfectly, and typical sheetfed registration tolerance is around 0.1 mm, which on a 0.4 mm module is a quarter of its width picking up a coloured fringe on every edge in the symbol at once. The light modules must be paper, not a light tint. Knock the background out to 0/0/0/0 rather than screening a colour back to a pale percentage: a 5% tint is a halftone dot pattern inside every light cell, and it lowers the lightest reflectance the decoder measures at exactly the scale where it has the least room. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG in RGB, so the conversion happens in the layout rather than in the download. For a flat black code that conversion is a single step: place the vector file, select the dark artwork, and set it to 100% K before the file goes out. For a coloured code, agree the CMYK build with the printer rather than letting an automatic conversion decide - the [SVG vs PNG guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers which file to hand over. - **Dark modules:** 100% K only. One spot colour is the other acceptable answer where the brand demands a colour, because it is still one plate. - **Light modules and quiet zone:** paper white, no tint, no varnish pattern, no image behind them. - **Total ink limit:** irrelevant for a K-only code, and the reason to keep it K-only. Printers commonly specify a limit near 300% on coated stock and lower on uncoated, which a rich black approaches. - **Overprint:** switch it off for the code. A dark module set to overprint a coloured panel picks up that colour underneath and loses density. - **Colour profile:** convert once, in the layout, with the printer's profile. Converting twice is how a black becomes a rich black without anyone choosing it. - **Varnish and die lines:** keep both off the symbol and off the four modules of quiet zone around it. Check the swatch after conversion rather than trusting the appearance on screen. An RGB black of #000000 converts to a four-colour build under some profiles, and it looks identical in the layout window - the difference only appears on press, as soft edges across every module in the symbol. ## Glass, curves, foil: surfaces where the finish decides the outcome Four surfaces make the finish decision more important than usual, because each of them adds a second reflective layer or removes the reader's ability to move. ### Behind glass A code behind glass has two specular surfaces in front of it, and a matte print only removes one. Position matters more than finish here: mount the code away from the wall the opposite light source sits on, and check the view from where a reader actually stands on the pavement, at their eye height, at the time of day the shop is busiest. Window and shop-front codes are also the case where size is usually wrong at the same time - see the sizes on the [retail stores](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/retail-stores) page. ### Curved and cylindrical labels On a cylinder, a gloss surface always produces a bright band somewhere across the curve, because every angle from grazing to head-on is present at once. That band moves as the reader turns the bottle, so it is escapable in the hand and unavoidable on a shelf. Specify matte for bottle, jar, tube and cup labels, keep the code narrower than about a quarter of the circumference, and add roughly 20% to the width. ### Laminating pouches and encapsulated menus A 125-micron gloss laminating pouch is the single most common cause of an unreadable restaurant code, because it is thick, very glossy, and sits directly under pendant lighting. Matte pouches cost the same and remove the problem. Where a venue is already committed to gloss, moving the code from the middle of the sheet towards a lower corner often takes it out of the reflection of the lamp above the table - the printing details for that case are on the [restaurant menus](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) page. ### Foil, metallic ink and mirrored substrates A metallic or foil surface has no fixed reflectance, so it cannot serve as either the dark or the light half of a QR code. Metallic dark modules read as bright at the mirror angle and as dark elsewhere; a mirrored background does the same in reverse. Print the symbol in flat ink on a flat area, and use the foil in the surrounding design, where the [creative treatments](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/creative-qr-codes) belong anyway. ## How to test a finish before the print run 1. **Ask the printer for a finished sample.** Request the code printed at final size on the production stock with the actual laminate or varnish applied. An unlaminated proof tests none of what this page is about. 2. **Print both finishes where the choice is open.** Ask for one matte and one gloss sample of the same artwork. The comparison takes two minutes and settles the argument permanently for that venue or that pack. 3. **Mount it where it will live.** Fix the sample at the real height, on the real wall, in the real frame, or lay it on the real table. A sample held in the hand tests the one condition the finished job will not have. 4. **Turn on the real lights.** Use the lighting the code will live under, at the hour it matters - the restaurant at dinner service, the aisle under fluorescents, the shop window at dusk with the street lights on. 5. **Scan from three positions, standing still.** Scan straight on, from the left and from the right, without tilting the phone to help it. A mounted code has to work for someone who does not know that tilting helps. 6. **Find the glare angle deliberately.** Move until the bright patch lands on the code, then try to scan. Note whether that position is somewhere a reader would naturally stand. If it is, the finish is wrong regardless of how well the other angles read. 7. **Check the modules with a loupe.** Look at the light cells between the dark modules on the printed sample. If the gaps have visibly narrowed against the artwork, the stock is spreading and the code needs to be larger, not differently finished. 8. **Repeat on a second phone.** Use one iPhone and one Android handset, at least one of them a few years old. Older sensors need more light, which means more exposure, which makes glare worse. The glare-angle step is the one people skip and the one that catches the failure. Every code scans from somewhere; a mounted code has to scan from where people stand, and that is a fact about the room rather than about the artwork. ## What to put on the print spec A finish decision is only real if it reaches the printer in writing. These six lines cover everything on this page and fit in an email. 1. Stock and coating, named: for example "300 gsm silk coated" rather than "card". 2. Finish, named as film or varnish: "matte lamination, both sides", not "matte". 3. The dark modules built as 100% K, overprint off, no rich black. 4. The light modules and the four-module quiet zone left as bare paper - no tint, no varnish, no image. 5. No spot UV, foil or embossing within the symbol or its quiet zone. 6. A finished sample at final size before the run, on the production stock. Send vector artwork alongside that spec so the code can be placed and scaled without softening, and hand over the destination URL in plain text so nobody rebuilds the code by retyping it. The [generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no watermark, and the resolution decisions for a raster export are in the guide to [QR code resolution](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution). The finish is the eighth of nine checks a print run has to pass; [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) has the rest in the order they run. ## Common mistakes with finish and coating - **Approving an unlaminated proof.** The proof scans, the finished job does not, and the difference is the one variable the proof did not include. Ask for a finished sample or accept that the finish is untested. - **Treating glare as a size problem.** Enlarging a code that fails under a spotlight produces a larger code that fails under a spotlight. Tilt the phone first: if that fixes it, no amount of extra width will. - **Specifying matte for a code that is already marginal on contrast.** Matte lifts the darkest reflectance slightly. A black code has room for that; a mid-grey or brand-coloured code at 7:1 does not, and the answer there is a darker code rather than a different film. - **Letting spot UV follow the brand pattern across the symbol.** A varnish plate drawn from the layout rather than by hand routinely runs a gloss stripe over part of the code, which is invisible in the PDF and fatal on the shelf. - **Using a gloss pouch because it was in the drawer.** Encapsulated menus and mounted signs are the two jobs where gloss reliably fails, and both are usually laminated in-house without a spec. - **Assuming uncoated is safer because it is matte.** Uncoated removes glare and adds ink spread. It is the better light behaviour and the worse module geometry, which is why the module floor rises to 0.5 mm rather than staying where coated stock leaves it. - **Converting the file to CMYK twice.** One conversion with the printer's profile is controlled; a second one turns a K-only black into a four-plate build without a visible change on screen. Finish, stock and size fail together more often than any one of them fails alone. A code that clears the module floor on coated stock, prints as flat 100% K, and carries a matte film is a code with margin in all three directions - and margin is the only thing that survives a print run nobody gets to repeat. ## FAQ ### Is matte or gloss better for QR codes? Matte is better for any code the reader cannot re-angle: wall signs, window decals, mounted panels and laminated menus under overhead lighting. Gloss is fine for objects held in the hand, such as business cards, packaging and flyers, where tilting escapes the reflection. Gloss gives a deeper black and better scuff resistance, so it is not a worse finish, only a riskier one when mounted. ### Does lamination stop a QR code from scanning? No, lamination itself is harmless - the film is transparent and the modules are unchanged underneath. What breaks a scan is a gloss film reflecting a light source back into the camera as a bright patch over part of the symbol. Matte lamination removes that failure entirely and is the safer specification wherever the code is mounted rather than handled. ### Why does my laminated QR code only scan at an angle? Because the glare from the laminate is specular: it leaves the surface at the same angle it arrived, so one viewing position collects it and the others do not. Tilting the phone moves the camera out of that reflection. If tilting fixes the scan, the fault is the finish or the mounting position, not the size, the contrast or the artwork. ### Can I put spot UV or foil over a QR code? No. A mirror-bright surface inside the symbol has no fixed reflectance value - it shows whatever is in front of it, usually a ceiling light or the phone itself - so the decoder cannot sort those cells into dark and light. Keep spot UV, foil, embossing and metallic ink outside both the symbol and its four-module quiet zone. ### Does matte lamination reduce contrast? Slightly, by lifting the darkest reflectance and softening module edges a little. A black code on white paper sits near 21:1 against a 7:1 print target, so it absorbs the loss easily. A brand-coloured code designed at or near 7:1 has nothing to spare, and the fix there is a darker code rather than a glossier finish. ### What finish should a laminated restaurant menu have? Matte, in the pouch and on the print. Restaurant tables sit directly under pendant or downlight fittings, which is the exact geometry a gloss laminate turns into a bright patch. Matte pouches cost the same as gloss. If the venue is committed to gloss, move the code towards a lower corner of the sheet, away from the lamp's reflection. ### What finish works best on product packaging? Gloss or anti-scuff matte both work on a flat carton, because a pack is picked up and re-angled. Choose matte for curved surfaces such as bottles, jars and tubes, where a gloss finish always produces a bright band somewhere across the curve. Soft-touch is the least reflective option and the one that shows fingerprints most. ### Should a QR code be 100% K or rich black? 100% K, always. A rich black needs four plates to register perfectly, and typical sheetfed registration tolerance of around 0.1 mm is a quarter of a 0.4 mm module - enough to soften every module edge in the symbol at once and pick up coloured fringes. One spot colour is the other acceptable build, because it is still a single plate. ### Do I need to convert my QR code file to CMYK? Yes, if the job prints in CMYK. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG in RGB, so the conversion happens in the layout: place the vector file and set the dark artwork to 100% K before sending. Convert once, with the printer's profile - a second conversion can turn a K-only black into a four-plate build with no visible change on screen. ### Does uncoated paper make QR codes harder to scan? It changes a different variable. Uncoated stock removes glare, which helps, and spreads ink into the light gaps between modules, which hurts. Work from a 0.5 mm module floor on uncoated, kraft and recycled stock rather than the 0.4 mm floor coated stock allows - in practice, roughly 25% more code width for the same payload. ### Will a QR code scan through a shop window? Usually, but the glass adds a second reflective surface that no print finish removes. Use matte film on the decal, then check the view from where a reader actually stands outside, at their eye height, at the busiest time of day. Position matters more than finish here: mount the code away from whatever the glass reflects. ### Is soft-touch lamination safe for QR codes? Yes, and it is the least reflective film available. Two costs come with it: it lightens the dark modules more than a standard matte film, and it holds fingerprints and scuff marks. On a black code printed at full size on white, neither matters. On a small or coloured code already close to the contrast floor, choose standard matte instead. ### Does the finish matter for a QR code printed on a receipt? No, because thermal receipts carry no finish at all. The variables there are the paper and the print head: thermal stock is low in contrast, absorbent and fades within months. Keep receipt codes at 2 cm or more with a short URL, and print the address as text underneath for anyone scanning the receipt weeks later. --- # QR Code Quiet Zone: The Empty Margin That Decides Whether a Code Is Found URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone A QR code needs a clear margin of four modules on all four sides. What that is in millimetres, what eats it in a layout, and how to check a file you were sent. Basics · 2026-08-20 The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. It is not decoration and it is not padding a designer can trade away for space: a scanner has to find the symbol before it can decode anything, and the margin is what makes the edge findable. A code with a cropped quiet zone has every module intact and still fails to read. ## Key points - The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and ISO/IEC 18004 specifies four modules on every side. - Four modules is a relative measurement, not a fixed one. At the 0.4 mm module floor for coated stock it is 1.6 mm; on a 10 cm poster code it can be nearly 1 cm. - The margin has to match the reflectance of the code's light modules, not merely be empty. A pale grey band or a photograph showing through a transparent export is not a quiet zone. - Error correction cannot replace a missing quiet zone. Recovery works on the data area after the symbol has been located, and a symbol that is never located never reaches the decoder. - A cropped quiet zone is invisible on screen and expensive in print, because a bright, high-contrast display lets decoders find the symbol on far less margin than paper does. ## What is a quiet zone on a QR code? The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. It belongs to the code rather than to the page: a QR code is the dark modules plus the clear border around them, and any measurement or placement that covers only the dark part is describing something smaller than the code. The mechanism is worth knowing, because it explains which fixes work. A decoder first reduces the camera image to black and white, then hunts for [the three finder patterns](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) by the 1:1:3:1:1 ratio of dark and light runs that crosses each of them, and from those three points works out the symbol's boundary, its rotation and the grid its modules sit on. A finder pattern is one of the three concentric squares in a QR code's corners that a scanner uses to locate the symbol and work out its rotation. Every step of that runs before decoding starts. When artwork touches the outermost modules, a dark module on the edge of the symbol merges with whatever is next to it, the run measurement at that edge changes, and the boundary the decoder estimates moves with it. The data inside is untouched and irrelevant - nothing has decided yet that there is a symbol there to decode. This is also why the failure is so confusing in practice. A QR code with no quiet zone is not a degraded code that reads badly. It is usually a code the scanner never reports at all, which reads to the person holding the phone as though nothing is there. ## How big does the quiet zone have to be? Four modules on all four sides, for every QR code, at every symbol version. ISO/IEC 18004 states the requirement in modules rather than in millimetres, so the physical width of the margin changes with the printed size of the code and with how much data it carries, while the count never does. | Symbol | Quiet zone required | Where you meet it | | --- | --- | --- | | QR Code (model 2) | 4 modules on all four sides | The ordinary QR code, and everything else on this page | | Micro QR Code | 2 modules on all four sides | Small parts marking, where the whole symbol is a few millimetres wide | Both figures are from ISO/IEC 18004. A generator that offers a margin setting is setting this number, whatever it calls it. Two modules is a Micro QR allowance, not a shortcut for a normal code. Micro QR is a different symbol with a different structure, a single finder pattern and a much smaller capacity, and its relaxed margin does not transfer to the model 2 code that a phone camera reads off a menu. Many decoders manage on two modules in good conditions, which is exactly why a short margin so rarely shows up during design and so often shows up after the print run. The four-module figure is not the point at which codes start working; it is the point at which they stop depending on the conditions being good. ## What four modules works out to in millimetres Quiet zone in millimetres = 4 x the module size, and the module size is the printed width divided by the number of modules across the whole footprint. Since the footprint is the symbol plus four modules on each side, the arithmetic is: quiet zone = 4 x printed width / (modules per side + 8). The module count per side comes from the symbol version: a version V code is 4V + 17 modules across. Version 1 is 21, version 4 is 33, version 10 is 57. A version 4 symbol therefore occupies 41 modules including its quiet zone, and at a 20 mm printed width each of those is 0.49 mm, so the margin is about 2 mm per side. | Symbol version | Modules (symbol) | Quiet zone at 2 cm | Quiet zone at 3 cm | Quiet zone at 5 cm | Quiet zone at 10 cm | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2 | 25 × 25 | 2.4 mm | 3.6 mm | 6.1 mm | 12.1 mm | | 3 | 29 × 29 | 2.2 mm | 3.2 mm | 5.4 mm | 10.8 mm | | 4 | 33 × 33 | 2.0 mm | 2.9 mm | 4.9 mm | 9.8 mm | | 6 | 41 × 41 | 1.6 mm | 2.4 mm | 4.1 mm | 8.2 mm | | 10 | 57 × 57 | 1.2 mm | 1.8 mm | 3.1 mm | 6.2 mm | Printed width is the whole footprint, symbol plus margin. The version 10 row at 2 cm is arithmetic rather than advice: its modules are 0.31 mm, below the print floor, so that code needs to be larger for reasons that have nothing to do with its margin. Read down a column and the useful shape appears: at a fixed printed size, the denser the code, the narrower its quiet zone. [A long URL raises the symbol version](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity), which shrinks every module, which shrinks the margin - so the code that most needs help detecting its edge is the one that gets the least of it. There is a practical floor underneath all of this. Printed modules should be 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated, which puts the smallest quiet zone on a properly sized printed code at 1.6 mm and 2 mm respectively. If a layout leaves less clear space than that around a code, the code is either too small or too tight, and both are worth checking before the file goes out. The [minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide takes the sizing half of that question end to end. ## Why a percentage margin in a template gets it wrong A quiet zone specified as a percentage of the code drifts as soon as the payload changes, because four modules is a different share of every symbol version. On a version 4 code the four-module margin is about 12% of the symbol's width; on a version 10 code it is 7%. A template that reserves 10% around the code is generous for one and short for the other. The same effect is larger in area terms than most people expect. A version 4 code with its quiet zone covers 41 × 41 module cells, of which the symbol itself is 33 × 33 - so the margin is about 35% of the printed footprint. On a version 10 code it is 23%. That is the answer to why a code always looks bigger in a layout than the designer planned for. Specify the clear space in modules or in millimetres, not in percent. If a brand guideline has to carry one number, make it millimetres at a stated printed size, and restate it whenever the size changes. ## Does the quiet zone have to be white? It has to match the light modules of the code, which on an ordinary black-on-white QR code means white, and on a coloured code means the code's own light colour. The standard describes the requirement in terms of reflectance rather than colour: the margin has to read as light to a scanner in the same way the light modules do, and the boundary between the two must be invisible to the decoder. What that rules out in practice: - **A margin in a different colour from the code's background.** A white code background on a cream card leaves a visible rectangle, and its edge is a contour the decoder has to discard before it finds the real one. - **A photograph or a pattern behind the code.** Detail in the margin produces dark runs at the symbol's edge that look like modules. This is the single most common cause of a code that scans in the mock-up and not on the printed poster. - **A gradient running under the code.** A gradient that is light at the top of the margin and mid-tone at the bottom gives the binarisation step two different thresholds to reconcile across one symbol. - **A transparent PNG dropped on a dark surface.** Transparency is not white. A transparent export placed on a dark background has a dark quiet zone, which is no quiet zone at all - see [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) for what each export format carries. - **An inverted code with a light margin.** Light modules on a dark background need a dark quiet zone to match them - see [inverted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code) - and several native cameras do not reliably read inverted codes in the first place. A tinted quiet zone is allowed, and it is often the better design answer. A code with a pale background colour and a margin in that same pale colour, running to the edge of the panel, keeps the brand and keeps the margin. What breaks is any boundary inside the four modules, whatever colour it is. ## Why error correction cannot replace the quiet zone Error correction repairs damaged modules inside the data area after the symbol has been located, so it has no bearing on a symbol that is never located. Raising a code from level M to level H adds recovery capacity that a detection failure never gets to spend, and it makes the situation slightly worse: the higher level pushes the code up a symbol version, the modules get smaller, and the four-module margin gets narrower with them. The order the two things happen in is the whole explanation. Detection comes first and uses the quiet zone; decoding comes second and uses error correction. There is no path by which the second compensates for the first. This is the same reason the finder patterns, the timing patterns and the quiet zone are all outside the reach of Reed-Solomon recovery: they are the scaffolding the decoder needs before it has anything to recover. [Error correction levels L, M, Q and H](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) covers what recovery does protect, and how much of it a logo consumes. ## Where layouts quietly eat the quiet zone Almost every missing quiet zone is a placement decision rather than an export setting. The code left the generator with its margin intact and then met a layout that needed the space, and because the symbol itself is untouched the file still looks correct at every stage of approval. The recurring cases, in rough order of how often they reach print: - **The code placed hard against a rule, a box or a panel edge.** A keyline drawn to tidy up a corner sits inside the margin and gives the decoder a contour of its own. - **A 'Scan me' label tucked under the code.** Type set close enough to read as one unit with the symbol is type inside the quiet zone. Move it four modules clear and it still reads as a caption. - **A code cropped to its symbol in the export, then placed.** Some tools trim the margin on export. Once trimmed, the layout has to supply it, and nobody told the layout that. - **The trim edge of a printed piece.** A code near a cut line loses margin to cutting tolerance, and a stack cut a millimetre out takes it from the same side on every copy. - **A fold or a spine crossing the margin.** The crease shadows the code and the two halves stop being coplanar. Keep the whole footprint clear of the fold by at least 5 mm. - **A background image bleeding under the code.** Common on menus and event posters, where the code is placed last onto a photographic panel. - **A sticker or label die-cut close to the symbol.** The cut edge, the substrate underneath and the shadow at the edge all land in the margin. - **A code on the edge of a screen or a slide.** The bezel or the dark slide background becomes the margin, which on a projected slide is usually fatal. The check that catches all of them takes one sentence: measure the clear space in the placed layout, not in the exported file. A file's margin only survives if the page around it leaves the margin alone. ## Frames, circles and custom shapes around a QR code A [frame around a QR code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) is fine as long as it starts outside the quiet zone, which means the frame's inner edge sits at least four modules clear of the symbol on every side. The mistake is not the frame; it is a frame drawn to the symbol and the margin then measured from the frame. Shape-specific points worth checking: - **A circular frame around a square symbol.** The corners are the tight spots. Measure the clear space diagonally from the corner modules, not horizontally from the sides, or the four corners will each be short. - **A frame with a tab or a banner.** A 'Scan for the menu' strip attached to the frame is outside the margin only if the frame itself was outside it. - **Decorative module shapes.** Rounded and circular modules put less ink in each cell than square ones, so the symbol's outer edge is already softer than a plain code's and the margin is doing more work, not less. - **A code inside a product shape or a logo lockup.** Treat the four modules as part of the code's bounding box in the lockup, and give the lockup its own clear space on top of that. - **Cut lines on round stickers.** A die-cut circle around a round layout leaves the least room exactly where the finder patterns are. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, includes the four-module quiet zone in its plain and round exports, so the margin is in the file before it reaches a layout. Styling never improves scan performance - a decorated code needs the margin at least as much as a plain one, and usually a little more. Whatever generator produced the file, measure the margin on a framed or shaped export rather than assuming it, and see [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) and [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) for what that looks like in a real layout. ## How to check the quiet zone on a QR code file Measure the margin in modules rather than judging it by eye, because the eye compares the margin to the code and the decoder compares it to one module. The procedure below takes about ten minutes and works on a file you were sent with no source and no notes. 1. **Open the file at high zoom.** Large enough that a single module is comfortably visible. On an SVG, zoom in the design tool rather than exporting a preview. 2. **Count the modules along the top edge of the symbol.** Count the dark and light cells across one full side, excluding the margin. The number will be 21, 25, 29, 33 and so on - it is always 4V + 17 for version V. 3. **Measure the margin on its worst side, in modules.** Compare the clear space to the width of one module at the same zoom. Check all four sides and take the smallest; a code trimmed on one side only is a common export result. 4. **Convert to millimetres at the placed size.** Divide the placed width by the module count including the margin, then multiply by four. Under 1.6 mm on coated stock or 2 mm on uncoated, the code is too small, too tight, or both. 5. **Check the layout, not just the artwork.** Look at what sits within four modules of the symbol in the actual page: rules, type, image edges, panel boundaries, the trim line. 6. **Run the file through a validator.** The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) measures the margin the file carries outward from each edge and reports the worst side, along with contrast and module size. 7. **Proof it on the real stock and scan it.** One sheet at final size, on the material the job runs on, scanned with an iOS and an Android phone under the lighting the code will actually be read in. If the margin is short and the artwork cannot be changed, regenerate the code rather than pasting white space around the existing file. Padding an exported raster leaves the symbol's own soft edge where it was, and a regenerated code costs nothing. ## Quiet zones on screen, in PDFs and in design files A screen forgives a short quiet zone and print does not, which is why the fault survives every review that happens on a monitor. A display gives the decoder even illumination, a high contrast ratio and hard pixel edges, so detection succeeds on margins that paper, ink spread and shop lighting would defeat. Screen: keep the four modules anyway. A code shown on a phone for someone else to scan is being read off a glossy, angled, reflective surface, and the margin is the cheapest defence there is. Avoid placing the code at the edge of a slide or a web section where the surrounding background becomes the margin. PDF: the margin travels with the artwork, but the placement does not travel with the approval. Codes in PDFs are routinely repositioned during production, and the margin is the first thing a reflow takes. State the clear space in the artwork spec in millimetres, in the same place the bleed is stated. Design files: place the code as a vector with its margin included and lock the group. In Figma, a frame drawn to the symbol rather than to the footprint is the usual way the margin disappears between the design file and the export - the [copy a QR code into Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma) guide covers the placement side of that. Export: keep the code vector wherever the destination accepts it, and where it has to be raster, export at a size that leaves whole pixels per module. A margin that is 3.5 pixels wide is a margin with an anti-aliased fringe on its inner edge, which is a soft boundary exactly where the decoder wants a hard one. [Resolution and DPI](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) has the arithmetic. The quiet zone is the fifth of nine checks; [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) has the sequence they run in. ## How to tell a quiet zone fault from the other scan failures A quiet zone fault fails completely rather than intermittently: the scanner shows nothing at all, on every attempt, from every distance. Contrast and size faults behave differently - they read sometimes, closer, in better light, on one phone but not another - and that difference is usually enough to identify the fault before measuring anything. | What you see | Most likely cause | First thing to check | | --- | --- | --- | | Nothing detected at all, at any distance, every time | Quiet zone, or a covered finder pattern | Clear space on all four sides in the placed layout | | Reads up close, fails at the intended distance | Physical size | Code width against the 1 cm per 10 cm of distance rule | | Reads on paper, fails under the shop lighting | Contrast or finish | The colour pair, and whether the laminate is gloss | | Reads on one phone, fails on another | Module size, or an inverted colour scheme | Module width in millimetres; whether the code is light-on-dark | | Read fine yesterday, fails today on the same print | Neither - check the destination | The URL itself, in a browser | The first row is the one worth internalising. Total, repeatable silence points at detection, and detection points at the margin and the corners - not at the error correction level, the resolution, or the generator that made the file. ## Common mistakes with the quiet zone The most common quiet zone mistake is treating the margin as whitespace in the design rather than as part of the code. Once it is whitespace, every later decision - tightening a panel, adding a keyline, nudging the code away from a fold - is allowed to take some of it, and none of those decisions look like they touch the QR code at all. | Do | Why | | --- | --- | | Measure the code as symbol plus margin | The footprint is what has to fit the layout and what the size rules are stated against | | Specify the clear space in millimetres at a stated size | Four modules is a different number of millimetres on every code, and percentages drift with the payload | | Keep the margin the same colour as the code's light modules | The requirement is reflectance, not emptiness - a boundary inside the margin is a boundary the decoder has to reject | | Keep the whole footprint clear of trims, folds and spines | Cutting tolerance and creases take margin from the same side on every copy in the run | | Check the placed layout rather than the exported file | The margin is almost always lost after export, in a page that never touched the artwork | | Don't | Why | | --- | --- | | Trim the margin to fit a tight panel | A code that is not detected is worth less than the space it was shrunk to save | | Raise the error correction level after a detection failure | Recovery runs after the symbol is found, and the higher level narrows the margin further | | Place a transparent PNG over a dark or patterned background | Transparency inherits whatever is underneath, and a dark margin is not a quiet zone | | Pad an exported raster with white space to fake a margin | It leaves the symbol's soft outer edge where it was; regenerating the code is faster and exact | | Assume two modules is enough because the sample scanned | It scanned on a screen in good light, which is the one condition the print run will not have | ## FAQ ### What is the minimum quiet zone for a QR code in millimetres? There is no fixed millimetre figure, because the requirement is four modules and a module's width depends on the code. On a properly sized printed code the margin lands at 1.6 mm at the smallest, since printed modules should be 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock. On a 3 cm menu code it is closer to 3 mm. ### Why does my QR code scan on screen but not on the printed flyer? A short quiet zone is the usual answer. Screens give a decoder even light, high contrast and hard pixel edges, so detection succeeds on a margin that paper cannot support. Measure the clear space in the placed layout in modules, and check whether a rule, a caption or the trim edge moved into it after the artwork was approved. ### Can a QR code sit on top of a photo background? Only if the code carries its own flat panel that extends at least four modules past the symbol on every side. Detail in the margin creates dark runs at the symbol's edge that look like modules to a decoder. A rounded light panel behind the code solves it and usually looks deliberate rather than apologetic. ### Does a transparent PNG have a quiet zone? It has the space but not the margin. Transparency shows whatever is underneath, so the quiet zone becomes the background colour of wherever the file is placed. On a dark or patterned surface that is no quiet zone at all. Export on a solid light background unless the placement is confirmed to be light and flat. ### Do Micro QR codes need the same quiet zone? No. ISO/IEC 18004 specifies two modules for Micro QR Code against four for the ordinary model 2 QR code. Micro QR is a different symbol with one finder pattern and much smaller capacity, used mostly for marking small parts, so its allowance does not transfer to the codes phones read off print. ### Can I put a logo or text in the margin around a QR code? Not within the four modules. Beyond that, anything is fine - a caption, a logo, a frame, a call to action. The practical test is to imagine one module's width and count four of them out from the symbol on each side; everything inside that ring belongs to the code, and everything outside it belongs to the design. ### Does the quiet zone count towards the minimum 2 cm code size? Yes. The 2 cm floor for a printed QR code is measured across the whole footprint, symbol plus margin. On a version 4 code that margin is about 35% of the printed area, so a layout that reserves 2 cm for the dark artwork alone is reserving roughly 2.5 cm of real estate whether it planned to or not. ### Why do some generators export a QR code with no margin at all? Because trimming to the symbol makes the file easier to position, and the tool assumes the layout will supply the margin. That assumption is usually wrong. Check any file you did not generate yourself before placing it, and if the margin was trimmed, regenerate rather than padding the raster afterwards. ### Is the quiet zone the same on every QR code? In modules, yes - four on every side, at every symbol version. In millimetres, no. A denser code has smaller modules, so a long URL printed at the same width as a short one gets a narrower margin. That is the opposite of what it needs, which is why shortening the destination helps detection as well as decoding. --- # Why a QR Code Is Not Scanning, and How to Tell Which Fault You Have URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning A QR code that never scans has a different fault from one that scans sometimes. Find yours by what the phone does, then fix the right thing the first time. Troubleshooting · 2026-08-21 A QR code fails at one of three stages, and what the phone does tells you which. If nothing happens at all, from any distance, on more than one phone, the scanner is not finding the symbol and the fault is in the margin, the corners or the colour scheme. If it reads sometimes - closer, in better light, on one phone - the symbol is being found and read badly, and the fault is size, contrast or finish. If it reads instantly and nothing useful follows, the code is fine and the destination is not. The three have no fixes in common, which is why guessing costs a reprint. ## Key points - A QR code that is never detected has a different fault from one that scans intermittently, and the two share no fixes. Total, repeatable silence points at detection: the quiet zone, a covered finder pattern, or an inverted colour scheme. - Detection runs before decoding, so error correction cannot rescue a code the scanner never locates. Raising the level from M to H after a scan failure usually makes the code slightly worse, because the extra redundancy pushes the symbol up a version and shrinks every module. - A code that reads up close and fails at the distance people stand at is a sizing fault. A printed code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of reading distance, on top of a 2 cm floor. - A code that decodes correctly and still does nothing useful is a destination fault, and no change to the artwork will fix it. Read the decoded string, open it in a browser, and check that before touching the code. - Name the fault before reprinting anything. Four checks on the artwork - clear margin, module width in millimetres, contrast, and the decoded string - identify almost every failure in about ten minutes. ## Why is my QR code not scanning? A QR code fails at one of three stages: the scanner never finds the symbol, the scanner finds it but cannot read the modules cleanly, or the scanner reads it perfectly and whatever the code points at is broken. Detection faults, decoding faults and destination faults look different from the outside and have no fixes in common. Detection is the stage where a scanner locates a QR code in the camera image and works out its boundary, rotation and module grid, before any data is read. Decoding is the stage where a scanner reads the modules inside a located QR code and reconstructs the data they encode. The order matters more than the definitions: everything the decoder can do, it can only do to a symbol that detection already found. That order is what makes the symptom diagnostic. A detection failure is absolute - the phone shows nothing at all, every time, from every distance, because as far as it is concerned there is no code in the frame. A decoding failure is conditional - the code reads closer, or in better light, or on one phone and not another - because the decoder is working with a marginal image and sometimes wins. A destination failure looks like a success followed by a disappointment: the notification appears, the link opens, and the page behind it is dead. The practical consequence is that most QR troubleshooting advice is aimed at the wrong stage. Raising the error correction level, adding a border, regenerating at higher resolution: each of those is the right fix for exactly one fault and a waste of a print run for the other two. ## Start with what the phone does, not with the code Point a phone at the code and watch what happens, at two distances, on two phones. The answer to that observation narrows the fault to one class before any measurement, and it costs about thirty seconds. | What the phone does | Stage that failed | Most likely cause | First thing to check | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Nothing at all, at any distance, every time, on both phones | Detection | Quiet zone cropped, a finder pattern covered, or a light-on-dark code | Clear space on all four sides in the placed layout, and the three corner squares | | Reads when held close, fails from where people actually stand | Decoding | The code is too small for the reading distance | Printed width against the 1 cm per 10 cm rule | | Reads on the monitor, fails on the printed piece | Decoding | Modules below the print floor, or a lossy file format | Module width in millimetres, and whether the file is a JPEG | | Reads on one phone, fails on another | Decoding | The code sits on the edge of a margin - size, contrast or inversion | Module width, and whether the code is dark-on-light | | Read fine in the studio, fails where it is installed | Decoding | Light, glare or the laminate, not the artwork | The finish, and whether a downlight sits opposite the code | | Detects instantly, then nothing useful happens | Destination | The encoded URL is dead, gated, or not the one you meant | The decoded string itself, opened in a browser | | Worked for months, then stopped on the same printed piece | Destination, or the print | A redirect that lapsed, a domain that expired, or ink that faded | The decoded string first, the physical contrast second | Two phones rather than one, because a single device cannot tell a marginal code from a broken one. Use an iPhone and an Android if both are to hand. The row worth internalising is the first. Total, repeatable silence is not a weak scan - it is the absence of a scan, and it points at the three or four square centimetres around the symbol rather than at anything inside it. ## Nothing happens at all: the code is never detected A code that produces no reaction at all, from any distance, on more than one phone, has failed detection rather than decoding, and there are five common causes. The data inside the symbol is almost always perfect; nothing has decided yet that there is a symbol there to read. - **The quiet zone is gone.** A QR code needs four clear modules on every side, and the margin is what makes the symbol's edge findable. A keyline, a caption, a photograph bleeding under the code or a trim edge inside that ring breaks detection while every module stays intact. This is the single most common cause of total silence. - **A finder pattern is covered, clipped or damaged.** [The three concentric squares in the corners](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) carry no error correction of any kind. A sticker over one corner, a die-cut that clips it, or a logo dragged off-centre onto it means the code is not found at all. - **The code is light modules on a dark background.** [Inverted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code) are legal in the standard and unreliable in practice: several native camera apps do not attempt them, so the same file scans in a dedicated app and does nothing in the app people actually use. - **The symbol is not a model 2 QR code.** Data Matrix, Aztec, PDF417 and Micro QR all look like QR codes to a non-specialist and are not read by the QR path in a phone camera. A supplier's artwork library is where these usually come from - [QR code vs barcode](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-vs-barcode) covers what each symbol is for. - **The surface is not flat, or not still.** A code wrapped around a bottle, creased across a fold, or behind curved glass distorts the module grid past what the alignment patterns can correct. So does a phone that never gets to focus, which is what happens when a small code is held closer than the camera's minimum focus distance. The fastest way to split artwork from placement: run the exported file through a decoder on a desktop - [how to scan a QR code on a computer](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-a-computer) lists the routes. If the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads the file and no phone reads the printed piece, the fault entered somewhere between the file and the finished object - a layout, an export setting, or the press. If the file itself will not decode, stop looking at the print. [How to scan a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) covers the reading side of that in full, including the cases where the phone rather than the code is the problem. [The quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) takes the margin end to end: what four modules is in millimetres at your printed size, the layout habits that remove it, and how to measure what a file you were sent actually carries. ## It scans up close but not from where people stand A code that reads at 20 cm and fails at 2 m is sized for the wrong distance, and nothing else. Allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of reading distance, with a floor of 2 cm across the whole footprint - so a code read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm, and a code read from 40 cm still needs its 2 cm. The distance rule is a proxy for the thing that actually matters, which is the width of one module in the camera's frame. A phone has to resolve a single module before it can read anything, so the arithmetic that decides the outcome is printed width divided by the module count, and the module count rises with the length of the URL. Two codes printed at the same 3 cm can behave completely differently if one holds a 30-character link and the other holds 200. Symptoms that confirm a sizing fault rather than something else: - **It reads reliably at close range.** Nothing about the artwork is wrong; the code simply is not big enough to be resolved further away. - **Reading distance improves in bright light.** More light means a shorter exposure and less motion blur, which buys back some of the missing module width. - **A longer link made a working code stop working.** Same printed size, denser symbol, smaller modules. Shorten the destination and reprint. - **It fails on the small run and works on the poster.** The same file at two sizes is the cleanest evidence there is. Check the module width before resizing by guesswork. Printed modules should be 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated, and the [QR code print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) does that arithmetic from the width and the reading distance. [Minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) has the charts by medium, and the reason the floor sits where it does. [The print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) collects that figure and the eight others a file has to clear before it goes to press. ## It scans on screen but not on the printed piece A code that works on a monitor and fails on paper has usually lost module width, contrast or edge sharpness in the step between them, and a screen hides all three. A display gives the decoder even illumination, a high contrast ratio and hard pixel edges; paper gives it ink spread, ambient light and a soft edge on every module. The four things to check, in the order they are most often wrong: - **Module width in millimetres.** Divide the printed width by the module count including the quiet zone. Under 0.4 mm on coated stock or 0.5 mm on uncoated, the code is too small no matter how clean the file is. - **The file format.** JPEG and WebP are lossy: they put grey fringes on every module edge, which is exactly where the decoder needs a hard boundary. A screenshot of a code is the same problem with resampling on top. Send vector where the destination accepts it - [SVG vs PNG vs PDF vs EPS](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers which file goes where. - **The effective resolution.** A raster code needs a whole number of pixels per module at final size, or every module edge lands mid-pixel and gets anti-aliased into a soft grey. [Resolution and DPI](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) has the formula in both directions, and the [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) runs it. - **The quiet zone in the placed layout.** The margin is almost never lost on export; it is lost afterwards, when the code meets a page that needed the space. - **Ink spread on absorbent stock.** Uncoated paper, kraft and newsprint let the dark modules grow into the light ones. The symbol gets darker overall and the light modules get narrower, which is why the 0.5 mm floor on uncoated is higher than the coated one. The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) measures the three that can be read off a file - the margin outward from each edge, the contrast between the two colours, and the module size at a stated printed width - and reports the worst side rather than an average. Run the export through it before the file goes to the printer, then proof one sheet on the real stock. ## It scans on one phone and not another A code that reads on one phone and not another is sitting on the edge of a margin rather than being broken, and the margin is almost always module width, contrast, or the colour scheme. Neither Apple nor Google publishes a scanning threshold for their camera apps, so the honest reading of a split result is that the code is marginal - not that one phone is faulty. | What differs between the two phones | What it points at | | --- | --- | | Newer phone reads it, older phone does not | Module width, or camera resolution and focus range - the code is close to too small | | Dedicated scanner app reads it, native camera does not | An inverted code, or a symbol that is not a model 2 QR code | | Reads at arm's length on one, needs contact range on the other | Contrast, usually a coloured code with less luminance difference than it looks | | Reads flat-on, fails at an angle on both | A buried alignment pattern, often a centre logo on a version 7 or larger symbol | | Reads indoors on both, fails outdoors on both | Glare or a gloss laminate, not the phone at all | The fix for a split result is not to test more phones. It is to move the code off the margin it is sitting on: add 25% to the printed width, take the colour pair further apart, or turn an inverted code the right way round. A code that reads on every phone in the office is a code with headroom, and headroom is the only thing that survives a print run, a badly lit corridor and a cracked screen protector. ## It worked in the studio and fails where it is installed A code that reads on the desk and fails on the wall has met light, and light is not something the artwork can be blamed for. The two mechanisms are glare, where a specular reflection washes out part of the symbol, and low ambient light, where the camera lengthens the exposure and motion blur eats the module edges. What to check on site rather than in the file: - **A downlight or a window opposite the code.** Gloss lamination reflects it straight back into the lens. Stand where the reader stands and look for the bright patch on the symbol - if you can see it, the camera sees more of it. - **Whether the reader can tilt the code.** A menu card can be angled out of the glare by hand; a wall sign cannot. That single question decides the finish more than the stock does - [matte vs gloss](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) takes it end to end. - **Colour contrast under the actual lighting.** Warm low-level lighting flattens a code whose colours were chosen on a calibrated monitor. Working numbers are 4:1 on screen and 7:1 in print, and the [contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) gives the ratio for a colour pair before anything is printed. - **Height and reach.** A code mounted above eye level is read at an angle by everyone shorter than the installer, and an angled read needs more size and more contrast than a flat one. - **Behind glass.** A frame, a window or a display case adds two reflective surfaces, and the code has to work through both. Contrast is the axis that gets misjudged most often, because the decoder's own floor is far below any design guideline - the readable open-source decoder gives up somewhere near 1.24:1, a barely visible grey on white. That is not a licence to design near it. [Where iPhone and Android give up](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) sets out where the number comes from and why paper, light and the lens spend the rest of the margin. ## It scans instantly and then nothing useful happens If the phone detects the code and shows a notification, the QR code has done its entire job and the fault is behind it. No change to the symbol, the size, the colours or the error correction level will fix a destination problem, and this is the class that most troubleshooting advice ignores completely. What actually goes wrong behind a working code: - **The URL is dead or was mistyped at generation.** A code encodes a string, not a promise. Read the decoded string character by character against the address you intended, especially any part typed by hand. - **The link is missing its scheme.** A string like koloqr.com/menu with no https:// in front of it is text to some scanners and a link to others, so it opens on one phone and shows a copyable string on the next. - **The destination redirects into something that fails on mobile.** A short link into a desktop-only page, a PDF that opens in a viewer nobody has, or a chain of redirects that times out on a slow connection. - **The page needs a login, or is geo-restricted.** The scan works perfectly and the reader hits a wall - which they will report to you as "the QR code doesn't work". - **A Wi-Fi code with the wrong security type or an unescaped password.** A WPA2 network whose payload declares no password at all, a hidden SSID with the hidden flag unset, or a password containing a semicolon or a backslash that was never escaped. See [Wi-Fi QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) for the payload format, or let an iPhone [generate a network QR code from its Passwords app](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone) and compare. - **A phone number with formatting in it.** Spaces, brackets and dashes inside a tel: payload are handled inconsistently. Digits and a leading plus sign are what travels - [phone number QR codes](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/phone-number-qr-code) has the format. - **A dynamic code whose redirect lapsed.** A code sold on a subscription stops resolving when the subscription does, and the printed piece has no way to say so. The check that separates this class from every other one takes a minute: decode the file, copy the string out, and paste it into a browser on the phone. If the string is right and the page is broken, the print is fine and the reprint would have changed nothing. ## It worked for months and then stopped A code that stopped working without anyone touching the printed piece has either lost its destination or lost its contrast, and those are the only two candidates worth considering first. The symbol itself does not change; what changes is the thing it points at, or the ink it is printed in. | What changed | How it shows up | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | The destination URL moved or was deleted | Scans perfectly, lands on a 404 | Put a redirect on the old address rather than reprinting | | A dynamic redirect or short link lapsed | Scans perfectly, lands on a parking page or an error | Restore the redirect, and plan the reprint around a domain you own | | The domain expired | Scans perfectly, lands on a registrar page or an ad farm | Renew immediately - this one gets worse the longer it sits | | Thermal print faded | Receipt or label codes only, and it gets worse over weeks | Reprint on a stable process; thermal paper is not archival | | Sunlight bleached the ink | Outdoor signage, coloured codes first | Use a genuinely black code and UV-stable material outdoors | | The surface got scuffed, greasy or yellowed | High-traffic tables, gym equipment, packaging | Replace the sticker; laminate the next one matte | | The sign was moved, or new lighting went in | Same code, same place, new glare | Check the reflection angle before assuming the code degraded | A static code encodes its destination permanently, which is why the durable answer is a URL you control and can redirect. [What a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) sets out that trade in full, including what happens to the printed run when the billing stops. ## It stopped scanning after someone edited the artwork Most codes that break during design break in one of six ways, and all six are recoverable by regenerating the code rather than repairing the file. The tell is that a working export went into a design tool and a broken one came out. - **The logo grew.** A centre logo covering up to about 20% of the symbol area is reliably recoverable at level H, and the theoretical 30% ceiling is not spare capacity - ink spread, glare and a fingerprint are drawn from the same budget. [Error correction levels](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) has the geometry. - **The logo moved off centre.** Centred damage spreads evenly across interleaved recovery blocks; the same logo off centre concentrates it, and near a corner it lands on a finder pattern, which no level protects. - **The code was stretched.** Any non-uniform scale makes the modules rectangular and the grid inconsistent. Lock the proportions before resizing anything. For how much stretch, skew and curvature a decoder actually tolerates, and the fix for each, see [distorted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code). - **The colours were swapped for brand colours.** Two mid-tone brand colours can look high-contrast and carry almost no luminance difference. Check the pair rather than trusting the swatches. - **A frame or caption was drawn to the symbol.** A frame is fine if its inner edge sits at least four modules clear. Drawn to the symbol, it sits inside the quiet zone. - **It was exported as a screenshot or a JPEG.** Resampling and lossy compression both soften the module edges - see [copy a QR code to Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma) for the placement and export route that does not. Regenerating costs nothing, and a regenerated code is exact where a repaired one is approximately right. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PNG, PDF and EPS with the quiet zone included and the error correction level set before export. Styling never improves scan performance - decorative module shapes put less ink in each cell than square ones, so a styled code spends tolerance rather than creating it, and [do custom QR shapes scan](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) has the measurements behind that. ## How to diagnose a QR code that will not scan Work from the artwork outward rather than from the phone inward, because the file is the only part of the chain you can measure exactly. The procedure below names the fault in about ten minutes and works on a printed piece you did not design, with no source file and no notes. 1. **Watch what two phones do, at two distances.** Nothing at all on both means detection. Reads sometimes means decoding. Reads instantly means the code is fine and the destination is not. 2. **Decode the file on a desktop.** Drop the export into a decoder that reads from an image. If the file decodes and the print does not, the fault entered after export. 3. **Read the decoded string character by character.** Compare it with the address you meant to encode, then open it in a mobile browser. A wrong or dead string ends the investigation here. 4. **Measure the clear margin on its worst side.** Compare the clear space with the width of one module at the same zoom. Check all four sides and take the smallest, in the placed layout rather than the file. 5. **Calculate the module width in millimetres.** Divide the printed width by the module count including the margin. Under 0.4 mm on coated stock or 0.5 mm on uncoated, the code is too small. 6. **Check the contrast of the actual colour pair.** Not the swatches, the printed result. Below roughly 7:1 in print, the code is spending margin it will need for light and glare. 7. **Look at the code where it lives.** Stand where the reader stands, at their height, with the room's lights on. Glare and reading angle are invisible in every file-based check above. 8. **Change one thing and reprint one proof.** One sheet at final size on the production stock. Changing three things at once means the next failure is as unexplained as this one. If every check passes and the code still will not read, regenerate it from the destination and compare the two symbols side by side. A file that has been through several tools can carry damage that no single measurement catches, and a fresh export takes less time than one more round of measuring. ## The thresholds we grade a code against KoloQR grades a QR code on four numbers, and only one of them comes from the standard. Four modules of quiet zone is ISO/IEC 18004's figure; the contrast bands, the warning line under the margin and the module floor are ours, drawn where a code stops having headroom rather than where it stops working. All four are checkable by running a file through the tools rather than by taking our word for them. | What KoloQR measures | Pass | Warning | Fail | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Quiet zone, in modules, on the worst of the four sides | 4 modules or more | 2 to 3 modules | 1 module or none | | Contrast, on the worse of the dark modules and the finder patterns | 7:1 and above, print-ready | 4:1 to 7:1 is screen-only; 3:1 to 4:1 should not ship | Below 3:1 | | Module size in the file, in pixels per module | 4 px and above | 2 px to 4 px | Below 2 px | | Module size in print, in millimetres | 0.5 mm and above, any stock | 0.4 mm to 0.5 mm, coated stock only | Below 0.4 mm | The lines the KoloQR validator and contrast checker apply to an uploaded file. Four modules is the standard's; the other three are where we draw the warning. Two of those carry a judgement worth stating outright. We warn rather than fail at two or three modules of quiet zone, because that is what most decorative frames leave and what most decoders still read - it is a code without headroom rather than a code that is broken. And we judge contrast on whichever is worse of the dark modules and the finder patterns rather than on an average, because a scanner has to find the three corner squares before it reads anything, and a code with dark modules and pale finder patterns fails detection while its average ratio still looks respectable. The generator applies the same contrast rule live: the badge beside the preview takes the worse of the two colour pairs and turns green at 4:1. That is the screen line rather than the print one, which is deliberate - a code being designed for a printed piece should be at 7:1 before it leaves the page, and the [contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) is where to settle that against a brand palette. ## What not to do when a QR code will not scan The most expensive troubleshooting mistake is reprinting before the fault has a name. A reprint changes several variables at once, so a code that works afterwards teaches you nothing, and a code that still fails has cost the run twice. | Do | Why | | --- | --- | | Watch the phone before touching the artwork | The symptom identifies the failing stage in seconds and rules out two thirds of the possible fixes | | Test the decoded string separately from the code | A working code with a broken destination is the one failure a reprint cannot fix | | Measure in modules and millimetres, not by eye | The eye compares the margin with the code; the decoder compares it with a single module | | Test on two phones and in the real light | A split result and a lighting-dependent result are two different faults with two different fixes | | Change one variable per proof | It is the only way the next result means anything | | Don't | Why | | --- | --- | | Raise the error correction level after a detection failure | Recovery runs after the symbol is found, and the higher level shrinks every module | | Pad an exported raster with white space to fake a margin | It leaves the symbol's soft outer edge where it was; regenerating the code is faster and exact | | Blame the phone for a code that reads on the other one | A split result means the code is marginal, and the margin is what needs moving | | Reprint before the fault has a name | Several variables change at once, so the outcome explains nothing either way | | Accept a code that only just works | Every condition in the field - light, angle, wear, a cracked screen protector - spends the margin the proof had | ## FAQ ### Why does my QR code work on my phone but not on a customer's? The code is marginal rather than broken - close to the limit on size, contrast or focus, so one camera wins and the next does not. Add about 25% to the printed width, take the two colours further apart, and check the code is dark-on-light rather than inverted. Testing more phones diagnoses nothing. ### My QR code scans but the link does not open. Is the code broken? No. If the phone detected the code, the symbol did its job and the fault is behind it. Decode the file, copy the string out and paste it into a mobile browser. A missing https:// prefix, a dead page, a login wall or a lapsed redirect all produce a perfect scan and a useless result. ### Why did my QR code stop working after it was printed? Either the destination changed or the print degraded. Check the decoded string first: an expired domain, a deleted page or a lapsed dynamic redirect are the common cases and none of them need a reprint. If the string is fine, look at fading - thermal paper loses contrast in weeks, and sunlight bleaches coloured codes before black ones. ### Will a higher error correction level fix a code that will not scan? Almost never, and it often makes things worse. Error correction repairs damaged modules after the symbol has been located, so it does nothing for a detection failure. It also adds data, which pushes the code up a symbol version, shrinks every module and narrows the quiet zone - the opposite of what a failing printed code needs. ### Why does my QR code scan on screen but not when printed? A screen gives the decoder even light, high contrast and hard pixel edges; paper gives it none of those. Check module width first - 0.4 mm minimum on coated stock, 0.5 mm on uncoated - then the file format, since a JPEG or a screenshot softens every module edge, and finally the margin in the placed layout. ### Can a QR code be too small to scan? Yes, and it is the most common sizing fault. A printed code needs at least 2 cm across the whole footprint, plus about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of reading distance. A longer URL raises the module count, so the same 2 cm holds smaller modules and stops reading before a shorter link would. ### Do QR codes expire? A static QR code does not - the destination is encoded in the symbol permanently and the printed code will decode in twenty years. What expires is what it points at: a domain, a page, or a paid redirect service. A code that has stopped working has almost always lost its destination rather than its data. ### Why can my phone camera not find the QR code at all? Total silence means detection failed, and there are three usual causes: the clear margin around the code was cropped by the layout, something is covering one of the three corner squares, or the code is light-on-dark and the camera app does not attempt inverted symbols. Check the margin and the corners before anything else. ### Does a QR code need a white background to scan? It needs a light background that extends at least four modules past the symbol on every side, and that background can be tinted as long as nothing inside the margin creates an edge. A photograph, a gradient or a transparent PNG dropped on a dark surface all break detection while every module in the code stays perfect. ### How do I test a QR code before printing a whole run? Validate the file for margin, contrast and module size, then print one proof at final size on the production stock and scan it at the real distance, in the real light, on two phones. A proof on office paper under office lighting is the one condition the finished job will not have. --- # QR Code Finder Patterns: Why There Are Squares in the Corners of Every QR Code URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns The three squares in a QR code's corners are finder patterns. What they do, why there are three and not four, and what else in the symbol is structure rather than data. Basics · 2026-08-22 A finder pattern is one of the three concentric squares in a QR code's corners that a scanner uses to locate the symbol and work out its rotation. Each one is seven modules square, they sit in the top-left, top-right and bottom-left corners, and the fourth corner is deliberately empty - that asymmetry is what tells a decoder which way up the code is. They are not decoration and not a logo slot: a QR code with one corner covered is usually a QR code that no scanner reports at all. ## Key points - A finder pattern is one of the three concentric squares in a QR code's corners that a scanner uses to locate the symbol and work out its rotation. Each is 7 × 7 modules, with a one-module light separator around its inner sides. - There are three rather than four so the symbol is asymmetric. Three corners define a square and the empty fourth corner tells the decoder which way up the code is, at any rotation. - A scan line crossing a finder pattern through its centre produces dark and light runs in a 1:1:3:1:1 ratio, and that ratio is the same from every direction and at every printed size. - Covering a finder pattern is not the same as damaging data. Error correction repairs the data area; nothing repairs a finder pattern, because detection happens before decoding starts. - In a version 1 QR code, 233 of the 441 modules - 52.8% - are structure rather than data. By version 40 that share is 5.4%, which is why small codes hold so little. ## What Is a Finder Pattern on a QR Code? A finder pattern is one of the three concentric squares in a QR code's corners that a scanner uses to locate the symbol and work out its rotation. Each finder pattern is 7 × 7 modules: a solid 3 × 3 dark square in the middle, a one-module light ring around it, and a one-module dark ring around that. Around the inner sides of each finder pattern runs a separator - the one-module light border drawn between the finder pattern and the data area, so the finder's outer edge stays measurable. Finder plus separator occupies an 8 × 8 block in each of the three corners, which is 192 modules of every QR code ever generated, at every symbol version, regardless of what the code says. The job those 192 modules do is detection, not decoding. Before a scanner can read a single character it has to answer three questions about the camera image: is there a QR code in this picture, where are its edges, and which way up is it. The finder patterns answer all three, and they answer them from a photograph taken at an angle, in poor light, of a code the camera has never seen. A finder pattern is seven modules square at every symbol version, from version 1 to version 40. Only the spacing between the three changes, because the symbol grows around them. ## Why Three Corners and Not Four Three finder patterns make the symbol asymmetric, and the asymmetry is what encodes orientation. Three corners are enough to define a square: two of them give the decoder a side and its length, the third gives the perpendicular, and the fourth corner is then already known. Putting a finder pattern there as well would add nothing and remove the one clue that says which way up the code is. That is why a QR code can be scanned upside down, sideways, or reflected in a shop window and still read. The decoder finds three squares, works out which one sits at the corner between the other two - that is the top-left - and reorients the whole grid from there. A four-square symbol would decode four different ways and have no means of choosing between them. The empty corner is not left empty for long. From version 2 upward the bottom-right area carries an alignment pattern instead, which is a smaller 5 × 5 square that does a different job, described below. A reader who notices that a big QR code has a fourth, smaller square in the corner is looking at an alignment pattern, not at a shrunken finder. The same logic explains why Micro QR Code has only one finder pattern. It is a much smaller symbol, never more than 17 × 17 modules, and three 8 × 8 blocks would consume most of it. The trade is a symbol that has to be presented more squarely to the camera, which is acceptable for marking small parts and not acceptable for a code on a poster. ## The 1:1:3:1:1 Ratio That Makes a QR Code Findable A scan line crossing a finder pattern through its centre produces dark and light runs in a 1:1:3:1:1 ratio, and that ratio is what a decoder actually searches for. It does not look for squares. It reduces the camera image to black and white, then walks across each row of pixels measuring how long each run of one colour lasts, and flags any place where five consecutive runs fall in that proportion. The ratio is chosen because it survives everything that happens to a code between the generator and the camera: - **Scale.** A ratio has no units. The same 1:1:3:1:1 appears whether one module is three pixels wide or thirty, so the decoder does not need to know the printed size or the camera distance in advance. - **Rotation.** The pattern is concentric, so a line through the centre gives the same run lengths at any angle. This is why a QR code has no up, and why rotating one in a layout is safe. - **Partial views.** Rows near the top and bottom of the finder produce different ratios, so false positives are cheap to reject. The decoder only has to confirm the ratio in a column too, at the same place. - **Ordinary artwork.** The 1:3:1 core is unusual in printed material. A run of dark three times the width of the runs on either side of it, in both axes, at the same point, is rare enough that photographs and typography do not trigger it often. Once three candidate centres are confirmed the rest follows quickly: the decoder measures the distance between them to estimate the module size, uses the timing patterns to lock the grid onto the symbol, and reads the format information beside the finders to learn the error correction level and mask before touching a single data module. This sequence is the reason a code with a damaged corner behaves so differently from a code with a damaged middle. A scratch across the data area is arithmetic the decoder can undo. A sticker over a finder pattern removes the thing that starts the process, and the phone simply shows nothing - see [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) for how to tell that failure from the others. ## What Else in a QR Code Is Structure Rather Than Data Five things in a QR code are fixed by the standard rather than by the payload: the finder patterns with their separators, the timing patterns, the alignment patterns, the format information, and - on version 7 and above - the version information. Together they are called function patterns, and they occupy the same positions in every code of a given version. | Part | Size | Where it is | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Finder pattern | 7 × 7 modules, three of them | Top-left, top-right and bottom-left corners | Locates the symbol and establishes its rotation | | Separator | 1 module wide, around each finder | Between each finder pattern and the data area | Keeps the finder's outer edge measurable against neighbouring modules | | Timing pattern | One row and one column of alternating modules | Row 6 and column 6, running between the finders | Tells the decoder where the module grid falls, so it can count cells | | Alignment pattern | 5 × 5 modules, from version 2 upward | At fixed coordinates across the symbol | Corrects perspective distortion on an angled or curved code | | Format information | 31 modules, in two copies | Beside the finder patterns | Records the error correction level and mask pattern | | Version information | 36 modules, from version 7 upward | Beside the top-right and bottom-left finders | States the symbol version so the decoder need not infer it | Positions and sizes are from ISO/IEC 18004. None of these areas carries any of your URL, and none of them is protected by the error correction that protects the data. The practical consequence is worth stating plainly: a QR code is not a grid of data with a few decorations on it. It is a grid of structure with data poured into the gaps, and on small codes the structure is most of the picture. ## How Much of a QR Code Is Not Your Data In a version 1 QR code, 233 of the 441 modules - 52.8% - are function patterns and format information rather than data. More than half of the smallest QR code is spent describing itself. The share falls as the symbol grows, because the function patterns barely grow while the data area grows with the square of the side. | Version | Modules per side | Total modules | Structure modules | Share that is structure | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 21 | 441 | 233 | 52.8% | | 2 | 25 | 625 | 266 | 42.6% | | 3 | 29 | 841 | 274 | 32.6% | | 4 | 33 | 1,089 | 282 | 25.9% | | 6 | 41 | 1,681 | 298 | 17.7% | | 7 | 45 | 2,025 | 457 | 22.6% | | 10 | 57 | 3,249 | 481 | 14.8% | | 15 | 77 | 5,929 | 686 | 11.6% | | 20 | 97 | 9,409 | 726 | 7.7% | | 40 | 177 | 31,329 | 1,681 | 5.4% | Counted from the function pattern positions in ISO/IEC 18004 and cross-checked against each version's total codeword count, which is derived independently. The two agree at every version listed. Read down the last column and one row breaks the trend. Version 7 is a higher share of structure than version 6 - 22.6% against 17.7% - because two things arrive at once at version 7: the version information appears, costing 36 modules, and the number of alignment patterns jumps from one to six. After that the share resumes falling and never rises again. This table is the real answer to a question people usually ask a different way. A short URL in a version 2 code and a long one in a version 10 code do not differ by a factor of ten in data, even though both are QR codes of similar visual complexity - the small one is spending 42.6% of itself on being findable. [QR code capacity](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity) takes the data side of that arithmetic version by version. ## Alignment Patterns: The Fourth Square People Notice An alignment pattern is a five-module square that lets a decoder correct for perspective distortion when a QR code is photographed at an angle or printed on a curved surface. It is a 5 × 5 block - a dark ring, a light ring inside it, and a single dark module at the centre - and it appears from version 2 onward. Their number is fixed by the version, not by the payload: | Version | Modules per side | Alignment patterns | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 21 | None | | 2 to 6 | 25 to 41 | 1 | | 7 to 13 | 45 to 69 | 6 | | 14 to 20 | 73 to 97 | 13 | | 21 to 27 | 101 to 125 | 22 | | 28 to 34 | 129 to 153 | 33 | | 35 to 40 | 157 to 177 | 46 | Alignment patterns sit on a grid whose spacing the standard fixes per version; the three positions that would collide with a finder pattern are omitted, which is why the counts are 6, 13, 22 rather than perfect squares. The reason they matter grows with the code. On a version 2 symbol the decoder can map the grid from the three finder patterns alone, because 25 modules of drift is small. On a version 25 symbol the same estimate has to hold across 117 cells, and a small angular error at the corners compounds into a whole module of drift by the far side. The alignment patterns are reference points inside the symbol that let the decoder re-fit the grid locally instead of trusting one estimate across the whole code. This is also the practical reason [a large code on a curved surface](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) - a bottle, a mug, a cable drum - still reads. It is not that the curvature is small; it is that the decoder has interior reference points and re-fits the grid between them. A curved code with a covered alignment pattern loses that, and starts failing at exactly the angles a person naturally holds a phone at. ## Timing Patterns and Format Information A timing pattern is the single row and single column of alternating dark and light modules that tells a decoder where the module grid falls. One runs along row 6 between the top-left and top-right finders, the other down column 6 between the top-left and bottom-left finders, and both always start and end on a dark module. Their job is counting. Having found the symbol's corners, the decoder knows the outer boundary but not how many cells sit inside it - a 25-module code and a 29-module code look identical from the outside. Walking the alternating run along row 6 gives the module pitch directly, which fixes the grid for the whole symbol. Format information is the strip of modules beside the finder patterns that records the error correction level and the mask pattern used by the symbol. It occupies 31 modules, it is protected by its own BCH error-correcting code, and it is written twice in different places, so a symbol with one copy destroyed still reports its own level correctly. The [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder) reads both values off any code image. That redundancy is a deliberate asymmetry in the design, and it is worth knowing when diagnosing a damaged code. The format information is the only part of the structure with protection of its own. The finder, timing and alignment patterns have none - not because they were forgotten, but because there is no point protecting data that has to be read before any protection can be applied. Version information appears from version 7 upward: 36 modules, in two copies, beside the top-right and bottom-left finder patterns, stating the symbol version explicitly. Below version 7 a decoder infers the version by counting modules, which is reliable enough on a 21 to 41 module symbol and less so on a 177 module one. ## What Happens When a Finder Pattern Is Covered A QR code with a covered finder pattern usually does not scan at all, and the failure is silent rather than slow. There is no partial read and no error message: the decoder never concludes there is a symbol in the frame, so the phone behaves exactly as it does when pointed at a blank wall. The single most useful thing to know about this failure is that error correction cannot help with it. Reed-Solomon recovery repairs codewords in the data area, and it runs after the symbol has been located, its version determined and its mask removed. A finder pattern is used to reach that point, so damage there removes the process rather than adding errors to it. Raising the level from M to H does nothing except make every module smaller - the mechanism is in [error correction levels L, M, Q and H](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction). The ways a corner gets covered, in rough order of how often they reach print: - **A logo placed in a corner instead of the centre.** The centre of a QR code is data, which error correction protects. The corners are structure, which nothing protects. This one decision is the difference between a code that reads and a code that does not. - **A sticker, price label or seal applied over the code.** Common on packaging and on menus that get relabelled. If it has to overlap, keep it clear of all three corners. - **A frame or badge overlapping the outer ring.** The finder's outer dark ring is one module thick, and a [decorative frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) that eats it changes the run lengths the decoder is measuring. - **A trim or die-cut through a corner.** A round sticker cut close to a square symbol takes its margin at the corners first - which is where all three finders are. - **Heavy styling on the corner modules.** Corner shapes that round the finder aggressively, or fill the light ring with a tint, alter the 1:1:3:1:1 proportion that detection depends on. - **A fold, spine or bend across a corner.** The crease shadows the pattern and stops the two halves being coplanar, which affects the ratio measurement more than the same crease elsewhere. The test is quicker than the theory. Cover the centre of a printed code with your thumb and most codes still scan; cover any one corner and almost none do. That difference is the whole of this page in one experiment. ## Styling the Corners of a QR Code Without Breaking It Custom corner shapes are safe when they preserve the 1:1:3:1:1 proportion along every line through the centre, and unsafe when they change it. That is the whole rule, and it explains why some styled codes read perfectly and others fail on half the phones that try. What that permits and what it does not: - **Rounded corners on the finder's outer ring.** Safe in most decoders, because a line through the centre still crosses the same run lengths. The rounding removes ink at the pattern's own corners, which the centre line never touches. - **A different colour for the finders.** Safe as long as the dark parts stay dark against the light parts by the same contrast the rest of the code needs. The decoder works in black and white after binarisation, so a dark blue finder on white is a dark finder. - **Circular finders.** Usually readable, and the least forgiving of the popular styles - a circle inscribed in the 7 × 7 block shortens the dark runs measured off-centre, so the tolerance for print quality drops. - **A light ring tinted rather than left blank.** Risky. The middle light ring is one of the five runs being measured, and a mid-tone there can binarise dark under shop lighting. - **Merging the finders into a logo lockup.** Unsafe. Anything that changes the size of the 3 × 3 core relative to the rings changes the ratio that detection depends on. - **Removing a finder pattern for symmetry.** Never. Some mock-ups drop one corner or add a fourth for visual balance; the first is undetectable, the second is ambiguous. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, draws the finder patterns as part of the symbol in every shape it offers, so the corners keep their proportions when the module style changes. Styling never improves scan performance - a decorated code needs its corners at least as intact as a plain one, and usually a little more, because decorative modules put less ink in each cell. See [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) for the range, [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) for the circular treatment, and [do custom QR shapes scan](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) for what the trade-off costs in practice. Whatever generator produced the file, the check is the same and takes a minute: export the styled code, print it at the size it will actually be used at, and scan it with an iOS and an Android phone. Native camera apps are stricter than dedicated scanner apps, and they are what people will use. ## How to Read a QR Code's Structure by Eye Anyone can identify a symbol's version, count its structure and confirm its corners without software. The procedure below takes about five minutes and is the fastest way to sanity-check a code you were sent with no notes. 1. **Count the modules along the top edge.** Count the cells across one full side of the symbol, excluding the margin. The number is always 4V + 17 for version V, so 21 is version 1, 25 is version 2, 33 is version 4, 57 is version 10. 2. **Check all three corners for a 7 × 7 finder.** Top-left, top-right and bottom-left. Each should show a solid 3 × 3 core, a clear one-module ring, and an unbroken one-module dark ring, with a clear module of separator on the inner sides. 3. **Find the timing patterns.** Look along the seventh row and seventh column from the top-left corner, between the finders. You should see a strictly alternating dark-light run that starts and ends dark. A break in it is a broken code. 4. **Locate the alignment patterns.** From version 2 there is at least one 5 × 5 square near the bottom-right. Version 7 and above have six or more, spaced evenly across the symbol. 5. **Confirm the fourth corner is not a finder.** The bottom-right corner should hold data modules, or an alignment pattern set in from the edge. A fourth 7 × 7 square means the image is not a valid QR code. 6. **Measure the margin against one module.** The clear space around the symbol should be at least four modules on every side. Compare it to the width of a single cell rather than judging it against the code as a whole - see [the quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone). 7. **Run the file through a validator.** The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) reports the module size, the margin on each side and the contrast, and confirms the symbol decodes. Two findings from this check account for most bad files in circulation: a code cropped so tightly that a separator is missing, and a code placed so that something in the layout sits on a corner. Both are visible in under a minute once you know where to look. ## Common Mistakes With QR Code Corners The most common mistake is treating the corners as the safe place to put something, on the reasoning that the middle holds the data. It is exactly backwards: the middle is protected by error correction and the corners are protected by nothing. | Do | Why | | --- | --- | | Put a logo in the centre of the code | The centre is data area, and error correction is designed to absorb a loss there | | Keep all three corners fully clear of artwork | Detection uses the finder patterns and runs before any recovery is possible | | Preserve the 1:1:3:1:1 proportion when styling corners | The ratio is what the decoder searches for; the shape it draws is not | | Check a styled code with a native phone camera | Native cameras are stricter than dedicated scanner apps, and are what readers will use | | Treat the code as symbol plus four modules of margin | The corners are where a tight crop or a die-cut takes clear space first | | Don't | Why | | --- | --- | | Place a logo, badge or sticker over a corner | A covered finder pattern is not damage the code can recover from; it is a code that is never detected | | Raise the error correction level to protect the corners | Recovery applies to the data area only, and the higher level makes every module smaller | | Add a fourth corner square for visual symmetry | The missing fourth corner is what encodes the symbol's orientation | | Tint the light ring inside a finder pattern | That ring is one of the five runs being measured, and a mid-tone can binarise dark under poor light | | Assume a styled code is fine because it scanned on screen | A display gives even light, high contrast and hard edges - the three things print does not | ## FAQ ### What are the three squares in the corners of a QR code called? They are finder patterns. Each is a 7 × 7 module concentric square in the top-left, top-right and bottom-left corner, and a scanner uses them to locate the symbol in the camera image and work out its rotation before it decodes anything. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, calls them position detection patterns. ### Why does a QR code have three corner squares instead of four? Three corners define a square while leaving the symbol asymmetric, and that asymmetry is what tells a decoder which way up the code is. A fourth square would make all four orientations identical. It is also why a QR code reads upside down, sideways or at any angle in between. ### Can I put my logo in the corner of a QR code? No. The corners hold the finder patterns, which a scanner needs to detect the code at all, and error correction does not protect them. Place the logo in the centre instead, where the data area sits and recovery applies. A centre logo covering up to about 20% of the area is reliably recoverable at level H. ### What is the small square near the bottom-right of a QR code? That is an alignment pattern - a 5 × 5 module square that lets a decoder correct for perspective distortion when the code is photographed at an angle or printed on a curved surface. It appears from version 2 upward. Version 7 and above have six or more, spaced across the symbol. ### Why doesn't my QR code scan when a corner is covered? Because detection happens before decoding. The scanner searches the image for three finder patterns in a 1:1:3:1:1 ratio of dark and light runs, and with one missing it never concludes there is a code in the frame. Nothing is decoded, so there is nothing for error correction to repair. ### Do rounded or circular corner squares still scan? Usually, if the 1:1:3:1:1 proportion along a line through each finder's centre is preserved. Rounding the outer ring is generally safe; filling the light ring with a tint, or resizing the 3 × 3 core relative to the rings, is not. Print the styled code at final size and test it with a native phone camera before committing. ### How much of a QR code is actually my data? Less than people expect on small codes. A version 1 symbol spends 233 of its 441 modules - 52.8% - on structure, leaving 208 for data and error correction together. By version 10 the structure share is 14.8%, and at version 40 it is 5.4%. This is why capacity climbs so steeply with size. ### What is the timing pattern in a QR code? It is the single row and column of alternating dark and light modules running between the finder patterns, along row 6 and column 6. It tells the decoder where the module grid falls, so it can count cells accurately after locating the symbol's boundary. It always begins and ends on a dark module. ### Are the finder patterns the same in every QR code? Yes. All three are 7 × 7 modules with the same concentric structure, at every symbol version from 1 to 40, whatever the code encodes. Only their spacing changes, because the symbol grows around them. Micro QR Code is the exception: it is a different symbol type with a single finder pattern. --- # QR Code Capacity: How Much Data Fits, by Symbol Version and Encoding Mode URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity How much data fits in a QR code: 7,089 digits or 2,953 bytes at most. Capacity per symbol version and mode, and what your URL length costs in printed size. Basics · 2026-08-22 A QR code holds at most 7,089 digits, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 bytes or 1,817 kanji characters, and those maxima all describe the same symbol: version 40 at 177 × 177 modules, at the lowest error correction level. Every smaller code holds proportionally less, and the number that matters in practice is never the maximum - it is how many modules your particular payload forces, because the module count decides how large the code has to be printed. ## Key points - The maximum capacity of a QR code is 7,089 digits, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 bytes or 1,817 kanji characters - all at version 40, 177 × 177 modules, at error correction level L. - Capacity is fixed by three things together: the symbol version, the encoding mode and the error correction level. Change any one and the number changes. - The smallest code, version 1 at 21 × 21 modules, holds 17 bytes at level L and 7 bytes at level H. A bare domain name is already a version 2 or 3 code. - A URL written in capitals can encode in alphanumeric mode at 5.5 bits per character instead of 8, which often saves a whole symbol version. Only the scheme and host are safe to capitalise; the path is case-sensitive. - Capacity is rarely the real limit. A 200-character URL at level H needs a 77 × 77 module symbol, which cannot honestly be printed below about 34 mm - the payload sets the size long before it approaches any maximum. ## How Much Data Can a QR Code Hold? A QR code holds at most 7,089 digits, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 bytes or 1,817 kanji characters. Those four figures describe one symbol - version 40, 177 modules on a side, at error correction level L - and they are the ceiling for the format rather than a target anyone should design towards. | Error correction level | Numeric | Alphanumeric | Byte | Kanji | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L | 7,089 | 4,296 | 2,953 | 1,817 | | M | 5,596 | 3,391 | 2,331 | 1,435 | | Q | 3,993 | 2,420 | 1,663 | 1,024 | | H | 3,057 | 1,852 | 1,273 | 784 | Maximum capacity at version 40 (177 × 177 modules), per encoding mode and error correction level. Raising the level from L to H removes about 57% of the capacity at every version. The practical range is much narrower than the ceiling suggests. A version 40 symbol printed at the 0.4 mm module floor for coated stock is 71 mm across before its margin, and every module in it has to survive being photographed - so codes that size appear in industrial marking and almost nowhere in signage, packaging or print. For ordinary use the useful question is the opposite of the maximum: given this payload, what is the smallest symbol that holds it, and what does that symbol cost in printed millimetres. The last two sections of this page answer that directly. ## What a Symbol Version Is The symbol version is the QR standard's name for a code's module count, running from version 1 at 21 × 21 modules up to version 40 at 177 × 177. A version V code is 4V + 17 modules on each side, so the versions step in fours: 21, 25, 29, 33, 37 and so on. A version is not something you choose. The encoder picks the smallest version that holds the payload at the requested error correction level, which means the version is a result of two decisions you do make - what the code says and how much damage it should survive. Two consequences follow, and both catch people out. First, capacity moves in steps rather than continuously: adding one character to a payload can be free or can push the code up an entire version. Second, a higher version is not a bigger picture - it is a denser one. At a fixed printed width, a version 10 code's modules are roughly 40% narrower than a version 4 code's - 57 cells across the same space instead of 33 - and small modules are what scan failures are made of. Not all of a symbol is available for content. In a version 1 code, 233 of the 441 modules are function patterns and format information rather than data - [finder patterns and QR code anatomy](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) accounts for where they go. What remains after that is split between your data and its error correction. ## The Four QR Encoding Modes An encoding mode is the scheme a QR code uses to turn characters into bits, and the standard defines four: numeric, alphanumeric, byte and kanji. Each packs characters at a different density, so the same symbol holds a very different number of them depending on which mode the content permits. | Mode | What it accepts | Bits per character | Capacity at version 40, level L | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Numeric | The digits 0 to 9 | 3⅓ | 7,089 digits | | Alphanumeric | 0 to 9, A to Z, space, and $ % * + - . / : | 5½ | 4,296 characters | | Byte | Any byte, which in practice means UTF-8 text | 8 | 2,953 bytes | | Kanji | Shift JIS double-byte characters | 13 | 1,817 characters | Numeric mode packs three digits into 10 bits and alphanumeric packs two characters into 11, which is where the fractional figures come from. A UTF-8 character outside ASCII costs two to four bytes in byte mode, not one. Alphanumeric mode is the one worth understanding, because it is the only one that applies to URLs. It is the QR encoding scheme that packs two characters into 11 bits, using a 45-character set of digits, capital letters, space and eight punctuation marks. Lower-case letters are not in that set, and neither are the question mark, the ampersand, the equals sign or the underscore. The mode is chosen by the encoder, not by the person typing the payload. Some encoders analyse the content and switch modes automatically, some split a payload into segments and use a different mode for each, and many encode everything in byte mode regardless. That last case is common enough that the only reliable way to know is to generate the code and count its modules. ## QR Code Capacity by Version and Mode The table below is the reference the rest of this page is built on: how many characters each symbol version holds, in each mode, at each error correction level. Read it by finding the row for your level and the version whose figure first exceeds your payload. | Version | Modules | Level | Numeric | Alphanumeric | Byte | Kanji | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 21 × 21 | L | 41 | 25 | 17 | 10 | | 1 | 21 × 21 | M | 34 | 20 | 14 | 8 | | 1 | 21 × 21 | Q | 27 | 16 | 11 | 7 | | 1 | 21 × 21 | H | 17 | 10 | 7 | 4 | | 2 | 25 × 25 | L | 77 | 47 | 32 | 20 | | 2 | 25 × 25 | M | 63 | 38 | 26 | 16 | | 2 | 25 × 25 | H | 34 | 20 | 14 | 8 | | 3 | 29 × 29 | L | 127 | 77 | 53 | 32 | | 3 | 29 × 29 | M | 101 | 61 | 42 | 26 | | 3 | 29 × 29 | H | 58 | 35 | 24 | 15 | | 4 | 33 × 33 | L | 187 | 114 | 78 | 48 | | 4 | 33 × 33 | M | 149 | 90 | 62 | 38 | | 4 | 33 × 33 | H | 82 | 50 | 34 | 21 | | 5 | 37 × 37 | L | 255 | 154 | 106 | 65 | | 5 | 37 × 37 | M | 202 | 122 | 84 | 52 | | 5 | 37 × 37 | H | 106 | 64 | 44 | 27 | | 6 | 41 × 41 | L | 322 | 195 | 134 | 82 | | 6 | 41 × 41 | M | 255 | 154 | 106 | 65 | | 6 | 41 × 41 | H | 139 | 84 | 58 | 36 | | 10 | 57 × 57 | L | 652 | 395 | 271 | 167 | | 10 | 57 × 57 | M | 513 | 311 | 213 | 131 | | 10 | 57 × 57 | H | 288 | 174 | 119 | 74 | | 15 | 77 × 77 | L | 1,250 | 758 | 520 | 320 | | 15 | 77 × 77 | M | 991 | 600 | 412 | 254 | | 15 | 77 × 77 | H | 530 | 321 | 220 | 136 | | 20 | 97 × 97 | L | 2,061 | 1,249 | 858 | 528 | | 20 | 97 × 97 | M | 1,600 | 970 | 666 | 410 | | 20 | 97 × 97 | H | 919 | 557 | 382 | 235 | | 25 | 117 × 117 | L | 3,057 | 1,853 | 1,273 | 784 | | 25 | 117 × 117 | M | 2,395 | 1,451 | 997 | 614 | | 25 | 117 × 117 | H | 1,286 | 779 | 535 | 330 | | 40 | 177 × 177 | L | 7,089 | 4,296 | 2,953 | 1,817 | | 40 | 177 × 177 | M | 5,596 | 3,391 | 2,331 | 1,435 | | 40 | 177 × 177 | H | 3,057 | 1,852 | 1,273 | 784 | Computed from each version's data codeword count and character count indicator width, then checked against the version 40 maxima in ISO/IEC 18004. Level Q sits between M and H throughout and is omitted here for length; as a rule of thumb it holds about 70% of what M holds. Two cells in this table are worth reading together. Version 25 at level L holds 1,273 bytes, and version 40 at level H holds exactly the same 1,273 bytes - a symbol with more than twice the module area, spending the whole difference on recovery. Capacity gained by growing the code and capacity lost by raising the level are the same currency, which is why both decisions belong in one table rather than two. ## Why the Same URL Fits in a Smaller Code in Capitals A URL written in capitals can encode in alphanumeric mode at 5.5 bits per character instead of byte mode's 8, which is a 31% saving and frequently drops the symbol by a whole version. HTTPS://EXAMPLE.COM/MENU uses only characters from the 45-character alphanumeric set; https://example.com/menu does not, because lower-case letters are not in it. | Payload length | Byte mode, level M | Capitals, level M | Byte mode, level H | Capitals, level H | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 30 characters | Version 3 | Version 2 | Version 4 | Version 3 | | 45 characters | Version 4 | Version 3 | Version 6 | Version 4 | | 70 characters | Version 5 | Version 4 | Version 8 | Version 6 | | 120 characters | Version 7 | Version 5 | Version 11 | Version 8 | | 200 characters | Version 10 | Version 8 | Version 15 | Version 11 | The same character count, encoded two ways. At 120 characters and level H the saving is three versions - a 65 × 65 symbol instead of an 81 × 81, which is 24% larger modules at the same printed width. The catch is that only part of a URL is safe to capitalise. Schemes and host names are case-insensitive, so HTTPS://EXAMPLE.COM and https://example.com reach the same server. Everything after the host is case-sensitive on most web servers, so capitalising a path can produce a code that scans perfectly and lands on a 404. What that leaves is a rule with a narrow but real application: capitalise the scheme and domain, keep the path exactly as the server expects it, and check whether the symbol actually shrank. A payload that mixes cases falls back to byte mode entirely, so a single lower-case character in the path removes the whole saving. Two further limits are worth stating honestly. The alphanumeric set has no question mark, ampersand, equals sign or underscore, so any URL carrying query parameters is in byte mode whatever its case. And the encoder has to support mode switching at all - many generate every payload in byte mode, in which case capitalising changes nothing. Generate the code both ways, count the modules on one side, and compare: if the number is the same, the mode did not change. ## Error Correction Is Half the Capacity Question Raising the error correction level from L to H removes about 57% of a symbol's capacity, because the recovery codewords and the data codewords come out of the same fixed budget. At every version, the four levels divide the same total: level L spends about 7% of it on recovery, M about 15%, Q about 25% and H about 30%. | Level | Bytes at version 2 | Bytes at version 5 | Bytes at version 10 | Approximate recovery | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L | 32 | 106 | 271 | 7% | | M | 26 | 84 | 213 | 15% | | Q | 20 | 60 | 151 | 25% | | H | 14 | 44 | 119 | 30% | Byte-mode capacity at three common versions. A code that needs a centre logo needs level H, and level H at version 2 holds 14 bytes - which is not enough for a bare https:// domain. The interaction that surprises people runs the other way as well. Because capacity moves in steps, raising the level often costs nothing at all: if your payload is 40 bytes, level M and level Q both land you on version 4, and the higher level is free. Generate the code at your chosen level, note the module count, generate it one level higher, and take the higher level whenever the grid is unchanged. [Error correction levels L, M, Q and H](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) covers what the recovery capacity actually buys, how large a logo each level tolerates, and why raising the level after a scan failure usually makes the code worse rather than better. ## From URL Length to Printed Size Payload length decides the symbol version, and the symbol version decides the smallest size the code can honestly be printed at. This is the chain that matters in a layout, and it is why shortening a URL is a print decision rather than a tidiness decision. | URL length | Version at level M | Smallest printed width | Version at level H | Smallest printed width | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 25 characters | 2 (25 × 25) | 13.2 mm | 4 (33 × 33) | 16.4 mm | | 50 characters | 4 (33 × 33) | 16.4 mm | 6 (41 × 41) | 19.6 mm | | 75 characters | 5 (37 × 37) | 18.0 mm | 8 (49 × 49) | 22.8 mm | | 100 characters | 6 (41 × 41) | 19.6 mm | 10 (57 × 57) | 26.0 mm | | 150 characters | 8 (49 × 49) | 22.8 mm | 12 (65 × 65) | 29.2 mm | | 200 characters | 10 (57 × 57) | 26.0 mm | 15 (77 × 77) | 34.0 mm | | 300 characters | 13 (69 × 69) | 30.8 mm | 18 (89 × 89) | 38.8 mm | Smallest printed width is the whole footprint - symbol plus its four-module quiet zone - at the 0.4 mm module floor for coated stock. On uncoated stock the floor is 0.5 mm, so every figure rises by a quarter. The last two rows are the argument for link shortening in one place. A 200-character tracking URL at level H cannot be printed below about 34 mm on coated stock, and a 25-character one can go to 16 mm - the same information, delivered by the same code, at less than a quarter of the area. These are floors, not recommendations. A code should also be sized for its reading distance, which is roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, and whichever of the two numbers is larger is the one that governs. [The minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) takes that calculation end to end, and the [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) runs it for a given distance. ## What to Do When a Payload Does Not Fit A payload that will not fit at a workable size is almost always a URL problem rather than a QR code problem. The symbol is doing what it was asked; the ask is too long. In rough order of how much they save: - **Remove the tracking parameters.** A full UTM set with a click ID routinely adds 80 to 120 characters, which is three or four symbol versions on its own. Attach the campaign data at the destination instead of in the printed code. - **Drop www and the trailing slash.** Small, free, and worth about a version on a short URL where every character counts. - **Use a short path.** example.com/menu rather than example.com/restaurant/our-menus/lunch-menu-2026. On print, the path is read by a camera, never typed by a person, so its readability buys nothing. - **Point at a redirect you control.** A short path on your own domain that forwards to the long URL keeps the code small and keeps the destination changeable, which a static code otherwise cannot be. - **Encode the minimum for the payload type.** A Wi-Fi code carries the network name, password and security type and nothing else; a phone code carries digits. Extra fields cost versions - see [QR code types](https://koloqr.com/qr-types) for what each payload actually needs. - **Lower the error correction level, if there is no logo.** Going from H to M is not a small saving. It nearly doubles the capacity at every version - 44 bytes to 84 at version 5 - and level M is entirely adequate for a clean code on flat, coated stock. - **Split the job.** If the content genuinely is long - a menu, a document, a certificate - put it behind a URL rather than inside the code. A QR code that holds 2,000 characters is a code nobody can scan. One thing not to do: raise the printed size to fit a long payload and stop there. It works, but it hides the cause, and the next version of the artwork will hit the same wall with a slightly longer URL and less space to give it. ## Why Capacity Thresholds Are Uneven Capacity does not rise smoothly with version, and three separate mechanisms are responsible. Knowing them explains the jumps that otherwise look arbitrary in the table above. **The character count indicator widens.** The character count indicator is the short header inside a QR code that states how many characters the payload contains, and its width in bits changes with the symbol version. In byte mode it is 8 bits at versions 1 to 9 and 16 bits from version 10 upward, so crossing that boundary costs a byte of overhead before any content is stored. **Error correction blocks divide unevenly.** From version 5 the data is split into blocks of differing sizes so the recovery arithmetic stays tractable, and the block structure changes at almost every version. Two adjacent versions can therefore gain 20 bytes and then 38. **Remainder bits are left over.** Some versions have 3, 4 or 7 modules left after the codewords are laid out, which are filled with zeroes and carry nothing. They are part of why the module count and the capacity do not track each other exactly. None of this changes what to do. It does explain why adding one character to a URL sometimes costs nothing and sometimes adds four modules to every side - and why the only trustworthy way to know the version is to generate the code and count, rather than to estimate from the character count. ## When Capacity Is Not the Real Limit Most codes hit a physical limit long before a capacity limit, and mistaking one for the other is the common error on this subject. A version 20 symbol holds 666 bytes at level M, which sounds generous until the code has to be printed: 97 modules per side at the 0.4 mm floor is 42 mm of footprint, and squeezed onto a 30 mm table tent its modules fall to 0.29 mm - below what most print processes hold and below what a phone camera resolves at arm's length. The limits that bite first, in the order they usually arrive: - **Printed module size.** Modules should be 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated. This is what turns a payload length into a minimum width, and it is not negotiable by the design. - **Reading distance.** A code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm between it and the camera. A dense code on a wall sign fails at the distance people stand, not at the distance it was designed at. - **Camera focus.** Phone cameras have a minimum focus distance of about 10 cm. A very small, very dense code forces the reader closer than the camera can focus, which reads as a code that will not scan. - **Contrast and finish.** A dense code has less tolerance for low contrast and for glare, because each module contributes fewer pixels - check a colour pair with the [QR contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) before committing to it. - **Export resolution.** A raster export needs whole pixels per module; a dense code at a small pixel size produces anti-aliased module edges. [Resolution and DPI](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) has the arithmetic, and SVG avoids the problem entirely. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports both PNG and SVG, so a code whose payload forces a high symbol version can be placed as vector artwork and stay geometrically exact at any printed size. That solves the export half of the problem and none of the other four: a long payload still needs a physically larger code, whatever it is exported as. ## Common Mistakes About QR Code Capacity The most common mistake is treating the 2,953-byte maximum as a working budget. It describes a 177 × 177 module symbol at the lowest error correction level, which is not a code that belongs on a menu, a label or a poster - and a payload anywhere near it will have failed for physical reasons long before capacity becomes the constraint. | Do | Why | | --- | --- | | Check the module count after generating, not the character count before | Capacity moves in steps, and the version is the number that decides the printed size | | Decide the error correction level before measuring capacity | Level H removes 57% of a symbol's capacity, so a capacity figure without a level is not an answer | | Shorten the URL before enlarging the code | Removing a UTM set is worth three or four versions and costs nothing in the layout | | Try one level higher and compare the grid | Stepping up a level is often free, because the payload already fits the same version | | Size the code from the version, then from the reading distance | Both produce a minimum width, and the larger of the two is the one that governs | | Don't | Why | | --- | --- | | Quote a capacity figure without naming the version and level | The same mode ranges from 7 bytes to 2,953 bytes depending on those two numbers | | Capitalise a whole URL to save space | Only the scheme and host are case-insensitive; capitalising the path can produce a scannable code that 404s | | Put long content inside the code instead of behind a URL | A code dense enough to hold a document is a code no phone camera resolves at a normal distance | | Assume a longer URL only makes the picture bigger | It makes the picture denser at the same width, which is the direct cause of most print scan failures | | Estimate the version from the character count | Indicator widths, block structures and remainder bits make the thresholds uneven; generate and count instead | ## FAQ ### What is the maximum amount of data a QR code can hold? 7,089 digits, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 bytes or 1,817 kanji characters. All four figures are for version 40 - a 177 × 177 module symbol - at error correction level L. At level H the same symbol holds 1,273 bytes, because recovery codewords come out of the same budget as data. ### How long can a URL in a QR code be? Technically up to 2,953 characters, practically about 100. Beyond roughly 100 characters the symbol version climbs fast, and a version 15 code at level H cannot be printed below about 34 mm on coated stock. Removing tracking parameters is worth three or four versions and is almost always the better fix. ### How much data does the smallest QR code hold? Version 1, at 21 × 21 modules, holds 17 bytes at level L, 14 at M, 11 at Q and 7 at H. That is not enough for most URLs: https://example.com is 19 characters, so even a bare domain is usually a version 2 or version 3 code. ### Does a longer URL make the QR code bigger? It makes it denser, which forces it to be printed bigger. A longer payload raises the symbol version, which adds modules to each side without changing the picture's dimensions, so each module shrinks at a fixed printed width. To keep the modules readable, the printed size has to grow with the version. ### Why does capitalising a URL make the QR code smaller? Capital letters, digits and eight punctuation marks belong to the 45-character alphanumeric set, which packs two characters into 11 bits instead of byte mode's 8 bits per character. That is a 31% saving and often drops a whole version. Capitalise only the scheme and host - paths are case-sensitive on most servers. ### Does error correction reduce QR code capacity? Yes, substantially. Data codewords and recovery codewords share one fixed budget per version, so level L leaves about 7% for recovery and level H about 30%. Moving from L to H removes about 57% of the capacity at every version. A version 5 code holds 106 bytes at L and 44 at H. ### How many characters fit in a QR code with a logo? A centre logo means error correction level H in practice, which is the lowest-capacity column of every version. At level H a version 4 code holds 34 bytes, version 6 holds 58 and version 10 holds 119. A URL with tracking parameters plus a logo is what pushes codes past version 12. ### Can a QR code store an image or a file? Only in the sense that 2,953 bytes is smaller than any usable image file. QR codes hold text, and a file has to be encoded as text to fit at all, which multiplies its size. Host the file and put the URL in the code - a 30-character link scans from across a room and a 2,953-byte payload does not. ### What is a symbol version in a QR code? The symbol version is the standard's name for a code's module count, from version 1 at 21 × 21 modules to version 40 at 177 × 177. A version V code is 4V + 17 modules per side. The encoder picks the smallest version that holds your payload at the error correction level you asked for. --- # How to Scan a QR Code With a Phone, a Screenshot, or a Second Device URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code Open the camera, point it at the code, tap the banner. What to do when there is no banner, when the code is a screenshot, and when it is on the screen in your hand. Basics · 2026-08-24 Open the camera app, fill about a third of the frame with the code, and tap the notification that appears. That works on any iPhone running iOS 11 or later and on most Android phones without installing anything. The cases that need more than the camera are a code saved as an image, a code displayed on the phone you are holding, and a code that turns out to be a login prompt rather than a link. ## Key points - The camera app is the scanner on both platforms. iPhones have read QR codes in the stock Camera app since iOS 11, and most Android camera apps do the same, with Google Lens as the fallback where they do not. - Fill about a third of the frame with the code and hold still for a second. Most failures are the code being too small in frame, not the code being broken. - A code saved as a screenshot cannot be read by pointing the camera at nothing. Open it in Photos and long-press it, run it through Google Lens, or upload the file to a decoder. - A QR code shown on the phone in your hand needs a second device, or a decoder that reads a screenshot of it. No camera can photograph its own screen. - Read the address before you open it. A QR code hides its destination by design, which is exactly what makes quishing work, and every decoder shows the decoded text before acting on it. - A login code is not a link. Scanning one authorises a session on the device that displayed it, so only ever scan a login code you asked for yourself. ## How to Scan a QR Code on an iPhone Open the Camera app, point it at the QR code, and tap the yellow notification banner that appears at the top of the screen. Apple has built QR detection into the stock Camera app since iOS 11, released in 2017, so no iPhone sold in the last several years needs a scanning app installed. 1. **Open the Camera App.** Either camera works, but the rear one focuses closer and is the one to use for a printed code. There is no scanning mode to switch to. 2. **Fill About a Third of the Frame With the Code.** Move closer until the code takes up roughly a third of the width of the viewfinder. Too far away is the most common reason nothing happens. 3. **Hold Still for About a Second.** Detection needs a sharp frame. If the preview is still hunting for focus, tap the code on screen to lock focus on it. 4. **Read the Banner Before You Tap It.** The notification shows the domain the code points at. That line is the only chance to see where you are going before you go there. If no banner appears, check Settings, then Camera, and confirm that Scan QR Codes is switched on. It is on by default and it is the first thing to rule out. There is also a dedicated Code Scanner control, added in iOS 12, which can be added to Control Centre from Settings. It behaves the same as the Camera app but opens straight into a scanning view, which is faster when scanning several codes in a row. For every iPhone route in one place - Code Scanner, a saved photo, a code inside Safari - see [how to scan a QR code on an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone). ## How to Scan a QR Code on an Android Phone Open the camera app and point it at the code. Most Android camera apps read QR codes without any extra software, and where one does not, Google Lens does - it is built into the Photos app, the Google app, and the Assistant on the large majority of Android phones. Android has no single answer here, and that is worth stating plainly rather than quoting a version number. The camera app on an Android phone is written by the manufacturer, so Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and Motorola each decide separately whether their camera detects codes, what the prompt looks like, and whether there is a setting for it. Google Lens is the part that behaves the same everywhere. - **Stock camera.** Point and wait for a prompt or a chip to appear over the code. If there is a settings menu, look for an option named something like Scan QR codes or Google Lens suggestions. - **Google Lens.** Open Lens from the Google app or the search bar, point it at the code, and tap the result. This works whether or not the camera app cooperates. - **Google Photos.** Open a saved image of a code and tap the Lens button. This is the route for a code you were sent rather than one in front of you. Older phones and stripped-down builds sometimes have neither. On those, any decoder that runs in the browser will do the job without an install - including the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) on this site, which reads the code on your own device rather than uploading it. For the Scan QR code tile, brand-by-brand settings and the Wi-Fi scanner, see [how to scan a QR code with an Android phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android). ## How to Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot or a Saved Image A QR code that arrived as an image needs a decoder that accepts a file, because there is nothing in front of the camera to photograph. Three routes work, and none of them requires installing an app. 1. **Open it in the phone's photo app and long-press the code.** Recent versions of both iOS and Android surface a link found inside a saved image this way. 2. **Send it through Google Lens.** In Google Photos, open the image and tap the Lens button; the decoded result appears as a card. 3. **Upload the file to a decoder.** Drop the PNG, JPG or WebP into the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), which decodes it in the browser and prints the text it contains before you act on it. The upload route has one advantage over the other two: it shows the decoded text as text. A long-press hands you a tappable link, which is convenient and also removes the moment where you could have read the address first. For the full route table by device - iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac - and the pixel count a screenshot needs, see [how to scan a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image). ## How to Scan a QR Code Shown on the Phone You Are Holding Use a second device, or take a screenshot and decode the screenshot. A phone camera cannot photograph the screen of the phone it is attached to, so a code displayed in an app on the same device has to be captured rather than scanned. This comes up more often than it sounds. A code sent in a chat, a boarding pass in an email, a ticket in a wallet app and a login prompt on a laptop are all codes on a screen, and only the laptop can be pointed at. - **Screenshot, then decode.** Capture the screen, then open the screenshot in Photos or Lens, or upload it to a decoder. - **Second phone.** Point another device at the screen. Turn the display brightness up first - a dim screen photographed by a phone camera loses contrast fast. - **Desktop screen, phone camera.** This is the normal direction for a login code and needs nothing special. ## Read the Address Before You Open It A QR code hides its destination until it is decoded, and that is the entire reason quishing works. A printed sticker over a parking meter's real code, a code in an email that leads to a fake sign-in page, and a code on a flyer that redirects through three domains all look identical to a code that goes where it says. The banner is the only moment a scan offers to show where the code goes before it goes there. Every scanner gives you one moment to check. On iOS it is the banner, which shows the domain. In Lens it is the card. In a file decoder it is the decoded text itself, which is why uploading a suspicious image is safer than long-pressing it. - **Check the domain, not the words around it.** A code beside the text "pay your parking here" says nothing about where the code goes. - **Treat a shortened link as unread.** A shortener hides the destination a second time. A decoder that prints the text lets you paste that link somewhere safe before opening it. - **Be more careful with codes in public places than codes in print you were handed.** A sticker can be applied over an existing code; a menu printed six months ago cannot. None of this makes scanning dangerous in itself. Decoding a QR code reads a piece of text and does nothing else - the risk begins at the moment you open what it contains. ## A Login Code Is Not a Link, and It Needs a Different Rule Scanning a login QR code authorises a session on the device that displayed it. WhatsApp Web, X, Telegram and Discord all use this pattern: the screen shows a code, your phone scans it, and the browser on that screen is signed in as you. The rule that follows is short. Only ever scan a login code you asked for yourself, on a screen you are looking at. A login code sent to you in a message, or shown by someone who asks you to scan it, is a request to sign a stranger into your account. The [X (Twitter) QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/x-twitter-qr-code) page covers the difference between a profile code and a login code on that platform specifically, since they look the same and do very different things. ## Wi-Fi, Contact and Calendar Codes Do Not Open Anything Not every QR code holds a web address. A QR code stores text, and a handful of conventions tell the phone what to do with particular shapes of that text - join a network, save a contact, add an event. The scan looks identical; what happens afterwards does not. | What the code holds | What the phone offers | What to check first | | --- | --- | --- | | A web address | Open the link | The domain shown in the banner | | Wi-Fi credentials | Join this network | The network name - the password is inside the code in plain text | | A contact card | Add to Contacts | The name and number, before saving | | A calendar event | Add to Calendar | The date and title | | Plain text | Copy, search, or nothing | Nothing - text alone does not act | A Wi-Fi code carries the network password as readable text, which is why a printed guest code should be treated like a printed password. The [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) page covers what a phone does with those credentials and where the format differs between iOS and Android. To hand your own network to a guest, an iPhone can [share the Wi-Fi password as a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone). ## Scanning on a Laptop or Desktop A desktop has no camera pointed at the world, so the file is the input. Save the image and run it through a decoder in the browser - the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads a PNG, JPG or SVG on your own machine and shows the text. For the webcam and built-in routes on Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux, see [how to scan a QR code on a computer](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-a-computer). This is also the right tool for checking your own codes rather than other people's. If a file decodes on a desktop but the printed version of it does not scan from a phone, the fault entered somewhere after the file - the layout, the export, or the press - and not in the code itself. The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) takes the same file and measures why: contrast, quiet zone, module size and symbol version. ## When Nothing Happens: What Is Actually Wrong Almost every failed scan is one of six things, and the order below is the order to try them in. Only the last two are problems with the code rather than with the attempt. | Symptom | Likely cause | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | No banner, code looks fine | The code is too small in frame | Move closer until it fills about a third of the width | | Preview keeps hunting | Focus, not detection | Tap the code on screen to lock focus, then hold still | | Works in daylight, not indoors | Not enough light for a sharp frame | Add light rather than moving closer | | Glare across the middle | A gloss finish or a laminate reflecting the light source | Tilt the code about 15 degrees off the light | | Nothing at any distance | Printed too small, or the quiet zone was trimmed | Measure it - see below | | Some phones read it, others do not | Marginal contrast or a damaged symbol | Run the file through a validator rather than guessing | If it is the code and not the light, [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through the causes in the order they occur, and [the minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) gives the width the code needed in the first place. ## FAQ ### How do I scan a QR code without an app? Open the phone's camera and point it at the code. iPhones have read QR codes in the stock Camera app since iOS 11, and most Android camera apps do the same. Where an Android camera does not, Google Lens is already installed on the phone and does. No third-party scanning app is needed on either platform. ### Why is my iPhone not scanning a QR code? Check Settings, then Camera, and confirm Scan QR Codes is on - it is the only setting involved. If it is on, the usual cause is distance: the code needs to fill about a third of the frame. Tap the code on screen to lock focus, and hold still for a second before giving up on it. ### How do I scan a QR code from a screenshot? Open the screenshot in the phone's photo app and long-press the code, or send the image through Google Lens. On a desktop, upload the file to a decoder that runs in the browser. Pointing the camera at nothing will not work, because there is no code in front of it to photograph. ### How do I scan a QR code that is on my own phone screen? Take a screenshot and decode the screenshot, or point a second device at the screen. A phone camera cannot photograph the display it is attached to. If you use a second device, turn the first screen's brightness up - a dim display loses contrast badly through a camera. ### Is it safe to scan a QR code? Decoding a code is safe in itself: it reads text and does nothing else. The risk starts when you open what it contains, because a QR code hides its destination until it is read. Check the domain in the banner before tapping, and be more suspicious of codes on stickers in public than of codes in print you were handed. ### What happens if I scan a login QR code? The device that displayed the code is signed in as you. WhatsApp Web, X, Telegram and Discord all work this way. Only ever scan a login code you requested yourself, on a screen you are looking at. A login code someone sends you is a request to sign them into your account. ### Can I scan a QR code on a computer? Yes, but from a file rather than a camera. Save the image and run it through a decoder in the browser, which reads the code on your own machine and shows the text it holds. This is also the fastest way to tell whether a code that will not scan in print is broken in the file or broken on the paper. ### Why does a QR code scan on one phone but not another? Usually marginal contrast or a symbol printed near its size limit, not a difference between the phones. Decoders vary in how much of a poor image they will accept, so a code sitting at the edge of readable passes on one and fails on the next. Measure the file rather than testing more phones. ### Do I need to be online to scan a QR code? No. Decoding happens on the phone, so a code containing Wi-Fi credentials, a contact card or plain text works with no connection at all. You need a connection only to open a web address once it has been decoded. --- # Nine Things to Check Before a QR Code Goes to Print URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist Size, module width, resolution, quiet zone, error correction, contrast, finish, proof. The nine numbers a QR code has to clear before the file goes to a printer. Print · 2026-08-24 A printed QR code fails for one of nine reasons, and all nine are checkable before the file leaves your machine. It needs at least 2 cm of width, about 1 cm for every 10 cm of reading distance, modules no smaller than 0.4 mm on coated stock, a quiet zone of four modules on every side, and a contrast ratio around 7:1. The last check is the one nobody does: print it at final size on the real stock and scan it with two different phones. ## Key points - The floor for a printed QR code is 2 × 2 cm. Below that, module edges land inside the tolerance of ordinary printing and scanning becomes a matter of luck rather than distance. - Size from the reading distance: roughly 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm between the code and the reader. A poster read from 3 m needs about 30 cm. - The module is the real limit. Printed modules should be 0.4 mm or larger on coated stock and 0.5 mm or larger on uncoated, whatever the overall width works out to. - The quiet zone is four modules on all four sides, and it is part of the code rather than a margin the layout may borrow. - Design to about 7:1 contrast in print, against 4:1 on screen. Print spends contrast on ink spread, paper reflectance and glare, and a ratio that survives a monitor does not automatically survive a press. - Nine checks and only one of them needs the printer: proof at final size on the real stock. The other eight are done on the file. ## The Nine Checks, in Order Run these in sequence. The order matters because each check constrains the next: the destination sets the symbol version, the version sets the module count, and the module count is what turns a width in centimetres into a module size in millimetres. 1. **Fix the Destination, and Keep It Short.** A static code carries its destination in the pattern, so the URL cannot change after printing. Shorten it before generating: fewer characters means a lower symbol version, which means larger modules at the same printed width. 2. **Set the Width From the Reading Distance.** Divide the scanning distance by ten and never go below 2 cm. Size for the closest realistic reading position rather than the furthest - people walk up to posters, but a code sized for one metre cannot be read from three. 3. **Check the Module Size in Millimetres.** Divide the code's width by the number of modules across it, quiet zone included. Aim for 0.4 mm or more on coated stock and 0.5 mm or more on uncoated. If the number is under the floor, widen the code or shorten the payload. 4. **Export at the Right Resolution, or as Vector.** Vector has no resolution limit and is what a print shop asks for. For raster, 300 DPI at final size, with a whole number of pixels per module so no module edge lands mid-pixel and gets anti-aliased into grey. 5. **Confirm the Quiet Zone Survives the Layout.** Four modules of empty margin on every side. Check it against the artwork rather than the export: a code tucked against a rule, a photograph or the trim edge has lost the margin the exporter gave it. 6. **Pick the Error Correction Level for the Job.** Level M is the sensible default. Go to H only when a logo sits in the centre or the surface will be handled and marked, and accept that H puts more modules in the same width and so needs more of it. 7. **Measure the Contrast, Do Not Judge It.** Dark pattern on a light ground, around 7:1 for print. Light-on-dark works for some decoders and not others, so treat an inverted code as a design decision that has to be tested rather than a neutral choice. 8. **Decide the Finish Before the Stock Is Ordered.** Matte over gloss wherever the code will be read under a light source. Gloss and gloss lamination put a specular highlight across the symbol at exactly the angle people hold a phone. 9. **Proof at Final Size on the Real Stock.** Print one sheet at the size and on the material of the run, and scan it with two different phones in the light the code will actually live in. This is the only check that catches ink spread, and it is the one that gets skipped. ## The Numbers in One Table Everything above as figures, for checking a file against rather than reading through. Each row links to the page that establishes the number. | Check | The figure | Where it comes from | | --- | --- | --- | | Minimum printed width | 2 × 2 cm | Practical floor for ordinary print and phone cameras | | Width from distance | 1 cm per 10 cm of reading distance | Rule of thumb, not a clause of the standard | | Module size, coated stock | 0.4 mm or larger | Ink spread on coated paper | | Module size, uncoated stock | 0.5 mm or larger | Ink spread is worse on absorbent stock | | Raster resolution | 300 DPI at final size | Standard print resolution | | Pixels per module | A whole number | Fractional modules anti-alias into grey edges | | Quiet zone | 4 modules, all four sides | ISO/IEC 18004 | | Error correction, default | Level M, about 15% recovery | ISO/IEC 18004 | | Error correction, with a logo | Level H, about 30% recovery | ISO/IEC 18004 | | Contrast, screen | About 4:1 | Design target, not a decoder threshold | | Contrast, print | About 7:1 | Margin for ink spread, reflectance and glare | | Proof | One sheet, final size, real stock, two phones | The only check that catches the press | The two contrast figures are design targets rather than thresholds any decoder publishes. What a decoder actually accepts is far lower, which is exactly why designing near it is a bad idea. ## Where Each Check Is Explained in Full This page is the sequence. Each of these owns one step of it, and the tools run the arithmetic rather than describing it. - **Size and module width.** [The minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) has the charts by medium and the reason the floor sits where it does. The [QR print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) turns a distance, a payload and a material into a width. - **Resolution and DPI.** [Resolution and DPI](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) has the formula in both directions, and the [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) runs it. - **File format.** [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers which one a printer wants and why the answer is not always vector. - **Quiet zone.** [The quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) explains what the four modules are for and what happens when a layout eats them. - **Error correction.** [Error correction levels](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) covers L, M, Q and H, and the width each one costs. - **Capacity.** [QR code capacity](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity) explains why a longer URL produces a denser symbol, which is the step most size problems actually start at. - **Finish.** [Matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) covers lamination, varnish and the angle glare arrives at. - **Colour.** The [QR contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) gives the ratio for a colour pair before anything is printed. - **The finished file.** The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) measures contrast, quiet zone, module size and symbol version from the export itself, and reports the worst side rather than an average. - **What the code says.** The [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads the destination back out of the exported file, which is the one check a person cannot do by looking. ## What the Checklist Does Not Cover Three things go wrong in printing that no file check will catch, and they are worth knowing about before the run rather than after it. - **Ink spread on the actual press.** Every printing process grows dark areas slightly. How much depends on the press, the ink and the stock, and the only way to know is the proof. - **Substrate colour.** A code printed on kraft, on a coloured carton or on anything other than white starts from a lower contrast than the file suggests, because the light modules are the substrate. - **Curvature and handling.** A code on a bottle, a cup or a folded leaflet is read off a curved or creased surface. Alignment patterns correct for some of that, and beyond a point nothing does - [distorted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) covers where that point sits. If a code passed every check here and still fails on paper, that is the useful outcome: the fault entered after the file, which narrows it to the press, the stock or the placement. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through those in order. ## FAQ ### What is the minimum size for a printed QR code? 2 × 2 cm as a floor, and about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of reading distance beyond that. A menu read at 30 cm needs 3 cm; a poster read at 3 m needs about 30 cm. Whichever of the two numbers is larger is the one to use. ### What DPI should a QR code be for printing? 300 DPI at the size it will be placed, with a whole number of pixels per module. Vector formats have no resolution at all and are the safer answer where the printer accepts them. A high DPI figure means nothing on its own - DPI is a ratio between pixel count and placed size, not a property the file carries. ### How much white space does a QR code need around it? Four modules on every side, which is what ISO/IEC 18004 specifies. That is measured in modules, not millimetres, so the margin grows with the code. It is part of the symbol rather than layout padding, and a design that crops it has changed the code. ### Which error correction level should I use for print? Level M for most printed work, which recovers about 15% of a damaged symbol. Use H, at about 30%, when a logo covers the centre or the surface will be handled, scuffed or exposed to weather. Higher levels put more modules in the same width, so H needs a physically larger code. ### Can I print a QR code in my brand colours? Yes, within limits. Keep the pattern dark and the background near white, and measure the pair rather than judging it - around 7:1 for print. Mid-tone brand colours that look strong on screen frequently land between 2:1 and 4:1, which is where codes scan in the studio and fail on the shelf. ### Should a QR code be printed matte or gloss? Matte, wherever the code will be read under a light source. A gloss finish or gloss lamination puts a specular highlight across part of the symbol at roughly the angle a person holds a phone, and a highlight over a finder pattern stops detection before decoding starts. ### Why did my QR code scan on screen but not in print? Because a screen gives perfect contrast, even light, hard edges and usually a larger code than the printed one. Print spends all four on ink spread, paper reflectance, glare and distance. A code that scans on a monitor has passed an easier test than the one it will face. ### Do I really need to print a proof? For any run large enough to be expensive, yes. Ink spread is a property of the press and the stock, and it is the one variable no file check can measure. One sheet at final size on the real material, scanned with two different phones, costs minutes and is the only test that covers it. ### How small can a QR code be on a business card? 2 cm is the working floor, and a card is read at arm's length so distance does not push it higher. What does push it higher is the payload: a long URL raises the symbol version, which puts more modules in the same 2 cm and takes each one below the 0.4 mm module minimum. --- # Do QR Codes Expire? The Pattern Never Does URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/do-qr-codes-expire A QR code's pattern never expires. Four things behind it can: the destination URL, a provider's redirect, a scan allowance, and the printed surface itself. Basics · 2026-09-01 No. A QR code is a printed pattern, and the QR standard has nowhere to put an expiry date, so a symbol on a menu decodes to the same characters in twenty years as it did the day it was made. Four things behind it can stop working: the destination URL, the provider's redirect that a dynamic code resolves through, a scan allowance on a free plan, and the printed surface itself. Only the last one is visible on the object, which is why the other three are the ones that surprise people. ## Key points - QR codes do not expire. The QR standard defines how characters are encoded into a grid of modules, and there is no field in that grid for a date, an owner or a licence - so no generator can put a shelf life into a symbol even if it wanted to. - A static QR code has nothing to expire. The destination is written into the pattern, no account holds it, and a downloaded file decodes to the same URL on a phone that has never heard of the company that made it. - A dynamic QR code expires exactly as reliably as its subscription. The pattern encodes a short link on the provider's domain, and when the plan behind that link lapses the printed copies stop resolving - Uniqode, for example, states that dynamic codes go inactive when a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, while static codes keep working. - "My QR code expired" almost always means the page behind it died: a domain left to lapse, a campaign URL retired with the campaign, or a site migration that dropped the path. Link rot is the process by which a published address stops resolving because something behind it was retired, moved or switched off, and it is repairable at the web host without touching the print. - Scan allowances are the failure nobody plans for, because the code works when you test it and stops in the middle of the campaign. [QRCodeChimp pauses scans](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-chimp-free) past 1,000 a month on its free plan; QR Planet's free account allows 100 scans a day. [Unitag's free code](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) stops for good at 100 scans in total; [the Unitag comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-unitag) has the detail. - A printed code can wear out even though it cannot expire. Thermal receipt paper fades, outdoor stickers chalk in UV, and a laminated menu picks up scratches that scatter light across the finder patterns - all of which is a reprint, not an expiry. ## Four Different Things People Call an Expired QR Code "The QR code expired" is a description of a symptom, not of a cause, and the four causes behind it need four different fixes. Three of them are repaired without touching the printed material; one of them is a reprint. Working out which one you are looking at takes a minute and decides everything that follows. | What actually failed | What a scan does | Whose decision it was | How it is fixed | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The destination URL | Opens a 404, a parked domain, or somebody else's page | Yours, usually by accident | At the web host or the registrar, without reprinting | | The provider's redirect, on a dynamic code | Opens the provider's error page, an upgrade prompt, or nothing | The provider's, or your billing | By restoring the plan - otherwise by reprinting | | A scan allowance or free-tier cap | Works for the first people who scan it and not the rest | The provider's pricing | By upgrading, or by reprinting a static code | | The printed surface | The camera never detects a code at all, at any distance | Nobody's - ink, sun, water and handling | Reprint, on a more suitable material | The second and third rows only exist for dynamic codes. A static code has no account, no redirect and no allowance, which removes three of the four failure modes and leaves the two that belong to the web and to the printer. Notice which column the interesting information is in. Two of the four failures are somebody else's decision arriving on your printed material without notice, and neither of them changes anything a customer can see on the object. The code looks exactly as it did the day it was printed, which is what makes the phone call about it so confusing. ## The Symbol Has Nowhere to Put an Expiry Date A QR code encodes characters and nothing else. The standard, ISO/IEC 18004, describes how text is turned into a grid of light and dark modules, how that grid carries error correction, and how a decoder finds and reads it - and it defines no field for a creation date, an expiry date, an account, a licence or an owner. There is nowhere for a shelf life to live. That is why the answer is the same whichever generator made the code. 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. Any tool that hands you a static file has handed you something with no dependency: the file decodes offline, on an aeroplane, on a phone in a country where the company that made it has never operated. What people are remembering when they expect an expiry date is a free trial. Several platforms give away dynamic codes on a trial, and a trial does end - but what ends is an account on a service, not a property of the symbol. The distinction matters because it tells you what to check: never the code, always the thing the code points at. One consequence is worth stating plainly, because it cuts the other way. A static code cannot be switched off, which also means it cannot be recalled. If a printed code points somewhere you would rather it did not, the only remedies are changing what is served at that address or collecting the printed material back in. ## A Dynamic Code Expires Because Its Redirect 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. The pattern therefore contains a hostname you do not own, and that hostname keeps resolving for exactly as long as somebody keeps paying for it. This is the one case where "the QR code expired" is a fair description of what happened. The vendors document what lapsing does, and the answers differ enough to be worth reading before choosing one. These are statements the vendors published, verified for this site's comparison pages in July and August 2026 - policy pages move, so confirm the current wording before relying on any of them. - **The codes go inactive.** Uniqode states that dynamic codes become inactive once a free trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, and that static codes continue to work. [The Uniqode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) has the full picture. - **Some codes survive and some do not.** QRCodeChimp pauses scans once the free plan's 1,000 monthly scans are used, and a lapsed paid account keeps only the ten most recent dynamic codes active - so which of your printed codes survives depends on the order they were created in. - **The allowance runs out mid-campaign.** Pageloot counts scans per year, 15,000 on Starter through 250,000 on Pro, and QR Planet's free account allows 100 scans a day. A campaign spends an allowance in bursts, so the tier that matters is the one covering the peak week rather than the yearly average. - **The link is deleted rather than expired.** Bitly's support documentation states that a deleted link and any QR codes attached to it are removed permanently and cannot be recovered, and that anyone scanning afterwards lands on a Bitly error page. - **Something is inserted in front of your page.** ME-QR's free dynamic codes display advertising between the scan and the destination. The code still resolves, which is why this one never shows up in testing - you see your own page, and the customer sees an advertisement first. The structural version of this is not about any one vendor's reliability. Google retired its own URL shortener: its developers blog stated that goo.gl links "will no longer return a response after August 25th, 2025", a plan later narrowed to links that had shown no activity in late 2024. Anyone who had printed a goo.gl code received an announcement they had no part in and a deadline they could not act on, because the address was in ink. [What a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) works through what that costs over the life of a printed object. If reading this has turned the question from "will my code die" into "which kind should I have printed", that is a different question with a different answer - [static or dynamic, decided before anything is printed](https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes) takes it from the top. ## Do Canva, QRCode Monkey or Bitly Codes Expire? The brand-level version of the question has a brand-independent answer: a code expires if and only if the tool made it dynamic. What varies between vendors is which kind of code you got, and whether you were told which kind it was. - **QRCode Monkey.** No. Its codes are static and it says so plainly - they "do not expire and will work forever", with no cap on scans. [Whether QRCode Monkey is really free](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free) covers what that does and does not include. - **Canva.** Canva makes two kinds of QR code, Static QR codes and Dynamic QR codes, and both are available on every plan, including Free. Canva's help centre states that a code never expires unless an expiry date is set, which only Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit accounts can do. A dynamic Canva code - the one with the Canva logo in the middle on Free, Pro and Education - still stops working if its owner deletes it, so check which kind you made rather than assuming, and see [the Canva comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-canva) for what the export gives you. [Do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire) goes through every way a Canva code can stop working. - **Bitly.** A bit.ly QR code is a dynamic code by construction: the pattern encodes a bit.ly link. Bitly states that bit.ly links keep resolving if you downgrade or the account is deleted for inactivity, and that a link you delete yourself takes its QR codes with it permanently. - **Any generator that asked you to create an account before downloading.** That is the tell worth knowing. An account is where a dynamic code's destination is stored, and a tool that hands over a file without one has nothing to store - though several account-based tools make static codes too, so it is a hint rather than a proof. The reliable way to settle it for a code you already have is to read the code rather than the marketing. Decode the file and look at the URL inside: if it is your own address, the code is static and permanent; if it is a short link on somebody else's domain, everything about its future belongs to them. [The QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads a file back and shows you the string. ## How Long a Printed QR Code Lasts on the Object A printed QR code lasts as long as the contrast between its dark and light modules survives, which is a property of the ink, the substrate and the environment rather than of the code. This is the only sense in which a QR code has a lifespan, and it is the one the software vendors never write about, because the failure happens on paper rather than in an account. Four things end a printed code, and each has a substrate it happens on first: - **Thermal paper fades.** Receipts, ticket stubs and label-printer output darken and then bleach with heat, sunlight and time. A code on a receipt is a code with a service life of weeks in a warm car. - **UV chalks outdoor ink.** Stickers, window decals and vehicle graphics lose density from the sun, and the dark modules lighten before the substrate does - which narrows contrast from the side that matters. - **Handling abrades the surface.** A menu, a loyalty card or a hang tag picks up scratches, and a scratched gloss laminate scatters light across the symbol at the angle a phone is held. [Matte vs gloss printing](https://koloqr.com/guides/matte-vs-gloss-qr-code-printing) covers which finish survives handling and which one only looks like it will. - **Water and grease change the substrate.** Anything on a table absorbs oil, and an absorbed light module is no longer a light module. Lamination fixes this and introduces the glare problem in the same step. Error correction buys some margin here rather than immunity. Level M recovers roughly 15% of a damaged symbol and level H roughly 30%, which is what lets a scuffed code keep reading - but that budget is also spent by anything else damaging the symbol, and it does nothing for a code whose contrast has fallen uniformly across the whole surface. The test worth running is one nobody suggests: rescan the oldest printed copy you still have, with an ordinary phone, in the light the code actually lives in. It costs nothing, it is the only measurement of how your ink behaves on your substrate in your environment, and it turns the reprint from a surprise into a scheduled item. Before the next run, [the print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) covers the nine numbers that decide how much margin the new one starts with. ## Work Out Which of the Four Actually Failed Run these in order on a code that has stopped working. The order matters because each step rules out a whole class of cause: the first two separate a code problem from a web problem, and the third separates a problem you can fix from one that belongs to a provider. 1. **Scan the Original File, Not the Printed Copy.** Open the exported PNG or SVG on a screen and scan it, or decode it with a scanner tool. If the file scans and the print does not, the symbol is fine and the fault is physical - stop here and go to the print checks. If neither scans, the fault is in the destination or the redirect. 2. **Read the URL Out of the Code and Look at It.** Decode the code and inspect the string. Your own domain means a static code and a web problem you own. A short link on a provider's domain means a dynamic code, and everything after this step belongs to that provider. 3. **Open That Exact URL in a Browser.** Paste the decoded string into a browser rather than searching for the page. A 404, a parked domain or a redirect to somebody else's site is link rot, and it is repaired at the host or the registrar without touching the print. 4. **Check the Account Behind a Dynamic Code.** For a provider's short link, sign in and look for an expired trial, a cancelled plan, a failed payment, a deleted link, or a scan allowance that has been reached. If the code works for you and not for customers, the allowance is the first suspect. 5. **Inspect the Printed Copy Against a Fresh One.** Print the same code again on office paper and scan both side by side. If the new one reads and the old one does not, the print has degraded - faded, scuffed, greased or bleached - and the answer is a reprint rather than anything in software. If the code never worked at all, this is the wrong page: nothing expired, and the fault is in the size, the contrast, the quiet zone or the destination as it was first generated. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through those in order. ## How to Print a Code That Cannot Be Switched Off The arrangement that removes every failure in the table except the printed one is a static code pointed at a short path on a domain you own, with that path configured to redirect to the real destination. The pattern is permanent, the destination stays editable in a hosting panel, and no account can lapse underneath it - the only dependency left is a domain registration you control. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, makes static codes only, which is why it can say the codes never expire without qualifying it: there is no account holding the destination, no redirect to keep alive and nothing to cancel. [The generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG without a signup. It is also why it cannot count scans or re-point a printed code - that is the trade, and it is the whole trade. - **Encode a path you control, not the final page.** Something like example.com/menu, short and meaningless. A path named after this year's campaign becomes a lie next year, and the pattern cannot be corrected once it is printed. - **Register the domain for longer than the print run.** The dependency has moved to something you own, and something you own can still be forgotten. Auto-renew, on a card that outlives the sign. - **Print a short readable URL beside the code.** It rescues the print run if anything in the chain fails, and it serves everyone whose camera does not cooperate. This is the cheapest insurance on the artwork. - **Keep a list of which printed code points where.** Two lines per code in a spreadsheet. It is what turns "a customer says the sticker is broken" into a five-minute fix instead of an investigation. - **Diary the reprint for anything outdoors or handled.** Codes on stickers, receipts and menus are consumables. Deciding that in advance is cheaper than discovering it from a customer. None of this makes a dynamic platform a mistake. It makes the expiry question answerable in advance: a static code fails only when the web address behind it does or when the paper wears out, and both of those are yours to manage rather than somebody else's to announce. ## FAQ ### Do QR codes expire? No. The QR standard has no field for a date, an owner or a licence, so the symbol itself has no shelf life and decodes to the same characters forever. What can expire is the service a dynamic code redirects through, or the web page any code points at. A static code has neither of those dependencies. ### How long do QR codes last? The pattern lasts indefinitely; the printed copy lasts as long as its contrast does. A code on coated card indoors will outlive the campaign it was made for. A code on thermal receipt paper can fade in weeks in a warm car, and an outdoor sticker loses ink density to UV. Rescan the oldest copy you have to find out where yours sits. ### Why did my QR code stop working? Nearly always because the page behind it moved or was deleted, not because the code changed. Decode the code, paste the URL it contains into a browser, and see what answers. A 404 or a parked domain is a web fix. A provider's error page means a dynamic code whose plan has lapsed. ### Do free QR codes expire? Free static codes do not - there is no account behind them to end. Free dynamic codes usually do, in one of two ways: the trial ends, or a scan allowance is reached. QRCodeChimp pauses scans past 1,000 a month on its free plan and QR Planet allows 100 a day, so a free dynamic code can stop mid-campaign while looking fine. ### Do QR codes expire after a certain number of scans? The symbol has no scan counter, so a static code has no limit at all. Dynamic codes are limited by whatever the plan allows, because every scan passes through the provider's redirect and is counted there. Check the allowance and the period it resets on before printing anything in quantity. ### Do Canva QR codes expire? Not by default. Canva makes static and dynamic QR codes on every plan, including Free, and its help centre states that a code never expires unless an expiry date is set - an option only on Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit. A dynamic Canva code, recognisable by the Canva logo in the middle on lower plans, still stops if its owner deletes it. A code from Adobe Express's quick action is static in the same way and never expires; [the Adobe Express comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-adobe-express) covers it. ### Can someone else make my QR code stop working? Yes, in two ways, and neither touches the code. A dynamic code's provider can retire the service or deactivate the account, as Google did with its own URL shortener. And a domain you let lapse can be registered by somebody else, at which point your printed code points at their page rather than nowhere. ### Can an expired QR code be reactivated? If the redirect lapsed, restoring the plan usually restores the printed codes - confirm with the provider, since some restore only the most recent codes. If the destination died, republishing anything at that exact URL fixes every printed copy at once. If the print has faded, nothing in software helps and the answer is a reprint. ### Is there a QR code generator that doesn't expire? Any generator that gives you a static file makes codes that cannot expire, because the destination is inside the pattern rather than in an account. The question to ask a tool is not whether its codes expire but whether they are static - and whether you can download one without creating an account, which is usually the same question. --- # Static or Dynamic? Decide It Before Anything Is Printed URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes A static code stores the destination in the pattern; a dynamic one stores a provider's short link and redirects. Four questions that settle which one to print. Basics · 2026-08-31 A static QR code stores the destination inside the pattern. A dynamic QR code stores a short link on the provider's domain and redirects from there. Everything else - the cost, the analytics, the editability, the way each one fails - follows from that single difference. Choose dynamic when the destination is not settled, when scans must be counted per code, or when a standard or a client requires it. Choose static when the destination is fixed, and point it at a path on a domain you own if you want to keep the option of changing it later. ## Key points - The only real difference is where the destination lives. A static QR code stores it in the pattern; a dynamic one stores a short link on the provider's domain and looks the destination up at scan time. Every other difference is a consequence of that one. - Dynamic buys two things worth paying for: the destination can be changed after printing, and scans can be counted per code, per place and per day. Both are real, and neither is available from a static code at any price. - Dynamic costs two things worth counting: a subscription for as long as the printed object is in service, and a hostname in your ink that belongs to somebody else. A $9-a-month plan behind a sign that stays up six years is $648 of redirect. - A dynamic code's payload is short, which makes the symbol physically coarser and more forgiving at the same printed size. This is the one technical advantage dynamic codes genuinely have, and it is usually left out of the sales argument in favour of editability. - The third option most comparisons skip: a static code pointed at a short path on a domain you own, redirecting to the real page. The destination stays editable, the pattern is permanent, and no account can lapse under it. - Decide by the object, not by the feature list. Long-lived print with a fixed destination wants static. Short-lived print in quantity, measured per code, is what a platform is for. ## What the Two Words Actually Mean 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. Scan it and the phone reads characters straight out of the grid - a URL, a phone number, a Wi-Fi credential - and acts on them. Nothing is looked up, nothing is counted, and the code works on a phone with no connection to anything but the network it is about to open. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link belonging to the provider, which redirects to wherever you currently point it. The pattern holds something like qr.example/aB3xK, the provider's server answers that request with a redirect, and the phone follows it to your page. The destination is a setting in an account rather than a property of the code. Both are ordinary QR codes as far as the standard is concerned. There is no "dynamic" flag in ISO/IEC 18004, no special symbol type and nothing a camera does differently - the difference is entirely in what the encoded characters point at. This is why no scanner app can tell you which kind a code is, and why decoding one and reading the URL is the only reliable test. The word that causes the trouble is "editable". A dynamic code is not editable; the pattern is as fixed as any other printed thing. What is editable is the row in the provider's database that the pattern's short link resolves to. That distinction is the whole subject of this page, because it is what determines who has to keep paying and what breaks when they stop. ## Static vs Dynamic, Row by Row Every row below follows from where the destination is stored. Read it as a list of consequences rather than as a feature comparison - there is no row here that a vendor could change by shipping something. | | Static QR code | Dynamic QR code | | --- | --- | --- | | Where the destination is stored | In the printed pattern | In the provider's account, behind a short link in the pattern | | Change the destination after printing | No | Yes, while the account is active | | Ongoing cost | None | A subscription, for as long as the print is in service | | Account needed to make one | No | Yes | | Scan analytics | None from the code; a redirect on your own domain gives totals | Per code, usually with date, place and device | | Characters in the pattern | The whole destination, however long it is | Around 20 to 25, whatever the destination | | Module width at the same printed size | Narrower as the URL grows | Wider, so more forgiving at distance | | Scan limits | None | Whatever the plan allows | | If the provider shuts down | Nothing happens | Every printed copy stops resolving | | Who owns the hostname in the ink | You, if you encoded your own address | The provider | | Works with no network at the moment of scan | The code decodes; the page still needs a network | Neither the redirect nor the page resolves | The last three rows are the ones that rarely appear on a vendor's comparison table, and they are the rows that decide the question for anything printed once and left in place for years. ## Four Questions That Settle It Answer these four in order and the decision usually makes itself before the fourth. They are deliberately about the printed object and the campaign rather than about the codes, because that is where all four answers actually come from. 1. **Is the destination settled?** If the page does not exist yet, or the link is certain to move - a seasonal menu, an event site not yet built - a fixed pattern pointing at it is a liability. Choose dynamic, or a redirect on your own domain, and stop reading here. 2. **Do scans have to be counted per code?** Twenty table tents each reporting separately, or a campaign attributed by city and device, needs a platform. If a single total from your web analytics is enough, this question does not push you anywhere. 3. **How long will the printed thing be in service, and how many are there?** Multiply the monthly fee by the months. A subscription spread over 5,000 flyers is a few cents each and obviously worth it; the same subscription behind one sign above one door is the entire cost, carried indefinitely, for a link that has not changed since it went up. 4. **Who needs to own the address in year six?** The pattern contains a hostname and that hostname cannot be edited on printed material. If the object outlives ordinary vendor relationships - a plaque, a shopfront, a vehicle - the name in the ink should be one you registered. If the answers point in different directions, the third question is the tie-break, because it is the one that converts a preference into a number. [What a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) runs that arithmetic against realistic service lives, with the vendors' own prices from July and August 2026. ## Where a Dynamic Code Earns Its Subscription Buy a dynamic platform when the destination is genuinely unknown at print time, when scans must be attributed per code, or when a standard or a client requires it. In those three cases a static code is not the cheaper option - it is the wrong tool, and the fee is part of the campaign budget rather than an alternative to it. - **The destination will change, and the print will not.** Ten thousand flyers for an event whose landing page is not built, or a menu that moves four times a year. Paying to keep re-pointing possible is a straightforward purchase. - **The measurement is the point.** Per-code, per-location, per-hour reporting is a platform feature. A redirect on your own domain gives you totals and nothing finer without building it yourself. - **Something external requires it.** GS1 Digital Link on packaging, password-protected destinations, team seats with an audit trail, or a client who expects a monthly report. No free static tool substitutes for any of them. - **One code has to route people differently.** Sending iOS to one app store and Android to another, or routing by country, happens at the redirect. A static code says one thing to everybody. ### The Technical Advantage Nobody Sells A dynamic code's payload is short, and a short payload produces a physically coarser symbol at the same printed size. Around 25 characters fits in a version 2 symbol at error correction level M - a 25 x 25 grid, so 1.00 mm modules on a 25 mm code. A 92-character tracking URL needs version 6, a 41 x 41 grid, and 0.61 mm modules at that same width. Module width is what a camera loses first at distance or in poor light, so the short link is genuinely the more reliable print. That advantage belongs to short links rather than to rented ones. A path on your own domain is short too, and [QR code capacity](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity) has the full tables for working out what your own URL costs in modules before anything is printed. ## Where a Static Code Is the Better Buy Choose static when the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, when the object will outlive a subscription decision, or when nobody is going to read the analytics. That covers most printed QR codes, and it is the case the industry writes least about because there is nothing to sell alongside it. - **Business cards, plaques, packaging with a permanent address.** The destination has not changed in five years and will not. Encoding it directly removes every dependency at once. - **Anything nobody will maintain.** A code on a community noticeboard, a trailhead sign or a printed manual outlives the person who commissioned it. A static code keeps working with nobody minding it; a subscription does not. - **Wi-Fi, phone, email and contact codes.** These have no destination to redirect to - the payload is the content. A dynamic code adds a round trip through a server for something the phone can act on directly. - **Anything scanned where the network is poor.** A static code decodes offline, so a phone can capture a phone number or a Wi-Fi credential with no signal at all. A dynamic code needs the redirect to answer before anything happens. - **Print runs where the fee outweighs the risk.** One sign, one menu board, one window decal. The realistic cost of being wrong is a reprint; the cost of the subscription is every month for as long as it is up. ## The Third Option Most Comparisons Leave Out Point a static QR code at a short path on a domain you own - example.com/menu - and configure that path to redirect to the real destination. The printed pattern never changes, the destination stays editable in a hosting panel, and the arrangement survives changing generators, platforms and web hosts, because the only thing the ink commits you to is a name on your own registration. This is not a workaround. It is the arrangement a dynamic platform would sell you if the custom domain were not the premium tier, and it answers the first question in the list above without answering the fourth one badly. Use a 302 rather than a 301 for a destination you intend to change: RFC 9110 section 15.4.2 states that a 301 response is heuristically cacheable, and browsers do cache them persistently. What it does not give you is per-code attribution, conditional routing, or a dashboard - and it moves rather than removes the dependency, because a lapsed domain fails exactly as badly as a lapsed subscription. The six-step version, with the DNS and testing detail, is in [the subscription piece](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## How Each Kind Fails, Which Is the Part to Plan For A static code fails when the page behind it dies or the print wears out. A dynamic code fails for both of those reasons plus three more: the plan lapses, the scan allowance is reached, or the provider retires the service. Choosing between them is partly choosing which list of failures you would rather be responsible for. The dynamic failures are documented by the vendors themselves. Uniqode states that dynamic codes go inactive once a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, while static codes keep working - [the Uniqode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) has the detail. Bitly states that deleting a link removes the QR codes attached to it permanently. [Do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire) works through the same failure list for a code made inside a design tool. Google retired its own URL shortener, which is the reminder that this is a strategy risk rather than a solvency one, and that a bigger vendor does not reduce it. None of that makes the printed object look any different, which is the expensive part: a customer holding a phone in front of a lapsed code sees an error page carrying a company name they have never heard of, and concludes that the business is careless or closed. [What stops working when a QR code "expires"](https://koloqr.com/guides/do-qr-codes-expire) separates the four causes and covers what to check when a printed code stops working. The mitigation that costs nothing, whichever kind you print: a short readable URL beside the code. It rescues the run if the chain ever breaks, and it serves everyone whose camera does not cooperate - a QR code should be the fast path to the content, never the only path. ## What KoloQR Makes, and What It Does Not KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, makes static codes and exports them as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG with no account. The destination is encoded directly into the symbol, so nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and there is no plan to keep alive. [The generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) is on the homepage and needs no signup. It follows that KoloQR cannot re-point a printed code or report on scans, and if either of those is what the job needs, a dynamic platform is the right purchase rather than a compromise. [The QR Tiger comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrtiger) is the clearest example of that trade written out on this site: a subscription platform against a free static generator, with the cases each one wins named on both sides. The recommendation this site actually makes is the one in the section above: a static code aimed at a path on a domain you own. It keeps the editability that people buy dynamic codes for, and it keeps the permanence that printed material needs, and the reason it is not the industry's default recommendation is that nobody can charge a monthly fee for it. ## FAQ ### What is the difference between a static and a dynamic QR code? Where the destination is stored. A static code holds it inside the printed pattern, so the scan goes straight to it. A dynamic code holds a short link on the provider's domain, and the provider's server redirects the scan to whatever destination the account currently names. Everything else - cost, analytics, editability, expiry - follows from that. ### Which should I use for a restaurant menu? Whichever matches how often the link changes. A menu URL that stays put works as a static code with nothing to maintain. A menu that moves seasonally wants an editable destination - either a dynamic code, or a static code pointed at yourdomain.com/menu with a redirect you control, which costs nothing per month. ### Are dynamic QR codes worth it? They are worth it in three situations: the destination is not settled at print time, scans have to be counted per code, or a standard or client requires the platform. Outside those, you are paying monthly to keep a hostname resolving that could have been your own domain instead. Multiply the fee by the years the print stays up before deciding. ### Can I convert a static QR code to a dynamic one? Not after printing. The pattern encodes the destination, and changing what the pattern says means generating a new code and reprinting everything that carries it. What you can do without reprinting is change what is served at the URL the static code already points to, which is why encoding a path on your own domain is worth doing at the outset. ### Do dynamic QR codes scan better than static ones? Slightly, and only because the payload is shorter. Around 25 characters fits in a 25 x 25 grid, giving 1.00 mm modules on a 25 mm code, where a 92-character tracking URL needs a 41 x 41 grid and 0.61 mm modules at the same width. Wider modules survive distance and poor light better. A short URL on your own domain gets the same benefit. ### Do I need an account for a dynamic QR code? Yes, always. The destination is a record in the provider's system, so there has to be a system and an account holding it. That is also the tell for a code you have been handed: if it was downloaded without any signup, it is almost certainly static. ### Can I track scans on a static QR code? Not from the code, but from the page. Point the code at a URL on your own site and your existing web analytics will count the visits, including a distinct path per printed placement if you create one. What you will not get is a scan separated from a click, or a breakdown by device and city without building it. ### What happens to a dynamic QR code if I stop paying? It depends on the provider, and the answer is worth finding in writing before printing. Uniqode states that dynamic codes go inactive when a subscription is cancelled while static codes keep working. Others pause scans at an allowance, or keep only the most recent codes active. Ask what happens on the day you stop paying, and take the answer from the documentation. ### Which kind of QR code does KoloQR make? Static. The destination is encoded in the pattern, the file is exported as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG, and no account is involved - so there is nothing to expire and nothing to cancel. It also means the destination cannot be changed after printing and scans are not counted, which is the trade a static generator makes. --- # How to Scan a QR Code on an iPhone, From the Camera or From a Photo URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone Open Camera, point it at the QR code, tap the yellow link. Also: scan a code from a photo or screenshot, in Safari, and fix an iPhone that will not scan. Basics · 2026-09-18 Open the Camera app, point the rear camera at the QR code, and tap the yellow link that appears. Every iPhone running iOS 11 or later does this with no app installed. An iPhone can also read a QR code from a saved photo or screenshot, from an image inside Safari or Messages, and from the Code Scanner control in Control Centre - each route is below, followed by what to check when an iPhone will not scan. ## Key points - An iPhone needs no app to scan a QR code. The stock Camera app has read QR codes since iOS 11, which covers the iPhone 5s and every model released after it. - A QR code should fill about a third of the iPhone viewfinder. A code that is too small in the frame is the most common reason no link appears. - An iPhone reads a QR code from a saved photo or screenshot. Open the image in Photos and touch and hold the code; this uses Live Text, which needs an iPhone XS or later and iOS 15 or later. - A QR code shown inside Safari, Messages or Mail on the same iPhone can be opened by touching and holding the image. No second device is needed. - If the iPhone Camera ignores every QR code, check Settings, then Camera, then Scan QR Codes. That switch is the only setting that controls QR detection in the Camera app. ## How to Scan a QR Code With the iPhone Camera Open the Camera app in Photo mode, point the rear camera at the QR code, and tap the yellow link label that appears on screen. The iPhone Camera app detects QR codes automatically on iOS 11 or later, so there is no scanning mode to switch on and no shutter button to press. 1. **Open the Camera App in Photo Mode.** Swipe left on the Lock Screen or tap the Camera icon. Stay in Photo mode and use the rear camera, which focuses closer than the front one. 2. **Frame the QR Code at About a Third of the Screen Width.** Move the iPhone closer or further away until the QR code takes up roughly a third of the viewfinder. The whole code, including its white margin, has to be inside the frame. 3. **Hold Still Until the Yellow Link Appears.** Detection needs one sharp frame, which usually takes about a second. If the preview keeps hunting for focus, tap the QR code on screen to lock focus on it. 4. **Read the Domain, Then Tap the Link.** The yellow label shows the web domain the QR code points to. Tapping it opens the address in Safari, or offers the matching action for a Wi-Fi, contact or calendar code. The position of the link depends on the iOS version. Current versions of iOS draw a yellow label close to the QR code inside the viewfinder, with a small QR icon in the corner of the screen; older versions showed a notification banner at the top of the screen instead. Both do the same thing when tapped. An iPhone does not need to take a picture of a QR code. Pressing the shutter only saves a photo of the code to the library - which still works, because the saved photo can be read later through Photos, but it is the slow route. ## Every Built-In Way to Scan a QR Code on an iPhone An iPhone has four built-in QR code readers, and the right one depends on where the QR code is: in front of the phone, in the photo library, or on the iPhone's own screen. None of the four requires a download. | Where the QR code is | What to use | How to open it | | --- | --- | --- | | Printed, or on another screen | Camera app | Open Camera in Photo mode and point the rear camera at the code | | Printed, in poor light or several in a row | Code Scanner | Open Control Centre and tap the Code Scanner control, which has its own torch button | | In a saved photo or screenshot | Photos with Live Text | Open the image in Photos, then touch and hold the code | | On a web page, in a message or in an email on the same iPhone | Touch and hold | Touch and hold the image of the code and choose the open option | All four readers decode the same QR codes. The difference is where the code has to be, not which codes are supported. ## How to Add the Code Scanner to Control Centre Code Scanner is the QR code reader built into iOS that opens from Control Centre or from a search, separately from the Camera app. Add it once and a QR scanner is one swipe and one tap away from any screen, including the Lock Screen. 1. **On iOS 18 or later:** open Control Centre, touch and hold an empty area until the controls start to edit, tap Add a Control, and search for Scan Code. 2. **On iOS 17 or earlier:** open Settings, tap Control Centre, and tap the green plus button beside Code Scanner. 3. **On any version, without adding anything:** swipe down on the Home Screen to open search, type Code Scanner, and tap the result. Code Scanner differs from the Camera app in three ways that matter in practice. Code Scanner has a torch button inside the scanning view, so a QR code on a dim menu or a dark poster can be lit without leaving the scanner. Code Scanner opens a scanned web address immediately instead of waiting for a tap. And Code Scanner shows the page in its own browser sheet rather than in Safari, so the page closes with the scanner - use the Safari button on that sheet to keep the page open. Because Code Scanner opens a link without a confirmation tap, the Camera app is the better choice for a QR code from an unknown source. The Camera app shows the domain first and opens nothing until the label is tapped. ## How to Scan a QR Code From a Photo or Screenshot on an iPhone Open the photo or screenshot in the Photos app, then touch and hold the QR code inside the image. A menu appears with the decoded link and an option to open it. This works through Live Text, which needs an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later and iOS 15 or later. Live Text is the iOS feature that recognises text and QR codes inside photos, screenshots and the camera view. When Photos detects something readable, a Live Text button - a small square with lines of text in it - appears in the corner of the image. Tapping that button highlights everything Photos found, including the QR code. 1. Take the screenshot, or save the image that contains the QR code to Photos. 2. Open the image in Photos and zoom in if the QR code is small in the picture. 3. Touch and hold the QR code until the menu appears. 4. Read the address shown at the top of the menu, then choose the option to open it in Safari. If nothing happens on a touch and hold, check Settings, then General, then Language & Region, and confirm that Live Text is switched on. If the iPhone is older than an iPhone XS, Live Text is not available at all, and the image needs a decoder instead: upload the screenshot to the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), which reads the file in the browser on the iPhone itself and shows the decoded text. A decoder that prints the text has one advantage over a touch and hold, even on a new iPhone. A touch and hold offers a link to tap; a decoder shows the full address as plain text, which is the safer way to inspect a QR code that arrived from a stranger. [Scanning a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image) covers the same job on any device. ## How to Scan a QR Code That Is on Your iPhone Screen Touch and hold the image of the QR code. In Safari, Messages and Mail, an iPhone recognises a QR code inside an image and offers to open its link, so a QR code on the iPhone's own screen does not need a second phone to photograph it. Where a touch and hold does nothing - inside some third-party apps, a video, or a PDF viewer - take a screenshot instead. Press the side button and the volume up button together, then open the screenshot in Photos and touch and hold the QR code there. A QR code shown on a laptop, a TV or another phone is a different case and needs nothing special: point the iPhone Camera at the other screen. Turn the other screen's brightness up first, because a dim display loses contrast quickly when photographed. With no phone to hand, [scanning a QR code on a computer](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-a-computer) is covered separately. ## Which iPhones Can Scan a QR Code Without an App Every iPhone that runs iOS 11 or later scans QR codes in the Camera app, which means the iPhone 5s, released in 2013, and every model since. An iPhone 5, iPhone 5c or older cannot update to iOS 11 and needs a third-party scanner app or a browser-based decoder. | Feature | Minimum iOS | Minimum iPhone | | --- | --- | --- | | QR scanning in the Camera app | iOS 11 | iPhone 5s | | Code Scanner in Control Centre | iOS 12 | iPhone 5s | | QR codes in saved photos and screenshots (Live Text) | iOS 15 | iPhone XS or iPhone XR | To check the installed version, open Settings, then General, then About, and read the iOS Version line. ## Why an iPhone Will Not Scan a QR Code An iPhone that will not scan a QR code is almost always too far from the code, out of focus, or has Scan QR Codes switched off in Settings. Work through the table in order; only the last two rows are faults in the QR code rather than in the attempt. | Symptom | Likely cause | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | No yellow link on any QR code | Scan QR Codes is switched off | Open Settings, then Camera, and switch on Scan QR Codes | | No yellow link, setting is on | Camera is in the wrong mode | Switch to Photo mode, which is the mode that reliably detects QR codes | | Code looks sharp but nothing appears | The code is too small in the frame | Move closer until the code fills about a third of the width | | Preview is blurred at close range | The lens cannot focus that near | Pull back about 15 cm and tap the code to refocus; on Pro models, let the camera switch to macro | | Works outdoors, fails indoors | Too little light for a sharp frame | Use Code Scanner and switch on its torch | | Glare across the code | Gloss paper or a laminate reflecting a light | Tilt the iPhone or the code about 15 degrees | | Fails at every distance, on every phone | Printed too small, low contrast, or the white margin was trimmed | The code is at fault - see the guide linked below | A smudged lens is worth ruling out early. An iPhone lens carried in a pocket picks up a film of grease that softens fine detail, and a QR code is nothing but fine detail. Wipe the lens with a soft cloth before concluding that the code is broken. When the QR code fails on every phone and not just one iPhone, the problem is in the code. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) covers the causes in the order they occur, from size and contrast to a trimmed quiet zone. ## What an iPhone Does After Scanning Each Type of QR Code An iPhone chooses the action from the text stored in the QR code, so the same scan can open Safari, join a network or create a contact. The yellow label names the action before anything happens, which is the moment to check it. | What the QR code holds | What the iPhone offers | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | A web address | Open in Safari | The label shows the domain only, not the full path | | Wi-Fi credentials | Join the network | The iPhone joins without showing the password on screen | | A contact card | Add to Contacts | A preview opens first; nothing is saved until confirmed | | A calendar event | Add to Calendar | A preview opens first, with the date and title | | A phone number, SMS or email | Start a call, message or email | The draft opens; nothing is sent automatically | | An App Clip code or App Store link | Open the App Clip or the App Store page | An App Clip runs without a full install | Three related topics sit outside this page. The [general guide to scanning a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) covers checking a link for quishing and the separate rule for login codes such as WhatsApp Web, and [how to scan a QR code with an Android phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android) covers the same routes for the other platform. The [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) page covers what is stored in a network code and how to make one, and [how to share a Wi-Fi password from an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone) covers the reverse direction. ## Does an iPhone Need a QR Scanner App? No. An iPhone on iOS 11 or later reads standard QR codes in the Camera app, and a third-party scanner adds nothing for ordinary links, Wi-Fi codes and contact cards. App Store scanner apps commonly carry adverts or a subscription for a function that iOS already includes. A separate app is justified in three narrow cases: an iPhone too old for iOS 11, a need to keep a searchable history of scans, or scanning of retail barcode formats in bulk for stock-taking. For a one-off scan on an old iPhone, a decoder that runs in Safari avoids installing anything. ## FAQ ### Where Is the QR Code Scanner on an iPhone? The QR code scanner on an iPhone is the Camera app itself - there is no separate icon on the Home Screen. A second reader called Code Scanner is hidden until it is added to Control Centre or found by searching for Code Scanner from the Home Screen. Both are part of iOS and need no download. ### How Do I Turn On QR Code Scanning on an iPhone? Open Settings, tap Camera, and switch on Scan QR Codes. The setting is on by default, so it only needs attention if the Camera app ignores every QR code. Code Scanner in Control Centre is not affected by this switch and keeps working even when it is off. ### Can an iPhone Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot? Yes, on an iPhone XS or later running iOS 15 or later. Open the screenshot in Photos and touch and hold the QR code until a menu with the link appears. On an older iPhone, upload the screenshot to a browser-based QR decoder instead, which reads the file on the device and shows the decoded text. ### Can the iPhone Front Camera Scan a QR Code? Yes, the front camera detects QR codes in Photo mode, but the rear camera is more reliable. On most iPhone models the front camera has a fixed focus set for arm's length, so a small printed QR code held close to it is often blurred. Use the rear camera for anything printed smaller than about 5 cm. ### Why Does My iPhone Open a QR Code in a Small Window Instead of Safari? The QR code was scanned with Code Scanner rather than the Camera app. Code Scanner shows web pages in its own browser sheet, which closes when the scanner closes. Tap the Safari icon in the corner of that sheet to move the page into Safari, or scan with the Camera app to open links in Safari directly. ### Does Scanning a QR Code on an iPhone Need an Internet Connection? No. An iPhone decodes a QR code on the device, so Wi-Fi codes, contact cards, calendar events and plain text work with no connection at all. A connection is needed only to load a web address after the QR code has been read. ### Does an iPhone Keep a History of Scanned QR Codes? No. Neither the Camera app nor Code Scanner stores a list of scanned QR codes. A link opened in Safari appears in Safari's browsing history, which is the only trace. To keep a QR code for later, take a photo of it - the code can be read again from the photo in Photos. ### Can an iPhone Scan a QR Code in the Dark? Yes, with added light. Open Code Scanner from Control Centre and tap the torch button at the bottom of the scanning view. The Camera app has no torch in Photo mode, so the alternative is to switch on the torch from Control Centre before opening Camera - on most models the torch switches off again when Camera opens. ### Why Does the iPhone Camera Show the Link but Nothing Happens When I Tap It? The QR code usually contains an address the iPhone cannot open - a broken link, an app-specific link for an app that is not installed, or a dynamic QR code whose redirect has been switched off. Check the domain in the yellow label, then try the address in Safari by hand. If it fails there too, the fault is in the destination, not in the iPhone. --- # How to Scan a QR Code With an Android Phone, on Any Brand URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android Point the camera at the QR code and tap the link. If nothing appears, use the Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings or Google Lens - both work on any brand. Basics · 2026-09-18 Open the camera app, point it at the QR code, and tap the link that appears. If the camera shows nothing, swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap the Scan QR code tile, which Android has included since version 13, or open Google Lens. One of those three routes works on every Android phone that has Google services, whether it is a Samsung, a Pixel, a Xiaomi or a Motorola, and none of them needs an app from the Play Store. ## Key points - Most Android camera apps scan a QR code with no extra software: open the camera, point it at the code, and tap the link that appears. - Android 13 and later include a Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings. The tile works the same way on every brand, which makes it the most dependable route on a recent phone. - Google Lens reads a QR code on any Android phone with the Google app installed, including phones whose camera app ignores QR codes. - A QR code in a screenshot or saved picture can be read by opening the image in Google Photos and tapping the Lens button. No second phone is needed. - Android has no single camera app. Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, Motorola and OnePlus each write their own, so the setting that controls QR scanning has a different name and location on each brand. ## How to Scan a QR Code With the Android Camera Open the camera app, hold the phone so the QR code fills about a third of the screen width, and tap the link or chip that appears over the code. Most Android camera apps released in the last several years detect QR codes in the default photo mode without any setting being changed. 1. **Open the Camera App in Photo Mode.** Use the rear camera in the default photo mode. Portrait, night and video modes often switch QR detection off. 2. **Fill About a Third of the Screen Width With the QR Code.** Move closer or further away until the QR code takes up roughly a third of the viewfinder, with its white margin fully inside the frame. 3. **Hold Still for About a Second.** The camera needs one sharp frame to detect the QR code. If the preview is blurred, tap the code on screen to focus on it. 4. **Read the Address, Then Tap the Link.** A link, a chip or a pop-up appears showing the web address in the QR code. Check the domain, then tap it to open the page in the browser. If nothing appears after two or three seconds at a sensible distance, the camera app on that phone either does not scan QR codes or has the feature switched off. Rather than hunting through camera settings first, use the Scan QR code tile or Google Lens, described in the next two sections - both take less time than finding the setting. ## How to Use the Scan QR Code Tile in Quick Settings Swipe down twice from the top of the screen to open Quick Settings, then tap Scan QR code. A scanner opens immediately and reads the QR code with no camera app involved. Google added the Scan QR code tile in Android 13, and the tile behaves the same way on every brand of phone. Quick Settings is the panel of tiles that opens when the top of an Android screen is swiped down twice, holding shortcuts such as Wi-Fi, torch and Scan QR code. If the Scan QR code tile is not visible, it usually only needs to be added: 1. Swipe down twice from the top of the screen to open Quick Settings in full. 2. Tap the pencil icon, or the three-dot menu followed by Edit, to edit the tiles. 3. Find Scan QR code in the list of unused tiles and drag it into the active area. 4. Tap the back arrow. The Scan QR code tile now stays in Quick Settings. The Scan QR code tile can be opened from the lock screen on most phones, which makes it the fastest route when the phone is in a pocket. The scanner also has its own torch button, so a QR code on a dim table or a dark poster can be lit without leaving the scanner. A phone running Android 12 or earlier does not have the tile from Google, although Samsung added its own Scan QR code button to the Quick panel on earlier versions. To check the Android version, open Settings, then About phone, and read the Android version line. ## How to Scan a QR Code With Google Lens Open the Google app, tap the camera icon at the right of the search bar, and point the phone at the QR code. Google Lens draws the link over the code; tap it to open the page. Google Lens works on any Android phone with the Google app, regardless of what the camera app does. Google Lens is the image recognition tool built into the Google app, Google Photos and many Android camera apps that reads QR codes, text and objects from the camera or from a saved image. There are usually three ways to reach it on an Android phone: - **The search bar on the home screen.** The camera icon at the right-hand end of the Google search widget opens Google Lens directly. - **The camera app.** Many Android camera apps have a Lens icon or a Lens entry under More or Modes. - **Google Photos.** Opening any saved image and tapping Lens reads a QR code inside that image. Google Lens needs an internet connection for most of what it recognises, but a QR code is decoded on the phone. A QR code that holds Wi-Fi credentials or plain text can therefore still be read with no connection, while a QR code that holds a web address needs a connection only to open the page afterwards. ## Where the QR Scanner Is on Samsung, Pixel, Xiaomi and Other Brands Every major Android brand scans QR codes from its own camera app, but the setting that controls it is named and placed differently on each one. The table lists where the option typically sits; menu names shift between software versions, so treat the wording as a guide to what to look for rather than an exact label. | Brand | In the camera app | Other built-in route | | --- | --- | --- | | Samsung Galaxy | Camera settings, then Scan QR codes | Scan QR code button in the Quick panel | | Google Pixel | Camera settings, then Google Lens suggestions | Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings; Lens in the home screen search bar | | Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO | Camera settings, then Scan QR codes | Pre-installed Scanner app, usually in the Tools folder | | Motorola | Camera settings, then Google Lens or QR scanning | Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings | | OnePlus, OPPO and realme | Google Lens icon inside the camera app | Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings | | Huawei without Google services | Camera app, or the AI Lens mode | Scan option in the home screen search; Google Lens is not available | On any brand with Google services, the Scan QR code tile and Google Lens behave identically. The camera app is the only part that varies. The practical rule for an unfamiliar Android phone is to skip the camera settings entirely. Swipe down twice, look for Scan QR code, and fall back to the camera icon in the Google search bar. That sequence works on a borrowed phone without knowing who made it. ## How to Scan a QR Code on a Samsung Galaxy Open the Samsung Camera app in Photo mode and point it at the QR code. A pop-up with the link appears over the viewfinder; tap it to open the page. Samsung has read QR codes from its own camera app for years, so no app from the Galaxy Store or the Play Store is needed. 1. Open Camera and stay in Photo mode, with the rear camera. 2. Hold the phone so the QR code fills about a third of the screen, and wait a second for the pop-up. 3. If no pop-up appears, tap the settings gear in the camera and switch on Scan QR codes. 4. If the camera still shows nothing, swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap Scan QR code in the Quick panel. If the button is missing, tap the pencil icon to add it. A Wi-Fi QR code can also be read from the Wi-Fi screen itself, where Samsung places a QR icon at the top. For a code saved in a screenshot, Google Lens in Google Photos reads it, as described further down. ## How to Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot or Picture on Android Open the screenshot or picture in Google Photos and tap the Lens button at the bottom of the screen. Google Lens finds the QR code inside the image and shows its link as a chip to tap. This is the route for a QR code that arrived in a chat, an email or a social post. 1. Take a screenshot by pressing the power button and the volume down button together, or save the image that contains the QR code. 2. Open the image in Google Photos. In another gallery app, use Share and choose Google Lens or Search image instead. 3. Tap Lens. Google Lens outlines the QR code and shows the address it holds. 4. Read the address, then tap it to open the page. A QR code that is on the Android phone's own screen does not always need a screenshot. On phones with Circle to Search, touching and holding the navigation handle or the home button and then circling the QR code reads it in place. In Chrome, touching and holding an image of a QR code and choosing Search image with Google Lens does the same. Where none of that is available - a phone without Google services, or a work profile with Lens disabled - upload the image to the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner). The scanner decodes the file in the browser on the phone itself, does not upload the image, and shows the decoded text in full rather than a link to tap. [Scanning a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image) covers the same job on a computer. ## How to Join Wi-Fi by Scanning a QR Code on Android Any Android scanner joins a network from a Wi-Fi QR code, and Android 10 or later also has a scanner inside the Wi-Fi settings. Open Settings, then Network & internet, then Internet or Wi-Fi, scroll to Add network, and tap the QR icon at the right of that row. The Wi-Fi settings scanner is useful when a camera app reads a Wi-Fi QR code as plain text, showing a line that begins with WIFI: instead of offering to connect. The settings scanner only understands Wi-Fi codes, so it always offers to join. Samsung places the same icon at the top of its Wi-Fi screen. The same settings screen works in the other direction. Tapping the connected network and then Share shows a QR code that a guest can scan, after a fingerprint or PIN check; an iPhone does the same from its Passwords app, as covered in [how to share a Wi-Fi password from an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone). For a printed code that does not depend on a phone being present, the [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) page covers how the format works and how to make one. ## Why an Android Phone Will Not Scan a QR Code An Android phone that will not scan a QR code usually has QR detection switched off in the camera app, is in the wrong camera mode, or is too far from the code. Work through the table in order; only the last row is a fault in the QR code itself. | Symptom | Likely cause | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | The camera never reacts to any QR code | The camera app does not scan, or the setting is off | Use the Scan QR code tile or Google Lens; then look for Scan QR codes in camera settings | | It worked before and stopped | The camera is in portrait, night, pro or video mode | Switch back to the default photo mode | | The code looks sharp but nothing appears | The code is too small in the frame | Move closer until the code fills about a third of the width | | The preview is blurred close up | The main lens cannot focus that near | Pull back about 15 cm and zoom in slightly instead | | A pop-up shows text beginning WIFI: or BEGIN:VCARD | The scanner decoded the code but does not handle that type | Scan again with Google Lens or the Wi-Fi settings scanner | | Fails indoors, works in daylight | Too little light for a sharp frame | Use the torch button in the Scan QR code tile | | Fails at every distance, on every phone | Printed too small, low contrast, or the white margin was trimmed | The code is at fault - see the guide linked below | Phones with several rear lenses add one failure of their own. At very close range the camera may switch to the ultra-wide lens for macro focus, which has less resolution and makes a small QR code harder to read. Holding the phone 15 to 20 cm away and zooming to 2x keeps the main lens in use and usually fixes it. When a QR code fails on every phone rather than on one Android device, the problem is in the code. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through the causes in the order they occur, from size and contrast to a trimmed quiet zone. ## Does an Android Phone Need a QR Scanner App? No. An Android phone with Google services already has Google Lens, and Android 13 or later adds the Scan QR code tile, so a scanner app from the Play Store duplicates what is installed. Free scanner apps are commonly funded by full-screen adverts, and a scanner has no need for contacts, location or storage permissions. Before installing a scanner app, check what it asks for. A QR scanner needs the camera permission and nothing else. For a one-off scan on a phone with no working scanner, a decoder that runs in the browser does the job without an install. The [general guide to scanning a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) covers the safety side - checking a link before opening it, and the separate rule for login codes such as WhatsApp Web. For the other platform, see [how to scan a QR code on an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone). ## FAQ ### Where Is the QR Code Scanner on an Android Phone? On Android 13 or later, the QR code scanner is the Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings: swipe down twice from the top of the screen. On any version, the camera icon in the Google search bar opens Google Lens, which scans QR codes. Most camera apps also scan, but there is no separate scanner icon on the home screen of a standard Android phone. ### How Do I Scan a QR Code on a Samsung Phone? Open the Samsung Camera app and point it at the QR code; a pop-up with the link appears. If it does not, open the camera settings and switch on Scan QR codes. Samsung phones also have a Scan QR code button in the Quick panel, reached by swiping down twice from the top of the screen. ### How Do I Scan a QR Code Without an App on Android? Use what is already installed. The camera app scans QR codes on most Android phones, the Scan QR code tile in Quick Settings does on Android 13 or later, and Google Lens does on any phone with the Google app. A browser-based decoder covers the rare phone with none of the three. ### Can an Android Phone Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot? Yes. Open the screenshot in Google Photos and tap the Lens button; Google Lens finds the QR code in the image and shows its link. From another gallery app, tap Share and choose Google Lens or Search image. No second phone is needed to read a QR code that is already on the screen. ### Which Android Version Can Scan QR Codes? There is no single version, because the camera app on an Android phone is written by the manufacturer rather than by Google. What Google ships is fixed: the Scan QR code tile arrived with Android 13, the Wi-Fi settings scanner with Android 10, and Google Lens runs on older versions through the Google app. ### Why Does My Android Camera Show Text Instead of Opening the QR Code? The camera decoded the QR code but does not know what to do with that type of content. It is common with Wi-Fi codes, which appear as a line beginning WIFI:, and contact cards, which begin BEGIN:VCARD. Scan the same QR code with Google Lens, which offers to join the network or save the contact. ### Does Scanning a QR Code on Android Need an Internet Connection? No. An Android phone decodes a QR code on the device, so Wi-Fi codes, contact cards and plain text work with no connection. A connection is needed only to load a web address after the QR code has been read. Other Google Lens features, such as identifying objects, do need a connection. ### Does Android Keep a History of Scanned QR Codes? The Scan QR code tile and most camera apps keep no history. Google Lens can save activity to the Google account if Web & App Activity with visual search history is switched on, and a link that was opened appears in the browser history. To keep a QR code for later, save a photo of it and read it again from Google Photos. ### Can an Android Phone Scan a QR Code With the Front Camera? Usually yes, in the default photo mode, but the rear camera is more reliable. Most front cameras have a fixed focus set for arm's length, so a small printed QR code held close is blurred. Use the rear camera for anything printed smaller than about 5 cm. --- # How to Scan a QR Code From an Image on Any Phone or Computer URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image Read a QR code from a screenshot, photo or PDF on iPhone, Android, Windows or Mac: Photos, Google Lens, or a browser decoder that uploads nothing. Basics · 2026-09-21 Open the screenshot or photo in the phone's photo app and touch and hold the QR code: Photos does this on an iPhone XS or later with iOS 15 or later, and Google Photos does it through the Lens button on Android. On a Windows PC, a Mac or a Linux machine there is no built-in reader for a QR code in a file, so the route is a decoder in the browser - the QR code scanner on this site reads a PNG, JPG or screenshot on your own device without uploading it. Every route, and what to do when an image will not decode, is below. ## Key Points - A QR code that is already an image - a screenshot, a photo, an attachment - is read from the file, not the camera. On a phone the photo app does it; on a computer a browser-based decoder does. - iPhone: open the image in Photos and touch and hold the QR code. Live Text needs an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later, according to Apple's support page for the feature. - Android: open the image in Google Photos and tap Lens. Circle to Search reads a QR code on the screen of any app without a screenshot, on the phones that have it. - Windows, macOS and Linux have no built-in reader for a QR code in a saved file. The Windows Camera app scans only through the webcam. Drop the file into the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) instead; it decodes in the browser and uploads nothing. - A QR code needs about 3 pixels per module in the image to decode, measured with jsQR. A 25-module code therefore needs roughly 75 px plus its margin, and a 200 px-wide code in a screenshot is comfortable. - The commonest reasons an image fails are a crop that cut into the quiet zone, a screenshot of a thumbnail, JPEG recompression by a chat app, and a photo taken at an angle or through glare. ## Which Route Reads a QR Code From an Image on Each Device Every device has one built-in route for a QR code in an image and one fallback that works everywhere: a decoder that runs in the browser. The table gives the built-in route first, because it is faster, and the fallback second, because the built-in route depends on the phone model, the software version and the app the image is in. | Where the QR code is | Built-in route | Fallback | | --- | --- | --- | | A screenshot or photo on an iPhone | Photos, then touch and hold the QR code (Live Text, iPhone XS or XR and later, iOS 15 or later) | Upload the image to a browser decoder in Safari | | An image in Safari, Messages or Mail on an iPhone | Touch and hold the image; the menu shows the link | Screenshot, then Photos | | A screenshot or photo on an Android phone | Google Photos, then the Lens button | Google app, Lens, then choose the image under Screenshots; or a browser decoder | | On the screen of any Android app | Circle to Search, on phones that have it; in Chrome, touch and hold the image, then Search with Google Lens | Screenshot, then Google Photos | | A QR code on a web page on a Windows PC, Mac or Linux machine | Chrome or Edge: right-click the image, then Search with Google Lens (typically) | Save or screenshot the image, then a browser decoder | | An image file on a Windows PC, Mac or Linux machine | None documented; the Windows Camera app scans only through the webcam | Drop the file into a browser decoder | | Inside a PDF, a slide, a video or a document | None; zoom in, then screenshot the code | Any route above, with the screenshot | | A WhatsApp, Telegram or email attachment | Open the image full size, then the phone route above | Save the image, then a browser decoder; ask for the original if it fails | Every built-in route hands over a tappable link. Only the browser decoder shows the decoded text in full before anything opens. The decision rule is short. If the image is on a phone, use the photo app first. If the image is on a computer, or the phone's photo app finds nothing, use a browser decoder. If the QR code is inside a document, a video or an app that will not let you touch the image, take a screenshot first and then treat the screenshot as the image. ## How to Scan a QR Code From a Photo or Screenshot on an iPhone Open the photo or screenshot in the Photos app and touch and hold the QR code. A menu with the decoded link appears, and choosing the open option loads the page in Safari. This uses Live Text, and Apple's support page for Live Text sets the requirement as an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later. Live Text is the iOS feature that recognises text and QR codes inside photos, screenshots and the camera view, on an iPhone XS or later running iOS 15 or later. Apple's page documents copying text, translating it and opening web addresses found in a photo; a QR code in the same photo is typically recognised by the same feature, and the touch and hold shows the address it points to. If the touch and hold selects text near the code instead, zoom in so the QR code fills more of the screen and try again. A QR code shown inside Safari, Messages or Mail does not need a screenshot. Touching and holding the image of the code brings up the same menu, so a code on the iPhone's own screen can be read on that iPhone. Where the touch and hold does nothing - a PDF viewer, a video, a third-party app - press the side button and volume up together, open the screenshot in Photos and touch and hold the code there. An iPhone older than the iPhone XS has no Live Text, and Apple's page for scanning a QR code describes only the Camera app and Code Scanner, both of which need something in front of the lens. On those phones, open the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) in Safari and choose the image from the photo library; the decode runs on the iPhone. For the camera routes and the setting that switches QR detection off, see [how to scan a QR code on an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone). ## How to Scan a QR Code From a Picture on an Android Phone Open the picture in Google Photos and tap the Lens button at the bottom of the screen. Google Lens outlines the QR code and shows its link as a chip to tap. Google's help page for Google Photos gives the same route as More, then Google Lens, which is where the option sits on versions without the button. Google Lens is the image recognition tool built into the Google app, Google Photos and many Android camera apps that reads QR codes, text and objects from the camera or from a saved image. Google Lens can also be opened without Google Photos: tap the Lens icon in the search bar of the Google app and choose the picture under Screenshots, which Google's own page for searching with an image describes. Either way the QR code is decoded on the phone; a connection is needed only to open a web address afterwards. - **Circle to Search.** On phones that have it - Google lists select models including the Pixel 6 and later - touch and hold the Home button or the navigation handle, then circle the QR code on screen. The code is read in place, with no screenshot, from any app. - **Chrome.** Touch and hold an image of a QR code on a web page and choose Search with Google Lens. The result shows the link the code holds. - **A gallery app other than Google Photos.** Use Share and choose Google Lens or Search image, or take the file to a browser decoder. A phone without Google services, or a work profile with Lens disabled, has none of these routes. On those phones, open the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) in the browser and choose the image; the file is decoded on the phone and the full text is shown rather than a link. The Scan QR code tile, the camera setting on each brand and the Wi-Fi scanner are covered in [how to scan a QR code with an Android phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android). ## How to Scan a QR Code From an Image on Windows, macOS or Linux Neither Windows nor macOS ships a documented reader for a QR code in a saved file, so on a computer the route is a decoder in the browser: open the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), drop the PNG or JPG onto it, or paste a screenshot, and the decoded text appears. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read on the machine. The Windows Camera app does scan QR codes, but only through the webcam. Microsoft's page on the Windows Camera app, for Windows 10 and 11, describes selecting the Barcode button and placing the code in front of the camera, and says nothing about opening a saved image. Pointing a webcam at a printout works; pointing it at the same screen the app is on does not, for the reason in the next section. [How to scan a QR code on a computer](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-a-computer) covers the webcam route alongside the Mac, Chromebook and Linux options. On a Mac, Preview and Photos have Live Text, and Apple's page for Live Text in Preview describes selecting text, phone numbers and web addresses in a photo. That page does not mention QR codes, so this guide does not claim the Mac reads them from a file; try a right-click on the code in Preview, and use the browser decoder when nothing is offered. Linux has no built-in route at all, and the browser decoder is the same on all three systems. For a QR code that is on a web page rather than in a file, Chrome and Edge have a shortcut. Right-click the image and choose Search with Google Lens - Google's help page for Chrome on a computer gives that label, and older builds called it Search image with Google Lens. Lens typically shows the link the code holds in the side panel. Google's page does not mention QR codes, so when the panel shows only similar images, save the picture and decode it instead. ## How to Read a QR Code That Is on the Same Screen Take a screenshot and read the screenshot. A camera cannot photograph the screen it is attached to, so a QR code in a chat, an email, a ticket or a PDF on the phone you are holding has to be captured as an image and then decoded by one of the routes above. The same applies to a laptop showing a code and no second device. The situations that come up most often, and the capture that works for each: - **A code in WhatsApp, Telegram or Messages.** Open the image full size, then touch and hold it (iPhone) or use Lens (Android). If the app blocks the gesture, screenshot the open image, not the chat thumbnail. - **A code in an email.** Touch and hold the image in Mail on an iPhone. Elsewhere, screenshot the email with the code as large as the screen allows. - **A code in a PDF, a slide or a document.** Zoom in until the code is at least a quarter of the screen wide, then screenshot. A code captured from a page-fit view is often only 40 or 50 pixels across, which is too small to decode. - **A code in a video.** Pause on a frame where the code is sharp and square on, then screenshot. Motion blur across even one row of modules can be enough to stop a decode. - **A code on a laptop, read by a phone.** Point the phone camera at the screen; this direction needs nothing special. Turn the display brightness up first. A screenshot is a better source than a photograph of a screen. Photographing a monitor adds moire, refresh banding and reflections; a screenshot has none of them and keeps every module edge exactly as it was drawn. ## How to Scan a QR Code Image With the Online Scanner Drop the image onto the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), choose it from disk, or paste a screenshot from the clipboard, and the decoded text appears with its type labelled. The scanner accepts PNG, JPG, WebP and GIF; an SVG has to be exported to one of those first, because a browser cannot rasterise a vector file without being told a size. The image is drawn to a canvas in the tab, decoded there, and never uploaded. 1. **Get the QR Code Into an Image File.** Save the image, or take a screenshot with the code as large on screen as it will go. A code inside a PDF, a video or an app is captured the same way: zoom in, then screenshot. 2. **Crop Around the Code, Not Into It.** If the image is a large photo, crop to the code and leave a margin of light space on every side. The decoder resizes anything wider than 1600 pixels before reading it, so a small code in a large photo is easier to find once cropped. 3. **Drop, Choose or Paste the Image.** Drag the file onto the scanner panel, choose it from disk or the photo library, or press the paste shortcut anywhere on the page after taking a screenshot. 4. **Read the Decoded Text Before Acting on It.** The whole payload is shown as text, with its type labelled: link, Wi-Fi, contact, plain text. Read the domain first, then decide whether to open it. The scanner runs jsQR, the JavaScript port of the ZXing decoder, and asks it to try both polarities, so a light-on-dark code is read as well as a dark-on-light one. When the plain pass fails on a code with dot or rounded modules, a second pass fills the shapes out to full cells and reads the grid underneath. For the structure of the symbol rather than its content - version, error correction level, mask pattern and raw bytes - drop the same image into the [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder). ## How Many Pixels a QR Code Needs in a Screenshot or Photo Aim for at least 3 pixels per module. A 25-module QR code, which is version 2, therefore needs about 75 pixels across plus its margin, and a code 200 pixels wide in a screenshot is comfortable. At 2 pixels per module a decode depends on where the grid lands on the pixels, and a slightly softer image takes it to zero. That rule comes from the site's own measurement rig, scripts/dot-module-decode-rig.mjs, run on 18 September 2026. A 41-module level-H symbol with plain square modules was rendered, blurred, and downsampled to a fixed number of captured pixels per module, and each size was tried at 16 sub-pixel positions, because at 2 or 3 pixels per module whether a decode succeeds depends on how the grid lands on the pixels. The decoder was jsQR, which is what this site's scanner and many other browser scanners run. Apple's and Google's decoders are closed and generally more capable, so the figures are the shape of the curve rather than a phone's limit. | Captured pixels per module | Decodes, sharp image (blur 0.6 px) | Decodes, slightly soft image (blur 1 px) | | --- | --- | --- | | 10 down to 4 | 16 of 16 at every size | 16 of 16 at every size | | 3 | 16 of 16 | 16 of 16 | | 2.5 | 16 of 16 | 16 of 16 | | 2 | 10 of 16 | 0 of 16 | Square-module row of the rig's results, jsQR, a 41-module version 6 symbol at level H. A dot-module code needs more pixels per module; the rig's other rows show how many. To apply the rule, count the modules along one side, or read the version off the decoder: a version 1 code is 21 modules, and each version adds 4. Multiply by 3 for the minimum width in pixels and add 8 modules' worth for the quiet zone on both sides. A screenshot from a phone is usually well above the line; the image that falls below it is a thumbnail, a page-fit PDF, or a small code in a large photo that a decoder shrinks before reading. That last case matters on this site. The scanner resizes any image wider than 1600 pixels on its longest side before the decode pass, so a code that is 150 pixels wide in a 4000-pixel photo becomes about 60 pixels wide, under 3 pixels per module even for the 21 modules of a version 1 code. Cropping to the code before dropping it in keeps the pixels the decode needs. [QR code resolution](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) covers the same arithmetic for a file that is being exported rather than read. ## Why a QR Code Image Will Not Scan An image of a QR code fails to decode for one of seven reasons, and the first three account for most failures: the crop cut into the quiet zone, the code has too few pixels per module, or a chat app recompressed the file. Work through the table in order. | What happened to the image | Why the decoder fails | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | Cropped tight to the dark modules | The quiet zone is gone; the decoder cannot find where the symbol ends | Recrop with a light margin, or paste the code onto a white background | | Screenshot of a thumbnail or a page-fit PDF | Fewer than 2 or 3 pixels per module | Open the image full size or zoom the PDF in, then screenshot again | | Sent through WhatsApp, Telegram or a mail client | JPEG recompression softens module edges and adds ringing along them | Ask for the original file, or send as a document rather than a photo | | Photographed at an angle | The module grid is stretched unevenly; the finder and alignment patterns correct some perspective but not a steep one | Photograph square on, or straighten the photo before decoding | | Photographed under a light or through glass | Glare lifts dark modules towards white and closes the contrast gap | Move off the light source; do not use the flash | | Light modules on a dark background | The standard describes dark on light, and not every decoder tries the inverse | Use a decoder that tries both polarities, or invert the image first | | Screenshot taken in dark mode | The app inverted its colours around the code; a code with no margin of its own now sits on a dark ground | Switch to light mode for the screenshot, or crop and paste onto white | The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. A crop that removes the quiet zone leaves every module intact and still fails, which is why a tight crop is the first row of the table. ISO/IEC 18004 specifies four modules; on a bright screen a decoder usually manages with less, but not with none. Dark mode deserves one more sentence, because the failure is odd to look at. An image of a QR code is not inverted by dark mode, so the code itself is still dark on light; only the page around it turns dark. A code with its quiet zone baked into the image keeps working. A code drawn without one, relying on the page's white background as its margin, loses that margin the moment the page turns black. The symptom is a screenshot that looks perfectly readable and decodes to nothing. A JPEG straight from a camera and a JPEG that has been through a chat app are different files. Chat apps resample and recompress images to save bandwidth, and every pass moves the sharp edge between a dark module and a light one a little further towards grey. At 10 pixels per module the softened edge is a fraction of the module and does not matter; at 3 pixels per module the softened edge is most of the module. The fix is upstream: send the code as a document or a PNG, or ask for the original. When the same QR code fails in every image of it, on every device, the code is the problem rather than the picture. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through size, contrast and the trimmed quiet zone in the order they occur, and the [QR code quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) guide covers the margin on its own. ## Read the Decoded Text Before Opening It A QR code from an image is read for the same reason as any other, and the same care applies: the decoded string is the thing to read before anything opens. A shortened link decodes to the short URL and not to its destination, because the redirect only resolves when the link is opened, and a code placed in an email or over a sticker can point anywhere. Reading the domain first - everything up to the first single slash after the scheme - is the check, and it is the one thing the photo-app routes skip, because a touch and hold hands over a link to tap rather than text to read, and the browser decoder shows the text. The full safety section, including quishing and the separate rule for login codes, is in [how to scan a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code). ## FAQ ### Can I Scan a QR Code From a Screenshot on My iPhone? Yes, on an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later running iOS 15 or later. Open the screenshot in Photos, touch and hold the QR code, and the menu shows its link. Apple's support page for Live Text gives that requirement. On an older iPhone, open a browser-based decoder in Safari and choose the screenshot from the photo library; the decode runs on the phone. ### How Do I Scan a QR Code From a Picture on Android? Open the picture in Google Photos and tap the Lens button, or More and then Google Lens on versions without the button. Google Lens outlines the QR code and shows a chip with its link. Without Google Photos, open the Google app, tap the Lens icon in the search bar and choose the picture under Screenshots. A phone without Google services needs a browser decoder instead. ### Can I Scan a QR Code From an Image on My PC or Mac? Yes, with a decoder in the browser; neither Windows nor macOS documents a built-in reader for a QR code in a saved file. Drop the PNG or JPG into a browser-based scanner, or paste a screenshot, and the text appears. The Windows Camera app scans QR codes only through the webcam, and Apple's Live Text page for Preview on the Mac does not mention QR codes. ### How Do I Scan a QR Code That Is on My Own Phone Screen? Screenshot it, then read the screenshot in Photos or Google Photos, or with a browser decoder. A phone camera cannot photograph its own screen. Two routes skip the screenshot: on an iPhone, touching and holding an image in Safari, Messages or Mail shows the link; on an Android phone with Circle to Search, holding the navigation handle and circling the code reads it in any app. ### Can I Scan a QR Code From a PDF? Yes, by screenshotting it first, because readers take images rather than documents. Zoom the PDF in until the QR code is at least a quarter of the screen wide before capturing; a code screenshotted from a page-fit view is often only 40 or 50 pixels across, which is below the roughly 3 pixels per module a decoder needs. Then read the screenshot on the phone or drop it into a browser decoder. ### How Big Does a QR Code Need to Be in a Screenshot? At least 3 pixels for every module, measured with the jsQR decoder on the site's rig: a [plain square-module code](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes) decoded at every one of 16 positions down to 2.5 pixels per module, and at 2 pixels a slight blur took it to none. A 25-module code therefore needs about 75 pixels across plus its margin. A code 200 pixels wide is comfortable for any version a screenshot is likely to hold. ### Why Won't Google Lens or Photos Find the QR Code in My Image? Usually because the image is a thumbnail, the crop cut into the margin around the code, or the file was recompressed on its way through a chat app. Open the image at full size and try again; if the code is small in a large photo, crop to it with a margin. Lens sometimes selects text next to the code instead of the code, so zoom in until the QR code fills most of the screen. ### Is It Safe to Upload a QR Code Image to an Online Scanner? It depends on where the decoding happens. Many online scanners send the image to a server, which means a boarding pass, a Wi-Fi code or a login code is handed to someone else. The scanner on this site decodes in the browser tab and makes no upload; the file is drawn to a canvas, read and discarded. Check a scanner's privacy note, or disconnect from the network before dropping the file in and see whether it still works. ### Can a Scanner Read a QR Code From a WhatsApp Image? Often, but not always, because WhatsApp recompresses photos and the softened edges between modules are the first thing a decoder loses. Open the image at full size rather than the chat thumbnail, and use touch and hold or Lens. If that fails, ask the sender to send the code as a document, which keeps the original file, or to send a screenshot instead of a photo. ### Can a QR Code Be Read From an Inverted, Light-on-Dark Image? Sometimes. ISO/IEC 18004 describes the symbol as dark modules on a light background, and not every decoder tries the reverse. The scanner on this site asks jsQR to try both polarities, so a white-on-black code is read. If a phone's photo app finds nothing in an inverted code, invert the image in any editor and try again, or drop it into a decoder that tries both. --- # Distorted QR Codes: What a Scanner Corrects, What It Cannot, and How to Fix Yours URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code A stretched, skewed or rotated QR code usually still scans; a steep camera angle or a wrap past 15% of a bottle's circumference does not. Fixes by tool. Troubleshooting · 2026-09-23 A distorted QR code is a QR code whose module grid is no longer square and evenly spaced, because of how it was resized, placed, printed or photographed. Most distortion is survivable: a code stretched to three times its width, sheared by 25° or rotated by 45° decoded at every one of 16 positions in our test, because the three corner squares let a decoder undo any flat, straight-line warp. What breaks a code is a surface that is not flat - a bottle wrap past about 15% of the circumference failed - a camera angle steep enough to shrink the far edge below about 70% of the near one, or blur that merges neighbouring modules. The fix is almost never to un-stretch the picture; it is to re-export the code with its proportions locked, or to move it to a flatter place. ## Key Points - There are five kinds of distortion - stretch, shear, perspective, curvature and blur - and they are not equally serious. The first three keep the code on a flat plane, and a decoder corrects for them using the three corner squares. Curvature and blur do not, and they are what actually stop scans. - In our test on 22 September 2026, a QR code stretched to 3:1, sheared by 25° and rotated by 45° each decoded at 16 of 16 positions. A camera keystone held to 80% and collapsed between 70% and 60%. A cylinder wrap held while the code was 15% of the circumference or less and failed from 25%. - Rule of thumb for bottles, mugs and cans: keep the code's width at or under about 15% of the circumference. A 7 cm-diameter bottle is about 22 cm around, so about 3.3 cm of code. Phones tolerate more than the open decoder we measured with, but not by a margin worth designing into. - A stretched code that still scans is still worth fixing, because the stretch halves the module width in one axis and spends headroom the code needs for print, light and distance. Re-export from the generator with proportions locked; do not un-stretch a raster by eye. - A code that looks distorted but is actually blurry or pixelated has a resolution problem, not a geometry problem. The fix is a vector file or a raster with a [whole number of pixels per module](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes), not a straighter placement. ## What a Distorted QR Code Is, and the Five Ways One Gets Distorted A distorted QR code is a QR code whose module grid is no longer square and evenly spaced, because of how it was resized, placed, printed or photographed. Five things do that in practice, and naming which one you have decides the fix, because three of the five are corrected by the scanner and two are not. A module is one square cell of a QR code, and the smallest unit a scanner has to resolve. Every distortion is a change to the grid those modules sit on, and the useful question about each is whether the grid is still a flat, straight-lined map of the original: - **Stretch.** The code is wider than it is tall, or the reverse, because a side handle was dragged in Canva, Word, PowerPoint or a slide tool. Every module becomes a rectangle, but every row and column stays straight and parallel. - **Shear, or skew.** The code leans, like italic type: one edge has slid sideways relative to the opposite edge. A label applied askew to a flat box, or artwork pushed through a skew transform, does this. Lines stay straight; squares become parallelograms. - **Perspective, or keystone.** The camera is not square-on, so the far edge of the code looks shorter than the near edge and the module pitch shrinks towards it. A poster read from below, a table tent read from standing height, a code mounted above eye level. - **Curvature.** The code is wrapped around a bottle, can, mug or pipe, or lies across a fold, a wrinkle or a bulge. The surface is no longer a plane, so no single straight-line map describes the whole grid. - **Resampling blur and pixelation.** A small PNG scaled up, a screenshot, a JPEG, or a code printed at a size where each module lands on a fraction of a printer dot. The grid is geometrically intact but the module edges are soft or stepped, which people describe as distorted because the code no longer looks crisp. The first three are flat: the whole code still lies on one plane and every straight line in the original is still a straight line in the picture. That is the property a decoder exploits, and it is why the next section reads the way it does. ## What a Decoder Corrects on Its Own, and What It Cannot A decoder corrects any flat distortion - stretch, shear, rotation and perspective - by fitting a projective map through the three finder patterns and the alignment patterns, and it cannot correct a surface that is not a plane or a blur that merges modules. Those two limits are where real codes fail, and both are placement faults rather than artwork faults. The three corner squares are what make the flat cases free. Three points on a plane are enough to recover any affine map - scale in each axis, shear and rotation together - which is why a stretched or skewed code decodes without the decoder even knowing it was distorted. With a fourth reference point, a decoder can fit a full perspective map, and that fourth point is what the alignment patterns provide. [QR code finder patterns](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) explains the corner squares and the 1:1:3:1:1 ratio that lets a scanner find them at any size and angle. An alignment pattern is a five-module square that lets a decoder correct for perspective distortion when a QR code is photographed at an angle or printed on a curved surface. ISO/IEC 18004 places at least one in every symbol from version 2 upward - the 25-module code and larger - and six or more from version 7, so a decoder has interior reference points to re-fit the grid between rather than trusting one estimate from corner to corner. Perspective distortion is the change in a QR code's apparent shape when the camera views it from an angle, so that the far edge looks shorter than the near one, and the alignment patterns exist because that is the distortion every handheld scan has some of. What no reference point can fix is a grid that has stopped being a single map. Wrap a code around a cylinder and the module pitch shrinks continuously towards the edges as the surface turns away from the camera; the decoder can re-fit locally between alignment patterns, but a version 2 to 6 code has only one, near the bottom-right, and the outer columns are on their own. A crease across a code is worse: two planes meeting at a line, with a shadow along it. Blur is a different failure again - the geometry is perfect and the dark and light modules have simply bled into one grey. Error correction repairs modules that were read wrong; it does nothing for modules the decoder never separated, which [error correction levels](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) sets out. ## How Much Distortion a QR Code Can Take: What We Measured In our measurement, every flat straight-line distortion we tried decoded perfectly - a 3:1 stretch, a 25° shear and a 45° rotation each at 16 of 16 positions - while a camera keystone collapsed between 70% and 60% and a cylinder wrap failed once the code spanned 25% of the circumference. The numbers come from the site's own measurement rig, scripts/distortion-decode-rig.mjs, run on 22 September 2026 with jsQR as the decoder, and the full table is in reports/distortion-decode/results-2026-09-22.txt. The method, in brief: one 41-module code at level H with a four-module quiet zone, warped by inverse mapping so nothing is resampled twice, blurred as a sharp phone frame would be, sampled at 6 and at 4 captured pixels per module, and handed to the decoder at 16 sub-pixel positions per condition. A cell of 16 means every position read the exact payload; a cell of 0 means none did. | Warp | What a decoder does with it | Where jsQR stopped reading | | --- | --- | --- | | Stretch, one axis only | Affine; the three finders carry it and the decoder never notices | Did not stop: 16/16 at every factor from 1.1x to 3.0x, at both 6 and 4 px per module | | Shear, or skew | Affine; carried by the finders while their shape is still recognisable | 16/16 up to 25°, then 0/16 at 30° at both densities | | Rotation | Affine; the three-corner asymmetry gives the orientation | Did not stop: 16/16 at 15°, 30° and 45° | | Perspective keystone, top edge as a share of the bottom | Projective; fitted through the finders and the alignment pattern | 16/16 down to 80%; 70% gave 16 and 13; 65% gave 13 and 8; 60% gave 3 and 0; 50% gave 0 | | Cylinder wrap, code width as a share of the circumference | Not a flat map; only local re-fitting between reference points helps | 16/16 at 10% and 15%; 20% gave 10 and 13; 25% gave 0 and 2; 30% and beyond gave 0 | Pairs are 6 px then 4 px per module. One version 6 symbol, one alignment pattern, one open decoder; a larger code with more alignment patterns may hold the last two rows further. Two things follow from that table, and they are the practical content of the page. First, the two rows that degrade are the two the artwork cannot cause: a keystone is the camera's position and a wrap is the object's shape, so both are fixed by placement rather than by re-exporting. Second, the decoder we measured with is the strict end of the range. Apple's and Google's camera decoders are closed, publish no tolerance figures, and are generally more forgiving than jsQR, so treat every threshold here as where the curve turns, not as where a phone gives up. ## Stretched QR Codes: Why a Dragged Handle Rarely Breaks a Code, and Why to Fix It Anyway A QR code stretched to three times its width still decoded at every position in our test, so a stretched code that will not scan almost always has a second fault - too few pixels per module, a soft JPEG edge, or a lost quiet zone - riding on the stretch. Fix the stretch first anyway, because it is the fault you can see and it is spending headroom the others need. The mechanism is simple: a stretch is a uniform scale in one axis, and the three finder patterns stretch with it, so the decoder's fitted grid is rectangular from the start. What the stretch costs is resolution. Squash a code to half its height and every module is half as tall, which is the same as printing the whole code at half size along that axis. A code sized for 0.5 mm modules is now at 0.25 mm in one direction, below the print floor the [minimum size guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) sets, and no amount of decoder tolerance restores the missing millimetres. The cases that reach print, and what caused each: - **A side handle in Canva, Word, PowerPoint or Keynote.** Corner handles typically keep proportions; side handles typically stretch a graphic, or crop a photo. A code placed as a graphic and pulled from a side edge is the usual way a stretched code reaches print. - **A width and height typed separately.** Any dialog with two boxes and an unlocked link between them. Microsoft's help page for Office names the setting Lock aspect ratio; Illustrator's Transform panel has a lock typically labelled Constrain Width and Height Proportions. - **A template slot with a fixed shape.** A wide banner slot filled with a square code, or an image placeholder that scales to fit. The code is stretched by the layout rather than by a hand. - **A print driver set to fit the page.** Fit to page scales both axes together on most drivers, but a scale-to-fill or stretch option on some label printers does not. Do not repair a stretched raster by dragging it back. A code squashed and then re-stretched has been resampled twice, and each pass softens the module edges. Regenerate it, export it as SVG or as a PNG at the final pixel size, and place it with proportions locked - the [SVG vs PNG guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers which file each tool wants. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PNG, PDF and EPS with the quiet zone included, so a fresh export drops in at any size without a second resample. ## Skewed and Rotated QR Codes Rotation does not affect a QR code at all - 15°, 30° and 45° all decoded at 16 of 16 - and a shear decoded fully up to 25° before dropping to nothing at 30°. A code pasted at an angle is therefore safe; a code that leans like italic type is safe up to a slant most people would already call wrong. The difference between the two results is instructive, and our reading of it is this rather than a measurement: rotation leaves each finder pattern a square, so a line through its centre still crosses the 1:1:3:1:1 runs the locator looks for in both axes. A shear turns the finder into a parallelogram, and by 30° the vertical cross-check through a leaning square no longer meets the ratio, so the decoder never concludes there is a code in the frame. That is a detection failure, and it behaves like one - total silence, not a marginal read - which is the first symptom in [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning). In practice skew reaches a code from two directions. Artwork skew is a design choice - a code set into a perspective mock-up, or dragged through a skew or distort handle in Illustrator or Photoshop - and the fix is to undo it and rotate instead, which costs nothing. Applied skew is a label put on a box at an angle, and it is skew only if the box face is flat; a label askew on a cylinder is a curvature problem, treated below. If a design needs a code to sit in a leaning composition, rotate it. A QR code has no up: the three finder patterns in three corners and the empty fourth corner tell the decoder which way round it is at any angle, so a code at 45° reads as well as a level one. That is the one free effect in this list. ## QR Codes Photographed at an Angle: Perspective and Keystone A code viewed at an angle decodes cleanly while the far edge is at least 80% of the length of the near edge, degrades between 70% and 60%, and fails at 50%, in our measurement with one open decoder. Every handheld scan has some perspective in it; the failure is a code mounted where every reader has to look at it steeply. Perspective distortion is the change in a QR code's apparent shape when the camera views it from an angle, so that the far edge looks shorter than the near one. The keystone number is a shape, not an angle, on purpose. The same 70% keystone comes from a slight tilt close up or a steep one far away, because the camera's distance and focal length change how strongly perspective compresses the far edge. What the reader controls is the shape they see on screen: if the code on the phone display looks like a trapezoid whose short side is under about three quarters of the long side, they are past where the open decoder we tested held. Where this happens on real installations: - **A code above eye level.** A poster at 2 m read by someone 1.7 m tall, a code on a shop fascia, a menu board over a counter. Everyone reads it from below, and the shorter the reader, the steeper the keystone. - **A code flat on a table or counter.** Table tents and stickers on a counter are read from standing height at a steep downward angle. Angling the tent or raising the code onto a stand removes most of it. - **A code in a window or behind glass.** Readers stand to one side to avoid their own reflection, and take the keystone with them. - **A code on the floor.** Wayfinding decals are read from directly above only by someone standing on them. Two fixes, both placement. Mount the code at the height of the reader's phone, roughly chest to eye height for a standing adult, and tilt a flat piece towards the reader where the piece allows it. Then buy margin with size: the pillar's 1 cm of width per 10 cm of reading distance is written for a square-on read, and an angled read needs more. A code that has to be read steeply from a fixed spot should be checked from that spot on two phones before the run is printed, which the [print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) puts into its proofing step. ## QR Codes on Curved Surfaces: Bottles, Mugs and Cans Keep a QR code's width at or under about 15% of the circumference of the cylinder it wraps. That is where our measurement held at 16 of 16; at 20% it dropped to 10 and 13, at 25% to 0 and 2, and from 30% nothing read. Phones tolerate more than the open decoder we measured with, but a code designed at the edge of a stricter decoder's range is a code with headroom on a phone. The arithmetic, done once. Circumference is π times diameter. A 7 cm-diameter bottle is π × 7 ≈ 22 cm around, and 15% of 22 cm is about 3.3 cm - so a code on that bottle should be at most about 3.3 cm wide. A 6.6 cm drinks can (about 21 cm around) gives about 3.1 cm; a 9 cm mug (about 28 cm) about 4.2 cm; a 3 cm vial (about 9.4 cm) about 1.4 cm, which is below the 2 cm floor a printed code needs and means the code does not belong on the vial's curve at all. Two things make the rule bite harder than it looks: - **The width is what wraps; the height is free.** A cylinder is flat along its axis, so only the code's width spends the 15%. The code cannot be made taller to compensate - it is square - but the label around it can carry the copy in the direction that costs nothing. - **A small code needs a short payload.** 3.3 cm holding a 41-module code gives 0.8 mm modules, comfortable on any stock. The same 3.3 cm holding a 77-module code from a long tracking URL gives 0.43 mm, below the 0.5 mm floor for uncoated stock. [QR code capacity](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-capacity) has the module count per version; shorten the URL before shrinking the code. Where the rule cannot be met, move the code off the curve. A cap or lid, a hang tag, the flat base of a box, a neck label that stands off the bottle, or the flattest face of a tapered container all read as flat codes. Flexible packaging is the hard case: a pouch or a wrapped sweet has no fixed curve and will crease across the code, and a crease is two planes and a shadow, which nothing corrects. Put the code where the pack is held taut, or on the outer carton. ## Blurry or Pixelated QR Codes: The Distortion That Is Not Geometry A QR code that looks distorted but has straight edges and square corners is not distorted; it is under-resolved, and the fix is a better file rather than a better placement. Blur and pixelation are what happens when a code is exported too small, saved as a JPEG, scaled up from a raster, screenshotted, or printed at a size where a module is a fraction of a printer dot. The tell is the module edges. Resampling gives them a soft grey fringe; lossy compression gives them ringing and blocks; scaling up a small PNG gives them a stepped, stair-cased edge that is sharp but wrong. In all three the grid is where it should be, so the flat-distortion tolerance above buys nothing, and the failure shows up as a code that reads on screen and not on paper, or reads only up close. The rule is a whole number of pixels per module at the final size, or a vector file that has no pixels to get wrong. [QR code resolution and DPI](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) has the arithmetic in both directions and the [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) runs it; [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) settles which format each destination takes. A screenshot of a QR code is never the right file for anything printed. ## How to Diagnose and Fix a Distorted QR Code Work out which of the five distortions you have before changing anything, because three of them are fixed in the file and two are fixed on the wall. The procedure takes about ten minutes and starts, as every scan diagnosis should, by splitting the artwork from the placement. 1. **Decode the File You Placed.** Drop the export into the QR code scanner tool. If the file reads and the placed code does not, the fault entered in the layout, the export or on the object. 2. **Check the Code Is Square in the Layout.** Select the placed code and read its width and height. Any difference is a stretch; a value that is not a multiple of the module count at a whole pixel is a resample. 3. **Look at the Finder Patterns.** The three corner squares should be squares. Rectangles mean stretch, parallelograms mean skew, and a soft or stepped edge means the file was resampled. 4. **Stand Where the Reader Stands.** Look at the code on the phone screen from the real position. A trapezoid whose short edge is under about three quarters of the long edge is a placement fault, not an artwork fault. 5. **Measure the Code Against the Curve.** On a cylinder, divide the code's width by the circumference. Over about 15%, shrink the code, shorten the payload, or move the code to a flat part. 6. **Regenerate Rather Than Repair.** For a stretch, skew or resample, export a fresh code as SVG or a PNG at final pixel size and place it with proportions locked. Do not drag a raster back into shape. 7. **Validate the Artwork, Then Proof One Piece.** Run the export through the QR code validator for margin, contrast and module size, then print one piece on the real object and scan it from the real position on two phones. The two tools do different jobs. The [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads a file you already have - a stretched PNG, a photo of the bottle - and tells you whether a decoder can get the payload out of it. The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) checks the artwork you are about to place, and reports the margin, the contrast and the module size at a stated printed width, which is the number a curved or angled placement eats first. ## The Fix by Tool and Situation Almost every distortion has a one-line fix once it is named, and the table pairs each place a code gets distorted with the action that undoes it. Menu labels shift between versions, so the names are what to look for rather than exact wording; for the Figma row, [copy a QR code to Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma) has the paste route that keeps the code as vectors. | Where it happened | What went wrong | Fix | | --- | --- | --- | | Canva | A side handle stretched the code, or a corner handle was dragged without proportions held | Delete and re-add the export; resize from a corner handle only, typically with Shift held; never from a side handle | | Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides | Width and height set separately, or a side handle dragged | Tick Lock aspect ratio in the size settings, or hold Shift on a corner handle; re-insert the original file | | Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity | Non-uniform scale or a skew applied to placed art | Place the SVG, scale with the proportions lock on (typically Constrain Width and Height Proportions), rotate instead of skewing | | Figma | A placed raster resized from a side handle, or a frame resized with its contents set to scale | Paste the SVG as vectors and resize from a corner with Shift held | | A label on a bottle, can or mug | Code wider than about 15% of the circumference | Shrink the code and shorten the payload, or move it to the cap, tag or a flat panel | | A poster, board or fascia above eye level | Every reader sees a steep keystone | Mount at phone height, tilt the piece towards the reader, or add width for the angle | | A table tent, counter sticker or floor decal | Read from standing height at a steep downward angle | Angle the piece up, raise it onto a stand, or make it larger | | A screenshot, a JPEG, or a small PNG scaled up | Soft or stepped module edges; nothing geometric | Export SVG, or a PNG at a whole number of pixels per module at final size | | A pouch, bag or wrapped item | The code creases across a fold | Print the code where the pack is held flat, or on the outer carton | The design-tool rows and the screenshot row are fixed by regenerating and placing a fresh file. The label, poster, table and pouch rows are fixed by moving the code. One last thing worth ruling out before any of this: a code that reads perfectly on the phone and then does nothing useful was never distorted. The symbol did its job and the destination behind it did not, which the [troubleshooting pillar](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) covers under destination faults. Styling never improves scan performance, and a styled code on a curve or at an angle has less tolerance to spend than a plain one, because decorative modules put less ink in each cell - [do custom QR shapes scan](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) has the measurements. ## FAQ ### Can a Distorted QR Code Be Scanned? Usually, if the distortion is flat. A code that is stretched, leaning or rotated keeps every straight line straight, and a decoder undoes that through the three corner squares - in our test on 22 September 2026, a 3:1 stretch, a 25° shear and a 45° rotation all read at 16 of 16 positions. A code wrapped tightly around a cylinder, creased across a fold, or blurred into grey is the kind that fails. ### Why Does My Stretched QR Code Still Scan? Because a stretch is a uniform scale in one axis, and the three finder patterns stretch with it, so the decoder fits a rectangular grid from the start and reads the modules where they are. The stretch is still worth fixing: it halves the module width in one direction, which is the same as printing the code smaller, and it takes the headroom the code needs for print, distance and poor light. ### How Do I Fix a Stretched QR Code in Canva or PowerPoint? Delete the stretched copy and place the original file again, then resize only from a corner handle - typically with Shift held in Canva, and with Lock aspect ratio ticked in PowerPoint or Word, which is the name Microsoft's help page gives the setting. Dragging the stretched copy back to square resamples it a second time and softens every module edge, so it is not a repair. ### Can a QR Code Be Printed on a Curved Bottle or Can? Yes, if the code's width is a small share of the circumference. Our measurement held at 16 of 16 while the code was 15% of the circumference or less and failed from 25%, so the working rule is about 15%: on a 7 cm bottle, about 22 cm around, that is roughly 3.3 cm of code. Wider than that, use the cap, a hang tag or a flat panel instead. ### Does Rotating a QR Code Affect Scanning? No. A QR code has no up: the three finder patterns sit in three corners and the empty fourth corner tells the decoder which way round the symbol is, at any angle. In our test a code at 15°, 30° and 45° read at 16 of 16 positions each. Rotation is the one transform a designer can apply freely; a skew or a non-uniform stretch is not the same thing. ### How Much Can a QR Code Be Skewed and Still Scan? A shear of up to 25° read fully in our test with an open decoder, and at 30° nothing read at all, in either resolution. Our reading is that by then the leaning finder patterns no longer match the 1:1:3:1:1 ratio the locator checks in both axes. Phones may hold a little further, but a code slanted enough to look like italic is already near the edge, so rotate instead of skewing. ### Why Does My QR Code Look Blurry or Pixelated Instead of Sharp? Because the file is under-resolved, not distorted: it was exported too small and scaled up, saved as a JPEG, screenshotted, or printed at a size where a module falls on a fraction of a printer dot. The grid is geometrically fine, so straightening the placement changes nothing. Export SVG, or a PNG at a whole number of pixels per module at the final size. ### Will a Higher Error Correction Level Fix a Distorted QR Code? No. Error correction repairs modules that were read wrongly after the grid has been fitted, and distortion is a fault in fitting the grid. A keystone or a wrap that misplaces the grid produces errors in whole regions at once, beyond what any level recovers, and a higher level makes every module smaller. Fix the geometry or the placement; leave the level where the generator set it. ### Can I Un-Stretch a QR Code in Photoshop? You can, and you should not ship the result. Scaling a raster back to square is a second resample on top of the first, and both passes blur the module edges; the code may still read, with less margin than before. If the original file or the destination URL is available, regenerate the code and place the fresh export. Un-stretching is a last resort for a code whose source is lost, and it should be validated before printing. ### Do Phones Tolerate More Distortion Than These Numbers? Almost certainly, and by an amount nobody publishes. Our figures come from jsQR, an open decoder, because it is the only one whose behaviour can be reproduced; Apple's and Google's camera decoders are closed and generally more forgiving. Treat the thresholds as where the curve turns rather than where a phone gives up, and design inside them so the phone's extra tolerance is margin rather than the plan. --- # QR Code SVG and Vector Files: Download a Sample, See What Is Inside, Use It Anywhere URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files A free, scannable sample QR code SVG (6,355 bytes, version 6) to download, what each element in the file holds, and how to place it in any design tool. Design · 2026-09-22 A QR code SVG is a plain text file that draws the code as shapes, so it scales to any size and opens in every design tool. This page ships a real one to download: a 6,355-byte sample that scans, made with the same encoder as KoloQR, with every element in the file explained. It then covers what a KoloQR SVG export holds, how to place a vector QR code in Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape, Affinity, Canva, InDesign, Word and PowerPoint, and the handful of edits that turn a working vector code into a decorative one. ## Key points - The sample SVG QR code on this page is real: version 6, 41 x 41 modules, error correction H, 6,355 bytes, and it decodes to the address of this page. Use it as a placeholder in a mockup; do not print it on anything that needs your own link. - A vector QR code is not editable in the way a headline is. The arrangement of dark and light modules is the data, so the only safe edits are recolouring the whole path, resizing with proportions locked, moving and rotating. - A KoloQR SVG export is one file with named parts: a background, the modules as individual shapes, each finder eye as one path, a frame as one path, a logo group, and any label text already converted to outlines. - Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape and Affinity Designer open an SVG as editable shapes. Word and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 insert one through Insert, then Pictures. Canva accepts SVG uploads. InDesign places one as a graphic. - A free vector QR code from a stock site encodes someone else's address, and no design tool can change that. If the code has to point at your page, generate it - the [generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) exports SVG without an account or a watermark. ## Download a Sample SVG QR Code Start with the file itself: [download the sample SVG QR code](https://koloqr.com/samples/qr-code-sample.svg). It is 6,355 bytes, a version 6 symbol of 41 x 41 modules at error correction level H, encoding the address of this page. It was generated with the same encoder KoloQR uses in the browser and checked with the jsQR decoder before it was published, on 22 September 2026, so it scans. For which format to download for a given job - SVG, PNG, PDF or EPS - see [SVG vs PNG vs PDF vs EPS for QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png); this page is about getting, reading and using the SVG itself. The sample is deliberately the plainest SVG a QR code can be. Black square modules on a white background, a four-module quiet zone, no logo, no frame, no rounded corners, and no width or height attributes, so a design tool opens it at whatever default size it uses and the file scales cleanly from there. A styled code from the generator is a longer file with more parts; the sample is the one to open in a text editor when the question is what an SVG QR code actually is. The one rule for the sample is what it encodes. Scanning it opens this guide, and nothing in Illustrator, Figma or any other tool can make it open anything else, because the pattern of modules is the address. Use it as a stand-in on a mockup, a template or a print layout while the real code is still being decided, then replace it with a code generated from the real destination before anything is printed. ## What Is Inside the Sample SVG File, Element by Element The sample SVG contains six lines: an XML declaration, a comment, an opening svg element with a viewBox, a white background rectangle, one black path holding every dark module, and the closing tag. That is the entire file, and each part has a job a scanner or a design tool depends on. | Element | What it holds | Why it matters | | --- | --- | --- | | | The XML declaration | Marks the file as XML text; a KoloQR export adds one when it is missing, and a browser renders the file with or without it | | | A comment naming the payload, the version and "made with KoloQR" | Human-readable provenance; a scanner and a design tool both ignore it | | | The drawing surface: 49 x 49 units, one unit per module, 41 modules of code plus 4 of quiet zone on every side | The viewBox is what makes the file scale; crispEdges tells a renderer not to anti-alias module edges | | | A white background covering the whole surface, quiet zone included | Without it the quiet zone is transparent, and on a dark layout the scanner loses the symbol's boundary | | | 823 dark modules drawn as 442 horizontal runs, each run one subpath | The data. One path means one fill to recolour and no way to nudge a single module by accident | | | The closing tag | Ends the document | The numbers are what scripts/make-sample-svg.mjs printed when it wrote the file on 22 September 2026. The path data reads in module units. M4 4h7v1H4z means: move to column 4, row 4, draw 7 units to the right, 1 unit down, back to column 4 and close - which is the top edge of the top-left finder pattern, sitting just inside the four-module quiet zone. Every subpath is that shape with different numbers. Adjacent dark modules on a row are merged into one run rather than drawn as one square each, which makes the file a little smaller and changes nothing about the geometry a scanner sees. A QR code SVG from another generator will differ in the details - one rectangle per module, a group per row, a transform instead of a viewBox offset - and none of those differences matter to a scanner. What matters is in the table: a viewBox, a light background under the quiet zone, and dark modules as filled shapes with no stroke. ## What a Vector QR Code Is, and Why the Pattern Is the Data A vector file is an image stored as shapes and coordinates rather than pixels, so it can be redrawn at any size without losing edge definition. A vector QR code is therefore a set of filled shapes on a grid, and the grid is the message: a scanner reads which cells are dark and which are light and turns that arrangement back into the address. A module is one of the small light and dark squares that carry a QR code's data, and the smallest unit a scanner has to resolve. In the sample there are 1,681 module positions and 823 of them are dark. Which 823 is decided by the encoder from the text, the error correction level and a mask pattern, which is why no design tool has a field where the address can be typed - the address is not stored beside the picture, the address is the picture. The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. In a vector file the quiet zone is easy to lose, because a tool that crops to the visible artwork crops to the dark modules and throws the margin away. The sample keeps the margin inside the viewBox and paints it white for that reason. [QR code quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) covers what happens when it goes missing. ## What a KoloQR SVG Export Contains A KoloQR SVG download is a single file named qr-by-koloqr-com.svg holding the code as separately named vector parts: a background, the modules, the three finder eyes, a frame if one was chosen, a logo if one was added, and any label text already turned into outlines. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, writes that file in the browser and adds nothing to it - no watermark, no tracking element, no account. What the export code does at the moment of download, in the order it does it: - **Outlines the labels.** If a [QR code frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) carries text such as SCAN ME, the export waits for the label font to load and redraws each label as a path before serialising, so the file never contains a text element that needs a font installed downstream. - **Serialises the artwork.** The svg element that was on screen is written out with its viewBox, and the file gets an XML declaration if it did not already have one. - **Adds an explicit width and height.** The two attributes are copied from the viewBox so that a design tool which reads them, Figma in particular, places the code at its true size rather than a default box. - **Makes referenced ids unique.** Any id that something in the file points at - a clip path, the invisible arc a curved label follows - gets a prefix unique to that export, so two codes dropped into one document cannot clip each other. Ids that only name layers, such as Background and Logo, are left readable. The parts a design tool shows in its layers panel come from the file itself. The root element is named by KoloQR.com; the background is a rectangle named Background, omitted when the background is set to transparent; the data modules sit in a group filled with the foreground colour, each module its own shape - a square, a circle, or a capsule when a pill pattern merges a run; each finder eye is one path with its hole cut by an even-odd fill so it recolours with one click; a designed frame is one path with a real hole in it; a logo lives in a group named Logo. Scale is fixed at ten units per module, which the [format guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) already uses to derive the PNG and PDF figures, so it is not repeated here. The same markup is what Copy to Figma places on the clipboard. Nothing differs between the copied text and the downloaded file except where it lands, which is why [copying a QR code into Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma) describes the layers a paste produces in exactly the terms above. ## How to Get a QR Code as an SVG With KoloQR Getting an SVG takes one visit to the generator and one download: enter the content, style the code if the design calls for it, choose SVG in the download menu, open the file in the design tool, and scan the proof. There is no account, no email step and no size limit on the file. 1. **Open the Generator and Enter the Content.** Open [the generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) and type the URL, Wi-Fi details, text or other content. The download buttons stay inactive until the content field holds something, so the styled placeholder shown before typing cannot be exported by mistake. 2. **Style the Code Before Exporting.** Set the shape, module pattern, eye style, colours, frame and logo here rather than in the design tool. The SVG is a snapshot of the preview, and the generator's contrast badge checks the colour pair before it is committed to a file. 3. **Choose SVG in the Download Menu.** Click the arrow beside Download and choose SVG. The file qr-by-koloqr-com.svg lands in the downloads folder; Copy to Figma sits in the same menu and puts the identical markup on the clipboard instead. 4. **Open or Place the File in the Design Tool.** Place the SVG in Illustrator, InDesign or Affinity, drag it onto the Figma or Inkscape canvas, or upload it in Canva. Resize with proportions locked, and leave the quiet zone inside the artwork. 5. **Scan the Proof.** Scan the placed code from the screen at 100% and, for print, from a printed proof at final size, with an iPhone and an Android phone. Confirm the address that opens is the one entered in step 1. ## How to Use a QR Code SVG in Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape and Affinity All four vector editors open a QR code SVG as editable shapes, and the working method is the same in each: bring the file in, leave the module geometry alone, change colour through the fill, and resize with the proportion lock on. Menu names below are the usual ones; they shift between versions, so treat them as what to look for. - **Adobe Illustrator.** Use File, then Place, or open the SVG directly. A placed SVG typically arrives as a linked or embedded group; ungroup once if the fill needs to be changed per part, then select the module shapes and set the fill. No Expand step is needed - the modules are already paths, not live effects. Scale with Shift held, or through the Transform panel with the proportion lock on. - **Figma.** Drag the .svg file onto the canvas, or paste the raw SVG markup from the clipboard. Figma's help centre says that when an SVG file is imported it is no longer treated as an image and is converted into an editable vector layer. The full route, the layer names that arrive and the edits that are safe are in [how to copy a QR code into Figma](https://koloqr.com/guides/copy-qr-code-to-figma). - **Inkscape.** File, then Open, opens the SVG as a document; File, then Import, typically asks whether to include the SVG as editable objects or as a linked image - choose editable. Inkscape's own SVG is a superset of the file, so saving as Plain SVG afterwards keeps it portable. - **Affinity Designer.** File, then Place, or File, then Open. A placed SVG typically arrives as an embedded document that can be edited in place or ungrouped; the fill is changed from the colour panel, and the Transform panel has a lock for proportional scaling. In every one of the four, the tempting edit is to select all and apply a stroke, an effect or a gradient. Stroke is the one that fails silently, and the next section but one explains the geometry. Recolour the fill, and only the fill. ## How to Put a QR Code SVG Into Canva, InDesign, Word and PowerPoint The layout and office tools take an SVG as a picture rather than as editable shapes, which is fine for a QR code: the code needs to be placed and sized, not redrawn. Canva uploads it, InDesign places it, and Word and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 insert it from the Pictures menu. - **Canva.** Upload the SVG through the Uploads panel and drag it onto the design. Canva accepts SVG uploads, with a file-size limit its help centre states per plan - a QR code SVG is a few kilobytes, so the limit is not the concern; whether the upload is allowed on a given plan is, and Canva's own upload-requirements page is where to confirm it. If an SVG upload is refused, upload a PNG exported at the final printed size instead. [Creating a QR code in Canva](https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva) covers the whole route, and the [KoloQR vs Canva comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-canva) explains why Canva's own SVG export is the harder path. - **Adobe InDesign.** File, then Place, and click or drag to set the frame. InDesign treats a placed SVG as a graphic: it typically will not recolour the fills, so set the colours before export. Keep the scale at 100% on both axes or, when it must change, change width and height by the same percentage. - **Word and PowerPoint.** Microsoft's support page on editing SVG images says that Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, Mac, Android and Windows Mobile insert SVG files through Insert, then Pictures, then This Device. Older perpetual versions vary, which is why a PNG is the safer attachment when the recipient's version is unknown. The Convert to Shape option on the Graphic Format tab breaks the code into editable pieces; there is no reason to use it on a QR code. - **Google Docs and Slides.** Neither imports SVG at the time of writing, so insert a PNG. Export it at twice the displayed size so it stays sharp on a high-density screen. Whatever the tool, the size check is the same. A printed QR code wants roughly one centimetre of width for every ten centimetres of reading distance, and the [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) turns a reading distance into a width. Resize the placed SVG to that width with proportions locked, and check that the quiet zone still sits inside the placed frame rather than being cropped by it. ## How to Use a QR Code SVG on a Web Page and at a Print Shop On a web page, reference the SVG from an img element with a width and height, and it renders sharp on every display. At a print shop, send a PDF unless the shop says it takes SVG - a PDF is the format most upload forms name, and the sibling guide explains how to make one that stays vector. - **As an image.** An img tag pointing at the .svg file is the simplest route: the browser scales it, and a viewBox with no width or height attributes fills whatever size the tag gives it. The sample renders at 4 CSS pixels per module when the tag is 196 pixels wide, which is a sensible floor for a code that people will scan from a screen. - **Inline.** Pasting the SVG markup into the HTML lets CSS recolour the path, which is useful for a dark-mode design where the code has to flip to light modules on dark - a combination that native phone cameras usually read and older scanners often do not, so test it. Inline also means the file is downloaded with the page rather than cached separately. - **Not as a background image with cover or contain.** Both can crop or distort the box the code sits in, and a cropped quiet zone is the failure that shows up only on some phones. For print, the question is what the shop's workflow places. Most name PDF, some accept SVG, and a few older production systems ask for EPS. The steps for turning the SVG into a fully vector PDF, and when EPS is the right answer, are in [SVG vs PNG vs PDF vs EPS](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png). The [print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) runs through size, contrast and stock before the file goes to the run. ## Rules That Keep a Vector QR Code Scannable After Editing A vector QR code survives any edit that leaves the module grid and its contrast alone, and fails under any edit that does not. Four operations are safe: recolour the whole path, resize with proportions locked, move, rotate. The rest of the list is what to avoid, with the reason each one breaks the code. - **Never move or delete a path node.** Every dark module is data, and every node belongs to one. A module dragged half a cell to the right reads as two wrong cells; a deleted run is deleted data, and error correction spends its budget on the loss instead of on real-world damage. - **Recolour the whole path, not selected modules.** A code with two module colours is read as one dark colour and one light colour by a scanner, and which is which depends on the threshold the phone picks. Pick one dark and one light, and check the pair with the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). - **Keep the quiet zone.** ISO/IEC 18004 specifies four modules of clear margin on every side. Cropping the artboard to the dark modules, or letting a frame or a photo run into the margin, removes the boundary the scanner looks for. - **Do not stroke the modules.** A stroke is drawn centred on the path edge, so a stroke of one tenth of a module grows every dark module by a tenth on each side and shrinks every light gap by a fifth. That is geometry, not a matter of taste: at a stroke of half a module every light cell between two dark ones closes completely, and the code stops being a grid. - **No gradients or transparency on the modules.** A gradient makes some modules lighter than others, and a scanner needs each one to fall clearly on the dark side of its threshold; transparency lets the background show through, which is the same problem by another route. - **Do not scale one axis.** A 4% stretch is invisible on screen and makes the finder patterns non-square, which is the first thing a decoder checks for. Lock the proportions before touching a handle. Two checks close the loop. Drop the finished artwork into the [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator), which reports whether the styled code still decodes and to what, and then scan a proof of the real output - the screen at 100%, or the printed sheet at final size - with a phone. Styling never improves scanning; the point of these rules is to keep an edited code as scannable as the plain one it started from, and only a scan confirms that it did. ## Where Free Vector QR Code Downloads Go Wrong A free QR code SVG from a stock or icon site is a working code that points at the wrong place, and no amount of editing can repoint it. The three failure modes are worth knowing before the download, because each looks fine in the preview and fails at the scanner or at the customer. - **The stock SVG encodes someone else's address.** Most stock QR codes hold https://example.com, the artist's portfolio, or the stock site itself. The pattern of modules is that address, so recolouring, reshaping and relabelling it leaves it pointing there. A stock code printed on a menu sends diners to a stranger's site. - **The vectorised PNG is not a clean grid.** A raster QR code run through an auto-trace comes back as shapes with rounded corners, slightly uneven cell sizes and edges that no longer sit on the module grid. Each of those eats into the margin a decoder has for lighting and angle. [SVG vs PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) explains why regenerating beats tracing. - **The code carries a stroke or a photographed line weight.** Some vector QR codes are drawn from a photo or a scan of a printed code, so the modules carry the ink spread of the original print. A scanner sees fatter dark modules and thinner light ones from the start, before the next print adds its own spread. The decision rule is short. If you need a placeholder for a mockup, use the sample on this page - it is clean, it scans, and it says where it points. If you need a code that points at your page, generate it: a static QR code takes seconds to make, exports as SVG with no account, and encodes exactly the address you typed. Which kind of code to generate, static or dynamic, is a separate choice covered in [static vs dynamic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes); KoloQR makes static codes only. ## FAQ ### Where Can I Download a QR Code SVG for Free? Generate one. The generator on this site exports SVG with no account, watermark or size limit, and the code encodes the address you typed. A free sample SVG is also linked from this page for mockups and templates; it encodes this page's address and cannot be edited to point elsewhere, so it is a placeholder rather than a substitute for generating your own. ### Can I Edit the URL Inside a QR Code SVG? No. The URL is not stored as text beside the drawing; the arrangement of dark and light modules is the URL, computed by the encoder from the text, the error correction level and a mask. Changing the destination means generating a new code. That is true of every static QR code in every format, and it is the honest limit of an SVG that is otherwise fully editable. ### Is a QR Code Vector File the Same as a QR Code SVG? SVG is one vector format among several. A QR code vector file can be SVG, EPS, a vector PDF or an AI file, and all of them store the modules as shapes that scale without a resolution ceiling. SVG is the one that is plain text, opens in a browser and imports into every current design tool, which is why it is the sensible master copy. ### How Do I Open a QR Code SVG in Illustrator? Use File, then Open, to open it as a document, or File, then Place, to drop it into an existing artboard. The modules arrive as paths, typically grouped; ungroup once if a part needs its own fill. Change colour through the fill only, scale with the proportion lock on, and leave the four-module margin inside the artboard. No Expand or Image Trace step is needed. ### Does Figma Import a QR Code SVG as Vectors? Yes. Figma's help centre says an imported SVG is not treated as an image and is converted into an editable vector layer. Dragging the .svg file onto the canvas or pasting the raw SVG markup both work; a KoloQR export arrives as named layers because the file carries the names. The layer-by-layer detail is in the guide to copying a QR code into Figma. ### Can I Upload a QR Code SVG to Canva? Canva accepts SVG uploads through the Uploads panel, and a QR code SVG is only a few kilobytes, so no upload size limit comes into play. If an upload is refused on your plan, upload a PNG exported at the final printed size instead. Canva's own SVG export is the part that sits behind Canva Pro. ### Can I Use the Sample QR Code SVG on My Product? Only as a placeholder. The sample encodes the address of this guide, so a customer scanning it from a product lands here rather than on your page. Use it in a mockup, a template or a layout proof while the real destination is being settled, then generate a code from your own address and swap the file before anything goes to print. ### Why Does a QR Code SVG Stop Scanning After I Add a Stroke? Because a stroke is drawn centred on the edge of each shape, so it grows every dark module and shrinks every light gap by the same amount. A stroke half a module wide closes the light cells between neighbouring dark ones entirely. Remove the stroke and set the colour through the fill instead; if a heavier look is wanted, that is a job for the generator's module patterns, not for a stroke. ### How Big Is a QR Code SVG File? Small. The plain sample on this page is 6,355 bytes for a 41 x 41 module code, and a styled export with a frame, outlined labels and a logo is typically tens of kilobytes. A vector QR code that runs to megabytes almost always contains an embedded bitmap rather than shapes, which is the sign of a raster image wrapped in an SVG tag. ### Can I Convert a QR Code SVG to EPS or PDF? Yes, and the direction matters: vector to vector is a clean conversion. Open the SVG in Illustrator, Inkscape or Affinity and save or export as EPS or PDF with rasterisation switched off, then zoom the result to 1,600% to confirm the edges stay hard. The generator also exports both directly. The full conversion table, including which direction is unsafe, is in the SVG vs PNG guide. --- # Inverted QR Codes: When a White Code on a Dark Background Scans, and When It Does Not URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code An inverted QR code (white on dark) is allowed by the standard and reads on most current phones. Use a near-black ground and a dark quiet zone, then test. Design · 2026-10-02 An inverted QR code is a QR code drawn with light modules on a dark background, the reverse of the usual dark-on-light pattern. The QR code standard allows it, and current phone cameras typically read one, but only a decoder that tries the inverted image can. In our test, white on pure black read exactly as well as black on white, while white on a mid-dark grey failed at a 7:1 contrast ratio that reads perfectly the other way round. Use a near-black ground, keep the quiet zone dark, never export a white code with a transparent background onto a light page, and anywhere the reader is unknown, put a dark code in a light panel instead. ## Key Points - An inverted QR code is legal: ISO/IEC 18004:2015 says symbols are intended to be read whether they are marked dark on light or light on dark. Whether a particular reader tries the inverted image is a software setting, not a property of the code. - In our test on 2 October 2026, white on black decoded at 16 of 16 positions with a decoder that tries both polarities and at 0 of 16 with one that does not. Polarity was decided entirely by that one setting. - The ground has to be genuinely dark. White modules on #333333, navy, deep purple and dark red always read; white on #595959 - a 7:1 ratio - failed at 6 and 0 of 16 while the same two greys read 16 of 16 dark-on-light. Near-black is the rule, not 'enough contrast'. - The quiet zone of an inverted code must be the dark ground colour. A white code exported with a transparent background disappears on a white or pale page: 0 of 16 on #F5F5F5 and on white in our test. - Where the reader is unknown - a till scanner, a warehouse imager, an old phone - put a dark code inside a light panel on the dark design. It keeps the look and removes the bet. ## What an Inverted QR Code Is, and Whether the Standard Allows It An inverted QR code is a QR code drawn with light modules on a dark background, the reverse of the usual dark-on-light pattern. A white QR code on a black card, a cream code on navy packaging, a laser-engraved code on black anodised aluminium and chalk on a blackboard are all inverted codes, whether or not anyone chose the word. Reflectance reversal is the QR code standard's name for marking a symbol light on dark instead of dark on light. ISO/IEC 18004:2015, the current QR code standard's 2015 edition, states in section 6.2 that symbols are intended to be read when marked so that the image is either dark on light or light on dark, and that its specifications are written for dark on light, so in a reversed symbol every reference to dark and light modules swaps. An inverted code is therefore not a hack or a misuse; it is a variant the standard names. A module is one square cell of a QR code, and the smallest unit a scanner has to resolve. In an inverted code the modules that carry data - the ones the standard calls dark - are printed light, and everything else, including the margin around the symbol, is dark. Nothing about the encoding changes: the same payload, the same error correction and the same mask produce the same grid, only with the two colours swapped. What the standard does not do is oblige every reader to look for both. A decoder can be written, configured or simply old enough to look only for dark patterns on a light ground, and that is the whole risk of an inverted code. Competing pages split between 'works on any modern phone' and 'never do it'; both are overstatements of a question that has a measurable answer. ## Does an Inverted QR Code Scan on iPhone and Android? Usually, on current phones, and without a guarantee. The iPhone Camera app and Google Lens are typically reported to read white-on-dark QR codes, but neither Apple nor Google documents how their decoders treat polarity, so there is no official statement to rely on. Older phones, third-party scanner apps and fixed scanners vary, and some never try the inverted image. The open decoders, whose settings can be read, show why the answer varies. Each one makes inversion a configurable option, and they disagree on the default: | Reader | Tries the inverted image? | Where that is stated | | --- | --- | --- | | jsQR (JavaScript, used by many web scanners) | Yes by default (attemptBoth); its README says the default will probably change to dontInvert in a future version | jsQR README, inversionAttempts option | | zxing-cpp (C++, wrapped for Python, .NET, Go, Android and iOS) | Yes by default (tryInvert: true) | ReaderOptions.h in the zxing-cpp source | | ZXing (Java, the original library) | Only if the app passes the ALSO_INVERTED hint | DecodeHintType.java in the ZXing source | | zxing-android-embedded (a common Android scanner component) | Only if the app requests INVERTED_SCAN or MIXED_SCAN | The library maintainer's answer in discussion #668 | | iPhone Camera, Google Lens, Android camera apps | Typically yes; not documented | No official documentation | | Laser and older fixed scanners | Generally no; they look for dark marks on light | Scanner vendors' documentation, e.g. Scanbot's inverted barcode guide | Defaults as published on 2 October 2026. An app built on any of these libraries can change the setting, which is why two scanner apps on the same phone can disagree about the same code. The practical reading of that table: a code read by the phone's own camera app is a reasonable bet, and a code read by a business's own scanning app, a till, a ticket gate or a warehouse handheld is not, because someone else chose that app's setting. If a phone will not read an inverted code at all, the step-by-step fixes for each platform are in [how to scan a QR code on iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone) and [on Android](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android); switching to Google Lens or a scanner app that tries both polarities is the quickest test. ## What We Measured: Inverted Versus Normal in an Open Decoder In our measurement, polarity cost nothing once the decoder tried both ways - white on black read 16 of 16, the same as black on white - and everything once it did not, at 0 of 16. What did cost an inverted code was a ground that was dark grey rather than near-black. The rig is scripts/inverted-decode-rig.mjs, run on 2 October 2026, and the full output is in reports/inverted-decode/results-2026-10-02.txt. The method, in brief: one 41-module code at level H, drawn with square modules, a four-module quiet zone and six modules of surrounding surface, blurred as a sharp phone frame would be, sampled at 6 and at 4 captured pixels per module, and handed to jsQR 1.4.0 at 16 sub-pixel positions per condition. A cell of 16 means every position read the exact payload. | Condition | Dark on light | Light on dark | | --- | --- | --- | | Black and white, decoder does not try the inverse | 16 and 16 | 0 and 0 | | Black and white, decoder tries both | 16 and 16 | 16 and 16 | | #595959 and white swapped, 7:1 | 16 and 16 | 6 and 0 | | #7F7F7F and white swapped, 4:1 | 16 and 16 | 0 and 0 | | White on near-black brand grounds (#0F172A, #0B1F3A, #1E293B, #333333) | Not applicable | 16 and 16 | | White on deep colour grounds (#4C1D95, #7F1D1D, #831843) | Not applicable | 16 and 16 | | White on #064E3B, #0C4A6E and #404040, 9.5 to 10.4:1 | Not applicable | 16 and 10, 16 and 11, 16 and 8 | | White on #4D4D4D, 8.5:1 | Not applicable | 16 and 0 | | Grey modules on pure black, down to #1D1D1D (1.25:1) | Not applicable | 16 and 16 at every step | | White on a #595959 tile placed on a white page | Not applicable | 16 and 16 | Pairs are 6 px then 4 px per module. Colour grounds were drawn as the grey jsQR itself computes from them. One version 6 symbol, one open decoder; Apple's and Google's decoders are closed and may behave differently. Three results carry the page. First, polarity is a switch: the identical white-on-black file went from nothing to perfect when the decoder was allowed to try the inverse. Second, contrast ratio does not predict an inverted read: 7:1 failed as white on grey and read perfectly as grey on white, and grey modules on pure black read all the way down to 1.25:1. Third, the failing grounds were rescued by a white page around the dark tile, which points at the mechanism in the next section rather than at the colours themselves. ## Why a Dark Grey Ground Fails Where Black Does Not A decoder in the ZXing family assumes that a flat, featureless area is light paper, so a large dark-grey ground is classified as light before the decoder ever tries the inverted image - and inverting that picture turns the quiet zone dark. Pure black escapes the assumption, which is why white on black reads and white on mid-grey does not. This is our reading of the source code, consistent with every row of the measurement. The detail, for anyone checking: jsQR, like ZXing's HybridBinarizer it was ported from, splits the image into 8 x 8 pixel blocks and picks a dark-or-light threshold for each one. A block whose lightest and darkest pixels are within 24 levels of each other has no edge to measure, so the decoder sets its threshold at half the block's darkest value and, in the words of the source comment, effectively whites it out, because 'dark barcode symbology is always surrounded by some amount of light background'. A flat #595959 block, at level 89, gets a threshold of about 44 and comes out light. A flat black block, at level 0, gets a threshold of 0 and comes out dark, which is correct. Inversion in jsQR then flips the black-and-white picture it already made rather than starting again from the camera image. A ground that was wrongly classified light becomes dark in the flipped picture, exactly where the inverted code needs its light quiet zone, and the three corner squares lose the margin that makes them findable. The [quiet zone guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone) covers why that margin is the first thing a decoder needs. The rules that follow, labelled as rules of thumb from one open decoder: - **Make the ground near-black.** Every ground whose grey level, as the decoder computes it, was 51 or less out of 255 read perfectly - #333333, slate #1E293B, navy #0B1F3A, deep purple #4C1D95 and dark red #7F1D1D among them. Grounds around level 61 to 64 started failing at the smaller size. - **Do not trust the contrast ratio for an inverted code.** Deep red at 10:1 read perfectly while petrol blue #0C4A6E at 9.5:1 and grey #404040 at 10.4:1 lost reads at the smaller size, because the decoder's grey weights green heavily and the ratio formula does not rank colours the same way. Judge by darkness, then test. - **A dark tile on a light page is safer than a dark page.** The same white code on a #595959 tile read perfectly once a white page surrounded the tile, because the decoder had a real light area to learn from. A full-bleed dark poster or a dark screen offers no such reference. - **Keep the ratio well above 7:1 anyway.** The [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) gives the same advice for inverted pairs; this measurement explains why 7:1 is not enough on its own and why near-black is the safe end of the range. ## White QR Codes on Black, Dark and Coloured Backgrounds A white QR code scans best on black or a near-black colour that fills the quiet zone, with every part of the code - modules, corner squares and any logo surround - in the light colour. White on black, white on navy and white on deep purple, dark red or slate all read perfectly in our test; white on mid-tones and on light colours did not. Three combinations go wrong in practice, and none of them is about the colour pair the designer picked: - **Mixed polarity.** Light modules with dark corner squares, or dark modules with a light logo plate punched into a dark ground. A decoder reads one polarity per pass; a code that is half each has no consistent pass. Set the eye colour to the same light colour as the pattern. - **A light pastel on a dark ground.** Pale yellow, pink or mint modules on navy look high-contrast on screen, and the ratio can be over 10:1, but the margin is thinner than white's. The [fifty QR colour pairs](https://koloqr.com/blog/fifty-qr-colour-pairs) table marks its inverted pairs 'test it' for this reason. - **A dark ground that is really a mid-tone.** Brand 'dark' colours are often charcoal, forest or petrol blue in the 60 to 90 range out of 255, which is where our measurement failed. Darken the ground behind the code, even if the rest of the design keeps the brand colour. Where the design is dark and the brand colour is not dark enough, the alternative costs one rectangle: a light panel behind a dark code, sitting on the dark design. That is not an inverted code at all, so every reader on earth handles it. The [minimum contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) sets out the design targets of 4:1 on screen and 7:1 in print for the normal polarity. ## The Quiet Zone of an Inverted QR Code Must Be Dark The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard specifies four modules on every side. In an inverted code, the quiet zone has to be the dark ground colour, because it must match the background modules - and a white code that runs straight into a white margin has no detectable edge at all. Our measurement put a number on how much dark margin an inverted code needs when a white page lies beyond it: a dark margin of one to four modules read at 15 or 16 of 16, and no dark margin at all read 0 of 16. The mirror case - a normal code on a white tile with a black page beyond - gave the same figures. Design to the standard's four modules anyway; one module was enough for a clean, flat digital image, which is not what a phone sees through a lens at an angle. The common way an inverted code loses its quiet zone is a white export dropped into a layout as if it were a black one: a white code on a dark tile that is trimmed to the outer modules, a dark sticker die-cut too close, or a white code placed on a dark photo where the 'dark' around it is full of light detail. The rule is the same as for a normal code, with the colours swapped: four modules of flat, unbroken ground colour on every side. ## Why a White QR Code With a Transparent Background Disappears A white QR code exported with a transparent background draws only the white modules, so its background and quiet zone become whatever surface it lands on. On a dark surface that works; on a white or pale page the code is white on white and vanishes - 0 of 16 on #F5F5F5 and on white in our test, and no better than 6 of 16 on any mid-grey we tried. This is the most common white-QR-code failure because it is invisible in the place the file was made. A design tool shows a transparent white code on a grey chequerboard, and a slide or web page with a dark theme shows it beautifully; the same file in a document with a white page, an email in light mode or a print layout on white stock shows nothing. The [transparent QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/transparent-qr-codes) page covers the general case: a transparent code is only as scannable as the surface behind it. The reverse mistake catches ordinary black codes. A black QR code with a transparent background, placed in an email signature or a web page that a reader views in dark mode, becomes black on dark grey - an unreadable code from a file that was correct. If the placement could change colour, export with a solid background so the code carries its own quiet zone. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, has a Transparent background switch on its Colors tab, and its contrast badge judges a transparent code against white, since that is where a transparent code usually lands. A white pattern with the switch on therefore shows a failing ratio of 1:1, which is the correct warning. For a white code meant for a dark surface, set the Background colour to that surface's colour instead, and the badge judges the real pair. ## Inverted QR Codes on Screens and in Dark Mode On a screen, an inverted QR code reads as well as it does on paper and often better, because a screen's black is truly dark and its white is emitted light. The screen-specific risks are a dark mode that changes the page around a code, a display at low brightness, and a phone camera exposing for a mostly dark frame. - **Dark mode does not invert an image.** A QR code inside an image stays the colour it was exported in; only the page around it turns dark. A code with its own quiet zone keeps working, and a code relying on the page as its margin loses it - [scanning a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image) has the screenshot version of this failure. Some forced dark modes in browsers and email apps recolour simple two-colour images, so a code on a page that will be read in dark mode is worth checking in dark mode. - **Low brightness flattens the ground towards grey.** A phone showing a white-on-black code at minimum brightness, or a projector in a lit room, lifts the black and dims the white. That moves an inverted code from the safe near-black end towards the mid-grey ground our measurement saw fail. - **Auto-exposure works against an inverted code.** A camera pointed at a mostly dark frame brightens it, so a printed black reaches the decoder as a grey and a white module blooms. That is reasoning rather than measurement, and it is the reason to fill less of the frame with dark ground: hold the phone so the code, not the poster, fills the view. For an app or a site with a dark theme, the safe pattern is a dark code on a white rounded panel, which reads in every reader and looks deliberate. An inverted code is a reasonable choice for a slide, a video end card or a social post viewed and scanned on phones, provided the ground is near-black. ## Printing an Inverted QR Code: White Ink, Knockouts, Foil and Engraving Print an inverted QR code as a knockout from a single dark ink, or in an opaque light ink on a dark material, and test the actual piece. A knockout is a shape left unprinted in a solid ink area so that the material underneath shows through. Each print method has its own way of losing the light modules: | Method | What goes wrong | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | | Knockout from a dark ink on white stock | Ink spread closes the white modules; a rich black built from four inks misregisters and fringes them with colour | Knock out of a single ink, not rich black; size the code for the stock; proof one sheet | | White ink on dark card, kraft or fabric | White ink is less opaque than black, so the dark material greys the modules | Ask the printer for a double hit or an underbase of white; test the result against near-black | | Screen-printed or vinyl white on a dark T-shirt or vehicle | Fabric texture and stretch break module edges; a vehicle is read from unknown phones | Prefer a light panel with a dark code; see the T-shirt and vehicle pages | | Metallic foil on a dark ground | A mirror finish reflects whatever is opposite it, so foil can look light from one angle and dark from another | Avoid foil for the code itself, or test at the angles people will hold the phone | | Spot UV or clear varnish on black | Gloss against matt is a sheen difference, not a light-dark one; at most angles there is no code | Never use spot UV alone as the code; print it in ink | | Laser engraving on anodised aluminium, slate or dark wood | The mark is lighter than the material, so the code is inverted by nature | Engrave into the darkest available finish, keep the quiet zone unmarked, and test with the phones your users have | | White vinyl on a glass door or window | The ground is whatever is behind the glass, so the code is inverted against a dark interior and nearly invisible against a bright one | Put a solid backing panel behind the vinyl | Light-ink opacity, foil and glass behaviour are general print knowledge rather than our measurement. The knockout row's ink-spread point is modelled in the rig; the rest is to be proofed on the real piece. One result from the rig is worth knowing before arguing with a printer about it: in a purely geometric model of ink spread, where dark areas grow into light ones by a fraction of a module per edge, the inverted code was not the weaker one - it held to 20% of a module per edge, where the normal code had already failed. What makes inverted print harder is physical: light ink that does not fully cover, solid areas that spread more than fine detail on absorbent stock, and finishes that reflect. The [print checklist](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-print-checklist) has the proofing step that settles it on the real piece. For the specific objects people most often want to invert, the existing pages give the per-surface answer, and all of them land on a light panel: [QR codes on business cards](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/business-cards), [on T-shirts](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/t-shirts) and [on product packaging](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/product-packaging). ## When to Avoid an Inverted QR Code, and What to Use Instead Avoid an inverted QR code wherever the reader is not a current phone camera - tills, ticket gates, warehouse and point-of-sale scanners, payment terminals, and any app chosen by someone other than the person scanning. Use one freely where phones are the only readers and the ground is near-black, and test it either way. - **If the code is read by fixed or retail equipment, choose dark on light.** Laser scanners cannot read an inverted code, and many imagers are configured for one polarity. Black on white, verified, is the only safe answer. - **If the code is on a dark design and must work for everyone, choose a dark code in a light panel.** It keeps the dark design and removes the polarity bet for the cost of one rectangle. - **If the code is a poster, slide, social post or packaging scanned by phones, an inverted code is a reasonable design choice** - on near-black, with a dark quiet zone and every part of the code in the light colour. - **If the ground is a brand mid-tone, choose a darker ground behind the code or a light panel.** In our measurement, white codes on grounds of 7:1 to 8.5:1 - ratios that pass most contrast checks - failed at the smaller size. - **If you cannot test on the actual readers, choose dark on light.** An inverted code that has not been scanned on the target phones is an untested assumption about software nobody documents. The same decision is the first symptom in the troubleshooting pillar: a light-on-dark code that does nothing on one phone and reads on another is a polarity problem, not a broken code. [Why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) treats it under detection faults. ## How to Make an Inverted QR Code Make an inverted QR code by setting the pattern and corner colours to a light colour and the background to a near-black, with a solid rather than transparent background, then exporting a vector file and testing it. In the [KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) that is the Colors tab and three pickers. 1. **Enter the Content and Keep It Short.** Type the URL or text. A shorter payload gives fewer, larger modules, which buys margin an inverted code spends on its ground and its ink. 2. **Set the Pattern and Eye Colours to the Light Colour.** On the Colors tab, set Pattern to white or the lightest brand colour, and set Eye to the same colour. Dark corner squares on a light-pattern code are mixed polarity and will not read. 3. **Set the Background to a Near-Black.** Pick black or a very dark brand colour for Background and leave Transparent background off, so the quiet zone is exported in the dark colour. 4. **Check the Contrast Badge and the Ground.** The badge should pass comfortably. Then check that the ground is genuinely dark, not a mid-tone: aim well above 7:1, near-black for neutral greys. 5. **Export SVG or a Large PNG.** Export SVG for print and a PNG at the final pixel size for screens. Place it without trimming the dark margin and without a light keyline around it. 6. **Test With a Reader That Does Not Invert.** Scan the export on several real phones, including an older one and a third-party scanner app, then print one piece and scan it from the real distance and angle. Testing an inverted code has one trap. The [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) on this site asks its decoder to try both polarities, so a white-on-black file that passes there proves the code is valid, not that a dark-on-light-only reader will see it. Use the scanner to confirm the file, the [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) to check margin and module size, and real phones to decide whether the inversion is safe. Styling never improves scan performance, and a styled inverted code - dots, rounded modules, a logo - has less margin than a plain one; [do custom QR shapes scan](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) has the measurements. KoloQR makes static codes only, so the destination of a printed code cannot be changed later. Where an inverted code is going onto expensive or long-lived print and might need to be corrected, a dynamic code service with a redirect is the better fit - the polarity question is the same either way. ## FAQ ### Can a QR Code Be White? Yes. A white QR code on a dark background is an inverted QR code, and ISO/IEC 18004:2015 says symbols are intended to be read light on dark as well as dark on light. The code must be white on a genuinely dark ground, with a dark quiet zone and white corner squares, and it only scans in readers that try the inverted image - which current phone cameras typically do. ### Do Inverted QR Codes Scan on iPhone? Typically, in the Camera app on a current iPhone, but Apple does not document it, so there is no guarantee to point to. Test the actual code on the iPhones your audience uses. Third-party scanner apps on the same iPhone can behave differently, because each app's decoder setting decides whether the inverted image is tried at all. ### Do Inverted QR Codes Scan on Android? Usually through Google Lens and recent camera apps, less predictably across older phones and third-party apps. Many Android scanner apps are built on ZXing libraries, where inversion is a setting: zxing-cpp tries it by default, while the Java ZXing library and the common zxing-android-embedded component try it only if the app asks. Test on a few Android phones before printing. ### Why Does My White QR Code Not Scan on a Dark Background? Usually because the ground is not dark enough, the quiet zone is light, or the corner squares are a different colour. In our test white on #595959, a 7:1 ratio, failed while white on #333333 read perfectly, because the decoder treated the flat grey ground as light paper. Darken the ground, keep four modules of it around the code, and make the eyes white too. ### Why Did My White QR Code Disappear When I Placed It? It was exported with a transparent background. A transparent white code draws only the white modules, so on a white or pale page there is nothing to see and nothing to decode - 0 of 16 in our test on white and on #F5F5F5. Re-export it with a solid dark background colour so the code carries its own ground and quiet zone wherever it is placed. ### Will a Till or Barcode Scanner Read an Inverted QR Code? Often not. Laser scanners cannot read inverted codes at all, and many fixed imagers, point-of-sale scanners and warehouse handhelds are configured for dark marks on a light background. Some support inversion as a setting that someone has to enable. For anything read by equipment rather than by customers' phones, print the code black on white. ### Does Dark Mode Break a QR Code? Not by inverting it: dark mode changes the page around an image, not the image. What breaks is a code that relied on the page as its quiet zone, such as a black code with a transparent background, which becomes black on dark grey. Export codes for emails and dark-themed sites with a solid background, and check them once in dark mode. ### My QR Code Scanner Tool Reads the Inverted Code. Will Every Phone? No. Many web scanners, including the one on this site, try both polarities, so a pass proves the file is a valid code, not that a reader configured for dark-on-light will find it. Use the tool to confirm the file, then scan the printed piece on real phones, including an older one and a third-party scanner app. ### Is a Dark QR Code in a Light Panel Better Than an Inverted Code? For reliability, yes. A dark code inside a light panel is a normal QR code, so every reader handles it, and it still sits on the dark design. An inverted code is a fine choice for phone-only placements on a near-black ground, but the panel is the answer whenever the reader, the ground colour or the print method is uncertain. ### Does Inverting a QR Code Change Its Data? No. The payload, error correction level and mask are the same; only the two colours are swapped, which the standard calls reflectance reversal. A decoder that tries the inverted image reads the same text from it. The cost is entirely on the reading side - whether the reader tries the inverse, and whether it recognises the dark ground as background. --- # How to Share Your Wi-Fi Password From an iPhone - With an iPhone, an Android Phone or a Room Full of Guests URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-share-wifi-password-iphone Have the other iPhone tap your network, then tap Share Password. For Android or guests, open Passwords, tap Wi-Fi, the network, then Show Network QR Code. Basics · 2026-10-04 To share a Wi-Fi password from one iPhone to another, keep your iPhone unlocked and connected, have the other person tap your network in their Wi-Fi settings, and tap Share Password when the prompt appears. The prompt only works between Apple devices whose owners have each other in Contacts. For an Android phone, a guest you do not know, or several people at once, open the Passwords app, tap Wi-Fi, choose the network and tap Show Network QR Code - any phone camera can scan it and join. For a network guests join every day, print a Wi-Fi QR code instead, and reprint it whenever the password changes. ## Key Points - iPhone to iPhone, iPad or Mac: the other person taps your network, your unlocked iPhone shows a Share Password prompt, you tap it. Apple requires Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, Personal Hotspot off, both devices close together, and each person's Apple Account email or phone number saved in the other's Contacts. - iPhone to Android, or to anyone not in your Contacts: open the Passwords app (iOS 18 or later), tap Wi-Fi, tap the network and tap Show Network QR Code. The other phone scans it with its camera and joins. On iOS 16 or 17, copy the password from Settings > Wi-Fi > the Info button instead. - A Wi-Fi QR code is plain text in the WIFI: format - for example WIFI:S:Home;T:WPA;P:summer\;2026;; - and the password inside it is readable by anyone who scans or decodes it. Point printed codes at a guest network, not the main one. - A printed Wi-Fi QR code is static: it stops working the moment the password or network name changes, and has to be regenerated and reprinted. In our test on 2 October 2026, the same code grew from 37 to 53 modules as the password went from 8 to 63 characters - 22.5 mm to 30.5 mm wide at 0.5 mm per module. - If the share prompt never appears, the usual causes are a missing contact card, Personal Hotspot left on, the sharing iPhone being locked or on a different network name, or the other device having already saved a wrong password for that network. ## Which Way to Share Your Wi-Fi From an iPhone Choose by who is receiving the password. Another Apple device whose owner is in your Contacts takes Apple's Share Password prompt; an Android phone, a stranger or several people at once take a QR code from the Passwords app; a network that guests join every day takes a printed Wi-Fi QR code. Typing the password is the fallback that always works. | Who is joining | Best method | What it needs | Limitation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A friend or family member with an iPhone, iPad or Mac | Share Password prompt | Both in each other's Contacts, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, Personal Hotspot off, devices close | One device at a time; Apple devices only | | Someone with an Android phone | Show Network QR Code in the Passwords app | iOS 18 or later on your iPhone; any camera or QR scanner on theirs | Your phone has to be in front of them | | An iPhone user who is not in your Contacts | Show Network QR Code in the Passwords app | iOS 18 or later | Same as above | | A group, or a visitor you will never see again | Show Network QR Code, held up or on a shared screen | iOS 18 or later | The QR code shows the password to anyone who decodes it | | Guests at a café, rental, office or event, every day | A printed Wi-Fi QR code | A generator, a printer, a guest network | Static: reprint after every password change | | Your own iPad or Mac | Nothing to share | Same Apple Account with iCloud Keychain on | Saved networks typically sync on their own | | Any device, when everything else fails | Copy the password and send or read it | iOS 16 or later to reveal it in Settings | Typos, and a password left in a chat history | iOS version requirements are Apple's; the Passwords app and its Show Network QR Code button arrived with iOS 18. ## How Do I Share a Wi-Fi Password From One iPhone to Another? Keep your iPhone unlocked and connected to the network, have the other person tap the same network in Settings > Wi-Fi on their iPhone, iPad or Mac, and tap Share Password when the prompt slides up on your screen, then Done. Their device joins without anyone typing. The whole exchange takes about ten seconds once the conditions below are met. Wi-Fi password sharing is an Apple feature that sends a saved network password from an unlocked iPhone, iPad or Mac to a nearby Apple device trying to join that network. The password travels directly between the two devices; the person receiving it never sees it on screen, though it is saved on their device like any network they join. 1. **Check the Contacts on Both Phones.** Each person needs the other's Apple Account email address or phone number saved in Contacts. This is the condition most people miss. 2. **Turn On Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Turn Off Personal Hotspot.** On both devices. Bluetooth carries the request; Personal Hotspot on either device blocks the prompt. 3. **Unlock Your iPhone and Stay on the Network.** The sharing iPhone must be unlocked and connected to the network being shared, and close to the other device. 4. **Have the Other Person Tap the Network.** On their iPhone or iPad: Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the network name and leave the password field empty. On a Mac: choose the network from Wi-Fi settings. 5. **Tap Share Password, Then Done.** The prompt appears on your screen within a few seconds. Their device fills in the password and connects. The same prompt works from an iPad or a Mac as the sharing device, and to an iPad or a Mac as the receiving one. It does not work towards an Android phone, a Windows laptop or a games console, because the handshake is Apple-only - those take the QR code or the password itself. ## Why Is the Share Password Prompt Not Showing Up? The Share Password prompt appears only when every one of Apple's conditions holds at the same moment, and the usual culprit is the contact card: each person's Apple Account email or phone number must be saved in the other's Contacts. Personal Hotspot left on, a locked sharing iPhone and a different network name account for most of the rest. Apple's own troubleshooting is short: restart both devices and try again, and if that fails, enter the password by hand. The checklist below is longer because it covers the causes behind that advice, in the order worth checking: 1. **The contact card is missing or holds the wrong address.** The card needs the email or phone number the other person signs in to their Apple Account with, not a work email they use for everything else. Add it on both phones; Apple's conditions run both ways. 2. **Personal Hotspot is on, on either device.** A phone sharing its own mobile data is not offering to share a Wi-Fi network. Turn it off in Settings > Personal Hotspot. 3. **The sharing iPhone is locked, or the screen went dark.** The prompt is delivered to an unlocked phone. Unlock it before the other person taps the network, and keep it awake. 4. **The two devices are on different network names.** The prompt shares the network the sharing iPhone is connected to. A router that broadcasts Home and Home-5G as separate SSIDs gives no prompt when the guest taps one and you are on the other. 5. **The other device already saved a wrong password.** If the guest typed a password earlier and it failed, their device may keep trying that one. Have them tap the Info button beside the network, choose Forget This Network, and tap it again. 6. **Bluetooth is off, or the devices are too far apart.** Bluetooth carries the request. Stand next to each other, not across the room. 7. **Out-of-date software.** Apple asks for the latest iOS, iPadOS or macOS on both. An older device in the pair is a frequent silent cause. 8. **The network is not a password network.** The prompt is built for networks joined with a single password. A work network that asks for a username, or a hotel network with a sign-in page, has nothing it can share. When the prompt still will not come, stop fighting it and show a QR code instead. Show Network QR Code in the Passwords app needs no contact card, no Bluetooth and no Apple device on the other side, which is why it is the better route for anyone you are not close to. ## How to Share a Wi-Fi Password From an iPhone to an Android Phone An Android phone cannot receive Apple's Share Password prompt, so the route is a QR code: on iOS 18 or later, open the Passwords app, tap Wi-Fi, tap the network and tap Show Network QR Code, then let the Android phone scan it with its camera, Google Lens or the Wi-Fi settings scanner. On iOS 16 or 17, copy the password from Settings instead. Three routes reach an Android phone, in order of preference: 1. **Show Network QR Code (iOS 18 or later).** No typing, no contact card, nothing installed. The Android phone joins in one tap after the scan. This is the route the rest of this section describes. 2. **Copy the password (iOS 16 or later).** Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the Info button beside the network, tap the Password field, authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode, and tap Copy. Send it, or read it out. It works for any device that has a keyboard, which is its one advantage over the QR code. 3. **A printed Wi-Fi QR code.** For a network the same people join repeatedly - a holiday rental, an office, a family home with visiting relatives - a printed card means nobody needs your phone at all. The [Wi-Fi QR code page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) covers making one. 1. **Open the Passwords App.** It is a separate app from iOS 18. Unlock it with Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode. 2. **Tap Wi-Fi.** The network you are connected to appears at the top; every network the iPhone has saved is listed below it. 3. **Tap the Network.** Any saved network can be chosen, not only the current one - useful for sharing a home network while you are away from it. 4. **Tap Show Network QR Code.** A QR code fills the screen. Turn the brightness up if the other phone struggles to read it. 5. **Let the Other Phone Scan It.** On Android, the camera, Google Lens or the scanner in Wi-Fi settings all work. On an iPhone, the Camera app. The phone offers to join, and one tap connects it. Show Network QR Code on a screen has the same property as a printed code: the password is inside the pattern. Anyone who photographs your screen can decode the password later with any QR decoder, so hold the phone out for the person joining rather than putting it on a projector. ## How to Find and Copy a Wi-Fi Password on an iPhone On iOS 16 or later, open Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the Info button beside the network, tap the Password field and authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode; the password appears and can be copied. On iOS 18 or later, the Passwords app lists every saved network under Wi-Fi with the same password field and a copy button. For a network you joined in the past but are not near now, the two places differ. In Settings, tap Edit at the top right of the Wi-Fi screen to see known networks, then the Info button beside the one you need. In the Passwords app, every saved network is already in the Wi-Fi list. Copying is the right choice for a device that cannot scan: a laptop without a camera, a smart TV, a printer, a games console. Paste it rather than reading it aloud where possible - the characters people confuse when a password is read out are exactly the ones a password generator likes to use, such as 0 and O, 1, l and I. ## How to Share a Wi-Fi Password From a Mac A Mac shares Wi-Fi the same two ways as an iPhone. With the Mac unlocked and connected, it shows a Share Password prompt when a nearby Apple device in your Contacts taps the network. In the Passwords app on macOS Sequoia 15 or later, select Wi-Fi, choose the network and click Show Network QR Code for anyone else. Apple's conditions for a Mac are the same as for an iPhone: both devices within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range, neither using Personal Hotspot, and each added to the other's contacts. To read a password on a Mac, hold the pointer over the dots beside Password in the Passwords app, and click them to copy. A QR code on a laptop screen is often easier for a guest to scan than one on a phone, because the screen is larger and steadier. ## How to Scan a Wi-Fi QR Code on an iPhone or Android Phone Point the built-in camera at the Wi-Fi QR code and tap the prompt to join; no Wi-Fi QR code scanner app is needed on an iPhone with iOS 11 or later or on a current Android phone. If the camera shows text beginning WIFI: instead of offering to join, use Google Lens or the scanner in Android's Wi-Fi settings, or Code Scanner on an iPhone. | Phone | Route | Where to find it | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | iPhone | Camera app | Open Camera, point it at the code | Shows a label above the code, typically Join Network; tap it, then Join | | iPhone | Code Scanner | Control Centre, or search for Code Scanner | Has a torch for a dim card or a dark room | | iPhone | A photo or screenshot | Open the image in Photos and touch and hold the code | For a code someone sent you rather than one in front of you | | Android | Camera app | Varies by brand; most open with QR scanning on | Some brands need scanning switched on in camera settings | | Android | Wi-Fi settings scanner | Settings > Network & internet > Internet, the QR icon beside Add network | Android 10 or later; reads only Wi-Fi codes, so it always offers to join | | Android | Scan QR code tile or Google Lens | Quick Settings (Android 13 or later), or the Lens icon in the Google app | Works on any brand, offline for a Wi-Fi code | Every route decodes the code on the phone, so a Wi-Fi QR code works with no mobile data at all - which is usually the point. The full set of routes, including where each Android brand hides its camera setting, is in [how to scan a QR code on an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone) and [how to scan a QR code with an Android phone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-android). For a code that arrived as a screenshot on a laptop, the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) reads it in the browser; [scanning a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image) covers the phone routes. A Wi-Fi QR code that scans but will not join has one of four faults: a security type that does not match the router, an unescaped character in the password, a hidden network, or a password that has since changed. The [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder) splits a Wi-Fi code into network name, security type and password, which shows which of the four you have in a few seconds. ## What Is Inside a Wi-Fi QR Code: The WIFI: Format A Wi-Fi QR code is a QR code that stores a network's name, security type and password as text, so a phone that scans it can join without typing. The text follows one convention - WIFI:T:WPA;S:Home;P:mypassword;; - with each field a letter, a colon, a value and a semicolon, and two semicolons at the end. | Field | Meaning | Example | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | S | Network name (SSID) | S:Cafe-Guest | Required; case-sensitive | | T | Security type | T:WPA | WPA covers WPA2 and WPA3 personal; also WEP, or nopass for an open network | | P | Password | P:summer2026 | Left out when T is nopass | | H | Hidden network | H:true | Optional; needed only when the SSID is not broadcast | Field order does not matter to most scanners. The grammar is the one documented in the ZXing project's Barcode Contents wiki, which most phone scanners follow. An SSID is the broadcast name of a Wi-Fi network - the name a phone lists when it searches for networks to join. The SSID in the code has to match it exactly, including capitals and spaces; a code built for cafe-guest will not join Cafe-Guest. Escaping is placing a backslash before a character the WIFI: format uses as syntax, so a scanner reads that character as part of the name or password. Five characters need it: the semicolon, comma, colon, backslash and double quote. A password of summer;2026 has to be written P:summer\;2026 in the code, or the semicolon ends the password early. We measured what happens when it is not. In our test on 2 October 2026, six passwords were encoded both escaped and raw, decoded with jsQR and read with a parser that follows the published grammar. Every escaped password came back exactly. Unescaped, the QR code itself still decoded perfectly every time, but summer;2026 came back as summer and back\slash77 came back as backslash77 - the phone would read the code and then fail to join, which looks like a wrong password. The method and full results are in reports/wifi-payload/ in the site's repository. Unescaped commas, colons and quotes survived that parser, but phone parsers are closed and not all of them are as forgiving, so the rule stays: escape all five. A generator does it for you. Hand-built payloads - in the Shortcuts app, a spreadsheet, or a generic text-to-QR tool - are where unescaped passwords come from. ## When a Printed Wi-Fi QR Code Beats Sharing From Your Phone Print a Wi-Fi QR code when the same network is joined by different people week after week - a café, a rental, an office reception. Share from the phone when it is one person, once. A printed code removes the owner from the loop, which is the whole benefit and also why it must point at a network you are happy to hand out. If guests change daily and the password changes rarely, print a code. If the password changes every week, a printed card becomes a weekly reprint, and a router's own guest portal or app that issues fresh credentials may fit better. If the guest is a single visitor on one evening, the Passwords app's QR code is faster than printing anything. A printed Wi-Fi QR code is a static code: the password sits inside the pattern, and no server stands between the scan and the network. That is why it works offline and never expires, and why it stops working the moment the password or the network name changes. There is no way to update it in place - [static vs dynamic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes) explains why a Wi-Fi code cannot be dynamic in the way a link can, because the phone needs the credentials themselves, not a redirect. Regenerate it, reprint it, and keep the exported file so the reprint takes two minutes. A longer password makes a larger code. In our measurement with the site's generator, at its fixed level H error correction and a 12-character network name: | Password length | Modules across | QR version | Smallest print width at 0.5 mm per module | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 8 characters | 37 | 5 | 22.5 mm | | 12 to 24 characters | 41 | 6 | 24.5 mm | | 32 to 48 characters | 49 | 8 | 28.5 mm | | 63 characters, the WPA maximum | 53 | 9 | 30.5 mm | Widths include the four-module quiet zone. Measured 2 October 2026 with scripts/wifi-payload-rig.mjs; a generator using a lower error correction level makes a smaller code from the same payload. Every row is above the 2 cm floor for printed codes, so a Wi-Fi card at 3 cm or more is comfortable for a table or a door. A wall sign read from across a room needs far more - the [minimum size guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) gives 1 cm of width per 10 cm of reading distance. Hotels, rentals and coffee shops are the usual homes for these codes; [QR codes for hotels](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/hotels) and [QR codes for coffee shops](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/coffee-shops) cover where to put them, and [menus and table tents](https://koloqr.com/qr-code-on/menus-and-table-tents) covers the card itself. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, has a Wi-Fi type with WPA/WPA2/WPA3, WEP and open options, escapes the five reserved characters, and builds the code in the browser without sending the password anywhere. Export it as SVG or PDF for print. Styling is for looks only and never improves scanning; test the final file on one iPhone and one Android phone before printing. To make one, open the [KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) and pick Wi-Fi. ## WPA3, Hidden and Work Networks WPA3 personal networks use the same T:WPA type as WPA2 in the Wi-Fi Alliance's own definition of the format, so a standard Wi-Fi QR code joins them. Hidden networks need the H:true flag in the code. Work networks that ask for a username as well as a password should not be shared either way. - **WPA3.** The Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA3 specification sets the type to WPA for password networks and adds optional fields for its newer protections. Some Android phones have been reported to write T:SAE in the codes they share, which is outside the specification; if an Android-made code fails on another device, a generator that writes T:WPA usually fixes it. Apple's share prompt is unaffected, because it does not use a QR code. - **Mixed WPA2/WPA3 routers.** A router in transition mode accepts both, and T:WPA covers both. A security type mismatch shows up as a code that scans and offers to join, then fails at the handshake - the first symptom on the [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) troubleshooting list. - **Hidden networks.** A network that does not broadcast its SSID needs H:true in the code, or some phones will not find it to join. Not every generator sets the flag; KoloQR's does not, so for a hidden guest network the simplest fix is to broadcast the name. Hiding an SSID adds little security, since the name still travels in the connection traffic. - **Work and university networks.** A network that asks for a username and password, or a certificate, uses WPA2-Enterprise. Those credentials are personal and are usually installed by the organisation's IT team or a configuration profile; do not share them by QR code, and expect the share prompt not to offer them. - **Hotel and café networks with a sign-in page.** The QR code or the prompt can get a phone onto the network, but the captive portal still appears afterwards. Nothing in a Wi-Fi QR code can answer it. ## Is It Safe to Share Your Wi-Fi Password? Sharing a Wi-Fi password gives the other person ongoing access to that network, not a one-time pass, so share the main network only with people you would give a house key to. For everyone else, run a guest network and share that. Every method - the prompt, the on-screen QR code and the printed one - hands over the real password. A guest network is a separate Wi-Fi network on the same router that gives visitors internet access without access to the devices on the main network. Most home and small-business routers offer one in their admin app or web page. Guests get the internet; your laptop, printer, cameras and network drive stay out of reach. The do's and don'ts that follow from that: - **Do put printed codes only on a guest network.** A printed Wi-Fi QR code is a printed password. Anyone who photographs the card can decode it later - the [general scanning guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) makes the same point about Wi-Fi codes on display. - **Do not assume the share prompt keeps the password secret.** The guest never sees it during the exchange, but it is saved on their device like any network they join, and an iPhone with iOS 16 or later typically lets its owner reveal saved Wi-Fi passwords in Settings. - **Do change the guest password when a tenant, employee or contractor leaves**, and reprint every card in the same hour. A static code that still carries the old password is the most common reason a Wi-Fi card stops working. - **Do not send the main password in a group chat.** A copied password lives in the chat history on every member's phone. A QR code shown in person leaves nothing behind. - **Do check a public Wi-Fi code before you trust it.** A sticker over a café's real code can join you to someone else's network. Joining an unknown network is a risk in itself; prefer mobile data for anything sensitive. If a Wi-Fi code does not scan at all, rather than scanning and failing to join, the fault is in the print rather than the payload - contrast, size, glare or a missing quiet zone - and [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through those in order. ## FAQ ### Why Can't I Share My Wi-Fi Password From My iPhone? Most often because one of Apple's conditions is not met: the other person's Apple Account email or phone number is not in your Contacts (and yours in theirs), Personal Hotspot is on, your iPhone is locked, or you are on a different network name than the one they tapped. Fix those, restart both devices, and if the prompt still does not appear, use Show Network QR Code in the Passwords app. ### Can I Share a Wi-Fi Password From an iPhone to an Android Phone? Yes, with a QR code. On iOS 18 or later, open the Passwords app, tap Wi-Fi, tap the network and tap Show Network QR Code; the Android phone scans it with its camera, Google Lens or the Wi-Fi settings scanner and joins. Apple's Share Password prompt does not reach Android. On iOS 16 or 17, copy the password from Settings > Wi-Fi > the Info button and send it. ### Do Both People Need to Be in Each Other's Contacts? Yes, for the Share Password prompt. Apple asks that each person has the other's Apple Account email address or phone number saved in Contacts, and a card holding a different email than the one used for the Apple Account does not count. A QR code from the Passwords app needs no contact at all, which makes it the better route for anyone you have just met. ### Where Is Show Network QR Code on an iPhone? In the Passwords app, not in Settings. Open Passwords, unlock it, tap Wi-Fi, tap the network, and the Show Network QR Code button is on that network's page. The Passwords app arrived with iOS 18, so an iPhone on iOS 17 or earlier has no built-in Wi-Fi QR code and has to copy the password or use a generator. ### Do I Need a Wi-Fi QR Code Scanner App? No. The Camera app on an iPhone with iOS 11 or later reads Wi-Fi QR codes and offers to join, and Android phones read them with the camera, Google Lens, the Scan QR code tile, or the scanner in Wi-Fi settings on Android 10 or later. A separate scanner app adds nothing for Wi-Fi codes and often brings adverts with it. ### Why Does My Wi-Fi QR Code Scan but Not Connect? The code was read, so the fault is in its contents: the password changed after the code was printed, the security type does not match the router, the network is hidden and the code lacks H:true, or a semicolon or backslash in the password was not escaped. Decode the code to read its fields, compare them with the router, and regenerate it. ### Does a Wi-Fi QR Code Stop Working When I Change the Password? Yes. A Wi-Fi QR code stores the password itself, so a new password or a renamed network leaves every printed copy out of date, and phones that scan it fail to join. No Wi-Fi QR code can be updated in place, because the phone needs the credentials rather than a link. Regenerate the code and replace each printed copy. ### Can I Share Wi-Fi From My iPhone to My Own Mac or iPad? Usually there is nothing to share. With the same Apple Account and iCloud Keychain switched on, networks saved on your iPhone typically appear on your iPad and Mac on their own. If a device signed in to a different account needs it, use the Share Password prompt as you would with anyone else. ### Can Someone See My Wi-Fi Password After I Share It? Assume so. The Share Password prompt hides the password during the exchange, but the network is saved on the other device, and recent iPhones let their owner reveal saved Wi-Fi passwords. Anyone who decodes a Wi-Fi QR code reads the password as plain text. Share a guest network rather than your main one, and change it when access should end. --- # How to Scan a QR Code on a Computer: Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux URL: https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-a-computer Windows: the Camera app's Barcode mode or Snipping Tool. Chromebook: Camera, then Scan. Mac: no built-in scanner, so use a browser decoder or your phone. Basics · 2026-10-06 On Windows 10 and 11, open the Camera app, select Barcode and hold the code in front of the webcam; for a code already on the screen, Snipping Tool's Text actions typically detects it. On a Chromebook, open Camera and select Scan, then QR code. A Mac has no built-in QR scanner, so take a screenshot and paste it into a browser-based decoder, or scan the code with your iPhone. On any computer, a QR code on the screen or in a file is read most reliably from a screenshot, not through the webcam. ## Key Points - Windows and ChromeOS have a QR scanner in the built-in Camera app; macOS does not, and on Linux only recent GNOME's Snapshot camera typically does. On Windows select Barcode, on a Chromebook select Scan, then QR code. - A QR code already on your screen should not go anywhere near the webcam. Take a screenshot and decode the screenshot: Snipping Tool on Windows 11, Lens on a Chromebook, or a browser decoder on any computer. - On a Mac, the quickest route for a printed code is usually the iPhone in your pocket. For a code on the screen, paste a screenshot into the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), which decodes it in the browser and uploads nothing. - Laptop webcams fail on QR codes mostly from focus and glare, not resolution. In our test with an open decoder, reads went from all to none between about a third and four tenths of a module of blur, and a glare spot two modules wide over a corner square stopped every read. - A QR code that sets up two-factor login contains your secret key. Decode it only with something that runs on your own machine, never with an online scanner that uploads the image. ## Which Route Works on Each Computer The right route depends on two things: the operating system, and where the QR code is - on paper in front of you, on the screen you are looking at, or in a saved file. Windows and ChromeOS can read a printed code through the built-in camera app; every system can read a code on the screen or in a file through a browser decoder. | Computer | Code on paper or another device | Code on this screen | Code in a saved file | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Windows 10 or 11 | Camera app, then the Barcode button | Snipping Tool, then Text actions (Windows 11, typically); or a screenshot into a browser decoder | Open the file, then Snipping Tool; or drop it into a browser decoder | | Mac | Your iPhone's Camera; or a Photo Booth photo dropped into a browser decoder | Screenshot to the clipboard, then paste into a browser decoder | Drop the file into a browser decoder | | Chromebook | Camera app, then Scan, then QR code | Screen capture, then Search with Google; or a screenshot into a browser decoder | Drop the file into a browser decoder | | Linux | Snapshot on GNOME 48 or later (typically); otherwise your phone or a camera app such as Decoder | Screenshot into a browser decoder | Drop the file into a browser decoder | | Any computer with Chrome | Not applicable | Right-click the image, then Search with Google Lens (sends a screenshot to Google) | Open the image in a tab, then right-click it | Routes named after Microsoft's, Google's and Apple's help pages, read 2 October 2026. Labels shift between versions; Snipping Tool's QR detection comes from a Windows Insider announcement rather than a support page. Three decision rules cover almost every case. If the code is printed and the computer runs Windows or ChromeOS, use the Camera app. If the code is printed and the computer is a Mac or a Linux machine without a QR-aware camera app, use a phone, or photograph the code and decode the photo. If the code is already on the screen or in a file, take a screenshot and decode the screenshot - the webcam is the wrong tool for anything the computer is already displaying. ## How Do I Scan a QR Code on Windows 10 or 11? Open the Camera app, make sure the Barcode button on the right-hand side is selected, and hold the QR code in front of the webcam until it is in focus. The Camera app scans automatically and shows the link at the bottom of the window; select it to open the website. Microsoft documents this route for both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 1. **Open the Camera App.** Search for Camera in the Start menu. If another app is using the webcam, such as a video call, close it first. 2. **Select the Barcode Button.** The mode buttons sit on the right-hand side of the window. On older Camera builds without a Barcode button, the option has typically been behind Try out new experimental features in the app's settings. 3. **Hold the Code About 20 to 30 cm Away.** Fill roughly a third of the preview with the code and hold it still. Too close and a fixed-focus webcam blurs it; too far and the modules get too few pixels. 4. **Read the Link Before Selecting It.** The decoded link appears at the bottom of the Camera app. Check the domain, then select it to open the site in your default browser. For a QR code that is already on the screen - in an email, a PDF, a web page or a chat - use Snipping Tool instead of the camera. Press Windows + Shift + S, select the area around the code, open the capture in Snipping Tool, and choose Text actions. Microsoft announced QR code detection in Text actions for Snipping Tool in May 2024, and on current Windows 11 builds the link typically appears as a button to open. Windows 10's Snipping Tool has no Text actions. If neither route is available - a managed work PC without the Camera app, Windows 10, or a Text actions panel that finds only words - paste the screenshot into the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) with Ctrl + V. The scanner runs jsQR in the browser tab, shows the full decoded text with its type labelled, and works the same in Edge, Chrome and Firefox. ## How Do I Scan a QR Code on a Mac? A Mac has no built-in QR code scanner: macOS ships no Camera app with a code mode, and Apple's Live Text pages for Preview and Photos describe text, phone numbers and web addresses but not QR codes. For a printed code, scan it with an iPhone; for a code on the screen or in a file, use a browser decoder. The routes, from fastest to most self-contained: - **A printed code: scan it with your iPhone.** Point the iPhone Camera at it and tap the banner. To get the link onto the Mac, copy it on the iPhone and paste it on the Mac; Universal Clipboard moves it across when both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account with Handoff on. [How to scan a QR code on an iPhone](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code-on-iphone) covers the camera side. - **A code on the screen: screenshot to the clipboard, then paste.** Press Command + Control + Shift + 4, drag around the code, then open the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) and press Command + V. The image goes straight from the clipboard into the decoder without being saved as a file. - **A printed code with no iPhone: photograph it with Photo Booth.** Take a picture with the Mac's camera, drag the photo out of Photo Booth onto the desktop, and drop it into a browser decoder. A mirrored photo is not a problem; in our test the open decoder read a left-to-right flipped code at every position. - **A code on a web page in Chrome: right-click it.** Choose Search with Google Lens; the side panel typically shows the link the code holds. Google's help page says a screenshot of the page is sent to Google to do this. Live Text may still help. Several third-party write-ups report that recent macOS versions offer an open-link option when you Control-click a QR code in Preview or Safari, but Apple's own pages for Live Text do not mention QR codes, so treat that as something to try rather than a route to rely on. If a Control-click on the code offers nothing, use the screenshot route. Continuity Camera does not change this. Continuity Camera lets an iPhone XR or later act as the Mac's webcam on macOS Ventura 13 and iOS 16 or later, according to Apple's support page, but it only supplies video to apps; it does not decode anything. If the iPhone is already in your hand, its own Camera app is the scanner. ## How Do I Scan a QR Code on a Chromebook? Open the Camera app, select Scan at the bottom, then QR code, and hold the code in the viewfinder. Google's Chromebook help page says the recognised URL, text or Wi-Fi connection prompt then appears, and that the camera also reads a QR code from the normal viewfinder without switching modes. Select the result to open it. For a code that is already on the Chromebook's screen, ChromeOS has a screen route through Google Lens. Open Screen capture, choose Take partial screenshot, drag around the code, then select Search with Google; or select the Launcher, then Lens, and select the region. Google's help page for Lens on a Chromebook requires Google as the default search engine and does not mention QR codes, so the result is typically the link but may be a page of image matches instead. The private route works on a Chromebook too. Press Ctrl + Shift + Show windows, drag around the code, and paste the capture into the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) with Ctrl + V; the decode runs in Chrome on the device. A Wi-Fi code read this way shows the network name and password as text, which the Camera app would have offered to join instead - the [Wi-Fi QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code) page explains the format. ## How Do I Scan a QR Code on Linux? Linux has no single answer, because the camera app depends on the desktop. On GNOME 48 or later, the default Snapshot camera app typically detects a QR code in the viewfinder; on older GNOME releases, KDE and most other desktops, the camera app does not. For anything on the screen or in a file, every Linux desktop has the same route: a screenshot pasted into a browser decoder. Dedicated apps fill the gap where the camera app does not. GNOME's Decoder, listed on apps.gnome.org, scans with the camera or from a screenshot, and KDE's Qrca scans with the camera. For scripts and batches, zbar's zbarimg reads a QR code from an image file on the command line and is in most distributions' repositories. For one code on the screen, a screenshot pasted into a browser tab is faster than installing any of them. ## How to Read a QR Code That Is on Your Own Screen Take a screenshot and decode the screenshot. A computer cannot point its webcam at its own display, and holding a phone showing the code up to the webcam adds glare, moire and blur that a screenshot never has. This is the case the KoloQR scanner exists for, and the four steps below take under a minute. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, also publishes a [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner) that reads a PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF by drop, file picker or paste. It does not use the webcam at all - it reads images, so it never asks for camera permission - and it decodes in the browser tab, so the image is not uploaded. 1. **Zoom Until the Code Is Large.** Enlarge the email, PDF or page until the QR code is at least a few centimetres across on screen. A code captured from a page-fit view is often too few pixels wide to decode. 2. **Capture the Code to the Clipboard.** Windows: Windows + Shift + S. Mac: Command + Control + Shift + 4. Chromebook: Ctrl + Shift + Show windows. Drag around the code and include the light margin on every side. 3. **Paste It Into the Scanner.** Open the QR code scanner in any browser and press Ctrl + V or Command + V. If the capture went to a file rather than the clipboard, drop the file onto the panel instead. 4. **Read the Decoded Text First.** The full payload appears as text with its type labelled - link, Wi-Fi, contact, authenticator key. Read the domain before opening a link. If the screenshot will not decode, the cause is almost always the crop or the size, and [how to scan a QR code from an image](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-scanner-from-image) has the pixel count a screenshot needs and the seven reasons an image fails. For the structure of the symbol rather than its content - version, error correction level, mask - the [QR code decoder](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-decoder) reads the same file. ## Why Won't My Laptop Webcam Scan a QR Code? A laptop webcam usually fails on a QR code for one of three reasons: the code is too close for a fixed-focus lens, a glare spot covers one of the corner squares, or the code is too far away to get enough pixels per module. A mirrored preview is not one of them. Most webcams are built for a face at arm's length, not a 3 cm code at 15 cm. A fixed-focus webcam is a camera whose lens is set at one focus distance, so anything held closer than that distance comes out soft. Phones refocus on the code in a fraction of a second; many laptop webcams cannot, which is why the natural instinct of bringing the code closer makes things worse. We measured how sharply that matters with the site's own rig, scripts/webcam-decode-rig.mjs, run on 2 October 2026 with jsQR, the open decoder this site's scanner uses. | What the webcam did | What we applied | Result with jsQR | | --- | --- | --- | | Mirrored the image | The code flipped left to right | Read at 16 of 16 positions at 6, 4 and 3 pixels per module | | Code too close to focus | Blur measured in module widths | 16 of 16 up to about 0.33 of a module; mixed at 0.35 to 0.375; 0 from 0.4 | | Glare over the middle of the code | A white spot, as a share of the code's width | 16 of 16 up to 40% of the width; 0 at 50% | | Glare over a corner square | The same spot over the top-left finder pattern | 0 of 16 from 5% of the width, about two modules across | One 45-module code at error correction level H, 16 sub-pixel positions per cell. Windows Camera, ChromeOS Camera and Google Lens use closed decoders that are generally more tolerant; the shape of each result is the useful part. Full table in reports/webcam-decode. Two conclusions follow. Focus fails as a cliff, not a slope: within a few hundredths of a module of extra blur, the decoder went from reading every time to never, so a code that is slightly too close does not read slowly - it does not read at all. And where glare lands matters far more than how big it is. A finder pattern is one of the three concentric squares in a QR code's corners that a scanner uses to locate the symbol and work out its rotation, and a reflection two modules wide over one of them hid the whole code, while a spot covering 40% of the width over the data was absorbed by [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction). Codes made at a lower error correction level than H have less room for that. Distance is the third limit, and it is arithmetic rather than a measurement. Assume a 1280-pixel-wide webcam frame and a horizontal field of view of about 70°, which makes the visible width about 1.4 times the distance. A 5 cm code of 33 modules then gets about 4.6 captured pixels per module at 30 cm and about 2.8 at 50 cm; the same code at 3 cm wide gets about 2.8 at 30 cm. Below about 3 pixels per module, reads become unreliable even when the image is sharp, so a small code wants the near end of the range and a fixed-focus lens wants the far end. ## How to Get a Webcam to Read a QR Code Hold the code 20 to 30 cm from the webcam, tilt it slightly so no reflection sits on a corner square, and keep it still for a second. If the preview of the code looks soft, move it back, not closer. Those three changes fix most webcam failures without any software. - **Move back until the edges look crisp.** If the boundary between dark and light modules is fuzzy in the preview, the code is inside the lens's focus distance. More distance gives fewer pixels but a sharper image, and sharpness is the limit that fails abruptly. - **Tilt a phone screen to move the glare.** A phone held flat to a webcam reflects the room's lights back into the lens. A small tilt slides the reflection off the code; watch the three corner squares in particular. - **Turn the phone's brightness up.** A dim phone screen photographed by a webcam loses contrast quickly. Full brightness gives the decoder the clearest dark-to-light difference. - **Light a printed code from the front, not from behind the screen.** A laptop screen is the brightest thing in a dark room, and a paper code held in front of it is backlit and murky. A desk lamp on the paper fixes it. - **Wipe the lens.** A fingerprint on a laptop webcam spreads light across the whole frame, which lowers contrast everywhere at once. - **Hold the code square to the camera.** A modest angle is corrected by the decoder; a steep one is not, which [distorted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/distorted-qr-code) measures. When none of that works, change the route rather than fighting the camera. Photograph the code with a phone, or with the laptop's camera app, and decode the photo; a still image can be cropped and zoomed, and a decoder gets as many tries at it as it needs. If a printed code fails on every device, the fault is probably in the code itself, and [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning) works through the causes in order. ## Is It Safe to Use an Online QR Code Scanner? It is safe when the scanner decodes the image on your own computer and nothing is uploaded; it is a privacy risk when the image is sent to a server. Local decoding is reading a QR code on your own device, so the image is never sent to a server. The page itself rarely says which kind it is, so it is worth checking. The difference matters most for the codes people most often need to read on a computer. A two-factor authentication setup code contains the secret key behind every one-time password for that account, as an otpauth:// address in plain text. A Wi-Fi code contains the network password. A boarding pass or a ticket contains a booking reference. Any of those, uploaded to an unknown server, is a copy of the credential you did not mean to make. Three ways to tell what a scanner does with your image: - **Load the page, then disconnect.** Turn off Wi-Fi after the scanner has loaded, then decode an image. A scanner that decodes locally still works; one that uploads fails. - **Read the help page of the tool you are using.** Google's help page for Lens in Chrome says that a screenshot of the page and page data are sent to Google. That is a stated, temporary use, but it is not local decoding. - **Prefer the operating system's own tools.** The Windows Camera app and ChromeOS Camera read through the camera on the device, and a browser scanner that runs in the tab - the KoloQR scanner runs jsQR in the page and works offline once loaded - keeps the image where it is. Reading a code safely is not the same as trusting it. A QR code carries no signature and no proof of who made it, so read the decoded domain before opening a link; the [how to scan a QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/how-to-scan-a-qr-code) guide covers what to check, including login codes that sign someone else into your account. ## Why Web Scanners Behave Differently on Windows and Mac Some browser-based scanners rely on the browser's built-in Barcode Detection API, and Chrome supports it only on macOS and ChromeOS, not on Windows or Linux. A scanner built that way works on a MacBook or a Chromebook and silently does nothing on a Windows laptop in the same browser. Scanners that bring their own decoder, such as jsQR, work everywhere. | Browser | Built-in Barcode Detection API on a computer | | --- | --- | | Chrome | macOS and ChromeOS only, from version 88 | | Edge | macOS only | | Firefox | Not supported | | Safari | Behind a developer flag (Shape Detection API), not on by default | MDN browser compatibility data, version 8.1.4, published 1 October 2026. Chrome on Android supports the API; this table is desktop only. If a web scanner works on one of your computers and not on another, this is the usual reason, not your webcam or your image. The fix from the reader's side is to use a scanner that decodes with its own library; the KoloQR scanner does not use the Barcode Detection API, so it behaves the same in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on every operating system. ## Most QR Codes on a Computer Are Meant for Your Phone A QR code shown on a computer screen is usually there for a phone to scan, not for the computer to read. WhatsApp Web, Telegram Desktop and many sign-in pages show a code so that a phone that is already signed in can approve the computer; authenticator setup pages show one so the phone's app can store the secret. In those cases, scan the screen with the phone. Point the phone's camera at the screen, with the display brightness up and the code filling about a third of the phone's frame. If the code is for an authenticator app, scan it from inside that app rather than the camera, because the camera does not know what to do with an otpauth:// address. Most setup pages also offer a typed key under a link such as can't scan the code, which avoids the camera entirely. The one case where the computer should read its own code is an authenticator you run on the computer itself, such as a password manager with one-time codes. Those apps typically read the setup code from the screen or let you paste the key; where they do not, decode the screenshot locally and copy the secret from the decoded text, never through a scanner that uploads it. ## When the Code You Are Scanning Is Your Own Scanning on a computer is also the fastest way to check a QR code you made before it goes to print. Drop the exported file into the scanner: if it decodes on the computer and the printed copy does not scan on a phone, the fault entered after the file - in the layout, the export or the press. The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) takes the same file and measures why a code might struggle: contrast, quiet zone, module size and error correction. To make a new code, [the KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/) builds it in the browser and exports PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS. KoloQR makes static codes only, so a code that needs scan analytics or a destination you can change after printing needs a dynamic QR service instead. ## FAQ ### Can I Scan a QR Code on My Laptop Without a Phone? Yes. On Windows 10 or 11, the Camera app's Barcode mode reads a printed code through the webcam; on a Chromebook, the Camera app's Scan mode does. On any laptop, a code on the screen or in a file is read by taking a screenshot and pasting it into a browser-based decoder. Only a printed code on a Mac, and on some Linux laptops, really wants a phone. ### Does a Mac Have a Built-in QR Code Scanner? No, not one Apple documents. macOS has no Camera app with a code mode, and Apple's Live Text pages for Preview and Photos do not mention QR codes, although some users report an open-link option when Control-clicking a code. The reliable Mac routes are an iPhone's Camera for printed codes and a screenshot pasted into a browser decoder for codes on the screen. ### Why Does the Windows Camera App Not Show a Barcode Option? Usually because the Camera app is an older build. The Barcode button sits on the right-hand side of current versions; on older builds the scanner was typically enabled through Try out new experimental features in the app's settings. Update the Camera app from the Microsoft Store, or on a managed work PC where that is not allowed, use a screenshot and a browser decoder instead. ### Can I Hold My Phone up to the Webcam to Scan a QR Code on It? You can, but it is the least reliable route. A phone screen held to a webcam is often too close to focus and reflects the room's lights; in our test, a glare spot two modules wide over a corner square stopped every read. Take a screenshot on the phone and decode it there, or send the image to the computer and decode the file. ### Why Does an Online QR Scanner Work on My Mac but Not on My Windows PC? Probably because it uses the browser's Barcode Detection API, which Chrome supports on macOS and ChromeOS but not on Windows or Linux, according to MDN's compatibility data. The page loads, the camera starts, and nothing is ever detected. A scanner that ships its own decoder, such as one built on jsQR or ZXing, works the same on every system. ### Does the KoloQR QR Code Scanner Use My Webcam? No. It reads image files - a screenshot, a photo or an export - by drop, file picker or paste, and never asks for camera permission. That is deliberate: on a computer, a screenshot is a sharper source than a webcam for anything on the screen. For a printed code, photograph it with any camera first and drop the photo in. ### Is Google Lens in Chrome Private Enough for a QR Code? Not for a sensitive one. Google's help page says that using Lens in Chrome sends a screenshot of the page and page data to Google, held temporarily to process the query. That is fine for a restaurant menu link and wrong for a two-factor setup code or a Wi-Fi password. Decode those locally, in an app or a browser scanner that does not upload. ### How Far From the Webcam Should I Hold a QR Code? About 20 to 30 cm for a code a few centimetres wide, then adjust by the preview. If the module edges look soft, move the code back; a fixed-focus webcam cannot sharpen something too close. If the code is sharp but tiny in the frame, move it closer. A code under about 3 cm wide is easier to read from a screenshot or a phone photo. ### Can a Chromebook Join a Wi-Fi Network From a QR Code? Yes. Google's Chromebook help page says the Camera app's QR code mode shows a Wi-Fi connection prompt when the code holds network details. Open Camera, select Scan, then QR code, and point it at the code. A Wi-Fi code read by a browser decoder instead shows the network name and password as text for you to type in. --- # Notes From Building a QR Code Generator URL: https://koloqr.com/blog Where QR codes come from, what actually breaks them in the wild, and what changes in the KoloQR generator - posted when there's something worth saying. The guides answer the question you arrived with. This is the rest: where the format came from, what we measured when we weren't sure, and what changed in the generator and why. Posted when there's something worth saying rather than on a schedule. ## FAQ ### What's the Difference Between the Blog and the Guides? A guide takes one decision - which error correction level, how many pixels, barcode or QR - and answers it end to end, and it's rewritten when the answer changes. A post is dated writing: what we found, what we built, what happened. If you're about to print something, the guides are the ones to read. ### How Often Do You Post? There's no schedule. A post goes up when something has actually changed in the tool, or when a question came up often enough to be worth measuring properly. Every post shows the date it was published, so you can see for yourself how current it is. ### Where Do the Numbers in a Post Come From? Every figure names its source in the sentence that states it - the ISO/IEC 18004 tables, a published standard, or a measurement we describe well enough for you to repeat. Where something is an opinion rather than a measurement, it's written as one. ### Which Languages Are the Posts Written In? Posts are written in English first. The rest of the site - the guides, the QR types, the use cases - is translated into ten languages, and a post is translated when it's worth translating rather than automatically. --- # Best QR Code Generator in 2026: Six Free Tools Compared URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/best-free-qr-code-generators-2026 The best QR code generator depends on what its free tier really gives you. Six tools compared: which codes keep working forever, which carry ads, which stop at two a month. Industry · 2026-08-06 The best QR code generator for most jobs is one whose free tier hands over a static code you keep: QRCode Monkey for its track record, KoloQR for the shape of the code itself, goQR.me for no fuss at all, and Segno for batches made offline. Buy a dynamic platform only when the link must change after printing or the scans must be counted. Every generator in this piece is free, and three different things are being offered under that word: a static code with nothing behind it, a dynamic code that routes through somebody's server, and a trial that becomes a subscription. Only the first survives you walking away. These are the free tiers as they stood in August 2026, read off each vendor's own page - free tiers move, so treat this as a snapshot rather than a standing recommendation. ## Key Points - Free means one of three arrangements: a static code you keep, a dynamic code you rent, or a trial that ends. Only a static code has no running cost and no dependency. - QRCode Monkey exports PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS with no account, and its own FAQ notes that the logo and design settings currently only work for the .png and .svg files - so the vector export can arrive without the logo you added. - ME-QR's free dynamic codes are real and don't expire, and they display advertising on the way to your page. Its Lite plan, at $7 per month, removes ads from one code in total. - Bitly's free plan includes 2 QR codes per month, and they redirect through Bitly, so a printed code depends on that account continuing to exist. - Segno generates codes offline, in Python, with no dependencies and no service involved at all - the only entry here that cannot be discontinued. ## Free Means Three Different Things The word free is doing three unrelated jobs on QR code generator pricing pages, and the difference only becomes visible after something is printed. A free static generator gives you a file and has no further relationship with you. A free dynamic tier gives you a redirect that somebody else operates. A free trial gives you the platform until a quota or a clock runs out. A static QR code is a code with the destination written directly into the pattern, so nothing sits between the scan and the page it opens. That is why it has no running cost: there is no server to keep alive, no account to keep, and no company that can switch it off. It is also why it cannot be edited after printing - the URL is physically in the squares. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link belonging to the provider, which redirects to wherever you currently point it. That indirection is genuinely useful - it is what lets you fix a wrong link after 5,000 flyers are printed, and what makes scan counting possible at all - and it is also the dependency. The printed pattern points at the provider, so the provider is now part of your sign. | What you're offered | What it costs later | What happens if you walk away | | --- | --- | --- | | A free static code | Nothing, because there is no service behind it | The code keeps resolving - the URL is in the pattern | | A free dynamic code | Ads on the free tier, or a subscription to remove them | The short link stops resolving and the printed code is dead | | A free trial of a platform | A monthly plan once the quota or the clock runs out | Dynamic codes stop; static files you exported still work | The three arrangements sold as free. Which one you have is decided by whether the destination is in the pattern or on somebody's server. The practical consequence is that the question is not which generator is best. It is whether this particular code will ever need to change or be counted. If it will not - and most codes on a menu, a business card, a wine label or a museum wall never will - a free static generator finishes the job permanently, and every subscription above it is buying infrastructure the project will not use. ## The Free Static Generators: Codes You Keep Four tools produce static codes for nothing, with no account and no expiry, and they differ mainly in how much design control they hand you. All four are usable commercially, and none of them can tell you how many times a code was scanned. ### QRCode Monkey QRCode Monkey is the long-established default in this category, and it earns it: no signup, PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS export, and detailed control over the body dots and the corner elements. Its own FAQ states that codes "do not expire and will work forever", that there is no scan limit, and that a logo can cover up to about 30% of the code because error correction can recover that much. The caveat is one that costs people a print run, and it is stated on QRCode Monkey's own page rather than inferred: the logo and design settings currently only work for the .png and .svg files. If your printer asked for EPS or PDF and you sent the vector straight from the download panel, the file can arrive without the logo and styling you spent twenty minutes on. Open the export before it goes anywhere. ### goQR.me goQR.me is the plainest option here and the fastest when the code has no design requirement at all. It generates without an account, exports PNG, GIF and JPEG as well as PDF, SVG and EPS vectors, and states explicitly that the codes may be placed on leaflets, posters, business cards or other products at no cost, including commercial use. It also exposes a documented API, which makes it the easy pick for generating a batch from a script. There is almost no styling here beyond size and colour - no shaped modules, no frames. For a Wi-Fi code taped inside a cupboard door, that is the correct amount of tool. ### Segno Segno is not a website. It is a QR code generator that runs on your own machine as a Python library or a command-line tool, and it is the only entry on this page that no company can discontinue. Its documentation describes it as a pure Python QR code generator with no dependencies, generating codes according to ISO/IEC 18004:2015(E), including Micro QR codes, and serialising to SVG, PNG, EPS and PDF. Segno is the right answer to a question the web tools answer badly: generating a thousand codes, or generating codes for data that must not leave your network. It is the wrong answer if you want to see what the code looks like before you commit to it, because there is no preview and no design surface - you write a line, you get a file. ### KoloQR KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is the design-led option in this group: it changes the outline of the code itself - [circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), rectangular, [triangular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes), [hexagonal](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) - rather than only styling the dots inside a square. It exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no account and no watermark, checks contrast before you export, and copies straight into Figma. The source is open, so it can be inspected or self-hosted. KoloQR is also the newest tool in this group, which is a real argument against it if what you want is a track record - QRCode Monkey has years of production use behind it and KoloQR does not. And it makes static codes only: no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no dashboard. If you need to count scans, stop reading here and buy a platform, because [KoloQR is not that](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode). ## The Free Dynamic Codes: Codes You Rent Two services give away the thing everyone else charges for - a dynamic code, editable after printing - and both are honest about it if you read closely. What they charge instead is worth understanding before a code goes on something expensive. ### ME-QR ME-QR gives away dynamic codes at a scale that is hard to argue with: its pricing page lists 10,000 codes on the free tier, unlimited scans with no expiration, and a year of analytics history. An account is required to change a code's destination, which is reasonable, since the destination now lives in an account rather than in the pattern. The price is advertising. Free ME-QR codes display ads, and the pricing page makes the cost of removing them unusually legible: the $7 per month Lite plan buys one ad-free QR code in total, and the $20 per month Premium plan makes all codes ad-free. That is a fair trade for an internal code or a personal link. It is a poor trade for a restaurant table, where the customer meets an advertisement between scanning your code and reading your menu - which is the reason this site describes itself as [an ad-free ME-QR alternative](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-me-qr). ### Bitly Bitly's free plan includes 2 QR codes per month, with unlimited scans and no historical analytics retention. Two is enough to test the product and not enough to run anything, which is the intent - Bitly's free tier is a sample of a link management platform, not a QR generator. The Bitly codes are redirect-based, so the printed pattern points at Bitly and Bitly points at you. That works well until an account lapses, a plan changes, or a link is archived, at which point the artifact in the world stops matching the artifact in the dashboard. For a two-week campaign that is a non-issue. For a plaque, it is the whole issue. ## Where the Free Tier Is the Trial A larger group of tools - QR Tiger, QRFY, Scanova, Uniqode, QRCodeChimp, Flowcode, qr.io, QRStuff - appear in every "free QR code generator" list and belong in a different category. These are subscription QR management platforms. Their free tiers exist to demonstrate dynamic codes, analytics, bulk generation and team features, and what varies between them is which parts stop when you stop paying. The mechanism is the same everywhere and worth stating plainly: a dynamic code routes through a short link that the plan keeps alive, so it stops resolving when the subscription or trial ends. Anything you exported as a static file keeps working, because a static file has no plan attached. This is not a criticism of these platforms - if a code has to be re-pointed after printing or its scans counted, a subscription is the correct purchase and no free static tool substitutes for it. Because the specifics differ per vendor and change often, the per-tool detail lives on the comparison pages rather than here: [QR Tiger](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrtiger), [QRFY](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrfy), [Scanova](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-scanova), [Uniqode](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode), [QRCodeChimp](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcodechimp), [Flowcode](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-flowcode), [qr.io](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-io) and [QRStuff](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrstuff). Seven of them are also set against each other, rather than against KoloQR, in [Flowcode alternatives](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives). Whether QRFY's free tier is enough on its own is the question [Is QRFY free?](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qrfy-free) answers, and [Is Unitag free?](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) explains why Unitag's free codes stop after 100 scans. One check applies to all of them before you commit a design: export the file you intend to print, on the free tier, and look at it. A watermark, a resolution cap or a missing vector format is easier to discover now than after the code is approved. ## How to Choose, in One Question Ask whether the destination will ever have to change after the code is printed. That single question sorts every tool on this page, and it sorts them better than any feature table, because it is the only difference that cannot be worked around later. - **The link will never change.** Use a free static generator and stop paying attention to this category. Menus, Wi-Fi codes, business cards, product labels, gravestones and museum captions are all in this group. - **The link might change, and the print run is small.** Still use a static code, and reprint. Reprinting fifty table tents costs less than five years of a subscription bought to avoid it. - **The link will change, or the scans must be counted.** Buy a dynamic platform, and treat the subscription as part of the campaign budget rather than an accident. - **You need a thousand codes, or the data cannot leave the building.** Use Segno and generate them offline. - **The code has to look like it belongs to the brand.** Compare on design range and vector export rather than on price, since the static tools all cost the same amount: nothing. The one thing worth spending on, if you spend anything, is not the generator. It is testing: scan the final exported file with two different phones before it is printed, at the size it will actually appear. That catches more failures than any feature on any pricing page. ## What None of the Free Tools Do No free static generator can tell you how many people scanned a code, and none can change where a printed code points. Those two capabilities are the entire product being sold by the platforms in the section above, and they are genuinely worth money to the people who need them. A free static tool is not a cheaper version of a QR platform - it is a different object, and the honest comparison says so. The failure that free generators do not cause, and that gets blamed on them, is a code that will not scan. A code fails because it is too small, because the contrast is too low, because the quiet zone is crowded, or because a logo covered more of the pattern than [the error correction level](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) could recover. Those are decisions made in whichever tool you chose, and they are fixable in [the generator](https://koloqr.com/) before the file leaves your screen - which is the only part of this entire comparison that affects whether the thing works. ## FAQ ### What Is the Best Free QR Code Generator? There isn't one answer, because the tools split by job rather than by quality. For a styled code with a track record, QRCode Monkey. For a plain code in ten seconds or via an API, goQR.me. For a thousand codes offline, Segno. For a code whose shape has to match a brand, KoloQR. For editing a link after printing, none of them - that needs a paid dynamic platform. ### Do Free QR Codes Expire? A free static code never expires, because the destination is encoded in the pattern and no service sits behind it. A free dynamic code can stop working at any time, since it redirects through the provider's short link and that link depends on the account and plan staying active. If permanence matters, the question to ask a generator is not whether it is free but whether the code is static. ### Why Did My Logo Disappear From the Downloaded PDF? Some generators apply design settings to only some export formats. QRCode Monkey states in its own FAQ that the logo and design settings currently work only for .png and .svg files, so a PDF or EPS downloaded from the same panel can arrive as a plain black-and-white code. Always open the exported file before sending it to a printer, whichever tool produced it. ### Why Does an Ad Appear After Someone Scans My Free QR Code? Because the code is dynamic and the free tier is funded by advertising. ME-QR, for example, shows ads on free codes and sells ad-free codes from $7 per month. The ad appears between the scan and your page, which is invisible to you when testing your own link and very visible to a customer. A static code cannot do this, since there is no redirect to insert anything into. ### Can I Use a Free QR Code Commercially? Yes, with the mainstream free static generators. QRCode Monkey states that codes created with it are free and can be used for whatever you want, and goQR.me states that its codes may be used on leaflets, posters, business cards and other products including commercial use, at no cost. The QR format itself is an open standard, ISO/IEC 18004, with no licence or per-code fee. ### Can I Get Scan Analytics Without Paying? Only by accepting a dependency. ME-QR's free tier includes a year of analytics history on ad-supported dynamic codes, and Bitly's free plan gives 2 QR codes a month with unlimited scans but no historical data. Both count scans because both own the redirect. If you want the numbers without renting a redirect, the alternative is pointing a static code at a URL you already measure - a landing page with its own analytics and a campaign parameter. ### Is a Paid QR Code Generator Ever Worth It? Yes, whenever the code has to change or be measured after printing. That is a real capability no static tool provides, and platforms such as Uniqode, QR Tiger and Scanova sell it along with bulk generation, team access and compliance certifications. The mistake is buying it for a code that will point at the same URL for its whole life, which describes most printed codes. --- # A Round QR Code Is a Square QR Code in a Costume URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan Yes - a shaped QR code is a square matrix inside a decorative outline. What has to stay intact, and how much wider a round or triangular code has to print. Research · 2026-08-08 Round, triangular and hexagonal QR codes scan, and they scan for an unglamorous reason: the shape is decoration drawn around a square data matrix that is never touched. What the outline does cost is width. Measured out of KoloQR's own renderer, the data matrix takes about 38% of a triangular code's base, 53% of a hexagon's width and 55-60% of a circle's diameter - against roughly 70% of a plain square export. Print a shaped code at the size you would have given a square one and you have quietly shrunk every module - by a fifth for a circle, by nearly half for a triangle - which is the actual reason shaped codes get a reputation for being unreliable. ## Key Points - A shaped QR code is a square QR matrix presented inside a non-square outline, where the outline is decoration and the matrix carries all of the data. ISO/IEC 18004 defines the symbol as a square array of modules, and no mainstream phone camera reads anything else. - The three finder patterns are what a scanner locates first, and it locates them by a 1:1:3:1:1 ratio of dark to light along any line through their centre. Styling that preserves that ratio survives; styling that breaks it stops the code being found at all, at any error correction level. - The real cost of a shape is width. The data matrix occupies about 38% of a triangular code's base, 53% of a hexagon's flat-to-flat width and 55-60% of a circular code's diameter, against roughly 70% of a [plain square export](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/pixel-qr-codes). - Decorative modules cost ink. A dot drawn at 80% of its cell width inks about half the area a square module fills, which is why a styled code fails at a small print size before a plain one does. - Error correction repairs the data area only. Damage to a finder pattern, to a timing pattern or to the quiet zone is not recoverable at any level, which is why a shape has to be built outside the code rather than over it. ## The Shape Is a Frame, and the Matrix Underneath Stays Square A shaped QR code is a square QR matrix presented inside a non-square outline, where the outline is decoration and the matrix carries all of the data. Round, triangular and hexagonal codes are all the same object underneath: the same square grid a plain generator produces, sitting in the middle of some artwork that is not square. Nothing about the encoding changes, which is why the answer to "does it scan?" is yes before any design decision has been made. This is not a limitation of any particular tool. ISO/IEC 18004, the QR code standard, defines a symbol as a square array of modules, in 40 versions running from 21 x 21 modules at version 1 to 177 x 177 at version 40, four modules larger on each side per version. There is no clause for a hexagonal data area, and a phone camera has no code path for one. A generator that promised a genuinely six-sided data region would be promising something the format does not have. So a shaped generator has exactly one honest move available: leave the matrix alone and put the shape around it. In KoloQR's circular, triangular and hexagonal modes the square matrix is drawn at full size in the middle of the artwork, never clipped and never distorted, and the outline is reached by filling the space beyond the code with decorative modules in the same colour. The circle, the triangle and the hexagon are made of ink that carries no data at all. That distinction is worth holding on to when you look at a shaped code and worry about it, because it tells you where to look for problems. Nothing outside the matrix can corrupt the payload, since nothing outside the matrix is read. The failure modes of a shaped code are the ordinary ones - too small, too pale, too crowded - arriving earlier than usual because the shape has eaten the space the code needed. ## What a Scanner Has to Find Before It Reads Anything A decoder does not start with the data. It starts by locating three markers, establishing the grid they imply, correcting for the angle the photo was taken at, and only then sampling modules. Everything in that sequence happens before error correction exists as a concept, which is why the parts involved in it tolerate almost no styling. A finder pattern is one of the three square markers in the corners of a QR code that a scanner locates before it reads any data. Each one is seven modules square in ISO/IEC 18004: a 3 x 3 dark core, a one-module light ring, a one-module dark ring. What the decoder actually hunts for is the ratio that structure produces along any line through its centre - dark, light, dark, light, dark in proportions of 1:1:3:1:1. A scan line that finds that run three times has found a QR code. That ratio is the reason [corner styling](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-finder-patterns) is the most dangerous thing on a design panel and the reason it is still possible at all. Rounding the corners of the outer ring keeps the run intact, because the ratio is measured through the centre. Filling the light ring, thinning the dark ring, or dropping a brand mark over one corner changes the run and the code is never detected - it does not fail to decode, it fails to be seen. | Part of the symbol | What it does | How much styling it survives | | --- | --- | --- | | Finder patterns (three 7 x 7 corners) | Locate the symbol by their 1:1:3:1:1 dark-light ratio | Outline changes only. The ring structure and the seven-module footprint have to stay | | Timing patterns (row 6 and column 6) | Set the module grid so the decoder knows where each cell is | None worth risking. These are single-module alternating lines and a decoration crossing them misaligns the whole read | | Alignment patterns (5 x 5, from version 2 up) | Correct for perspective and for paper that is not flat | None. They are small, they are inside the code, and there is no reason to touch them | | Quiet zone (4 modules, ISO/IEC 18004) | Tells the scanner where the symbol ends | This is where a frame or a decorative field encroaches. It carries no error correction | | Format information (beside the finders) | Records the error correction level and mask pattern | None, though it is BCH-protected and stored twice, so it survives more than the parts above | | Data and error correction modules | Carry the payload and its recovery capacity | The whole styling budget lives here - module shape, colour, and whatever a logo covers | Only the last row has slack in it. Every part above it is used before decoding starts, so error correction cannot compensate for damage to any of them. This is also why the honest version of the question is not "do custom shapes scan" but "which parts did the shape touch". A hexagonal outline drawn a centimetre away from the code touches nothing. A hexagonal frame whose border sits two modules from the matrix has eaten half the quiet zone, and that is a real risk with a clean-looking cause that no amount of error correction will fix. ## The Cost of a Shape Is Width, Not Scannability A shaped QR code needs to be printed larger than a square one to hold the same module size, because the outline is width the data does not use. This is the part that gets left out of every article on the subject, and it is the only part that changes what you do in a layout. The numbers below are read out of KoloQR's renderer as it stands today, and they are stable across payload lengths because each shape's bands scale with the matrix. A triangular code builds an equilateral triangle with a base 2.6 times the width of the matrix. A hexagonal code adds a band of 11 modules on each side of the matrix, scaled to the matrix size. A circular code clears the matrix's half-diagonal and then adds a quiet zone plus a continuation band. A plain square export is the matrix plus the four-module quiet zone plus two modules of padding. | Shape | Data matrix as a share of the artwork's width | Print it this much wider than the square export | | --- | --- | --- | | Square | About 70% | 1x - this is the baseline | | Circular | 55-60% of the diameter | About 1.3x | | Hexagon | About 53% flat to flat | About 1.4x | | Triangle | About 38% of the base | About 1.9x | Measured from KoloQR's exported SVGs. Your own generator will differ; the way to check is to open the file and compare the width of the square block of modules against the width of the whole artwork. Worked through with real numbers: a 34-character URL encoded at error correction level H is a version 4 symbol, 33 x 33 modules, per the ISO/IEC 18004 capacity tables. Printing that at a module size of 0.4 mm - a reasonable floor for phone cameras on paper - needs 13.2 mm of matrix. As a square export that is an 18 mm sticker. As a circle it is 23 mm across, as a hexagon 25 mm, and as a triangle a 34 mm base. The same code, the same payload, the same reliability, and nearly twice the footprint on the label. Reverse the arithmetic and the failure becomes obvious. Give a triangular code the 18 mm you had budgeted for the square one and the matrix inside it is 6.9 mm wide, which puts each module at 0.21 mm - well under what a phone resolves on paper, and a code that scans on the monitor and dies on the shelf. Nothing about the triangle caused that. The width did. The practical rule: decide the module size first, work outwards to the matrix, then apply the shape's multiplier, and only then check whether the result fits the space. Doing it in the other order - picking a nice size for the artwork and letting the code land where it lands - is what produces most of the shaped codes that do not work. [How to size a code for its scanning distance](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) is a separate calculation that sits on top of this one. ## What Styled Modules Cost in Ink Every decorative module shape removes ink from a cell that a square module fills completely, and the decoder is reading exactly that ink. This is a second, smaller cost than width, and it lands on the same failure - a code that works at a comfortable size and stops working at a tight one. The geometry is easy to check. A circular module drawn at the full width of its cell covers pi/4, about 78.5%, of the cell's area. KoloQR draws its dot modules at 80% of the cell width, which comes out at just over half the area of the cell - so switching square modules to dots removes roughly half the ink from every dark cell in the code. The small-squares pattern draws at 74% of the cell width, or about 55% of its area. None of that matters on a screen, where the camera has resolution to spare and the modules are perfectly rendered. It matters at 0.4 mm modules on uncoated stock, where the printed dot is already spreading and blurring towards its neighbours and the camera is averaging a mostly-white cell. A working floor, rather than anything the standard says: keep decorative modules at 70% of the cell width or above, and treat anything below that as a decision about print size rather than a decision about style. Two of KoloQR's patterns deliberately go under that floor, and they are worth naming rather than glossing. The two-size-dots pattern draws half of its modules at 80% of the cell and the other half at 56%, and the stars and hearts patterns are shapes with concave edges that ink less of the cell than a circle of the same width. They are the most decorative options in the panel and the ones to test hardest at final size. On a poster read from two metres, none of this is detectable. On a 20 mm sticker, it is the whole margin. The rule that follows is simple and unpopular: the more decorative the module shape, the larger the code has to print. A styled code is not less reliable than a plain one at the same module size. It is less reliable at the same overall width, which is the comparison anybody designing a label is actually making. ## Where the Recovery Budget Actually Goes Error correction is what pays for everything above, and it is a fixed budget with more claims on it than most people count. ISO/IEC 18004 defines four levels recovering approximately 7% (L), 15% (M), 25% (Q) and 30% (H) of a symbol's codewords, and every code uses exactly one of them. KoloQR encodes every code at level H, with no control for it in the interface. That is a deliberate trade and it costs something: level H needs more modules for the same payload, so a code that would have been 29 x 29 at level M arrives as 33 x 33, and each module is proportionally smaller at a fixed printed width. What it buys is the whole 30% recovery budget being available for the decorative choices the tool exists to offer - and for the logo, the ink spread, the fingerprint and the slightly-out-of-focus camera, all of which draw from the same pool. When a logo is added, KoloQR blanks an 11 x 11 module patch in the centre of the matrix and draws the logo over it, so the decoder reads a hole rather than a half-covered module edge. That patch is 121 modules whatever the payload, which produces a result most people get backwards: a shorter URL makes the logo proportionally larger and therefore riskier. On a 29 x 29 symbol those 121 modules are 14% of the code; on a 37 x 37 symbol the same logo is 8.8%. Both are inside what level H handles comfortably, but the direction of the effect is the opposite of the intuition that a shorter link is always safer. The limit that no budget covers, and the one worth repeating in a section anybody might read on its own: error correction repairs the data area only. Damage to a finder pattern, to a timing pattern or to the quiet zone is not recoverable at any level, because the decoder needs all three before it has any data to repair. [The full trade-off between recovery capacity and module size](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) is a longer subject than one section, and it is the guide to read before choosing a level in a tool that lets you. ## When a Shaped Code Is the Wrong Choice A shape is a design decision that spends width and tolerance, so there are jobs where it should not be spent. Naming them is more useful than another reassurance that shapes are fine. - **Anything under about 20 mm.** A shaped code at that size leaves a matrix under 12 mm wide, and small codes are where module size decides everything. Business card codes and small product labels are square codes. - **Codes read by fixed or handheld scanners rather than phones.** Warehouse imagers and point-of-sale scanners are tuned for plain high-contrast symbols and are frequently older than the phone in your pocket. Laser scanners cannot read a QR code of any shape at all, since they read one line rather than an image. - **Anything governed by a specification.** The Swiss QR-bill, the national payment standard for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, specifies error correction level M, a 46 x 46 mm symbol, a minimum module size of 0.4 mm and a 7 x 7 mm Swiss cross in the centre. A round version of that code is not a design variation, it is non-compliant. The same applies to regulated pharmaceutical and food-traceability labels. - **Surfaces that are already busy.** A shaped code needs clear space around it to read as a code at all, and a decorative outline against a photographic background is the combination that most reliably confuses a person before it confuses a scanner. - **Where the code is the product.** If somebody has to scan it to be paid, to board, or to be treated, the correct amount of decoration is none. There is one further limit worth stating because people search for it: a genuinely non-square QR symbol does exist, and it is not what anyone means by a hexagon code. ISO/IEC 23941:2022 defines rMQR, a rectangular Micro QR symbol built for narrow surfaces such as cable labels and medical vials, and ISO/IEC 18004 itself defines Micro QR at 11 x 11 to 17 x 17 modules with a two-module quiet zone. Both are real standards, and Micro QR codes and rMQR covers what each is for. Neither is something the native camera app on a phone can be relied on to read, which is why a rectangular QR code for the general public is still a square symbol in a rectangular layout. ## How to Test a Shaped Code Before It Is Printed Testing a shaped code is not different from testing a plain one, but the margin for error is smaller, so the test that gets skipped is the one that catches it. This takes about ten minutes and it is the entire quality process. 1. **Measure the Matrix, Not the Artwork.** Open the exported SVG and measure the square block of modules inside the shape, then divide by the number of modules across it. That figure is your module size, and it decides everything else. Below about 0.4 mm in print, enlarge the artwork rather than adjusting anything else. 2. **Print It at Final Size on the Final Stock.** An office laser print on plain paper is not the test if the job is going on kraft, fabric or a curved bottle. Ink spread differs by material and it is subtracted from the same budget as the styling. 3. **Scan With Two Different Phones, Native Camera Only.** Use the built-in camera app rather than a dedicated scanning app. Scanning apps are more tolerant than the native ones, and the native camera is what your customer will use. 4. **Scan at the Distance and Light It Will Actually Have.** Test a table code seated, a shelf code at arm's length, a poster code from across the room. Then repeat one of them in poor light, which is where a low-ink module pattern shows its cost first. 5. **Scan It at an Angle.** Hold the phone at roughly 30 degrees off square. This is what the alignment patterns exist for, and it is the test that catches a decorative field crowding the quiet zone, since the perspective correction has less to work with. 6. **Change Something and Test Again.** If it failed, change one thing - enlarge the code, switch the module shape back to squares, raise the contrast - and re-run the same five steps. Changing three things at once tells you nothing about which one mattered. One thing not to bother with: testing at 400% zoom on a monitor. Every code passes that test, including the ones that are about to fail in print, which makes it worse than no test at all. ## Which Shape Fits Which Job The shape choice is a layout question rather than a technical one, since all four scan when they are sized correctly. What differs is how much space each one asks for and what it reads as. The full map of [QR code shapes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-shapes) sets the four families beside each other and names the layer each one restyles. - **Square.** The default, and the right answer whenever space is tight, the code is small, or somebody else's specification is involved. It uses the least width per module of any option. - **Circular.** Costs about a third more width than a square and fits round objects - jar lids, coasters, badges, bottle caps - where a square code fights the surface it is on. The most forgiving of the three shaped options; see [round QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes) for where they land. - **Hexagon.** Similar cost to a circle, with a more deliberate, engineered look. It reads as geometric rather than soft, which is why [hexagon QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) end up on technical packaging, event badges and anything already using a hex motif. - **Triangle.** The most expensive shape by a distance - a base nearly twice the square export's width for the same matrix - and the most distinctive. Worth it on a poster, an A5 flyer or a large label, which is most of what [triangle QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) are used for. Not worth it on anything you can hold between two fingers. - **A frame around a square code.** Frequently the better answer than a shaped code: a border, a label and a call to action cost no module size at all, because [a QR code frame](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/qr-code-frames) sits outside the quiet zone rather than eating into the artwork's width. [Branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) are mostly this rather than shape changes. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, offers all four outlines with twelve module patterns and two corner styles, encodes at level H, checks contrast before export, and exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print. You can [build one in the generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) and measure the exported file against the numbers above rather than taking them on trust - which is the point of stating them as measurements instead of assurances. And the answer to the question in the headline, restated for anybody who arrived at this section on its own: round, triangular and hexagonal QR codes scan reliably, because the shape is decoration around an untouched square matrix. Size them for the matrix inside rather than for the outline outside, and they behave exactly like the plain code they contain. ## FAQ ### Do Hexagon QR Codes Actually Scan? Yes. A hexagon QR code is a normal square matrix with a six-sided field of decorative modules around it, so the data a scanner reads is unchanged. The one thing to get right is size: in KoloQR's hexagonal mode the matrix takes about 53% of the flat-to-flat width, so print the hexagon roughly 40% wider than you would print the square version of the same code. ### Can a QR Code Be Truly Round Rather Than Square? Not in a form a phone will read. ISO/IEC 18004 defines a QR symbol as a square array of modules, so a genuinely circular data area is not part of the format and no native camera app decodes one. Every round QR code you have scanned is a square matrix inside round artwork. That is not a workaround - it is the only construction that exists. ### Are Round QR Codes Less Reliable Than Square Ones? Not at the same module size. They are less reliable at the same overall width, which is the comparison most people are unknowingly making. A circular code's matrix is 55-60% of its diameter against about 70% for a square export, so swapping one for the other in a fixed space shrinks every module by roughly a fifth. Keep the module size and the shape costs nothing. ### Why Does My Shaped QR Code Fail at Small Sizes but Work Big? Because both costs of a shaped code scale with size and neither is visible on screen. The outline takes width the matrix needed, and decorative modules ink less of each cell than square ones - a dot at 80% of its cell width inks about half the area. At 40 mm neither matters. At 15 mm they are the whole margin. Enlarge the code before changing anything else. ### Do the Decorative Dots Around a Shaped Code Confuse Scanners? They carry no data and are never decoded, because a scanner locates the symbol by its three finder patterns and reads only the grid those imply. The genuine risk is different: ISO/IEC 18004 specifies a four-module quiet zone around the symbol, and a decorative field reduces the visual separation a scanner has to work with. Test a shaped code at final size and at an angle, which is where that shows up if it is going to. ### Can I Restyle the Three Corner Squares? Gently, and only their outline. A scanner finds a QR code by a 1:1:3:1:1 ratio of dark to light along any line through a corner marker's centre, so rounding the outer ring keeps the ratio and the code stays detectable. Filling the light ring, thinning the dark ring or covering a corner with a logo breaks it, and the code is then never found - a failure error correction cannot reach, because detection happens before decoding. ### Does a Shaped QR Code Need a Higher Error Correction Level? Not for the shape itself, since the decoration sits outside the matrix and damages nothing. It needs one for what usually accompanies a shape - a centre logo, low-ink module patterns, coloured artwork. KoloQR encodes every code at level H, which recovers approximately 30% of the codewords, so the budget is there by default. On a tool that lets you choose, Q is the sensible floor for a styled printed code. ### Is There a Rectangular QR Code Standard? Yes, and it is probably not what you want. ISO/IEC 23941:2022 defines rMQR, a rectangular Micro QR symbol designed for narrow surfaces such as cable labels and medical vials. It is a real standard with real hardware behind it, and native phone cameras cannot be relied on to read it. For a rectangular look aimed at the public, use a square symbol inside a rectangular layout. ### What Size Should I Print a Round or Triangular QR Code? Size the matrix, then apply the shape's multiplier. Aim for at least 0.4 mm per module in print: a 33 x 33 module code needs 13.2 mm of matrix, which is an 18 mm square export, a 23 mm circle, a 25 mm hexagon or a 34 mm triangle base. For scanning distance, the usual rule of about one centimetre of code per ten centimetres of distance applies to the matrix, not to the outline. ### Will a Supermarket or Warehouse Scanner Read a Shaped Code? Assume not, and check before committing. Laser scanners read a single line and cannot read a QR code of any shape at all. Imaging scanners can, but they are tuned for plain high-contrast symbols and are often much older than a current phone. Anything scanned by fixed equipment rather than by customers should be a plain square code at the size the equipment's documentation asks for. --- # A QR Code Decodes at 1.2:1. Do Not Design Anywhere Near It URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test No phone maker publishes a QR contrast threshold. The readable decoder quits near 1.24:1 - design at 4:1 on screen, 7:1 in print, and test the ladder. Research · 2026-08-17 Neither Apple nor Google publishes a contrast threshold for the camera apps that read most QR codes, so every number quoted as the iPhone or Android limit is quoted from a measurement nobody has published. What can be read is the source of ZXing, the open-source decoder behind a large share of everything else: it works in 8 x 8 pixel blocks and treats a block whose lightest and darkest pixels are within 24 levels of 255 as containing no edge at all. That is a contrast ratio of about 1.24:1 - a barely visible grey on white. The decoder is not the constraint. Paper that reflects 85% instead of 100%, ink that spreads, glare that lifts the blacks, and a half-millimetre of motion blur are the constraint, and they are why the working numbers are 4:1 on a screen and 7:1 in print. ## Key Points - Neither Apple nor Google publishes a contrast threshold for the QR scanning built into iOS and Android, so a single number quoted as "the" iPhone or Android limit is not a measurement anybody can check. What is checkable is the published source of ZXing, the open-source decoder, and the print-quality standard ISO/IEC 15415. - ZXing's hybrid binarizer works on 8 x 8 pixel blocks and treats a block whose lightest and darkest pixels are within 24 levels of 255 of each other as containing no edge. Against white, 24 levels is the grey #E7E7E7 - a contrast ratio of about 1.24:1. - Design at 4:1 for a screen and 7:1 for print, and treat 3:1 as the line below which a code should not ship. The gap between 1.24:1 and 7:1 is not superstition: it is the paper, the ambient light, the glare and the blur that subtract from the design figure before the decoder sees anything. - A contrast ratio is not what a camera measures. The ratio weights green at 71% of perceived brightness and adds a flare term; a camera's luminance channel weights green at 59% and adds nothing. The two disagree most on saturated red, green and blue, and the ratio is the harsher of the two. - Blur and low contrast multiply rather than add, because blur averages neighbouring pixels and therefore reduces the lightest-to-darkest spread inside each block - the exact quantity the binarizer thresholds. A code that survives 3:1 in a still photograph fails at 3:1 in a moving hand. ## Nobody Publishes the Number, and That Is the Starting Point There is no published contrast threshold for the QR code scanning built into iPhone and Android cameras. Apple's barcode detection sits inside the Vision framework and Android's inside Google Play Services, both closed, both undocumented on this point, and neither has ever stated a minimum. Any article that names one - 3:1, 4:1, 40% - is either quoting a design guideline written for something else or quoting nothing. That is worth saying plainly rather than working around, because the shape of the honest answer follows from it. Three things can be established without owning a lab: what an open-source decoder does, because its source is published; what the print-quality standard measures, because it is a published standard; and what any given code does on any given phone, because that takes twenty minutes and a printer. Everything else on this subject is someone's impression. The reason the question keeps getting asked is that contrast is the one QR code variable a designer controls without meaning to. Module size is a deliberate decision. Error correction is a deliberate decision. Colour is chosen for a brand palette three years before anyone thinks about a QR code, and the code inherits it. So the practical question is not "what is the minimum" but "how much margin does this palette leave me", and that has an answer. ## What a Decoder Actually Measures Is a Local Difference A decoder never compares your foreground colour with your background colour. It converts the camera frame to a single grey channel, decides for each small neighbourhood of pixels where the boundary between dark and light falls in that neighbourhood, and reads modules off the result. Binarization is the step where a decoder turns a grey photograph into pure black and white pixels before it tries to read any modules. Everything about contrast tolerance is decided there. ZXing is the decoder worth reading, because it is the only widely deployed one whose source is public. Its default hybrid binarizer divides the image into 8 x 8 pixel blocks, computes the lightest and darkest pixel in each block, and sets that block's threshold halfway between them. Below an image dimension of 40 pixels it abandons the local approach and thresholds the whole image at once. The interesting constant is the guard on that block loop. If the difference between the lightest and darkest pixel in a block is 24 or less, out of 255, ZXing does not compute a threshold from it - it assumes the block contains only light pixels or only dark ones and borrows an estimate from its neighbours. Twenty-four levels below white is the grey #E7E7E7, which is a contrast ratio of about 1.24:1. In a clean digital image with generous module size, that is the floor. Two consequences follow, and both are more useful than the number itself. The first is that contrast is measured locally, over roughly the area of a few modules, not across the page - which is why a slow gradient behind a code is far less dangerous than it looks, and why a photograph behind a code is fatal. A gradient keeps the local difference intact everywhere; a photograph flips which side of the boundary a module lands on halfway across the symbol. The second is that contrast and size are the same problem wearing different clothes. The blocks are eight by eight camera pixels rather than eight by eight modules, so how many modules fall inside one block depends entirely on how large the symbol lands on the sensor. A code that fills the frame gets several blocks per module and a threshold computed from that module's own edges. A code shot from too far away gets one block spanning several modules and a threshold averaged across all of them, which is a smaller effective difference from exactly the same artwork. [Sizing a code for its scanning distance](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) is therefore part of its contrast budget, not a separate topic. ## The Design Number and the Number the Camera Gets Are Different Everything between the design file and the image sensor subtracts contrast, and the losses compound rather than cancel. This is the whole reason the recommended figures sit six times above the decoder's floor, and it is worth itemising rather than summarising, because most of the items are fixable and the fixes are cheap. - **The paper is not white.** Uncoated office and offset stock reflects roughly 80 to 90% of the light hitting it. A 21:1 design ratio does not arrive as 21:1; it arrives as whatever the stock allows before a drop of ink is laid. - **Ink spreads.** Dark modules grow into the light cells beside them on absorbent stock, which raises the darkest value and lowers the lightest one inside every block the decoder measures. Kraft, newsprint and thermal receipt paper are the worst offenders. - **Gloss and lamination add light to both.** Specular reflection puts the same amount of white light into the dark modules and the light ones, which lifts the black level and compresses the ratio - the same arithmetic as the flare term in the contrast formula. A matte laminate costs a little sharpness and buys back more contrast than it costs. - **Ambient light does the same thing.** A code under a shop window in daylight has veiling glare over it. A code in a dim restaurant has a camera pushing its sensor gain up, which adds noise to the very quantity the binarizer measures. - **Automatic exposure is set for the frame, not the code.** A dark code on a small light label inside a mostly-dark photograph gets exposed for the dark part, and the label clips towards white with the modules dragged up with it. - **Blur is the multiplier.** Focus error and hand motion average each pixel with its neighbours, and averaging is precisely what reduces the lightest-to-darkest spread inside an 8 x 8 block. Low contrast and slight blur do not add up, they multiply, which is why a marginal code passes when someone braces the phone and fails when they do not. Screens have their own version of the same list, which surprises people who assume a display is a controlled environment. A phone at 20% brightness in sunlight, behind a matte screen protector, showing a code inside a browser that has applied a dark-mode filter to it, is not delivering the ratio the design file says. The design ratio is the ceiling of what is achievable, never the value that arrives. So the answer to "what contrast do phones need" is that phones need very little and workflows need a lot. The margin you are budgeting is not margin against the decoder. It is margin against the eight things above, none of which are visible on the monitor where the decision gets made. ## The Contrast Ladder: A Test That Produces Your Own Number The way to find the contrast floor for a specific job is to print the same code at eight descending contrast levels on the real material and note where it stops working. This takes about twenty minutes, it costs one sheet of paper, and it produces a number for your printer, your stock and your customers' phones rather than for somebody else's. The eight rungs below are greys on white, chosen so that each one lands on a round contrast ratio. Generate the same payload eight times, once per foreground colour, keep the background pure white, keep the module shape and size identical across all eight, and lay them out on one sheet in the order given. | Foreground on white | Contrast ratio | Luminance difference (of 255) | Reflectance difference | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | #000000 | 21:1 | 255 | 100% | | #595959 | 7.0:1 | 166 | 90% | | #7F7F7F | 4.0:1 | 128 | 79% | | #949494 | 3.0:1 | 107 | 70% | | #A3A3A3 | 2.5:1 | 92 | 63% | | #B7B7B7 | 2.0:1 | 72 | 53% | | #D2D2D2 | 1.5:1 | 45 | 36% | | #E7E7E7 | 1.24:1 | 24 | 20% | Three columns, three metrics, one pair of colours in each row - which is the whole reason "what contrast fails" has no single answer. The ratio is the perceptual figure a design tool reports, the luminance difference is roughly what lands in a camera's grey channel, and the reflectance difference is what a barcode verifier grades. All three are computed from the hex values, so they can be reproduced with a calculator. 1. **Print the Eight Rungs at Final Size on Final Stock.** One sheet, all eight codes at the size the real code will be, on the material the real job uses. An office laser print on copier paper is not the test if the job goes on kraft, a bottle label or a menu card - ink spread differs by material and is subtracted from the same budget as the colour. 2. **Scan Every Rung With Two Phones, Native Camera Only.** One iOS and one Android, using the built-in camera app rather than a scanning app. Dedicated scanning apps are more tolerant than the native ones and will pass rungs your customers cannot. Note the first rung that fails on either phone. 3. **Repeat Under the Light the Code Will Live In.** Carry the same sheet to the actual place - the restaurant table, the shop shelf, the outdoor sign at dusk. Lighting moves the failure point by more rungs than any other single variable, and this is the step that gets skipped. 4. **Repeat at the Real Distance and a Real Angle.** Scan from where a person actually stands, and once at roughly 30 degrees off square. Distance reduces the pixels per module, which shrinks the difference each block sees; the angle costs a little more of the same thing. 5. **Repeat Without Bracing the Phone.** Hold it the careless way, one-handed, moving. Blur reduces the lightest-to-darkest spread inside each block, so this run will usually fail a rung earlier than the careful one. The careless number is the real number. 6. **Design Two Rungs Above the First Failure.** Take the worst result across every condition and move two rungs up the ladder from it. Two rungs is the working margin for the variables the test could not include - a different phone, a colder day, a worn print head, a laminate the sample did not have. One rung deserves a note. The #000000 row is a control rather than a test: if black on white fails on that sheet, the problem is size, focus, glare or the quiet zone, and nothing further down the ladder will tell you anything until that is fixed. ## Colour Is Not Contrast, and the Two Metrics Disagree A colour's contrast ratio is a poor predictor of how a colour behaves on camera, because the two numbers are built differently. A contrast ratio is a single number comparing the relative luminance of two colours, running from 1:1 for two identical colours to 21:1 for black against white. It weights green at 71% of perceived brightness, applies a gamma curve, and adds a small flare term that deliberately penalises dark pairs. A camera's grey channel weights green at 59%, red at 30% and blue at 11%, and adds nothing. | Colour on white | Contrast ratio | Luminance difference (of 255) | | --- | --- | --- | | Black #000000 | 21:1 | 255 | | Deep navy #0F172A | 17.9:1 | 232 | | Dark red #7F1D1D | 10:1 | 197 | | Pure blue #0000FF | 8.6:1 | 226 | | Brand blue #1D4ED8 | 6.7:1 | 176 | | Web green #008000 | 5.1:1 | 180 | | Red #DC2626 | 4.8:1 | 163 | | Pure red #FF0000 | 4.0:1 | 179 | | Green #16A34A | 3.3:1 | 144 | | Magenta #FF00FF | 3.1:1 | 150 | | Orange #FF7F00 | 2.5:1 | 104 | | Amber #F59E0B | 2.2:1 | 88 | | Pure green #00FF00 | 1.4:1 | 105 | | Cyan #00FFFF | 1.25:1 | 76 | | Yellow #FFFF00 | 1.07:1 | 29 | Contrast ratios use the WCAG relative-luminance formula; luminance differences use the BT.601 weighting a camera's grey channel is built on. Both columns are computed from the hex values in the first column. Pure blue is the standout and it is the useful finding in the table. At 8.6:1 and a luminance difference of 226 it sits second only to near-black on both measures, which makes deep blue the safest saturated colour for a QR code by a wide margin. Deep reds and deep plums follow it. Any colour whose ratio comes from being dark rather than from being saturated behaves well. Which palettes that leaves usable, and where they belong, is the subject of [colored QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes). Pure green is where the two metrics diverge most and where the ratio is worth trusting anyway. Its 1.4:1 ratio looks catastrophic while its luminance difference of 105 matches orange's 104, so the camera sees more in a green code than the ratio implies. It is still not enough: 105 out of 255 is under half scale before the paper, the light and the lens take their share, and green codes are the ones that reliably work in the mockup and fail on the shelf. Yellow, cyan and amber fail on both measures and there is no technique that rescues them. Yellow on white gives the camera a difference of 29 levels out of 255 - barely above the 24 at which ZXing stops looking for an edge at all. A yellow code is not a risky code, it is a decorative object that occasionally scans in perfect conditions. The fix when a brand colour does not reach the target is always the same and it is always in one direction: darken the code, do not lighten the background. Backgrounds have to stay near white for the reflectance difference to survive print, and a brand colour taken two or three steps darker usually keeps its identity while doubling its ratio. Where that is unacceptable, put the brand colour in the frame, the label and the call to action around the code and leave the code itself dark - [branded QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/branded-qr-codes) are mostly this, and it costs no contrast at all. ## Light Modules on a Dark Background Are a Separate Problem An inverted QR code - light modules on a dark background - can have a perfect contrast ratio and still fail, because the ratio is symmetric and the decoder is not. White on black computes to the same 21:1 as black on white, and no contrast check anywhere will flag it. What varies is whether the software on the other end is willing to try the image both ways round. [Inverted QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code) covers which grounds read and which fail. Current iPhone and Android camera apps generally handle inverted codes, and this has improved steadily. Older hardware is where it breaks: fixed imagers, point-of-sale scanners and warehouse equipment frequently expect dark data on a light background and have no inversion pass, and ZXing itself only inverts when the calling application wraps the image in the inverted luminance source it provides - a decision made by whoever built the app, not by the code. The practical rule is that inversion is a bet on the reader, not a property of the code. For a poster, a screen or a social post read by phones, an inverted code is a reasonable design choice. For anything a customer might scan with unknown equipment, or anything read at a till, it is a coin flip taken for aesthetic reasons, and the safe version - a dark code inside a light panel, on the dark background - costs one rectangle. There is one more asymmetry worth naming, because it is invisible on screen. Printing a light code on a dark background means laying a large solid dark area, and solid coverage spreads more than sparse coverage does. The light modules are the ones that shrink, and they are the ones the decoder is reading as the light half of the pair. An inverted code therefore loses more contrast in print than the same code the right way round. ## What the Print Standard Measures Instead of a Ratio The QR code world has its own contrast measure and it is not a ratio. Symbol contrast is the print-quality measure defined by ISO/IEC 15415 as the difference in reflectance between the lightest and the darkest point in a symbol. It is expressed in percentage points and graded from A down to F. A verifier reports it alongside modulation, fixed pattern damage, grid non-uniformity and unused error correction, and the symbol's overall grade is the worst of them. The distinction matters because a reflectance difference and a contrast ratio are not convertible impressions of the same thing. Reflectance is linear light; a contrast ratio applies a gamma curve and a flare term on top of it. Run the arithmetic and the divergence is large: a 40% reflectance difference, the level commonly required in retail specifications, corresponds against ideal white to a contrast ratio of about 1.6:1, and a 70% difference to about 3:1. A colour pair that a web accessibility checker rejects outright can be a perfectly compliant barcode. That is not licence to design at 3:1. It is an explanation of why the two industries disagree: a verifier measures a printed sample under controlled light at a fixed distance with the symbol filling the aperture, and a designer's ratio has to survive a phone in a pocket. The standard is measuring the artefact, and the ratio is being used as a proxy for the whole chain. The trap inside the standard is the light it uses. Barcode verification is performed under red illumination at 660 nanometres, the wavelength the original laser scanners used and the one modern verifiers still emulate; a symbol's grade is quoted with it, as in 4.0/20/660. Red ink reflects red light, so a red code on white paper has almost no contrast at 660 nm and grades as unreadable while scanning perfectly on any phone. This is the specific reason a red QR code can pass every check a designer runs and fail at a till or on a warehouse imager. The rule that falls out of it: anything read by fixed equipment rather than by customers should be black on white, at the size that equipment's documentation asks for, and verified rather than eyeballed. Anything read by phones has the whole colour space available, minus the parts the table above rules out. ## The Numbers to Design To Aim for a contrast ratio of at least 7:1 for anything printed, at least 4:1 for anything shown on a screen, and treat 3:1 as the point below which a code should not ship regardless of how good it looks in the mockup. Those figures are design targets with the losses of the previous sections already priced in, not thresholds anyone measured on a phone. [Fifty QR code colour pairs](https://koloqr.com/blog/fifty-qr-colour-pairs) applies those two numbers to a table of named colours, so a palette can be checked against them without doing the arithmetic first. - **Print, uncontrolled conditions - menus, packaging, signage, stickers.** 7:1 or better. Black or near-black on white is 21:1 and costs nothing; the gap between 21:1 and 7:1 is where a brand colour fits. - **Print on absorbent or awkward stock - kraft, newsprint, receipts, fabric, engraved surfaces.** Do not spend contrast at all. Black on the lightest available background, and put the budget into module size instead. - **Screens - websites, presentations, app screens, video.** 4:1 or better, on the understanding that the viewer's brightness and ambient light are outside your control. - **Anything read by fixed scanners, or governed by a specification.** Black on white, verified. Colour is a risk with no upside here, and red is a risk with a specific failure mode. - **Below 3:1.** Do not ship it. It is not a marginal code that some phones will manage - it is a code whose entire margin is spent before the paper is chosen. One check that is easy to forget: the three corner markers count. A scanner locates a QR code by its finder patterns before it decodes anything, so a code whose modules are dark and whose corners are set in a pale accent colour has its weakest contrast exactly where the failure is unrecoverable. Whatever tool you use, evaluate the corner colour against the background separately and take the worse of the two figures as the code's real contrast. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, computes that pair automatically: the badge beside the preview reports the contrast ratio for the pattern colour and for the corner colour against the background, shows whichever is worse, and passes at 4:1. It judges a transparent background as white, since that is where a transparent code usually lands. You can [set up the ladder in the generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) by exporting the same payload at each of the eight greys above and printing the sheet. The honest limit on everything here: none of these numbers guarantee a scan on hardware we have not tested, and we have deliberately not published a figure for any named phone because we did not measure one. The ladder exists so that you can. Twenty minutes and one sheet of paper produces a number that is true for your job, which is worth more than any figure in this post. ## When Contrast Is Not Actually the Problem Most QR codes blamed on contrast fail for one of four other reasons, and raising the contrast on any of them changes nothing. Working through this list first is faster than running the ladder, because three of the four are visible without a phone. - **The code is too small for the distance.** Below roughly 0.4 mm per module in print, phone cameras struggle whatever the colours are. Measure one module before adjusting anything else. - **The quiet zone has been cropped.** ISO/IEC 18004 specifies a clear margin of four modules around the symbol, and a designer reclaiming that space for a layout is one of the most common causes of a code that photographs beautifully and never decodes. - **The image was saved as a JPEG somewhere in the workflow.** JPEG compression puts faint rings around every module, which lowers the local difference inside exactly the blocks the binarizer measures. It looks like a contrast problem and it is a file format problem. - **Glare.** A gloss laminate or a screen reflecting a ceiling light does not reduce the design contrast at all - it adds a bright patch over part of the symbol, and the blocks under that patch lose their difference while the rest of the code is fine. Tilting the phone fixes it, which is the tell. Error correction belongs on this list too, in the negative. Raising the level from M to H does not help a low-contrast code, because error correction repairs modules the decoder read wrongly and low contrast prevents the decoder from reading the symbol at all. [The trade-off between recovery capacity and module size](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) is a real decision, and it is not the lever for this problem. The lever for this problem is a darker foreground, a lighter background, or a larger code. The related failure worth knowing about, since decoration and contrast are spent from the same budget: decorative module shapes ink less of each cell than square modules do, which reduces the local difference the binarizer measures in the same way low contrast does. [What a custom QR code shape actually costs](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) works through that arithmetic, and the two effects stack - a styled code in a pale brand colour is spending twice from one budget. ## FAQ ### What Is the Minimum Contrast Ratio for a QR Code? As a design target, 7:1 for print and 4:1 for screens, with 3:1 as the line below which a code should not ship. The decoder's own floor is far lower - ZXing stops detecting an edge when the lightest and darkest pixels in a block differ by 24 of 255, about 1.24:1 - but that floor applies to a clean digital image, not to ink on paper under a shop light. ### At What Contrast Do iPhone and Android Cameras Stop Reading a QR Code? Neither Apple nor Google publishes a threshold, so any specific figure you see quoted is not a measurement anybody can check. Both decoders are closed source. The only readable reference point is ZXing, which gives up at about 1.24:1 on a clean image, and the practical answer for a real job is to print a ladder of descending contrast levels and find where your own combination of stock, light and phones fails. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail in Print? Because a screen delivers the design contrast and paper does not. White stock reflects 80 to 90% rather than 100%, ink spreads into the light cells beside each dark module, and gloss or ambient light adds a bright veil over both. A pair that computes to 3:1 in the design file can arrive at the camera closer to 2:1. Test on the real material at final size, never on a monitor. ### Can I Use My Brand Colour for a QR Code? Usually, if the colour is dark rather than merely saturated. Deep blues, navies and dark reds all clear 7:1 against white and behave well on camera. Oranges, ambers, cyans and yellows do not, and no error correction level rescues them. When a brand colour falls short, darken the code rather than lightening the background - or keep the code dark and put the brand colour in the frame around it. ### Do White QR Codes on a Dark Background Scan? On current phones, usually. On older or fixed scanners, often not. A contrast ratio is symmetric, so white on black computes to the same 21:1 as black on white and no contrast check will warn you - what varies is whether the reader tries the image inverted. Inverted codes also lose more contrast in print, because solid dark coverage spreads into the light modules. Use them where phones are the only reader. ### Does a Gradient or Photo Background Break a QR Code? A gradient usually survives and a photograph usually does not, and the reason is that decoders threshold locally. ZXing computes a separate light-dark boundary for each 8 x 8 pixel block, so a background that changes slowly keeps the local difference intact everywhere. A photograph changes faster than the code does, so somewhere across the symbol the modules end up on the wrong side of their own block's threshold. ### Why Does a Red QR Code Work on Phones and Fail on a Shop Scanner? Because barcode verifiers and many fixed scanners read under red light at 660 nanometres, and red ink reflects red light. A red code on white paper has almost no contrast at that wavelength even though a colour camera sees it clearly. This is a known trap from the 1D barcode world and it applies unchanged to QR codes. Anything scanned by fixed equipment should be black on white. ### Is a Yellow or Pastel QR Code Ever Worth Trying? Not on white. Yellow on white gives a camera a luminance difference of 29 levels out of 255, barely above the 24 at which ZXing stops looking for an edge at all, and a contrast ratio of 1.07:1. Pastels sit only slightly better. If a pale palette is the requirement, invert the problem: a dark code inside a pale panel keeps the palette and keeps the contrast. ### Does a Higher Error Correction Level Make Up for Low Contrast? No, and this is the most common wrong fix. Error correction repairs modules that were read incorrectly; low contrast stops the symbol being read at all, because binarization happens before any data exists to repair. Raising the level from M to H also makes the symbol denser at the same printed width, which shrinks every module and makes a marginal code worse rather than better. ### Do the Three Corner Squares Need as Much Contrast as the Rest of the Code? More, in the sense that failure there is unrecoverable. A scanner locates a QR code by its three corner markers before it decodes anything, so pale corners on a dark code put the weakest contrast exactly where error correction cannot reach. Evaluate the corner colour against the background separately and treat the worse of the two figures as the code's real contrast. --- # A QR Code in a Video Ad Needs a Third of the Screen. It Gets a Corner URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/qr-codes-in-video-ads We measured what a phone can decode off a television. A code smaller than a fifth of the screen height never scans from a sofa, and one pixel of motion ends it. Research · 2026-08-21 A phone reading a QR code off a television is not looking at your artwork. It is looking at a few dozen pixels of a camera frame, and how many it gets is decided by one thing: the angle the code subtends from the sofa. We built a rig that runs the whole chain - 1080p master, compression, an off-square handheld camera at a real viewing distance, motion smear - and measured where the decode rate falls off a cliff. At a normal living-room distance a code occupying a fifth of the screen height decoded in 6% of attempts. A quarter of the screen height decoded in 95%. The corner placement every video ad uses measured zero, and no amount of dwell time, error correction or creative fixes it, because the failure happens before the first frame is read. ## Key Points - We measured a decode floor of 2.5 pixels per module for a still, compressed, off-square image, with the first sporadic successes at 2.0 and a majority of them by 2.25. Google's own ML Kit barcode documentation asks for at least 2 pixels per module, so the rig and the vendor agree to within a quarter of a pixel. - Screen size cancels out. Because people sit further from bigger televisions, the answer is a fraction of the screen height rather than a number of centimetres, and it is the same fraction on a 43-inch set, a 77-inch set and a laptop. - At a normal living-room distance - a 55-inch set about 2.7 m away - a code at 20% of screen height decoded 6% of the time, 25% decoded 95% of the time, and 30% decoded every time. Below 15% nothing decoded at any distance we tested. - Compression barely matters and motion matters enormously. Squeezing the master to JPEG quality 40 changed the decode rate by a point or two; a smear of half a camera pixel during one exposure took a code that decoded 99% of the time to zero. - The two things ads do to their own codes without noticing are appending UTM tags and raising error correction. Both add modules at the same physical size. A tracking string took a code from 100% to 48%; error correction level H took the same code from 99% to 74%. ## The Corner Code Fails Before Anybody Reaches for a Phone The standard placement is the bottom-right corner of the end card, sized to sit politely beside the logo and the legal line - eight to twelve per cent of the screen height, on screen for the three to five seconds the end card lasts. This is treated as a layout decision, argued about in terms of clutter and brand hierarchy, and signed off by people who have all successfully scanned it on the monitor in the edit suite. It is not a layout decision. It is a resolution decision, and the arithmetic behind it is settled before anyone in the room has an opinion. A phone photographing a television captures the whole room; the television is a fraction of that frame, the code is a fraction of the television, and the code's grid is then divided into anything from 25 to 53 squares across. What survives at the far end is a handful of pixels per square, and below a certain handful nothing decodes at all - not slowly, not sometimes, not with a better app. The reason this keeps getting missed is that every check performed during production is performed at the wrong distance. A code is scanned off the edit suite monitor at arm's length, off the review link on a laptop at 60 cm, and off a phone held 30 cm from another phone. All three of those are geometrically nothing like a sofa, and all three pass. The one condition the ad will actually be watched in is the one nobody tests, because testing it means standing in a living room. So this piece does the arithmetic and then measures it. The question is not whether QR codes belong in video advertising - that is a matter of taste, and the answer probably depends on the brand. The question is what size a code has to be before the argument about taste is worth having at all. ## What We Measured, and What It Cannot Tell You The rig runs the full chain in software. A code is rendered at 12 pixels per module with the four-module quiet zone ISO/IEC 18004 specifies, resized into a 1080p master at the size it would occupy in the finished ad, compressed, padded, rotated off square, resampled to the number of pixels a phone camera would collect from it at a stated viewing distance, smeared to simulate movement during the exposure, and handed to a decoder. Every figure below is the share of attempts that decoded. Each cell is 216 attempts: twelve different payloads, six angles between one and eleven degrees off square, and three one-pixel jitters of the captured size. That count exists because of a mistake worth admitting. The first version of the rig fed the decoder a perfectly square, grid-aligned image, and it happily decoded a code at one pixel per module - a result that is real arithmetic and complete nonsense, because it measures a sampling coincidence that a hand holding a phone will never reproduce. Rotation is what puts every module at an arbitrary subpixel phase, and it moved the floor by more than a factor of two. ### The Decoder Is the Weak One, on Purpose The decoder is jsQR, the JavaScript port of ZXing's core algorithm - the same decoder family whose binarizer we read the source of for [the contrast measurements](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test). Apple's Vision framework and Google's ML Kit are what actually read most codes, both are closed, and a number produced from either is a number no reader can check. jsQR is also, almost certainly, the less capable of the three: it has no machine-learning stage, no multi-frame accumulation and no super-resolution. That makes one calibration worth stating. Our clean floor came out at 2.5 pixels per module, and Google's ML Kit barcode documentation asks for a barcode whose "smallest meaningful unit" is "at least 2 pixels wide, and for 2-dimensional codes, 2 pixels tall". A weaker decoder landing a quarter of a pixel above the vendor's published minimum is about the best agreement this kind of construction can hope for, and it is the reason the size table further down should be read as roughly right rather than as pessimistic by a factor. ### What the Rig Leaves Out - **Real phones.** No iPhone or Android device was pointed at a television for this. Optical stabilisation, multi-frame fusion and the two closed decoders all work in the reader's favour, and none of them are modelled. - **Inter-frame video coding.** Compression here is JPEG on a single frame, which stands in for an intra-coded frame. A code that sits still over a still shot costs a real encoder almost nothing after the first frame; a code composited over moving footage is re-coded constantly. Since compression turned out to be nearly irrelevant either way, this matters less than it looks. - **The panel and the sensor beating against each other.** A camera photographing a display can produce moiré, and a 24p master pulled down onto a 60 Hz panel and sampled by a rolling shutter can band. Both are real, both hurt, and neither is simulated. - **Glare, room light and off-axis viewing.** All three subtract, and all three are the subject of the contrast work rather than this one. - **People.** How long someone takes to notice a code, find their phone and aim it is not something a rig can measure. That section below is labelled as an estimate. Every one of those omissions runs in the same direction except the first: the rig is harder on the code than a still photograph would be, and easier than a living room. The honest summary is that these numbers locate the cliff, and the ten-minute protocol at the end of this post is how you find where your own campaign sits relative to it. ## The Floor Is Two and a Half Pixels per Module Pixels per module is the number of camera pixels that land on one square of a QR code's grid, and it is the quantity every other variable in a scan is spent from. Contrast, blur, compression, print spread and camera noise all reduce the same thing in the end: the confidence with which a decoder can say which side of the black-white boundary one square fell on. Below a certain sampling density there is no confidence left to spend. | Pixels per module | Clean | Compressed (JPEG q40) | | --- | --- | --- | | 1.50 | 0% | 0% | | 1.75 | 0% | 0% | | 2.00 | 8% | 7% | | 2.25 | 69% | 68% | | 2.50 | 99% | 100% | | 2.75 | 100% | 100% | | 3.00 | 100% | 100% | Decode rate over 216 attempts per cell, at one to eleven degrees off square. The cliff is under half a pixel wide: 2.0 pixels per module is a failure, 2.5 is a certainty. Two things in that table are worth more than the floor itself. The first is how narrow the transition is. There is no long tail of marginal codes that scan for patient users - between 2.0 and 2.5 pixels per module the decode rate goes from 8% to 99%, which means a code either has the sampling density or it does not, and the difference between those two states is a quarter of a pixel per module. The second is the second column. Compressing the master to JPEG quality 40 - visibly lossy, well below anything a broadcaster or a platform would deliver - changed the result by a point or two in either direction and never moved the cliff. This is worth saying plainly because "video compression eats QR codes" is the standard explanation for why they fail on television, and in this measurement it is simply not true. Compression is not what is killing these codes. Sampling is. The corollary is that the whole problem reduces to one question: how many camera pixels does the code get? That is not a property of the artwork, the file format or the encoder. It is a property of the angle the code subtends at the viewer's eye, which is geometry, and geometry has the decency to be predictable. ## Screen Size Cancels Out and Only the Angle Survives A phone's camera is a rectilinear projection, which means a transverse distance at a known range maps to pixels by a single constant. For a 70-degree horizontal field of view - a 26 mm-equivalent lens is 69.4 degrees, and phone main cameras have shipped within a degree of that for years - the constant is 1,371 pixels per radian on a 1920-pixel-wide frame. So the whole chain collapses into one line of arithmetic: **pixels per module = 1371 × f ÷ (k × N)**, where f is the code's height as a fraction of the screen height, k is the viewing distance expressed in screen heights, and N is the number of modules across the code including its four-module quiet zone. The interesting thing about that expression is what is missing from it. There is no screen size in it and no distance in metres - only their ratio. That is not a simplification, it is the actual physics: a 77-inch television subtends the same angle from the back of a big room as a 43-inch set does from a small one, and the camera does not know or care which it is looking at. The answer to "how big does the code have to be" is therefore a percentage of the screen, and the same percentage works everywhere. It also means k can be pinned down from published viewing-angle recommendations rather than guessed. THX recommends a horizontal viewing angle of about 40 degrees, which for a 16:9 screen works out to a distance of 2.4 screen heights. The SMPTE recommendation of 30 degrees works out to 3.3 screen heights. Both are recommendations for people who care about picture quality; ordinary living rooms sit further back than either, which is why the tables below run out to four screen heights - a 55-inch set about 2.7 m away. The 1920 in that constant deserves a caveat of its own, because it is the favourable assumption. The analysis stream is the reduced-resolution video buffer a phone's barcode detector actually runs on, which is not the full-resolution photograph the camera is capable of taking. Google's ML Kit documentation recommends feeding it "1280x720 or 1920x1080", and notes that going lower is viable only by "requiring that the barcode make up the majority of the input image". Everything below assumes the better of those two. At 1280 x 720 every figure in the next table gets a third worse. ## How Big the Code Actually Has to Be With the arithmetic settled, the measurement. Each row is a code height as a percentage of the screen height; each pair of columns is a viewing distance in screen heights, with the resulting sampling density and the decode rate that came out of the rig. The payload is a 25-character URL at error correction M, which is version 3 - 29 modules, or 37 across with the quiet zone. Everything is still, compressed, and one to eleven degrees off square. | Code height (% of screen) | In the 1080p master | k = 2 px/module | k = 2 rate | k = 3 px/module | k = 3 rate | k = 4 px/module | k = 4 rate | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 8% | 86 px | 1.49 | 0% | 1.00 | 0% | 0.73 | 0% | | 10% | 108 px | 1.86 | 2% | 1.24 | 0% | 0.92 | 0% | | 12.5% | 135 px | 2.32 | 82% | 1.54 | 0% | 1.16 | 0% | | 15% | 162 px | 2.78 | 100% | 1.86 | 4% | 1.38 | 0% | | 17.5% | 189 px | 3.24 | 100% | 2.16 | 70% | 1.62 | 0% | | 20% | 216 px | 3.70 | 100% | 2.46 | 91% | 1.86 | 6% | | 25% | 270 px | 4.62 | 100% | 3.08 | 99% | 2.32 | 95% | | 30% | 324 px | 5.57 | 100% | 3.70 | 100% | 2.78 | 100% | | 35% | 378 px | 6.49 | 100% | 4.32 | 100% | 3.24 | 100% | 216 decode attempts per cell. k is viewing distance in screen heights: k = 2.4 is the THX recommendation, k = 3.3 the SMPTE one, and k = 4 an ordinary living room - a 55-inch set at 2.7 m. The middle column is the code's size in the 1080p master, which is never the binding constraint. Read the k = 4 column, because that is where most people are sitting. A code at a fifth of the screen height decoded six times in a hundred. A code at a quarter of the screen height decoded ninety-five times in a hundred. The entire useful range of this design decision is between 20% and 30% of screen height, and the conventional corner placement is not merely at the bottom of that range - it is off the chart by a factor of two to three. Notice also what the master column is doing, which is nothing. A code at 20% of screen height is 216 pixels across in the 1080p file, comfortably above the floor; the code is not being destroyed in the edit, the grade or the encode. It is being destroyed by the distance between a sofa and a television, which is a quantity no post-production process can improve. This is the same argument [sizing a printed code for its scanning distance](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) makes about paper, and it is stricter here because the viewer cannot walk up to the screen. The corollary for the k = 2 column is worth having as well, because it explains the edit-suite illusion precisely. At two screen heights - a 55-inch set at 1.4 m, which subtends about what a desk monitor does at arm's length - a code at 12.5% of screen height decodes 82% of the time. That is the check everybody runs, and it passes. Sampling density falls off in direct proportion to distance, and the sofa is a metre or two past where the test was done. ## Motion Ends It Faster Than Size Does Compression turned out not to matter and size turned out to matter enormously. Motion is worse than either. The rig applies a linear smear at the sensor - a box convolution across the direction of travel, which is what movement during an exposure actually does to a frame, rather than the symmetric Gaussian a blur function would apply - and measures how far the code can travel across the sensor during one exposure before the decode rate collapses. | Code height (% of screen) | Pixels per module | Still | 0.25 px | 0.5 px | 0.75 px | 1.0 px | 1.5 px | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 25% | 3.08 | 99% | 86% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | | 30% | 3.70 | 100% | 97% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | | 40% | 4.95 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | | 60% | 7.41 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 1% | 0% | At k = 3, compressed. The column heading is how far the code slides across the camera's sensor during a single exposure. Across all four rows the collapse lands at the same place in the code's own units - about an eighth of a module - which is why a bigger code buys real tolerance rather than the illusion of it. The tolerance is about an eighth of a module, and in camera pixels that is between a quarter of a pixel and one pixel depending on how large the code is. It is worth converting that into something a director can act on. One camera pixel is 0.042 degrees of arc. At a 1/60 s exposure - a phone in a dimly lit room, metering for a bright screen - a quarter of a pixel is an angular rate of about 0.6 degrees per second. That is a hand held reasonably still, and it is not a hand reaching across a sofa. Applied to the code's own movement on screen, the same arithmetic is brutal. At three screen heights, one screen height maps to 457 camera pixels, so a code drifting across the screen at 1/60 s exposure has a budget of roughly a thirtieth of a screen height per second. A code that slides gracefully into position over two seconds, a slow push-in on the end card, a handheld camera move behind a composited code, a bounce, a rotate, a scale-up: all of them are one to two orders of magnitude outside that budget for the whole duration of the move. The code is decorative until it stops. ### Why the Decode Rates Are Probabilities and the Size Table Is Not There is a distinction hiding in these two tables that matters more than either of them. A code that is too small fails deterministically: every frame is the same frame, thirty times a second, and none of them decode. A code that is large enough but moving fails randomly: most frames are smeared, some are not, and a scan succeeds the instant one clean frame arrives. So dwell time is not a general-purpose fix, it is a fix for exactly one failure mode. Three extra seconds on screen buys ninety more attempts at a motion problem and buys nothing whatsoever against a sampling problem. This is the single most useful thing in this post for anyone briefing a production: if the code is big enough and still, it will scan almost immediately; if it is too small, it will not scan if you leave it up for the whole commercial break. ## Two Ways an Ad Shrinks Its Own Code Without Noticing Everything so far has assumed a 25-character URL at error correction M. Both of those assumptions get broken routinely by people who are trying to help, and both break in the same way: they add modules, the code stays the same physical size on screen, and every module gets smaller. ### The Tracking String A campaign URL arrives from the media agency with its measurement parameters attached, because that is how the campaign gets attributed. Nobody looks at what it does to the grid. | The URL | Characters | Version | Modules | Pixels per module | Decode rate | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A short redirect on a domain you own | 12 | 2 | 25 | 4.15 | 100% | | A short URL with the scheme spelled out | 27 | 3 | 29 | 3.70 | 100% | | A readable campaign URL | 46 | 4 | 33 | 3.34 | 93% | | The same with UTM tags | 93 | 6 | 41 | 2.80 | 77% | | The same with a full tracking string | 157 | 9 | 53 | 2.25 | 48% | All five at 30% of screen height, k = 3, still, compressed - a generously sized code that clears every threshold in this post. The only thing changing is the payload. 60 attempts per row. A full tracking string halves the scan rate of a code that is otherwise sized correctly. It does this at the exact moment the marketing team is trying hardest to measure the campaign, which is a good candidate for the most self-defeating pattern in the whole subject. The fix is not to give up attribution: it is to put a short path on a domain you own in front of the parameters and attach them at the redirect, where they cost nothing. [What a rented redirect actually costs over the life of a campaign](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) is a separate argument, and it lands on the same recommendation. ### Turning Error Correction Up The other reflex is to raise the error correction level, on the theory that a harder-to-read situation calls for more redundancy. It is the wrong lever and it is actively harmful, for the same reason it is wrong for low contrast: it adds redundancy by adding modules, and modules are what is scarce. | Error correction | Version | Modules | Rate at 25% of screen | Rate at 30% of screen | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | L | 2 | 25 | 100% | 100% | | M | 3 | 29 | 99% | 100% | | Q | 3 | 29 | 99% | 100% | | H | 4 | 33 | 74% | 92% | The same payload at each level, at k = 3, still and compressed. L and M cost nothing and H costs 25 points at the size most ads would use, because it spends a whole version on redundancy the screen was never going to need. H exists for codes that get dirty, torn, printed over or partially covered by a logo. A code on a television is none of those things - it is delivered pixel-perfect and then undersampled, and undersampling is not damage the error correction blocks can repair, because it prevents the modules from being read in the first place. Use L or M on screen and spend the modules you saved on making each one bigger. The [full trade-off between recovery capacity and module size](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) applies unchanged here; screens simply sit at the end of it where redundancy is worth least. ## Time Is the Budget Nobody Writes Down This section is an estimate rather than a measurement, and it is worth saying so before the numbers rather than after. Nothing in the rig can measure how long a person takes to react to a television, and we have not run that study. The sequence a viewer has to complete is not short. Noticing the code and deciding it is worth acting on takes a second or two. Retrieving and unlocking a phone takes two to four. Getting to the camera takes another one to three, longer if the phone opens on whatever was last in front of it. Framing the television, letting autofocus settle and holding still takes two to four more. That is six to thirteen seconds from a standing start, against an end card that is typically on screen for three to five. There is one real mitigation and it deserves credit: a large share of television is watched by people already holding a phone, which deletes the retrieval step and most of the unlocking. That is presumably the entire reason anyone thought QR codes on television would work. It is a strong argument for the format existing at all, and it is not an argument for three seconds, because the last two steps - getting to the camera, then aiming and holding steady - are the ones a phone already in hand does not shorten. Our own recommendation, stated as the opinion it is: eight seconds of a still, correctly sized code is the minimum worth briefing, and if the creative cannot give up eight seconds then the creative has decided the code is decorative. That is a legitimate decision. It just should not be made by accident and then measured as a scan rate. ## The Ad Everybody Remembers Obeyed the Arithmetic There is one famous counter-example to all of this, and it is famous precisely because it did every single thing this post recommends. In February 2022 Coinbase ran a sixty-second Super Bowl spot that was nothing but a colour-changing QR code drifting around an otherwise black screen. It was reported at the time by Variety and CNN, the second of which covered the part everybody remembers: the landing page took so much traffic that the app fell over. Line that up against the tables above. The code was large, because it had the whole frame. It was alone, so nothing competed for the viewer's attention or the encoder's bits. It was on screen for sixty seconds rather than four, which is roughly 1,800 camera frames for a decoder to find one clean one in. And it drifted slowly rather than cutting or scaling, which keeps a moving code inside the per-exposure smear budget where a fast move does not. The one thing it did that this post would warn against is the colour change, and even that is less reckless than it looks: the palette stayed dark-on-light or light-on-dark throughout rather than pairing two mid-tones, which is the distinction that [actually decides whether a coloured code survives a camera](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test). What it did not do is put a small code in a corner for four seconds. The conclusion is not that every brand should buy sixty seconds of the Super Bowl. It is that the ad which is always cited as proof that QR codes work on television is an ad that spent its entire creative budget on satisfying the physics. Cited as precedent for a corner code on an end card, it proves the opposite of what it is usually used to prove. ## Put It on Your Own Television in Ten Minutes Every number above is a number for a simulated camera and a decoder that is weaker than the ones in people's pockets. The number that matters for a specific campaign is the one produced by that campaign's finished file, on a real screen, from a real sofa, and it takes ten minutes to get. 1. **Play the Delivered File, Not the Master.** Put the actual deliverable on the actual television - cast it, load it from a stick, or upload it as an unlisted video on the platform it is going to. Reviewing a ProRes master on a calibrated monitor is the test that has already passed and told you nothing. 2. **Sit Where People Sit, and Write Down the Ratio.** Measure the distance from the screen to the sofa, measure the height of the screen, and divide. That ratio is the k in every table above, and it is the number that lets you compare your result with them. Anything from three to four and a half is an ordinary room. 3. **Scan With Two Native Camera Apps.** One iOS, one Android, using the built-in camera rather than a dedicated scanning app. Scanning apps are more tolerant than the native ones and will pass codes your audience cannot read. Give each phone five seconds, which is what the end card gives them. 4. **Do It the Careless Way.** One-handed, from a slouch, without bracing your elbow on anything. The careful result is not the result: a quarter of a camera pixel of movement during one exposure is the whole motion budget, and bracing is worth more than that. 5. **Run the Control Before You Conclude Anything.** Walk up and scan the same frozen frame from a metre away. If that fails, the problem is contrast, quiet zone or the payload rather than size, and scaling the code up will not fix it. 6. **Scale Up in Steps of 5% Until It Passes Twice, Then Add One More Step.** Re-export with the code five per cent of screen height larger and repeat until both phones scan it twice in a row from the sofa. Then add one more step. That last step is the margin for the phones, rooms and eyesight the test did not include. If the answer that comes back is that the code has to be a third of the screen, that is the real answer, and it is better to have it before the shoot than after the campaign report. ## What to Put in the Ad Instead The recommendation this post ends on is narrower than its title. QR codes in video advertising are not useless - they are expensive, in screen area and in seconds, and almost every ad that uses one refuses to pay either price and then blames the format. - **If you are using a code, give it a quarter to a third of the screen height and eight still seconds.** In practice that means the code is the end card rather than an ornament on it. This is the whole recommendation; everything else here is a consequence of it. - **Keep the payload under about 25 characters.** A short path on a domain you own, with the tracking parameters attached at the redirect instead of in the code. This is worth more than any other single change, because it buys modules back at no cost to anything. - **Use error correction L or M, not H.** On a screen the code is delivered undamaged and then undersampled, and redundancy does not help with undersampling. - **Do not move it, scale it, spin it or slide it in.** Motion has a budget of well under one camera pixel per exposure, and every animation is orders of magnitude outside it. Animate everything else on the card. - **If the ad will mostly be watched on a phone, do not use a code at all.** The screen showing the ad is the screen that would have to read it, and there is no second device. Use whatever tappable format the platform provides. - **Consider a short spoken and written URL instead.** A memorable domain read aloud and shown as text has no minimum angular size, survives motion, works on a phone screen and does not need the viewer to hold anything steady. It converts worse per impression and it fails less absolutely, and for a four-second end card that trade is usually the right way round. - **Cinema is the exception worth knowing.** The same arithmetic that rules out the corner of a television is generous in a cinema, where the screen subtends a far larger angle from every seat. A code that would be hopeless at home can be modest on a cinema screen. One honest note about our own tool, since this post has just recommended something it does not do. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, fixes error correction at level H, because it clears a patch in the middle of the grid for a logo and H is what pays for that patch. That is the right default for a printed code with a mark in the middle of it and the wrong one for a screen, so a code exported [from the generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) for a video ad carries a version more than it needs. At a third of the screen height that costs nothing measurable; at a fifth it is part of why a fifth does not work. The limit on everything above is the one stated at the top: we measured a software chain, not a living room. No phone was pointed at a television for this, and the decoder we used is weaker than the ones that will actually read your ad, which means the true cliff is somewhere below the numbers in these tables rather than above them. What the tables are for is telling you which side of it a corner code is on, and it is not close. ## FAQ ### How Big Does a QR Code Need to Be in a TV Commercial? About a quarter to a third of the screen height. In our measurements a code at 25% of screen height decoded 95% of the time from an ordinary living-room distance and one at 30% decoded every time, while 20% decoded 6% of the time and anything smaller decoded not at all. The answer is a fraction rather than a measurement in centimetres because people sit further from bigger televisions, so the same percentage works on any screen. ### Why Doesn't the QR Code in an Ad Scan From My Sofa? Because the camera is not getting enough pixels on each square of the code's grid. A decoder needs roughly two and a half camera pixels per module, and a corner-sized code on a television seen from three metres delivers about one. This failure is not gradual - the transition from working to hopeless spans about a quarter of a pixel per module - so the code either scans immediately or never scans at all, however long you point the phone at it. ### Does Video Compression Break QR Codes? Much less than people assume. We compressed the master to JPEG quality 40, well below anything a broadcaster or streaming platform would deliver, and the decode rate moved by a point or two without the failure threshold shifting at all. The thing destroying QR codes on television is not the encoder, it is the distance between the screen and the viewer, which no amount of bitrate can fix. ### How Long Should a QR Code Stay on Screen in a Video Ad? At least eight seconds, as an opinion rather than a measurement. A viewer has to notice the code, find a phone, unlock it, get to the camera, frame the television and hold still, which is six to thirteen seconds from a standing start against an end card that usually lasts three to five. Extra time helps only if the code is already big enough: dwell time buys more attempts at a motion problem and buys nothing against a size problem. ### Can a QR Code Move Around the Screen in an Ad? Only very slowly. The motion budget is about an eighth of a module of smear during a single camera exposure, which for a typically sized code is between a quarter and one camera pixel - roughly a thirtieth of a screen height per second of on-screen drift. Slides, push-ins, scale-ups and spins are one to two orders of magnitude outside that, so a code is decorative for the entire duration of any animation and only becomes scannable once it stops. ### Should I Raise the Error Correction Level for a QR Code on Screen? No - lower it. Error correction adds redundancy by adding modules, and at a fixed size on screen more modules means fewer camera pixels on each one. In our measurements the same payload at level H decoded 74% of the time where level L and M decoded 100%, because H spent a whole version on repairing damage that a screen never inflicts. Undersampling is not damage error correction can repair, since it stops the modules being read at all. ### Do UTM Tags Make a QR Code Harder to Scan? Substantially, at the sizes video ads use. A 46-character campaign URL is a 33-module code; the same URL with a full tracking string is 157 characters and 53 modules, and at a fixed size on screen that took the decode rate from 93% to 48% in our test. Put a short path on a domain you own in the code and attach the parameters at the redirect, where they are free. ### Do QR Codes Work in Social Media Video Ads? Rarely, and for a reason that has nothing to do with size. Most social video is watched on a phone, and the screen playing the ad is the same screen that would have to scan the code - there is no second device to point at it. Where the platform offers a tappable link, that is strictly better; a code only makes sense for social video that is genuinely being watched on a television or a desktop screen. ### What About QR Codes on Cinema Screens and Digital Billboards? Cinema is the friendly case. The arithmetic depends only on the angle the screen subtends from the viewer, and a cinema screen subtends a far larger angle from every seat than a television does from a sofa, so a modest code works well. Billboards vary enormously and have to be worked out individually - a code on a large screen fifty metres from the pavement can subtend a smaller angle than a phone-sized code held at arm's length. ### How Can I Test Whether My Ad's QR Code Will Scan? Play the delivered file on a real television, sit where the audience will sit, and scan it with the built-in camera app on one iOS and one Android phone, held carelessly with one hand. Give each phone the same few seconds the end card gives a viewer. Every test run on an edit-suite monitor or a laptop passes, because those distances are two to three times closer than a sofa, which is exactly why the problem survives production. --- # The Sign Lasts Ten Years. The Subscription Renews Monthly. URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription A dynamic QR code prints a hostname you do not own onto material you cannot recall. What the redirect costs over ten years, and the fix: a domain you own. Industry · 2026-08-18 A dynamic QR code does not encode your address. It encodes the provider's, and the provider keeps that address resolving for as long as you keep paying - which means the printed pattern has a service life measured in years and a dependency renewed in monthly instalments. That mismatch is the whole cost, and it is not the monthly fee. It is that you cannot recall a printed object, cannot move a code to another provider once the pattern is set, and cannot make a lapsed redirect fail in a way a customer understands. There is a version of a dynamic code that survives all three, and it costs about the price of a domain. ## Key Points - A dynamic QR code encodes the provider's hostname, not yours. The subscription does not buy editability - editability is a consequence. What the subscription buys is the continued operation of a hostname that is printed on your material and cannot be changed there. - The cost to compare is not the monthly fee against zero. It is the fee multiplied by the service life of the printed object. A $9-a-month plan behind a shopfront sign that stays up for six years is $648 of redirect; a $49-a-month plan over the same six years is $3,528. - Google retired its own URL shortener. Its developers blog stated that links in the form https://goo.gl/* "will no longer return a response after August 25th, 2025", later narrowing that to links which had shown no activity in late 2024. Solvency was never the risk in that case; a change of strategy was. - The only thing that makes a dynamic code portable between providers is a domain you own, because the pattern contains a hostname and nothing else about the code can be edited after printing. This is also why a custom domain is priced as a premium add-on on most platforms. - A static code pointed at a short path on your own domain gives you the editable destination without the subscription, and it is the arrangement that survives changing tools. Use a 302 rather than a 301 for a destination you intend to change: RFC 9110 section 15.4.2 states that "a 301 response is heuristically cacheable", and section 15.4.3 makes no such statement about a 302. ## A Dynamic QR Code Prints a Hostname You Do Not Own 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 static QR code is a code whose destination is stored in the pattern itself, so no server sits between the scan and the page. Everything that follows comes from that one structural difference, and none of it comes from the price. The pattern of a QR code is fixed the moment it is exported, and doubly fixed the moment it is printed. What is inside that pattern, in the dynamic case, is a URL on the provider's domain - a hostname, a slash, and five or six characters. The destination behind it is editable. The hostname in front of it is not editable by anyone, including the provider, because it is ink. So a subscription to a dynamic QR platform is not a subscription to a feature. It is a subscription to the continued operation of one hostname, and that hostname is now a component of your printed material in the same way the paper is. The difference is that nobody sends you an invoice to keep the paper working. This is worth stating plainly because the industry's own framing hides it. Pricing pages compare code counts, scan allowances and analytics depth - all of which are real features, and none of which is the thing being bought. The thing being bought is that a name keeps resolving for as long as the object it is printed on remains in use. The honest version of the trade is short: a dynamic code moves the destination out of the pattern and into an account, and an account is a thing that can lapse, be deleted, change hands or be retired. A static code has no account, which removes that failure mode and removes editability along with it. Both are real losses; which one costs more depends entirely on what the code is printed on. ## Google Retired Its Own Shortener, and Every Printed Link Inherited That Decision The clearest evidence that a redirect layer is a dependency rather than an amenity is that Google switched one off. Google's developers blog, in the post "Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available", stated that links built with the Google URL Shortener "in the form https://goo.gl/* will be impacted, and these URLs will no longer return a response after August 25th, 2025". Google is not a startup that ran out of money. It is the largest operator of infrastructure of this kind in the world, and it retired the service anyway. The plan was later softened rather than reversed. In the August 2025 update to the same post, Google narrowed the shutdown to links that had shown no activity in late 2024 - those had already been serving an interstitial warning - and stated that all other goo.gl links would be preserved and continue to function as normal. Links generated inside Google apps, such as Maps sharing, were never in scope. Read that sequence from the point of view of somebody who printed a goo.gl code on a menu in 2017. They received an announcement they had no part in, a warning interstitial served between the customer's scan and their page, a deadline, and then a revision to the deadline that depended on how much traffic their own code happened to be getting. At no point could they change what was printed. Link rot is the process by which a published address stops resolving because something behind it was retired, moved or switched off, and this is what it looks like when the address is in ink rather than in a hyperlink. The lesson is not that providers are unreliable. Most are competent, and several have run continuously for well over a decade. The lesson is that the risk being carried is a strategy risk, not a credit risk, and strategy risk is not reduced by choosing a larger vendor. A short domain is a small, unloved line item on somebody else's balance sheet, and small unloved line items are what gets retired first. There is one thing a customer can do about it, and it is the same thing throughout this piece: own the name. A hostname you registered is retired when you decide, not when a product review board does. ## Run the Arithmetic Against the Life of the Object, Not the Month The comparison people make is a monthly fee against free, which makes the fee look small. The comparison that matters is the fee multiplied by how long the printed thing stays in service, which is usually years, and set against the number of items in the print run. Both figures are arithmetic rather than opinion, and both are easy to produce before committing. These are prices the vendors themselves listed in July and August 2026, gathered while writing the comparison pages on this site. Pricing pages move, so treat them as a snapshot and check the current page before relying on any of them. The seven platforms most often lined up against Flowcode are priced side by side in [Flowcode alternatives](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives). - **Uniqode** lists entry-level dynamic plans from roughly $9 a month, billed annually, and its Core plan at $49 a month. Its own pricing FAQ states that it offers annual plans only. [The full comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) covers what that buys. - **Flowcode** puts SVG export and its serious features on paid plans from $25 a month, and its codes are dynamic, so they depend on the plan - see [the Flowcode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-flowcode). - **ME-QR** gives dynamic codes away and funds them with advertising shown between the scan and your page. Its Lite plan, at $7 a month, removes ads from one code in total; Premium at $20 a month removes them from all of them. [The ME-QR comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-me-qr) has the detail. - **Scanova** sells an Ultra Lite one-time plan aimed precisely at the single permanent code, which is a fairer shape for printed material than a monthly fee - [the Scanova comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-scanova) explains where it fits. Multiply any of those by a realistic service life and the number stops being a rounding error: | Monthly fee | One year | Three years | Six years | Ten years | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $7 | $84 | $252 | $504 | $840 | | $9 | $108 | $324 | $648 | $1,080 | | $25 | $300 | $900 | $1,800 | $3,000 | | $49 | $588 | $1,764 | $3,528 | $5,880 | Fee times months, nothing else - the point is the multiplication, which is the step that gets skipped. A shopfront sign, a vehicle livery or an engraved plaque is a six-to-ten-year object, so the right-hand columns are the honest ones for that kind of print. A poster campaign that runs for eight weeks belongs in a different conversation entirely. The second figure is cost per printed item, and it splits the decision cleanly in two. A subscription spread over 5,000 flyers is a few cents each, and buying the ability to fix a wrong URL across 5,000 flyers is obviously worth a few cents. The same subscription behind one sign above one door is the entire cost, carried indefinitely, for a link that has not changed since it went up. Neither direction is a general rule. The two questions that produce the answer are how long the object lives and how many of them there are, and both are known before anything is sent to a printer. ## What Lapsing Actually Does to a Printed Code A lapsed dynamic code does not degrade. It fails, completely, at the moment of a scan, in front of a customer, on material that looks exactly as it did the day it was printed. There is no visible signal on the object that anything is wrong, which is the part that makes it expensive. Providers publish what happens, and the answers differ enough to be worth reading before choosing one: - **The code goes inactive.** Uniqode states that dynamic codes become inactive once a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, and that static codes continue to work. - **Some of the codes survive and some do not.** QRCodeChimp pauses scans once [the free plan's 1,000 monthly scans](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-chimp-free) are used, and a lapsed paid account keeps only the ten most recent dynamic codes active - which means a print run's fate depends on the order the codes were created in. - **The scan allowance runs out mid-campaign.** Pageloot counts scans per year - 15,000 on Starter, 50,000 on Premium, 250,000 on Pro - and QR Planet's free account allows 100 scans a day. Campaigns spend allowances in bursts, so the tier to buy is the one that covers the peak week rather than the yearly average. [Unitag's free tier](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) has no period at all - its code stops for good at 100 scans, as [the Unitag comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-unitag) sets out. - **The link is deleted rather than expired.** Bitly's support documentation states that a deleted link and any QR codes attached to it are removed permanently and cannot be recovered, and that anyone scanning afterwards lands on a Bitly error page. Bitly does say that bit.ly links keep resolving if you downgrade or the account is deleted for inactivity - [the Bitly comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-bitly) has the full picture. - **Something is inserted in front of your page.** ME-QR's free dynamic codes display advertising on the way to the destination. This is invisible when you test your own link and very visible to a customer, and it is a failure of the same kind: something you do not control sits between the scan and the page. ### The Failure Has No User-Facing Explanation When a printed dynamic code stops working, the person holding the phone sees a 404, an error page carrying a company name they have never heard of, or a parked page. None of those says "this restaurant's menu moved". The customer's conclusion is that the business is careless or closed, and there is no way to correct the impression, because the object that produced it is a sign on a wall. A domain that stops being renewed is also available to whoever wants it next. That is how domain registration works rather than a prediction about any named provider, and it is the reason a retired short domain is a different class of risk from a retired product: the pattern keeps pointing somewhere, and what it points at is no longer anybody's decision but the new registrant's. The mitigation that costs nothing is to print a short readable URL beside the code. It rescues the print run if the code ever stops resolving, and it serves everyone whose camera fails or who simply does not scan codes - a QR code should be the fast path to the content and never the only path. That is an accessibility requirement rather than a nicety, and it happens to be the cheapest insurance available against every failure listed above. ## Where a Subscription Is the Right Purchase Buy a dynamic QR platform when the destination is genuinely unknown at print time, when scans have to be attributed per code or per location, or when a regulated workflow requires it. In those three cases a static code is not a cheaper option - it is the wrong tool, and the subscription is simply part of the campaign budget. - **The destination is not known yet, or will certainly change.** A code on 10,000 flyers for an event whose landing page is not built, or a seasonal menu that moves four times a year, is a code that will need re-pointing. Paying to keep that possible is a straightforward purchase. - **The scans have to be counted per code.** Twenty table tents, each reporting separately, or a campaign that must be attributed by city and device, needs a platform. A single redirect on your own domain gives totals, not a breakdown. - **A standard or a client requires it.** GS1 Digital Link on packaging, team seats with audit trails, password-protected destinations, or a client who expects a monthly report - these are platform features and no free static tool substitutes for them. ### The Technical Advantage Dynamic Codes Genuinely Have A dynamic code's payload is short, and a short payload produces a physically coarser, more forgiving symbol at the same printed size. This is a real advantage and it is rarely stated as one, because it gets buried under the editability argument. The ISO/IEC 18004 capacity tables make it concrete: | Payload | Characters | Symbol version at level M | Grid | Module width at 25 mm | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | HTTPS://KOLOQR.COM/M (uppercase) | 20 | 1 | 21 × 21 | 1.19 mm | | https://qr.example/aB3xK | 24 | 2 | 25 × 25 | 1.00 mm | | https://example.com/spring-menu-2026 | 36 | 3 | 29 × 29 | 0.86 mm | | https://example.com/spring-menu-2026?utm_source=table-tent&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=spring | 92 | 6 | 41 × 41 | 0.61 mm | Capacities are the ISO/IEC 18004 tables at error correction level M - 20 alphanumeric characters at version 1, and 26, 42 and 106 bytes at versions 2, 3 and 6. The grid is 17 + 4 x version, and the module width is that grid divided into 25 mm, the same arithmetic used in the error correction guide. The first row is uppercase because alphanumeric mode packs two characters into 11 bits where byte mode spends 8 bits on each, and a URL's scheme and host are case-insensitive so uppercasing them is safe; the path is case-sensitive, so it has to be served that way too. Whether a given generator switches modes is a property of the encoder rather than of the URL, so it is worth checking rather than assuming. The gap between the top row and the bottom one is nearly double the module width, and module width is what a phone camera actually loses first at distance or in poor light - [sizing a code for its scanning distance](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) is the same budget seen from the other end. A tracking-parameter URL on a small printed code is a genuine reliability problem, and a short link genuinely solves it. The point of this section is that the solution is a short link, not a rented one. Your own domain is short too, and the row at the top of that table is a domain we happen to own rather than one we rent. ## A Domain You Own Is the Portable Version of a Dynamic Code Point a static QR code at a short path on a domain you control, and configure that path to redirect to the real destination. The printed pattern never changes, the destination stays editable in a hosting panel, and the arrangement survives changing generators, changing platforms and changing web hosts, because the only thing the pattern commits you to is a name on your own registration. This is the middle path this site recommends throughout, and it is worth spelling out properly once rather than in a sentence at the bottom of a comparison page. It is not a workaround. It is the arrangement a dynamic platform would sell you if the custom domain were not the premium tier. 1. **Choose a Short Path and Keep It Meaningless.** Something like example.com/m or example.com/menu. Short, because every character is modules; meaningless, because a path named after this year's campaign becomes a lie next year and the pattern cannot be corrected. Keep the path out of any CMS routing so it survives a site rebuild. 2. **Configure the Redirect as a 302, Not a 301.** RFC 9110 section 15.4.2 states that a 301 response is heuristically cacheable, and browsers do cache them persistently; sections 15.4.3 and 15.4.8, covering 302 and 307, carry no equivalent sentence. A destination you intend to change should not be announced as permanent, or the phones that scanned it first will keep going to the old page after you edit it. 3. **Generate the Static Code Against That Path and Nothing Else.** Encode example.com/m, not the final destination. Any generator will do it; this one exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account, which is the format question the printer will ask. Export vector, because the reprint in year four will want a different size. 4. **Print the Readable URL Beside the Code.** The same short path, in text. It is the fallback if anything in the chain fails, and it is what makes the code usable by someone who does not scan codes. On a sign that will be in place for years, this is the single highest-value element on the artwork after the code itself. 5. **Set the Domain to Auto-Renew for Longer Than the Print Run.** The dependency has not been removed, it has been moved to something you control - and something you control can still be forgotten. Register the domain for as many years as the printed object will be in service, turn on auto-renew, and put the renewal on a card that will not expire before the sign comes down. 6. **Test the Full Chain on Two Phones Before the Print Run.** Scan the proof with one iOS and one Android device, using the built-in camera app rather than a scanning app. Confirm the redirect lands, then change the redirect target and confirm the same code follows it. That second test is the one that proves the arrangement works, and it takes a minute. ## What the Own-Domain Redirect Does Not Give You The own-domain redirect is not free and not equivalent to a platform, and pretending otherwise would be the same sales trick in the opposite direction. It replaces a subscription you rent with a dependency you own, which is better, but it is still a dependency and it is worth naming what it costs. - **A domain is a recurring cost too.** It is roughly the price of one month of a QR platform per year rather than per month, and it buys a name nobody else can retire - but a lapsed domain fails exactly as badly as a lapsed subscription. - **Analytics are totals, not attribution.** Server logs or your existing web analytics will show visits to the redirect path. They will not separate a scan from a click, and they will not break scans down by city, device and hour unless you build that yourself. - **Per-code reporting needs per-code paths.** Twenty table tents each reporting separately means twenty redirect paths and twenty codes, which is manageable by hand and tedious past about fifty. Bulk campaigns are where a platform starts earning its fee. - **Somebody has to keep the redirect configured.** A site migration, a new host or a new CMS can silently drop a rule that nothing on the site links to. Add the path to whatever checklist covers a migration, because it is invisible until a customer finds it. - **It does not do conditional routing.** One code sending iOS to the App Store and Android to Google Play, or routing by country, is a platform feature. It is buildable, and for most people it is not worth building. None of these is an argument against the approach. They are the terms of it, and they are shorter than the terms of the alternative. ## Questions to Ask a Platform Before the Print Run Ask these before anything is printed rather than after, and take the answers from the vendor's own documentation rather than from a sales reply. Every one of them has a published answer at the better platforms, and a vendor that cannot answer the first two has told you something useful. 1. What exactly happens to my printed codes on the day I stop paying - do they go inactive, serve an error, or keep resolving? Find the sentence in the documentation. 2. Can the codes run on a domain I own, and what does that cost? This is the only answer that makes a printed code portable between providers. 3. Can I export every code with its current destination, in a file I can keep? An export is what turns a lock-in into a migration. 4. Does the free or entry tier insert anything between the scan and my page - an advertisement, an interstitial, a consent screen? 5. What is the scan allowance, over what period, and what happens the moment it is exceeded? Estimate the peak week, not the yearly average. 6. Is there a one-time or perpetual option for a single permanent code, rather than a monthly plan for something that will never change? 7. What error correction level does the platform generate at, and can I get a vector file? A code that only downloads as a raster image cannot be reprinted larger - [the error correction guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) covers why the level matters on printed material. ## Decide by How Long the Object Lives The single most useful question is how long the printed thing stays in service, because it converts a monthly fee into a total and it predicts how likely the destination is to change before the object is retired. Short-lived print with a fixed link needs nothing. Long-lived print with a fixed link needs a domain you own. A platform earns its fee where the object is short-lived, numerous and measured. | Printed thing | Typical service life | Does the link change? | What fits | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Event badge, day signage | Days | No | Static code, destination encoded directly | | Poster or flyer campaign | Weeks to months | Sometimes | Static code on your own domain; a platform if the run is large and measured | | Table tent, menu card | Months to a year | Often | Static code on your own domain; a platform if scans per table matter | | Business card | One to three years | Rarely | Static code, destination encoded directly | | Product packaging in the channel | One to five years | Sometimes | Static code on your own domain; a platform where GS1 or regulation requires it | | Shopfront sign, vehicle livery | Three to seven years | Rarely, and expensively when it does | Static code on your own domain, readable URL beside it | | Engraved plaque, memorial, embossed product | Decades | Never, and cannot | Static code on your own domain, readable URL beside it, domain registered long | The service-life column is judgement rather than measurement - it is what these objects tend to stay in use for, offered as a starting point to argue with rather than as data. The other three columns follow from it. Note how often the answer is the same one: a static code pointed at a name you own covers most printed material, and the exceptions are specific enough to recognise. Two collections on this site sit either side of that table. [Restaurant menus](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) are the case where the link changes often and the object is cheap to reprint, which is the strongest argument for editability. [Business cards](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) are the opposite - a fixed destination on an object nobody reprints to fix a URL - and a [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) encoding the address directly is the whole of what they need. If a code is being generated for anything in the bottom three rows of that table, the decision worth twenty minutes is not which platform to buy. It is which domain the code should point at, and whether that domain is registered for long enough. ## FAQ ### Do Dynamic QR Codes Expire? The pattern never expires - the redirect behind it stops. A dynamic QR code encodes a short link on the provider's domain, and that link resolves only while the account and plan behind it stay active. Uniqode, for example, states that dynamic codes become inactive once a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, while static codes keep working. The printed object is unaffected and unusable at the same time. ### What Happens to a Printed QR Code if I Cancel My Subscription? It depends on the provider, and the answers differ enough to check before printing. Some deactivate every dynamic code, some keep a fixed number active - QRCodeChimp retains only the ten most recent on a lapsed paid account - and some keep short links resolving after a downgrade. Static codes are never affected, because no account sits behind them. The sentence you want is in the provider's documentation, not in a sales reply. ### Can I Move My QR Codes to Another Provider? Only if the codes run on a domain you own. The printed pattern contains a hostname, so moving providers means moving that hostname, and a provider's short domain cannot move with you. A code on your own domain can be re-pointed at anything, including a different platform, without a reprint. This is the single most important question to ask before a large print run, and it is why custom domains are usually a premium add-on. ### Is a Static QR Code Really Free Forever? The code is, and the destination is not. A static QR code has no account, no plan and no service in the scan path, so nothing can deactivate it - it resolves for as long as the URL inside it resolves. That URL still depends on a domain being renewed and a page existing at that address. The dependency has not been removed; it has been reduced to one you control directly. ### Can I Change Where a Static QR Code Points? Not in the pattern, but yes in practice, if you planned for it. Point the code at a short path on your own domain and redirect that path to the real destination, then edit the redirect whenever you like. Use a 302 rather than a 301: RFC 9110 states that a 301 response is heuristically cacheable, so browsers that saw the first destination may keep going there after you change it. ### Why Do Dynamic QR Codes Sometimes Scan Better Than Static Ones? Because their payload is shorter, not because they are dynamic. A 24-character short link fits an ISO/IEC 18004 version 2 symbol, a 92-character URL with tracking parameters needs version 6, and at 25 mm wide that is a module width of 1.00 mm against 0.61 mm. Module size is what a camera loses first. A short path on your own domain produces exactly the same advantage without the redirect being rented. ### Can I Count Scans Without Paying for a Platform? Partly. A static code pointed at a redirect on your own domain puts every scan in your server logs or web analytics, which gives totals, referrers and timing. It will not separate a scan from a click, and it will not break the numbers down per code unless each code has its own path. If campaign-level attribution by city and device is the point, buy the platform - that is what it is for. ### Should I Ever Put a Dynamic QR Code on Packaging? Yes, when a standard or a recall path requires it, and only with a domain you own. Packaging sits in the channel for years, so the redirect has to outlive several renewal cycles and possibly a change of vendor. Before committing, confirm who owns the account, who renews it, and what happens to those labels if the card on file expires. A one-time or perpetual plan, where a provider offers one, is a better shape than a monthly fee for a permanent object. --- # Seven Flowcode Alternatives and What Each Replaces URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives Seven Flowcode alternatives with August 2026 prices - Uniqode, QRCodeChimp, QR Tiger, Bitly, qr.io, QRCode Monkey and KoloQR - and what switching costs. Industry · 2026-08-18 Flowcode's free plan covers 2 codes and analytics for 500 scans, and the first paid step is Pro Plus at $25 a month billed annually - which is where most people start looking for something else. Seven alternatives are worth knowing, and they fall into three groups: platforms that do the same job for less, one built for organisation-wide rollouts, and free static generators that do far less and never send an invoice. The part no pricing page mentions is that switching does not rescue a code that is already printed. Every price here was read off the vendor's own pricing page in August 2026. ## Key Points - Flowcode's pricing page lists a free plan with up to 2 Flowcodes and analytics for up to 500 scans, Pro Plus at $25 a month billed annually for up to 50 codes and 6,000 scans, and Growth at $250 a year starting at 150 codes and 10,000 scans. - The cheapest like-for-like on this page is QR Tiger's Regular plan at $7 a month, which lists 12 dynamic codes with unlimited scans. - QRCodeChimp has the most generous free dynamic tier here - 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 scans a month - and caps free downloads at 1024 × 1024 pixels, which is what decides your maximum print size. - Uniqode's pricing FAQ states "We currently do not offer monthly plans" and, on cancellation, "If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive." - Switching platforms does not move a printed code. A dynamic code encodes the old provider's short link, so leaving means reprinting - which is why the static-versus-dynamic decision belongs before the print run rather than at renewal. ## What Flowcode Costs in August 2026 Flowcode's free plan covers up to 2 Flowcodes with analytics for up to 500 scans. The first paid step is Pro Plus at $25 a month billed annually, which raises the allowance to 50 Flowcodes and landing pages, analytics for up to 6,000 scans, and 3 collaboration seats. Growth is listed at $250 a year, annual only, starting at 150 codes and landing pages with analytics included for the first 10,000 scans and geolocation data. | Flowcode plan | Listed price | Codes and landing pages | Analytics allowance | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Up to 2 Flowcodes | Up to 500 scans | | Pro Plus | $25 a month, billed annually | Up to 50 | Up to 6,000 scans, 3 seats | | Growth | $250 a year, annual only | Starts at 150 | First 10,000 scans, with geolocation | | Growth Plus | Usage-based, quoted | Not listed | Real-time dashboards, CRM and CDP integrations | | Enterprise | Custom, quoted | Unlimited | Not listed | Flowcode's own pricing page, read in August 2026. Plans and allowances move; check the page before budgeting against these figures. The number worth watching in that table is the scan allowance rather than the price, because the allowance is the one that moves without you touching anything. A plan's price is fixed on the day you buy it, and a code's scan count is decided by how many people walk past the poster. On a metered plan, a campaign that works is the thing that pushes you to the next tier - a reasonable way to sell software, and an awkward way to budget a print run whose success you cannot predict. Two of the five Flowcode tiers are quoted rather than listed, which is normal for enterprise software and worth naming plainly: if your requirement lands in Growth Plus or Enterprise, the comparison in this article stops being a price comparison and becomes a procurement exercise. The five alternatives below that publish their prices are easier to compare precisely because they publish them. ## Why People Look for a Flowcode Alternative Three things send people looking for a Flowcode alternative, and only one of them is the sticker price. The first is metering: allowances are counted in scans, so cost tracks traffic. The second is the shape of the ladder, where the step from the free plan to Pro Plus is 48 codes and $25 a month with nothing in between. The third is the dependency a dynamic code creates, which outlasts the subscription that created it. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link belonging to the provider, which redirects to wherever you currently point it. That indirection is the entire product every platform in this article sells - the editable destination, the scan count, the landing page behind it - and it is also the reason a printed code stops being wholly yours. The pattern on the table tent points at the provider first and at your page second. A scan cap is the limit a plan places on how many scans a code will serve or report, counted per code or per month. Read which of those two a cap actually does, because the difference decides whether an exhausted allowance costs you a report or costs you the code: Flowcode's free plan is worded as analytics for up to 500 scans, QR Tiger's free plan as 500 scans per code, and QRCodeChimp's free plan as 1,000 monthly scans. A cap on analytics stops the reporting. A cap on scans stops the sign working. None of this makes Flowcode a bad purchase. It makes the free plan a demonstration rather than a tier you can run something on, which is true of almost every free plan in this category, and it is worth knowing before a design is signed off rather than after 2,000 flyers are boxed. ## The Seven Alternatives at a Glance The seven alternatives below are sorted by what they replace rather than by price. Five of them replace Flowcode's dynamic codes and analytics, at published prices from $7 a month upward. Two replace only the part of Flowcode that draws and exports the code, and they do that for nothing, permanently, and with no account behind it. | Alternative | What it replaces | Entry price | Free tier | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Uniqode | Flowcode at organisation scale - teams, integrations, compliance | Annual plans only | 14-day trial, no permanent free tier | | QRCodeChimp | Dynamic codes plus landing pages, the closest thing to Flowpage | $9.99 a month, or $6.99 a month billed yearly | 10 dynamic codes, 1,000 scans a month | | QR Tiger | Dynamic codes and scan analytics, at the low end | $7 a month | 3 dynamic codes, 500 scans per code | | Bitly | QR codes sitting alongside short links in one account | $10 a month, billed annually | 2 QR codes a month | | qr.io | Unmetered dynamic codes at one flat price | $39.99 a month, or $479.50 a year | 7-day trial, no permanent free tier | | QRCode Monkey | The design and export step only | Free | The whole tool | | KoloQR | The design and export step, with custom code shapes | Free | The whole tool | Read off each vendor's own pricing page in August 2026. The last two produce static codes only, which is why neither has a monthly price to compare. ## The Platforms That Do the Same Job Five platforms sell what Flowcode sells: a code whose destination you can change after printing, a count of how many people scanned it, and somewhere for them to land. They differ on how the allowance is metered, how the billing is shaped, and what the free tier is for. ### Uniqode Uniqode is the closest match to Flowcode for an organisation-wide rollout rather than a campaign, and its pricing FAQ is unusually direct about two conditions worth knowing before signing. On billing, it states "We currently only offer annual subscription plans" and "We currently do not offer monthly plans". On leaving, it states "If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive." Uniqode also states that static QR codes are permanent and will continue to work after cancellation, though the account becomes inaccessible, and it offers a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Annual-only billing is the wrong shape for a single event and the right shape for a deployment across a hundred sites, which is roughly the line between choosing Uniqode and choosing something else - the per-feature detail sits on the [Uniqode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode). ### QRCodeChimp QRCodeChimp is the nearest substitute for Flowpage, because landing pages are part of the product rather than an upsell, and its published ladder is the gentlest here. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 10 dynamic codes, 1,000 monthly scans and unlimited static codes; Starter at $9.99 a month or $6.99 billed yearly for 50 dynamic codes and 10,000 scans; Pro at $19.99 or $13.99 yearly for 300 codes and 150,000 scans; and Ultima at $49.99 or $34.99 yearly for 900 codes and unlimited scans. [Is QRCodeChimp free?](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-chimp-free) sets out where the free plan's limits bite. The figure to check on QRCodeChimp before anything is printed is not the scan allowance but the download resolution, which the pricing page caps by plan: 1024 × 1024 pixels on Free, 2048 × 2048 on Starter, and 4096 × 4096 on Pro and above. Those are raster limits, and a raster limit is a print-size limit - 1024 pixels is a comfortable flyer and a poor poster. The [QRCodeChimp comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcodechimp) covers what else the resolution cap touches. ### QR Tiger QR Tiger is the cheapest like-for-like alternative on this page. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 3 dynamic codes at 500 scans per code plus unlimited static codes, then Regular at $7 a month for 12 dynamic codes with unlimited scans, Advanced at $16 for 200 codes, and Premium at $37 for 600. Unlimited scans from $7 is the single most useful fact in this article for anyone whose problem with Flowcode is metering. The free tier carries a condition stated on QR Tiger's own page: free codes come "With QR TIGER logo popup". A branded interstitial between the scan and your page is tolerable for an internal code and a poor experience on a restaurant table, where a customer meets somebody else's brand on the way to your menu. The [QR Tiger comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrtiger) has the rest. ### Bitly Bitly is the sensible alternative when a team's short links already live there and nobody wants a second vendor. Its free plan, as listed in August 2026, allows 5 short links, 2 QR codes, 2 landing pages and 3 custom back-halves a month, with unlimited scans on what you create. Monthly QR allowances step up by plan: 2 on Free, 5 on Core, 10 on Growth and 200 on Premium. One condition matters more than the allowance, and it is easy to misread. Bitly lists link and QR code redirects as a paid feature starting on the Core plan, which was $10 a month billed annually in August 2026 - so a free Bitly QR code is dynamic in construction and fixed in practice, because changing where it points is the paid part. The [Bitly comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-bitly) sets out what the free tier does and does not include. ### qr.io qr.io is the only platform here that does not meter anything. There is one plan, Premium, listed at $39.99 a month or $479.50 a year, covering unlimited QR codes and unlimited scans, dynamic and static codes, PNG and SVG download, custom landing pages, scan analytics, API access, bulk creation and up to 5 team members, after a 7-day trial. There is no permanent free tier. Flat pricing is worth arithmetic rather than instinct. At $39.99 a month, qr.io costs more than Flowcode's Pro Plus and less than several enterprise quotes, and it wins precisely where volume is unpredictable - a code on packaging, a code in a transport hub, anything whose scan count you would rather not have to forecast. It loses on a small, stable set of codes, where QR Tiger at $7 does the same job. The [qr.io comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-io) covers the trial's terms. ## The Free Static Generators That Do Less Two tools on this list are not Flowcode alternatives in the feature sense, and they are the right answer more often than the feature sense suggests. Neither creates a dynamic code, counts a scan, or serves a landing page. Both produce a print-ready file that keeps working with nothing behind it, for nothing, indefinitely - which is the whole of what many people were using Flowcode for. ### QRCode Monkey QRCode Monkey is the established free static generator: no signup, PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS export, and detailed control over the body dots and the corner elements. Its own FAQ states that codes do not expire and will work forever, that there is no scan limit, and that a logo can cover up to about 30% of the code because error correction can recover that much. One caveat on QRCode Monkey is stated on its own page and still costs people a print run: the logo and design settings currently only work for the .png and .svg files. If a printer asked for EPS or PDF and the vector went straight from the download panel to the press, the file can arrive as a plain code without the logo and styling. Open the export before it goes anywhere. ### KoloQR KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, overlaps with the part of Flowcode people usually praise - how the code looks - and does it by changing the outline of the symbol itself: [circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), rectangular, [triangular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) and [hexagonal](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), rather than only styling the dots inside a square. It exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no account and no watermark, checks contrast before you export, and copies straight into Figma. The source is open, so it can be inspected or self-hosted. KoloQR replaces the drawing and exporting step and none of the rest. There are no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no landing pages and no dashboard, so if the reason you are on Flowcode is the numbers, one of the five platforms above is the answer and KoloQR is not - which is the same conclusion the [Flowcode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-flowcode) reaches at more length. KoloQR is also newer than Flowcode and than QRCode Monkey, which is a fair argument against it if what you want is a track record. ## What Switching Actually Costs Switching platforms does not rescue a code that is already printed. A dynamic QR code encodes a short link belonging to the old provider, so the pattern on the poster keeps pointing at that provider after you cancel, and Uniqode states the consequence outright: "If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive." The real cost of leaving a QR platform is a reprint, not the difference between two monthly prices. What transfers between platforms is the list: destination URLs, the design decisions, the artwork files. What does not transfer is the object in the world. That asymmetry is invisible while everything lives in a dashboard and becomes the entire problem the moment something is on a wall, a wine label, a vehicle or a laminated menu that was expensive to produce. 1. **Inventory What Is Already in the Field.** List every printed code, where it is, how long it stays there, and what it points at today. Codes still in a box are not a constraint; codes on a wall are. This list, not the pricing page, is what decides how expensive leaving will be. 2. **Export the Static Codes Before the Account Closes.** Any static code created on the old platform keeps working after cancellation, because the destination is encoded in the pattern rather than served by the provider - Uniqode says as much in its own FAQ. Download those files while the account is still open, since account access ends even though the codes do not. 3. **Keep the Old Plan Alive for the Printed Run Only.** Downgrade the old subscription to the cheapest tier that keeps the existing dynamic codes resolving, and treat it as a maintenance cost on work already printed rather than as a tool you still use. Dual-running for a year is usually cheaper than reprinting a large installation. 4. **Print Everything New Against a Domain You Control.** For anything printed from now on, encode a static URL on your own domain and do the redirecting on your own server. The printed pattern then points at you, the destination stays editable, and no future vendor decision can switch the code off. This is the only arrangement on this page that survives every provider. 5. **Retire the Old Plan When the Last Run Is Gone.** Cancel once the printed material carrying the old provider's short links has been replaced or withdrawn. Check the inventory from step one rather than the calendar - a code on a permanent fixture outlives the campaign that commissioned it by years. The decision that actually costs money is made before the print run, not at renewal. If a code will sit on a table tent for two years, the question is not which platform is cheapest this month but whose short link you are willing to have printed on your furniture for two years - and if the answer is nobody's, the code should have been static, or pointed at your own domain, from the start. That is covered at length in the note on [what a dynamic QR subscription buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## How to Choose, in Five Rules Five rules sort every tool on this page, and they sort them better than a feature table because each one turns on a difference that cannot be worked around later. - **The destination will never change and nobody will count the scans.** Use a free static generator - QRCode Monkey or KoloQR - and stop shopping. Menus, Wi-Fi codes, business cards, product labels and museum captions are almost all in this group, and every subscription above it buys infrastructure the project will not use. - **The destination will change, and there are only a few codes.** QRCodeChimp's free plan, at 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 scans a month, covers more small projects than any other free tier here - as long as the 1024 × 1024 download cap is large enough for what you are printing. - **The destination will change and the traffic is real.** Compare on the scan allowance rather than the headline price. QR Tiger's Regular plan lists unlimited scans on 12 codes for $7 a month; Flowcode's Pro Plus lists 6,000 scans for $25 a month billed annually. Which is cheaper depends entirely on how many people scan. - **The traffic is unpredictable and a cap would be a disaster.** qr.io's flat $39.99 a month is the only plan on this page that does not move with volume, which is worth paying for on packaging, transport signage or anything else you cannot forecast. - **The rollout is organisation-wide.** Uniqode is built for that shape of problem, and it bills annually only - so budget a year, and check the cancellation terms before the first code is printed rather than after. - **Nobody is sure yet.** Print a static code that points at a redirect on your own domain. It costs nothing, it stays editable forever, and it removes this entire decision from the critical path. Whichever tool wins, the one step worth insisting on is unglamorous: export the exact file you intend to print, on the plan you actually have, and scan it with two different phones at the size it will really appear. That catches more failures than any feature on any pricing page. ## What None of These Replace Flowcode's Audience Builder, its native CRM and CDP integrations, and the retail-scale deployment work around them are not matched by anything else on this page, and pretending otherwise would make this list useless. If the reason you are on Flowcode is first-party data flowing into a CRM and campaign optimisation on top of it, none of the five cheaper platforms is a drop-in replacement, and the honest recommendation is to stay and negotiate the quote rather than to switch and rebuild. The failure that none of these platforms causes, and that most of them get blamed for, is a code that will not scan. A QR code fails because it is printed too small, because the contrast between the modules and the background is too low, because the quiet zone was crowded by a layout, or because a logo covered more of the pattern than [the error correction level](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) could recover. Those four decisions are made in whichever tool drew the code, and they are all fixable in [the generator](https://koloqr.com/) before the file leaves the screen - which is the only part of this comparison that decides whether the thing works at all. ## FAQ ### What Is the Best Flowcode Alternative? There is no single answer, because the alternatives split by job. For the same platform at organisation scale, Uniqode. For landing pages like Flowpage at a lower price, QRCodeChimp. For the cheapest dynamic codes with unlimited scans, QR Tiger at $7 a month. For unmetered volume, qr.io. For a designed code you print once and never pay for, QRCode Monkey or KoloQR. ### How Much Does Flowcode Cost? Flowcode's pricing page, read in August 2026, lists a free plan with up to 2 Flowcodes and analytics for up to 500 scans, Pro Plus at $25 a month billed annually for up to 50 codes and landing pages with analytics for 6,000 scans and 3 seats, and Growth at $250 a year starting at 150 codes with the first 10,000 scans included. Growth Plus and Enterprise are quoted rather than listed. ### Is There a Free Alternative to Flowcode? Yes, in two different senses. For free dynamic codes, QRCodeChimp's free plan lists 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 scans a month, and QR Tiger's lists 3 codes at 500 scans each with a QR Tiger logo popup. For free static codes with no account, no watermark and no expiry, QRCode Monkey and KoloQR both export print-ready vectors - but neither can edit a destination or count a scan. ### What Happens to My Flowcode Codes if I Stop Paying? Dynamic codes on any of these platforms stop redirecting when the plan behind them ends. Uniqode states it plainly for its own product: "If you decide to cancel your subscription, your QR Codes will become inactive." Static files you exported keep working, because a static code carries its destination in the pattern. Check Flowcode's current terms directly before cancelling anything that is already printed. ### Can I Move an Existing Flowcode QR Code to Another Platform? No. A printed dynamic code encodes the old provider's short link, and no new provider can take over that link, so the pattern in the world cannot be reassigned. What you can move is the list of destinations and the design. Anything already printed either keeps the old subscription alive or gets reprinted - which is why the choice matters most before the print run. ### Why Did My QR Code Stop Working Halfway Through a Campaign? Usually a scan cap rather than a fault. Free tiers meter scans - QR Tiger's free plan lists 500 scans per code, QRCodeChimp's lists 1,000 a month - and the code stops resolving once the allowance is spent. Read whether a plan caps scans or only caps analytics: a cap on analytics costs you a report, and a cap on scans costs you the sign. ### Which Alternative Has Landing Pages Like Flowpage? QRCodeChimp is the closest, with landing pages included on paid plans and a free tier that carries 10 dynamic codes. Bitly includes landing pages too, at 2 a month on its free plan, and qr.io includes custom landing pages on its single subscription. Uniqode offers them as part of a broader platform. None of the free static generators serve pages at all. ### Is KoloQR a Flowcode Alternative? Only for the design and export half of the job. KoloQR makes free static codes with custom outer shapes, free SVG, PDF and EPS export, no account and no watermark, and the codes never expire. It has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no landing pages and no dashboard, so it does not replace Flowcode for anyone who is there for the tracking. --- # QRCode Monkey Is Genuinely Free, and Its PDF Is Not Vector URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free Yes - QRCode Monkey's static codes are free, with no account, no expiry and no watermark. We downloaded all four formats in August 2026: the PDF is not vector. Industry · 2026-08-21 QRCode Monkey's free generator is free in the way it says it is: no account, no watermark, no expiry, no scan limit, and commercial use allowed, all stated on its own site. What is not obvious is where the money is, and what is in the files. KoloQR downloaded the same QR code in all four formats on 21 August 2026 and opened them: the SVG and the EPS are true vector files that carry the colours, the round modules and the logo, while the PDF is a single raster image inside a PDF page. That difference decides how large you can print, and it is the one thing on this page worth checking before a print run. ## Key Points - QRCode Monkey's own FAQ states that the codes are free for any purpose including commercial use, that they "do not expire and will work forever", and that "There is no limit and the created QR code will work forever." - Downloading needs no account. The download button is a plain web request to the tool's public API, and it returned the file to KoloQR on 21 August 2026 with no login, no cookie and no watermark on the code. - The money is in a second product. The note under the download buttons reads: "The created static QR code is 100% free but if you need scan statistics, flexible editability and more features then have a look at our QR Code Generator for professionals." - Measured by KoloQR on 21 August 2026: of the four download formats, the .svg and the .eps contain real vector paths, and the .pdf contains one raster image on a blank page - 2320 × 2320 pixels at the size slider's maximum, which is roughly 19.5 cm wide at 300 dpi. - The permanent cost of a free static code is that it can never be edited. QRCode Monkey states it plainly: "You just can't edit the content of the QR Codes again." If the destination changes, the printed run is what pays. ## Is QRCode Monkey Free? The Short Answer Yes. QRCode Monkey's static QR code generator is free to use, needs no account, adds no watermark, and produces codes that never expire and are not limited by scans. Its own site says so in four separate places, and the behaviour matches the copy: KoloQR generated and downloaded codes from it on 21 August 2026 without signing in. The claims are worth quoting exactly, because they are the answer to most of the question. On commercial use: "Yes, all QR codes you created with this QR generator are free and can be used for whatever you want." On expiry: "They do not expire and will work forever! QR Codes created with QRCode Monkey are static and do not stop working after a certain time." On scans: "There is no limit and the created QR code will work forever." None of that depends on trust, because none of it depends on QRCode Monkey. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. Once the file is downloaded, the company could close tomorrow and every code it ever produced would keep resolving, because the phone reads the URL out of the pattern rather than asking a server for it. That is the structural reason a free static generator can promise "forever" and mean it, and the reason the same promise from a free dynamic plan means something much weaker. [Unitag's free generator](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) is the sharpest case: its codes are deactivated after 100 scans. A dynamic code points at the provider's short link first and at your page second, so its lifetime is the lifetime of the account behind it - which is the subject of the note on [what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## Where the Money Is, and Where the Tool Says So QRCode Monkey earns from a second, paid product rather than from the generator. The line printed under the download buttons is unambiguous: "The created static QR code is 100% free but if you need scan statistics, flexible editability and more features then have a look at our QR Code Generator for professionals." Everything free stays free; the two features most people eventually want are the ones behind the signup. The upsell is placed inside the editing flow rather than around it, and one instance is easy to misread. Beside the URL field sits what looks like a toggle switch labelled "Statistics and Editability". It is an image file named toggle-switch-placeholder.png, and clicking it opens a signup modal - there is nothing to switch on. The download dialog carries further panels, marked "Ad" in the page's own markup, one of which reads "Do more with your QR Codes with Bitly". Those signup links are checkable from the page source. They point at app.qr-code-generator.com and at bitly.com, and they carry the parameters user_source=qrcm and placements named logo, more and statistics - the three points in the editor where a free user is most likely to want the paid feature. QR Code Generator PRO is run by Egoditor GmbH, which Bitly announced it had acquired on 1 December 2021, describing Egoditor as the provider behind qr-code-generator.com. This is an ordinary arrangement and worth naming without drama: the free tool is the top of a paid funnel, and being the top of a funnel is what keeps it free and unmetered. The practical consequence is small but real - know which buttons stay on qrcode-monkey.com and which ones start an account somewhere else. | What you want | Where it lives | What it costs | | --- | --- | --- | | A styled static code, downloaded | qrcode-monkey.com | Free, no account | | PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS export | qrcode-monkey.com | Free | | A logo on the code | qrcode-monkey.com | Free, up to about 30% coverage | | Scan statistics | QR Code Generator PRO signup | A paid plan on another site | | Editing the destination after printing | QR Code Generator PRO signup | A paid plan on another site | | Bulk creation and editing | QR Code Generator PRO signup | A paid plan on another site | Read off qrcode-monkey.com on 21 August 2026. The free column is the whole of what the site itself delivers; the paid rows are a different product with its own signup. ## What Is Actually Inside the Four Downloads KoloQR downloaded the same QR code from QRCode Monkey in all four formats on 21 August 2026 and opened the files. The .svg and the .eps are true vector files carrying the custom colours, the round module shape and the logo. The .pdf is not: it is a single raster image placed on an otherwise empty PDF page, 2320 × 2320 pixels at the size slider's maximum of 2000. A vector file is an image made of coordinates and curves rather than pixels, so it can be enlarged to any size without losing sharpness. That is the entire reason a printer asks for one, and it is why the distinction below matters more than any feature on any pricing page. The [difference between SVG and PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) is the same difference, in the two formats most people meet first. | Download | What the file contained | Scales without loss? | | --- | --- | --- | | PNG | A raster image, 2320 × 2320 pixels at the slider's maximum | No | | SVG | Vector paths - 234 of them in our test file - with the colours and logo | Yes | | EPS | Vector paths with the colours and logo, as PostScript curves | Yes | | PDF | One embedded 2320 × 2320 pixel image on a blank page | No | Measured by KoloQR on 21 August 2026, from a single code downloaded four times through the endpoint the site's own download button calls. The method is worth stating so the result can be disputed or confirmed. The site's download button requests api.qrcode-monkey.com/qr/custom with the chosen format, size and design settings; the same request was made four times, once per format, for one URL with a circular module style, two custom colours and a logo from the built-in gallery. The SVG and EPS were read as text and contain drawing commands; the PDF was parsed and contains a single image object with an 8-bit RGB colour space. Two of those findings contradict QRCode Monkey's own documentation, in opposite directions. The site states that "The logo and design settings currently only work for .png and .svg files" and that the PDF and EPS "only support classic QR codes without the design and logo options" - but the EPS we downloaded carried the design and the logo in full. The site also describes PDF as one of the "vector formats" it offers, and the PDF we downloaded was a picture. Documentation drifts behind software; the file on your disk is the thing to check. One caveat on the good news: the logo tested was one of the built-in gallery marks, which are vector to begin with. A logo you upload as a PNG or JPG stays a raster picture inside whichever file it lands in, because nothing can convert a photograph into curves on the way out. ## Why a Raster PDF Matters at Poster Size A raster PDF sets a hard ceiling on print size that a vector one does not have. QRCode Monkey's largest export is 2320 pixels across, which is about 19.5 cm at 300 dpi, about 39 cm at 150 dpi, and no larger than that without visible softening at the edge of every module. For a business card, a menu or a flyer this is irrelevant; for a shop window, a banner or an exhibition panel it is the whole problem. The trap is that the PDF opens at a size that looks generous. The page in the file we measured is 2320 points across - roughly 82 cm - with a 2320-pixel image filling it, which works out to 72 dpi at full page size. A designer who places that PDF at its natural size and sends it to print has placed a 72 dpi image, and nothing in the file warns them. Our [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) turns the same arithmetic around: enter the printed width you need and it gives the pixels required. Blurred module edges are not merely ugly. A scanner decides where each module begins and ends, and soft edges at a small print size are one of the ordinary causes of a code that reads slowly in good light and not at all in bad - alongside low contrast, a crowded [quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone), and printing below [the minimum size for the amount of data](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print). 1. **Download the SVG, Not the PDF.** Choose the .svg download for anything that will be enlarged, and treat the .pdf as a convenience format for viewing. The SVG is the file that contains the actual shapes, and it is the one QRCode Monkey itself recommends for further editing. 2. **Push the Size Slider to Maximum First.** The slider runs from 200 to 2000 pixels and governs the raster exports. It costs nothing to move it to 2000 before downloading, and it is the difference between a PNG that survives a poster and one that does not. 3. **Open the File Before Sending It Anywhere.** Open the SVG or EPS in Illustrator, Inkscape or Affinity and zoom in until the modules fill the screen. Vector edges stay crisp at any zoom; a raster file inside a vector wrapper turns into visible squares, which is the check that takes ten seconds and catches this whole problem. 4. **Export Your Own PDF From the SVG.** If the printer insists on PDF, open the SVG and save or export it as PDF yourself. The result is a vector PDF built from the same shapes, rather than a photograph of them, and it will hold at any size the job needs. 5. **Scan the Final File at Its Printed Size.** Print or display the file at the size it will really appear and scan it with two different phones. Every generator's output should meet this test, and it catches failures that no inspection of the file can - which is what our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) is for when a phone is not to hand. ## Do QRCode Monkey Codes Expire? No. The codes are static, which means the destination is written into the black and white pattern rather than looked up from a server, and QRCode Monkey says so plainly: the codes "do not expire and will work forever", with no cap on how many times one is scanned. A file downloaded today decodes to the same URL in ten years, on a phone that has never heard of the company, and would keep doing so if the site went dark tomorrow. That is a property of static codes rather than a favour from this vendor. There is nowhere in the QR format for an expiry date to sit, so any generator that hands over a static file is handing over something with no shelf life. Expiry belongs to the other half of the market: a dynamic code resolves through a redirect the vendor owns, and when the subscription behind that redirect lapses, every printed copy stops resolving. That is [what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription), and it is the sharpest difference between the two kinds of code. Which of those things can actually stop a printed code working, and which cannot, is the whole of [do QR codes expire](https://koloqr.com/guides/do-qr-codes-expire). So the thing that can break a QRCode Monkey code is never the code. It is the page behind it: a domain left to lapse, a campaign URL retired along with the campaign, a site migration that drops the path, or a link shortener that shuts down and takes every short link with it. Encoding a shortener's URL is the one way to give a static code an expiry date without meaning to, because it puts a third party back in the middle of something that had no middle. What that asks for is a list rather than a subscription: which printed codes point where, and a note that those URLs have to keep resolving for as long as the print is out in the world. What no amount of upkeep buys is the ability to change one after the fact. ## Free Forever Also Means Never Editable The real price of a free static code is paid later, if at all, and QRCode Monkey states it in the same breath as the promise: "You just can't edit the content of the QR Codes again." The destination is in the pattern, so changing it means making a new code, and replacing every printed copy of the old one. That is a cost worth estimating before the design is signed off rather than after the boxes arrive. A code on a business card is reprinted at the next reorder anyway; a code etched into a shop sign, laminated into a menu, or moulded into packaging is a different order of commitment. The question is not whether the generator is free but how confident you are that the URL behind the code will still be the right one in two years. There is a middle path that costs nothing and almost nobody takes: encode a URL on a domain you control, and do the redirecting yourself. The printed code is static, permanent and free, and the destination stays editable forever because the redirect is yours rather than a vendor's. It is the only arrangement on this page that no pricing change and no acquisition can affect. If you do need scan counts and an editable destination from a product rather than a server, the honest answer is that QRCode Monkey's free tier cannot give you either, and the market for those features starts at a few dollars a month - the [Flowcode alternatives roundup](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives) records what seven of them charged in August 2026. ## What Happens to Your Data, and Who Is Responsible QRCode Monkey renders codes on its own server, so whatever you encode is sent there. Its FAQ addresses this directly: "We do not save or reuse your data in any form. We cache your qr code image files for 24h on our server to optimize the performance of QRCode Monkey." That is a clear statement and a modest one - the image of the code sits on their infrastructure for a day, by their own account. For a public URL this means nothing. It means slightly more for the payloads people forget are payloads: a Wi-Fi QR code contains the network password in plain text, and a vCard contains a person's phone number, email and address. Neither is dangerous to generate, and both are worth knowing you are transmitting rather than assuming they were drawn in your browser. Responsibility for the output sits with you, which the site's imprint says in as many words. Translated from the German: "We accept no liability for consequences arising from faulty QR codes created with our generator. Please check the generated QR code intensively before you use it further." Every generator disclaims this, including [the KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/), and every one of them is right to - no tool can know what your printer, your substrate or your customer's phone will do with the file. The imprint names QRCode Monkey GmbH, Pariser Str. 47, 10719 Berlin, registered at the local court in Dresden under HRB 40482. It names no parent company, and nothing else on the site does either, so any claim about who ultimately owns the tool is a claim without a source behind it. What is verifiable is where the upsell points, which is covered above. ## The 30% Logo Limit Is a Ceiling, Not a Target QRCode Monkey states that "Every QR code can have an error correction up to 30%" and that it can "put a logo image on the QR code that covers up to 30%". The figure is real and comes from the format itself: level H, the highest of the four error correction levels in ISO/IEC 18004, is specified to recover roughly 30% of a damaged symbol. Treating it as a design budget is where codes start failing. The reason is that the 30% is not reserved for your logo. It is the total damage the symbol can survive, and a printed code spends some of it before anyone scans: ink spread on uncoated stock, a fold through the pattern, a scuff on a laminated menu, a phone held at an angle in poor light. A logo at the maximum leaves nothing for the world to take, which is why a smaller mark - and a test scan of the real print - beats an argument about percentages. The [error correction guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) sets out what each level costs in capacity. The related mistake is spending the margin on styling instead. Rounded modules, light foregrounds and low-contrast palettes each shave a little decoding reliability off the same budget, which is what the [minimum contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) measured, and what our own note on [whether custom QR shapes still scan](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-custom-qr-shapes-scan) covers for the shape half of the question. ## How QRCode Monkey's Free Compares With Other Free Tiers QRCode Monkey's free tier is unusual in this market because it is not a trial. Most free plans from QR platforms are demonstrations, metered in codes and scans, and the metering is the product. QRCode Monkey meters nothing and withholds the feature category instead, which is a more honest shape for anyone who only ever needed a file. | Free tier | What it allows | What it withholds | | --- | --- | --- | | QRCode Monkey | Unlimited static codes, unlimited scans, no expiry, no account | Scan statistics and editable destinations | | KoloQR | Unlimited static codes, unlimited scans, no expiry, no account | Scan statistics and editable destinations | | QR Tiger | 3 dynamic codes, 500 scans per code, plus unlimited static codes | Anything past the cap, and free codes carry a QR Tiger logo popup | | QRCodeChimp | 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 scans a month | Downloads above 1024 × 1024 pixels | | Bitly | 2 QR codes a month with unlimited scans | Redirect editing, which starts on the paid Core plan | The dynamic platforms' figures are as recorded in August 2026 in the Flowcode alternatives roundup; the two static rows were checked on 21 August 2026. The comparison that matters is therefore not between free tiers but between two shapes of tool. A static generator gives you a file and no relationship; a dynamic platform gives you a relationship and a monthly line item. Anyone whose destination will never change is buying infrastructure they will not use - which is the argument the [2026 roundup of free QR code generators](https://koloqr.com/blog/best-free-qr-code-generators-2026) makes at length. ## When QRCode Monkey's Free Version Is the Right Answer QRCode Monkey is the right tool when you want a well-styled static code, you will export the SVG, and nobody will ever need to count a scan. That covers most menus, most Wi-Fi codes, most business cards, most product labels and most event signage, and it is a larger share of QR code work than the platform market's pricing pages suggest. - **You need a code today and no relationship with a vendor.** QRCode Monkey delivers exactly that: no account, no watermark, no expiry, and a file you own. - **The printer asked for vector.** Download the SVG or the EPS. Do not send the PDF unless you have opened it and satisfied yourself that it is what the job needs. - **The code goes on something large.** Check the export at printed size first, because the raster formats top out at 2320 pixels - about 19.5 cm at 300 dpi. - **The destination might change.** Neither QRCode Monkey nor any other free static generator can help. Either point the code at a redirect on your own domain, or budget for a dynamic plan. - **You want the whole code to be a shape other than a square.** QRCode Monkey styles the modules and the corner elements but keeps the square outline, which is the one design job it does not do. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, overlaps with QRCode Monkey almost exactly on the free part - static codes, no account, no watermark, no expiry, SVG, PDF and EPS export - and differs on that last rule, by changing the outline of the symbol rather than only the modules inside it. It is also open source, so the questions this article had to answer by measurement can be answered by reading the code instead. It replaces nothing else. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics and no dashboard, and it is a newer tool than QRCode Monkey, which has years of use behind it and a template gallery that a newer tool cannot match by wanting to. If deep control over module and corner styling from a proven generator is the requirement, QRCode Monkey is the better answer, and our page on the [open-source QRCode Monkey alternative](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcode-monkey) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. ## FAQ ### Is QRCode Monkey Really Free, or Is There a Catch? It is really free. The static generator needs no account, adds no watermark, allows commercial use, and produces codes that its own FAQ says never expire and have no scan limit. The catch is a boundary rather than a bill: scan statistics and editable destinations are not part of it, and the links to those features open a signup for QR Code Generator PRO, a separate paid product on another site. ### Why Is My QRCode Monkey PDF Blurry When Printed Large? Because the PDF is a raster image inside a PDF page rather than a vector drawing. KoloQR downloaded one on 21 August 2026 and found a single 2320 × 2320 pixel image on a 2320-point page, which is 72 dpi at full page size. Download the .svg instead and export your own PDF from it if the printer needs PDF. ### Do QRCode Monkey QR Codes Expire or Stop Working? No. The codes are static, so the destination is encoded in the pattern rather than served by a company, and the site states that they "do not expire and will work forever" with no scan limit. A downloaded file keeps working even if the website disappears. What can stop working is the page you pointed it at, which is your own to keep alive. ### Can I Use QRCode Monkey QR Codes Commercially? Yes. Its FAQ answers this directly: "Yes, all QR codes you created with this QR generator are free and can be used for whatever you want." That covers packaging, signage, advertising and resale work. QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, which the site notes and which affects how you name the format in copy, not whether you may print one. ### Can I Edit a QRCode Monkey Code After I Have Printed It? No. QRCode Monkey creates static codes and says so: "You just can't edit the content of the QR Codes again." Changing the destination means generating a new code and replacing every printed copy. If a destination might change, encode a URL on a domain you control and run the redirect yourself, so the printed pattern never has to change. ### Does QRCode Monkey Store the Data I Put Into a QR Code? Its FAQ states: "We do not save or reuse your data in any form. We cache your qr code image files for 24h on our server to optimize the performance of QRCode Monkey." Codes are rendered server-side, so the content is transmitted either way. Worth remembering for Wi-Fi codes, which carry the network password in plain text, and vCards, which carry personal contact details. ### Is the QRCode Monkey Logo Limit of 30% Safe to Use? It is a ceiling, not a recommendation. The 30% comes from error correction level H in ISO/IEC 18004, which can recover roughly that share of a damaged symbol - and printing, folding, scuffing and poor light all spend from the same allowance. Keep the logo well under the maximum and test the printed result rather than the screen preview. ### Who Owns QRCode Monkey? The site's imprint names QRCode Monkey GmbH, Pariser Str. 47, 10719 Berlin, registered at the local court in Dresden under HRB 40482. It names no parent company. What the page does show is where its upsell points: signup links to app.qr-code-generator.com and bitly.com, carrying a user_source=qrcm parameter. ### Is the QRCode Monkey API Free Too? The site describes the API as free and publishes no price, no key requirement and no documented rate limit, and it invites anyone needing a custom solution to get in touch. It is the same endpoint the website's own download button calls. Treat an undocumented free API as a courtesy rather than a guarantee: nothing on the page promises availability, and the imprint disclaims liability for "faulty QR codes created with our generator". --- # Fifty QR Code Colour Pairs, and Which of Them Survive Print URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/fifty-qr-colour-pairs Fifty code-and-background pairs with the computed contrast ratio for each. Ten clear print at 7:1, thirteen fall below 4:1, and most brand mid-tones are in between. Research · 2026-08-24 Of the fifty code-and-background pairs below, ten clear 7:1 and are safe to print, eleven land between 4:1 and 7:1 and belong on screens, and thirteen fall under 4:1 and should not carry a QR code at all. The pattern in the failures is consistent: mid-tone brand colours. Every yellow, every orange above Amber 700, and every green lighter than Forest green is in the bottom group. ## Key points - Ten of the fifty pairs clear 7:1, the working target for print. All ten are a very dark colour on white or on a near-white tint. - Thirteen fall below 4:1. Every one of them is a mid-tone or light colour used as the code rather than as the background - yellows, oranges, mid greens, mid cyans. - The failure is systematic, not random. A colour dark enough to print a readable QR code is usually darker than the colour a brand thinks of as its own. - Contrast ratio is arithmetic over two hex values, so every figure in this table is reproducible rather than reported. No code was printed and scanned to produce it. - The ratio tells you the pair, not the print. Ink spread, substrate colour, gloss and the camera's own exposure all sit between a passing ratio and a code that scans off paper. - Inverting - light code on a dark ground - can produce a very high ratio and still fail, because some decoders assume dark-on-light and never try the other polarity. ## What the Number in This Table Is, and What It Is Not A contrast ratio is the relative luminance of the lighter of two colours divided by that of the darker, offset so the scale runs from 1:1 for two identical colours to 21:1 for black on white. It is the same figure WCAG uses for text legibility, and it is computed rather than observed: linearise each sRGB channel, weight them 0.2126 for red, 0.7152 for green and 0.0722 for blue, then divide. That definition is worth stating precisely, because it is the reason every row below is checkable. Nobody has to trust this table. Two hex values and the formula produce the same number on any machine, which is a different kind of claim from "we tested this and it worked". Which is also the limit of it. **No QR code was printed and scanned to produce this table.** The verdict column applies two design thresholds that this site already publishes - around 7:1 for print and around 4:1 for screen - to a computed ratio. It is a filter for deciding which pairs are worth testing, not a substitute for testing them. The reason those thresholds sit so far above what a decoder needs is covered in [the contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test): the readable open-source decoder gives up somewhere near 1.2:1, and everything between there and 7:1 is margin for the things print does to a code after the file is correct. ## The Ten Pairs That Clear Print These reach 7:1 or better and have enough margin left for ink spread, paper reflectance and an awkward light source. Every one of them is a very dark colour on white. | Pair | Hex | Ratio | Safe for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Black on White | #000000 on #FFFFFF | 21.00:1 | Print | | Near-black on White | #111111 on #FFFFFF | 18.88:1 | Print | | Navy on White | #0B1F3A on #FFFFFF | 16.52:1 | Print | | Deep purple on White | #581C87 on #FFFFFF | 10.88:1 | Print | | Oxblood on White | #7F1D1D on #FFFFFF | 10.02:1 | Print | | Wine on White | #9D174D on #FFFFFF | 7.88:1 | Print | | Deep green on White | #065F46 on #FFFFFF | 7.68:1 | Print | | Warm grey on White | #57534E on #FFFFFF | 7.63:1 | Print | | Burnt orange on White | #9A3412 on #FFFFFF | 7.31:1 | Print | | Forest green on White | #166534 on #FFFFFF | 7.13:1 | Print | Burnt orange at 7.31:1 is the useful entry here: it is the only colour in the list a brand would describe as orange, and it is several steps darker than the orange most brands own. The practical reading of this group is that the printable palette is narrow and deep. Navy, oxblood, wine, deep green, deep purple - these are the colours that work, and a brand whose identity lives at that end of its own palette can print a coloured QR code without thinking about it. ## The Eleven Pairs That Belong on a Screen These land between 4:1 and 7:1. On a display, where contrast is perfect, light is even and edges are hard, they are fine. In print they have spent their margin before the ink is dry. | Pair | Hex | Ratio | Safe for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Purple 700 on White | #7E22CE on #FFFFFF | 6.98:1 | Screen only | | Royal blue on White | #1D4ED8 on #FFFFFF | 6.70:1 | Screen only | | Red 700 on White | #B91C1C on #FFFFFF | 6.47:1 | Screen only | | Teal 700 on White | #0F766E on #FFFFFF | 5.47:1 | Screen only | | Cyan 700 on White | #0E7490 on #FFFFFF | 5.36:1 | Screen only | | Blue 600 on White | #2563EB on #FFFFFF | 5.17:1 | Screen only | | Green 700 on White | #15803D on #FFFFFF | 5.02:1 | Screen only | | Amber 700 on White | #B45309 on #FFFFFF | 5.02:1 | Screen only | | Red 600 on White | #DC2626 on #FFFFFF | 4.83:1 | Screen only | | Stone 500 on White | #78716C on #FFFFFF | 4.80:1 | Screen only | | Pink 600 on White | #DB2777 on #FFFFFF | 4.60:1 | Screen only | Purple 700 misses the print threshold by 0.02. Treating 7:1 as a cliff would be silly - but so would treating a pair this close to the line as settled without a proof. This is the band where most brand colours actually sit, and it is the band that produces the specific failure of a code that scanned in the studio and did not scan on the shelf. The studio test was on a monitor. ## The Thirteen Pairs That Should Not Carry a Code Below 4:1, a QR code is relying on the decoder's tolerance rather than on being legible. These pairs will sometimes scan, on a good phone, in good light, at a generous size - which is worse than failing outright, because it passes the one test anybody runs. | Pair | Hex | Ratio | Safe for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Purple 500 on White | #A855F7 on #FFFFFF | 3.96:1 | Neither | | Red 500 on White | #EF4444 on #FFFFFF | 3.76:1 | Neither | | Blue 500 on White | #3B82F6 on #FFFFFF | 3.68:1 | Neither | | Orange 600 on White | #EA580C on #FFFFFF | 3.56:1 | Neither | | Pink 500 on White | #EC4899 on #FFFFFF | 3.53:1 | Neither | | Amber 600 on White | #D97706 on #FFFFFF | 3.19:1 | Neither | | Gold on White | #CA8A04 on #FFFFFF | 2.94:1 | Neither | | Orange 500 on White | #F97316 on #FFFFFF | 2.80:1 | Neither | | Cyan 500 on White | #06B6D4 on #FFFFFF | 2.43:1 | Neither | | Green 500 on White | #22C55E on #FFFFFF | 2.28:1 | Neither | | Yellow 500 on White | #EAB308 on #FFFFFF | 1.92:1 | Neither | | Lime on White | #78D650 on #FFFFFF | 1.82:1 | Neither | | Yellow 400 on White | #FACC15 on #FFFFFF | 1.53:1 | Neither | Yellow on white reaches 1.53:1, which is close to the point where a decoder stops seeing a pattern at all rather than seeing a faint one. The pattern across this group is the finding worth taking away. It is not that some hues fail and others pass - it is that **lightness is the variable and hue is not**. Green appears in all three bands: Deep green passes at 7.68:1, Green 700 is screen-only at 5.02:1, Green 500 fails at 2.28:1. The colour is the same idea three times; only the luminance changed. ## Dark Codes on Tinted Stock Printing on anything other than white lowers the ratio, because the light modules of the code are the paper. Kraft, cream, recycled and coloured stock all start lower than the file suggests, and the file cannot tell you by how much. Off-white grounds like cream and oatmeal are also where most [aesthetic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/aesthetic-qr-codes) start, with a dark ink carrying the contrast. | Pair | Hex | Ratio | Safe for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Black on Cream | #000000 on #FDF6E3 | 19.47:1 | Print | | Black on Beige | #000000 on #F5F5DC | 18.98:1 | Print | | Charcoal on Off-white | #1A1A1A on #F7F7F5 | 16.23:1 | Print | | Oxford blue on Near-white | #14213D on #FCFCFC | 15.57:1 | Print | | Navy on Pale blue | #0B1F3A on #EFF6FF | 15.18:1 | Print | | Oxford blue on Pale amber | #14213D on #FEF3C7 | 14.35:1 | Print | | Charcoal on Mid grey | #1A1A1A on #D4D4D8 | 11.78:1 | Print | | Oxblood on Pale red | #7F1D1D on #FEF2F2 | 9.16:1 | Print | | Forest green on Pale green | #166534 on #F0FDF4 | 6.81:1 | Screen only | | Dark grey on Grey 400 | #333333 on #9CA3AF | 4.98:1 | Screen only | A pale tint costs less than it looks. Black on cream loses 1.53 against black on white, which is nothing. What costs is the code colour lightening, not the paper darkening. The last two rows are the instructive ones. Forest green on white passed at 7.13:1; the same green on a pale green tint drops to 6.81:1 and no longer clears the print threshold. A tint that is barely visible has moved a passing pair into the marginal band. ## Light Codes on Dark Grounds Are a Different Question Inverting a QR code - light modules on a dark background - produces high ratios easily, and the ratio is not the problem with it. The problem is that the contrast ratio formula is symmetric and decoders are not. | Pair | Hex | Ratio | Safe for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | White on Black | #FFFFFF on #000000 | 21.00:1 | Test it | | Off-white on Near-black | #F5F5F5 on #111111 | 17.32:1 | Test it | | White on Navy | #FFFFFF on #0B1F3A | 16.52:1 | Test it | | Yellow 400 on Near-black | #FACC15 on #111111 | 12.33:1 | Test it | | Lime on Near-black | #78D650 on #111110 | 10.38:1 | Test it | | Blue 400 on Navy | #60A5FA on #0B1F3A | 6.50:1 | Test it | Yellow reaches 12.33:1 inverted and 1.53:1 the right way up. Same colour, same formula, opposite outcomes - which is a good illustration of why the ratio alone decides nothing. A QR code is specified as dark modules on a light background, and while many decoders will try the inverted polarity, not all of them do and none of them promise to. That is a scanner-population question rather than a colour question, and no ratio answers it. If a design calls for an [inverted QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/inverted-qr-code), the verdict column says test it because testing is the only way to find out. ## What the Ratio Does Not Tell You Four things sit between a passing ratio and a code that scans off paper, and none of them is visible in the file. - **Ink spread.** Every press grows dark areas slightly. On a QR code that means the light modules get narrower, which lowers effective contrast at exactly the scale a decoder samples at. - **Substrate.** The ratio assumes the background is the colour in the file. On uncoated, recycled or coloured stock it is not, and the paper is doing half the job. - **Finish.** A gloss laminate can put a specular highlight across part of the symbol regardless of how good the underlying pair is. A 21:1 code under a reflection is a 1:1 code in that patch. - **Camera exposure.** A phone meters the whole scene. A small code on a large bright surface gets exposed for the surface, and the code arrives at the decoder flatter than it left the printer. This is why the verdict column is worded as a threshold rather than a promise. Clearing 7:1 means the pair is not the reason the code fails; it does not mean the code will not fail. ## How to Check a Pair That Is Not in This Table Most brand palettes contain a colour that is not one of the fifty. The check takes seconds and is the same one used to build the table. 1. **Get the Ratio for the Two Hex Values.** Put the code colour and the background into the [QR contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker). It returns the same figure this table uses, for any pair. 2. **Compare It Against the Job, Not Against a Single Number.** Around 7:1 for anything printed, around 4:1 for a code that will only ever be shown on a screen. Under 4:1, change the colour rather than the size. 3. **If It Fails, Darken Rather Than Re-Hue.** The failures in this table are a lightness problem. A brand orange that fails at 2.80:1 usually has a darker sibling in the same palette that clears 7:1 and still reads as the brand. 4. **Measure the Exported File, Not the Swatch.** The [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) reads the finished export and reports the contrast it actually contains, along with the quiet zone and module size. A gradient or a soft background changes the answer the swatches gave. 5. **Run the Ladder Before a Large Print Run.** The contrast ladder in [the contrast scan test](https://koloqr.com/blog/minimum-contrast-scan-test) produces a threshold for your own phones and your own stock, which is the only number that describes your job rather than the general case. For the design side of the same decision - which parts of a code can take colour at all, and where an accent belongs - [coloured QR codes](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/colored-qr-codes) covers the placement rather than the arithmetic. ## FAQ ### What contrast ratio does a QR code need? Design to about 7:1 for print and about 4:1 for screen. Decoders accept far less - the readable open-source one gives up near 1.2:1 - but everything between that and 7:1 is margin for ink spread, paper, glare and camera exposure. A pair below 4:1 is relying on tolerance rather than legibility. ### Can a QR code be yellow? Not as the code itself. Yellow 400 on white measures 1.53:1 and Yellow 500 measures 1.92:1, both far under any usable threshold. Yellow works as the background with a very dark code on it, and it works inverted on near-black at 12.33:1 - but a yellow code on a light ground does not. ### Why did my coloured QR code scan on my monitor but not in print? Most brand colours land between 4:1 and 7:1, which is enough on a display and not enough on paper. A screen gives perfect contrast, even light and hard edges; print spends all three on ink spread, reflectance and glare. The monitor test was the easier one. ### Is a white QR code on a black background safe? It measures 21:1, the same as black on white, and it still needs testing. The QR standard specifies dark modules on a light background. Many decoders try the inverted polarity and some do not, so an inverted code is a scanner-population question that no contrast figure answers. ### Does printing on kraft or coloured paper break a QR code? Not by itself. Black on cream measures 19.47:1 and black on beige 18.98:1, both far above the print threshold. What breaks codes is the pattern colour lightening, not the paper darkening. A dark code on a mid-tone stock is the combination to avoid. ### Were these fifty pairs actually printed and scanned? No, and the table does not claim it. Every ratio is computed from the two hex values with the standard relative-luminance formula, which makes each figure reproducible rather than reported. The verdict column applies published design thresholds to that number. Whether a specific pair survives a specific press is a proof, not a calculation. ### How do I calculate a QR code contrast ratio myself? Linearise each sRGB channel of both colours, weight them 0.2126 for red, 0.7152 for green and 0.0722 for blue to get relative luminance, then divide the lighter by the darker with 0.05 added to each. Any WCAG contrast calculator does the same arithmetic, including the one on this site. ### Can I fix low contrast by making the QR code bigger? Only up to a point, and it is the wrong lever. Size helps a decoder resolve modules; contrast is what lets it tell them apart. A code at 2:1 printed at 10 cm is a large, flat pattern. Change the colour first, then size it for the reading distance. --- # ME-QR Is Free, and the Person Scanning Pays for It URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-me-qr-free Partly: dynamic codes, tracking and downloads are free with no account, but every scan shows an ad first, and a static code is a Premium feature. Industry · 2026-08-29 ME-QR is genuinely free to use: a code can be designed and downloaded without registering, there is no scan limit and no expiry date, and the free tier includes dynamic codes and scan analytics that most competitors charge for. What free means here is unusual, and ME-QR states it plainly on its own homepage: "Service absolutely free, but after a scan, we will show advertisements (Google Ads)." The advertisement is not a limitation of the free plan so much as the business model, and it has one structural consequence worth knowing before anything goes to print - on ME-QR every free code is a dynamic code, and a static code that points straight at your link is a Premium feature. ## Key Points - ME-QR is free and says what free costs. Its homepage FAQ reads: "Service absolutely free, but after a scan, we will show advertisements (Google Ads). To remove advertisements and get more statistics, you can buy our premium account." - A static code is a paid feature. The generator shows a "Static QR Code" switch with the note "You can activate “Static QR Code” on Premium Plan" - so every code made on the free plan routes through me-qr.com, which is what makes both the advertisement and the scan tracking possible. - Measured by KoloQR on 29 August 2026 from me-qr.com's own pricing endpoint: Lite is $9.99 a month or $72.99 a year, and Premium is $15.99 a month or $103.99 a year. - Lite removes the advertisement from exactly one code. The pricing table words it as "1 ads-free QR code (in total)", against Premium's "All QR codes ads-free, no ads in the app". - A free code made without an account can be deleted. ME-QR's FAQ states it will be "blocked and removed unless scanned within 365 days", with the block lasting a month before permanent deletion. - The free plan is not metered in the usual way: the pricing page lists 10,000 created codes, unlimited scans, unlimited code lifetime, unlimited folders and a year of analytics history, with no account required to download a PNG, SVG, PDF, EPS or JPG. ## Is ME-QR Free? The Short Answer Yes. ME-QR's generator can be used without an account, imposes no scan limit and sets no expiry date, and its free tier includes dynamic codes and scan analytics that most QR platforms sell. KoloQR read the generator on 29 August 2026: the download panel offers PNG, SVG, PDF, EPS and JPG at sizes from 200 to 2000 pixels, with no sign-in step between the design and the file, and ME-QR's own FAQ refers throughout to codes "created without registering". The cost is stated on the same page as the offer, in one sentence: "Service absolutely free, but after a scan, we will show advertisements (Google Ads). To remove advertisements and get more statistics, you can buy our premium account." A second line sits under the download button itself - "Free version contains ads." ME-QR repeats the trade on its FAQ page in almost the same words: "Yes, you can use your QR code without paying. We offer a free version, which differs from a Premium subscription in the presence of ads after scanning." Whatever else is true of this tool, it is not hiding the deal. The important word in that sentence is scanning, not paying. ME-QR does not charge you and does not meter you; it earns from the person who picks up a phone and points it at your code. Everything else on this page follows from that one design decision. ## Every Free ME-QR Code Is a Dynamic Code On ME-QR, a static code is a paid feature. The generator carries a "Static QR Code" control beside the link field, and the note attached to it reads: "You can activate “Static QR Code” on Premium Plan." Every code made on the free plan is therefore dynamic, and dynamic is what makes the advertisement possible. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a link to the provider's server rather than your destination, so every scan passes through that server before it reaches your page. That intermediate stop is where analytics are counted, where a destination can be changed after printing, and where an advertisement can be shown. The three features are the same mechanism seen from three angles. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. A static code cannot show an ad, cannot count a scan and cannot be edited, for one reason: there is no server in the middle to do any of it. This is why "free" means something different at ME-QR than at a static generator. A free static generator gives you a file and then has no further relationship with you or your customers. ME-QR gives you a file and keeps a permanent position between your printed code and your page - which is the arrangement the reader is really deciding about, and the subject of our note on [what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ME-QR's terms describe the arrangement in its own vocabulary. Section 12, headed Advertising, states that the company "reserves the right to engage third-party advertising providers… for the placement of advertisements solely as part of the technical functionality embedded in QR codes created by User through the use of the Licensed Software, subject to the limitations inherent in the Tariff Plans." Advertising is a property of the code, by contract, and the plan decides how much of it there is. ## What ME-QR Costs, Measured on 29 August 2026 ME-QR's pricing page does not print its prices in the HTML. The figures are fetched client-side from the site's own endpoint at me-qr.com/get-all-plans, which answers an unauthenticated request and returns every plan in 38 currencies. KoloQR called it on 29 August 2026, and these are the four USD figures it returned. | Plan | Monthly | Yearly | What the money buys | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | $0 | Everything below, with an advertisement on every scan | | Lite | $9.99 | $72.99 (about $6.08 a month) | Three years of analytics history, and "1 ads-free QR code (in total)" | | Premium | $15.99 | $103.99 (about $8.67 a month) | All codes ad-free, static codes, API access, email on each scan, 500 MB storage | Read by KoloQR from me-qr.com/get-all-plans on 29 August 2026. The same call returns EUR 8.58 and EUR 13.73 for the two monthly plans, and its response echoes the country the request was geolocated to - ours resolved to PL, and the USD figures did not change when we asked for other countries. The single most quotable line on that pricing page is the Lite plan's advertising row: "1 ads-free QR code (in total)". Ten dollars a month removes the advertisement from one code, not from your account. If two printed codes are in the world, Lite does not cover them, and the honest comparison is between $15.99 a month and doing without the platform. The yearly discount is real and large: $103.99 against twelve months at $15.99 is about 46% off, which matches the page's own claim of "up to 45% on Yearly Plan". The trade is the usual one - the discount is paid up front, ME-QR's terms state that fees already paid are non-refundable, and a paid plan renews automatically unless it is cancelled from the account before the period ends. Two cautions about any price on this page. First, ME-QR's own pricing page disagrees with itself on the date we read it: the Lite card lists 100,000 created codes, and the summary table further down the same page lists 10,000 for the same plan. Second, KoloQR's [2026 roundup of free QR code generators](https://koloqr.com/blog/best-free-qr-code-generators-2026) recorded $7 and $20 for these two plans on 18 August 2026, eleven days before the figures above. We are not going to pretend to know which change accounts for that. The lesson is the one that survives either way: read the number on the day you pay. ## What the Free Tier Actually Includes ME-QR's free plan is not a trial, and that is what makes it unusual. Most free tiers from dynamic QR platforms are demonstrations metered in codes and scans, where the metering is the product; ME-QR meters almost nothing and monetises the scan instead. The figures below are from its pricing page as it read on 29 August 2026. | What | Free | Premium | | --- | --- | --- | | Created QR codes | 10,000 | 1,000,000 | | Scans per code | Unlimited | Unlimited | | Code lifetime | Unlimited | Unlimited | | Trackable codes, folders, multi-user access | Unlimited | Unlimited | | Analytics history | 1 year | 3 years | | File storage | 100 MB | 500 MB | | Email after each scan | No | Yes | | API integration | No | Yes | | Advertising | All QR codes with ads | All QR codes ads-free | Read off me-qr.com/pricing on 29 August 2026. The advertising row uses ME-QR's own wording; the Lite plan sits between these two columns and removes ads from one code in total. An account is not needed to make or download a code, and is needed for everything after that. ME-QR's FAQ lists what registering adds: storing codes in one place, seeing scan statistics, deleting codes, changing a code's content without changing its appearance, and changing the code's type. On the question of editing without an account it is direct - "If you want to change the link in your QR you need to sign up on our site." The API is Premium, and it is priced twice. The API page lists free access as "3 API keys · Valid for 3 Days" against Premium's "Unlimited API keys · No Expiration", quotes usage at $0.005 per request up to 100,000 requests and $0.0025 beyond that, and states a rate limit of roughly one request a second and 50 a minute on every plan. Anyone planning bulk generation should price the requests as well as the subscription. ## The Free Code Nobody Scans Gets Deleted A free ME-QR code that goes unscanned for a year is deleted, and a code made without an account is deleted without a warning email. ME-QR's FAQ sets out the whole sequence: "If you have created a QR code on the ME-QR website but have not registered, it will be blocked and removed unless scanned within 365 days. If you have registered, you will be sent a one month warning before the QR code is blocked and removed. After 365 days of inactivity, the code is blocked for one month. During this period it is still possible to restore its content and the QR code itself. After the month has passed, the QR code is permanently deleted." This rule is easy to read past and expensive to meet. The codes it threatens are exactly the ones that sit unscanned for long stretches: a code moulded into packaging for a product that sells slowly, a code on an emergency notice, a code in a manual, a code on a plaque. A printed code with no scans for a year is not a dead code - it is a code waiting for its first reader. Registering removes most of the risk, since a registered code gets a month's notice and a month's grace. That makes an account worth creating even for someone who never intends to pay, and it is the cheapest single action on this page. The other deletion clause is about content rather than inactivity. ME-QR's FAQ lists what may not sit behind a code - spam, malicious links, fraud, sexual content, hate speech, gambling and several other categories - and ends: "Content that violates the rules will be removed without warning." The terms go further, reserving the right to revoke or suspend a license and to delete an account and its content "at any time, without warning", at the company's sole discretion. Both are ordinary clauses in ordinary terms; they are worth reading twice only because a dynamic code makes them operative on something you have already printed. 1. **Create an Account Before You Create the Code.** An unregistered code is deleted after 365 days without a scan and gets no warning; a registered one gets a month's notice and a month's grace. Registering costs nothing and is the single largest reduction in risk available on the free plan. 2. **Scan Your Own Code on Mobile Data, Not Office Wi-Fi.** Time the whole journey from camera to your page, on a normal phone on a normal connection. The editor is not where these tools differ - what happens between the scan and the destination is, and it is the part your customer experiences and you usually do not. 3. **Point the Code at a URL You Control.** Encode a link on your own domain and redirect from there, rather than pasting the final destination in. If the destination changes, or ME-QR's plan or policy changes, the redirect is yours to edit - and the printed pattern never has to change. 4. **Write Down Who Owns the Account.** A dynamic code works for exactly as long as somebody's login does. Record who holds the ME-QR account, which email it uses, who renews it, and what each printed code points at, before ten thousand copies exist. 5. **Decide the Ad Question Where the Code Will Live.** An advertisement costs a second of patience on a takeaway flyer and sits between a customer's hunger and your menu on a restaurant table. Judge it in place, on the surface it will be printed on, not in the abstract. 6. **Test the Printed File at Printed Size.** Print the code at its final size and scan it with two different phones before the run. Our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) checks a file when a phone is not to hand, and the [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) turns a printed width into the pixels it needs. ## What the Scan Costs the Person Scanning A free ME-QR code turns each of your customers into an advertising impression and a logged event. ME-QR's QR Scan Privacy Policy lists what a scan records: the IP address, which "may be used to derive approximate region/country", the date and time of the scan, the device type, the operating system and browser from the User-Agent string, and an approximate geolocation at country, region or city level. Raw logs are kept "up to 12 months". None of that is unusual for a dynamic QR platform, and all of it is the same data that produces the analytics you are being given for free. It is worth naming anyway, because the person generating the code and the person whose data is collected are not the same person, and only one of them agreed to anything. The advertising side is documented too, on ME-QR's own page for advertisers. It sells "Medium Banner 300 x 250 px", "Medium Banner 300 x 200 px" and "Leaderboard 728 x 90 px" placements, states that "Pricing starts at CPM — $4.00", and describes the audience as "80000+ Daily Visitors" who "actively create, scan, and work with QR codes". A CPM rate card is the clearest possible statement that the scan is inventory. ME-QR does not publish how long the advertisement is shown or whether it can be skipped, and KoloQR has not measured it, so this page does not claim a number. What ME-QR does state, in its FAQ, is that ads appear "after scanning" and that removing them is what a subscription buys. Reviews on the Trustpilot page ME-QR links from its own footer describe the ad as a redirect the scanner has to sit through; that page showed a TrustScore of 3.6 out of 5 from 578 reviews on 29 August 2026, with 80% at five stars and 14% at one. The practical test costs two minutes and settles the argument better than any review. Make one free ME-QR code and one static code pointing at the same page, print both, and scan them side by side on a phone with a weak signal. Count the seconds and count the taps; that difference, multiplied by every customer for the life of the print run, is the actual price of the free plan. ## Who You Are Contracting With, and Where a Dispute Goes ME-QR's terms name a company in the United Arab Emirates as the contracting party. The document, effective 15 June 2025, describes the company as "a limited liability company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates (Meydan Free Zone, license No. 2533229.01)", and names ME TEAM LTD - a company registered in England and Wales under number 13520483, at 7 Bell Yard, London WC2A 2JR - as an "authorized reseller" that may continue to process payments begun before that date. ME-QR's about page gives a different London address, 128 City Road, EC1V 2NX. Disputes are arbitrated in Dubai. The terms refer disputes "to and finally resolved by arbitration under the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) Rules", with one arbitrator and a seat in the DIFC. That is a normal clause for a UAE company and a meaningful one for a small business in Europe or the United States, where the practical cost of enforcing anything is the real subject. The payment terms are worth reading before the annual plan rather than after. Paid plans renew automatically for the period first selected unless cancelled from the account beforehand; fees already paid are not refunded when a plan is cancelled or downgraded; and the terms characterise every payment as a software licence fee rather than a fee for a service. None of this is a warning about ME-QR in particular. It is the ordinary shape of a hosted platform's terms, and the reason to read it is that a dynamic code makes those terms load-bearing for something physical you have already paid a printer for. ## When ME-QR's Free Plan Is the Right Answer ME-QR's free plan is the right answer when the destination will change, the scan counts are worth having, and an advertisement in front of your page costs you nothing you care about. That covers a great deal of real work: internal codes, campaign links, event pages, seasonal menus, anything where being able to repoint the code after printing is worth more than the seconds a scanner spends on an ad. - **The destination will change and the print will not.** This is the case a static generator genuinely cannot serve, and ME-QR serves it for nothing. Register the code so the 365-day rule cannot reach it. - **You want scan numbers without a subscription.** A year of analytics history on unlimited scans, free, is a better deal than most paid entry tiers, and the data is real. - **The code is internal or short-lived.** A code on a warehouse shelf label or a two-week campaign poster has no customer to lose to an interstitial. - **A single flagship code needs to be clean.** Lite removes the advertisement from one code in total, which is oddly well suited to one important code and useless for a fleet of them. - **The code goes in front of a paying customer, permanently.** A restaurant table, a product label, a shop window or a business card is where the ad stops being free. Either budget for Premium at $15.99 a month, or use a static code and give up the tracking. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, sits on the other side of that last line. It makes static codes only: the destination is encoded in the pattern, nothing sits between the scan and your page, no account is needed and no advertisement is ever shown, at any tier. It also exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print, changes the outer shape of the symbol rather than only the modules inside it, and is open source, so claims about it can be checked by reading the code. It replaces nothing else about ME-QR. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no dashboard, no bulk creation and no API, and it cannot repoint a printed code - if any of that is the requirement, ME-QR's free tier is a better answer than anything KoloQR offers, and the [side-by-side comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-me-qr) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. There is also a middle path that costs nothing and almost nobody takes: encode a URL on a domain you control with a static code, and run the redirect yourself. The printed pattern is permanent and free, the destination stays editable forever, and your web analytics count the visits. It is the only arrangement on this page that no pricing change, ad policy or acquisition can affect - and it is the same conclusion we reached about [QRCode Monkey's free tier](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free), from the opposite direction. ## FAQ ### Is ME-QR Free, or Is There a Catch? ME-QR is free, and the catch is disclosed rather than hidden. A code can be designed and downloaded without registering, and there is no scan limit and no expiry - but ME-QR's own homepage states that "after a scan, we will show advertisements (Google Ads)". The free plan's cost is paid by the person scanning your code, not by you. ### How Do I Remove the Ads From an ME-QR Code? Only by subscribing. ME-QR's Lite plan removes the advertisement from "1 ads-free QR code (in total)", and Premium makes all codes ad-free. KoloQR read the prices from ME-QR's own pricing endpoint on 29 August 2026: Lite was $9.99 a month or $72.99 a year, Premium $15.99 a month or $103.99 a year. There is no free way to remove the ad. ### Can ME-QR Make a Static QR Code for Free? No. ME-QR's generator shows a "Static QR Code" switch with the note "You can activate “Static QR Code” on Premium Plan", so every free code is dynamic and routes through me-qr.com. That routing is what makes the scan tracking and the advertisement possible. A free static code has to come from a static generator instead. ### Do ME-QR QR Codes Expire? Not on a timer, but an unused one can be deleted. ME-QR states that its codes "do not have a time limit" and have no scan limit. Its FAQ also states that a code created without registering "will be blocked and removed unless scanned within 365 days", with a month's block before permanent deletion. Registering earns a month's warning first. ### What Happens to My ME-QR Codes if I Stop Paying? The codes keep working and the ads come back. ME-QR answers this directly in its FAQ: "No, all your codes will work, just ads will be shown again." A cancelled plan reverts to the free tier rather than breaking the code. ME-QR's terms also state that fees already paid are not refunded when a plan is cancelled or downgraded. ### Does ME-QR Track the People Who Scan My Code? Yes, and it publishes what it records. ME-QR's QR Scan Privacy Policy lists the IP address, the date and time of the scan, the device type, the operating system and browser from the User-Agent, and an approximate country, region or city derived from the IP. Raw logs are kept "up to 12 months". That data is what produces the free analytics. ### Can I Use ME-QR Without Creating an Account? Yes for creating and downloading, no for anything afterwards. The generator's download panel offers PNG, SVG, PDF, EPS and JPG with no sign-in step, and ME-QR's FAQ refers to codes "created without registering". Editing the destination requires an account - "If you want to change the link in your QR you need to sign up on our site" - and so does seeing statistics, deleting a code, or getting a warning before an unused code is removed. ### Is ME-QR's Free Plan Good Enough for a Restaurant Menu? It depends on whether an advertisement between a seated customer and your menu is acceptable. ME-QR's free dynamic code is excellent for a menu that changes often, since the link can be repointed without reprinting. If the ad is not acceptable, the choices are Premium at $15.99 a month or a static code with no tracking and no ad. ### Does ME-QR Have a Free API? Not really. ME-QR's API page offers free access as "3 API keys · Valid for 3 Days" against Premium's "Unlimited API keys · No Expiration", and its pricing page lists API integration as a Premium feature. Usage is quoted at $0.005 per request up to 100,000 requests and $0.0025 above that, with a rate limit of about one request a second on every plan. ### Who Owns ME-QR? ME-QR's terms, effective 15 June 2025, name the contracting party as a limited liability company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates, at Meydan Free Zone under licence No. 2533229.01. They also name ME TEAM LTD, registered in England and Wales under number 13520483, as an authorised reseller for payments begun before that date. Disputes are arbitrated in Dubai under DIAC rules. --- # QRFY Is Free for Static Codes, and Most of Its Types Are Not Static URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qrfy-free Yes - QRFY's static codes are free and never expire, but downloading needs an account and only 7 of its 25 QR types are static. Checked 31 August 2026. Industry · 2026-08-31 QRFY's own FAQ answers the question in one line: "You can create static QR codes for free and they never expire. For Dynamic QR codes, we offer a 7-day free trial with no credit card required." Both halves are true, and both halves need a footnote. KoloQR read the pricing page, the FAQ, the help centre and the builder's own front-end code on 31 August 2026: of the 25 QR types QRFY offers, 7 are static, the Website tile is not one of them, and no file leaves the site without an account. This page is what free covers, where it stops, and what the paid side costs when you get there. ## Key Points - QRFY states that static codes are free with no time limit. Its homepage FAQ, under the heading "Are QR codes free?", reads: "You can create static QR codes for free and they never expire. For Dynamic QR codes, we offer a 7-day free trial with no credit card required." - Downloading needs an account, free or not. The line QRFY prints at the end of the builder is unambiguous: "In order to download, manage and analyze your QR codes it is necessary to create an account. It will not take more than 30 seconds." - Counted by KoloQR on 31 August 2026 in QRFY's own front-end code: of the 25 QR types the builder offers, 7 are static - plain text, Wi-Fi, vCard, email, WhatsApp, SMS and a separate static URL type - and 18 are dynamic, including the Website tile most people start from. - There is no monthly plan. Read off qrfy.com/pricing on 31 August 2026: the €19 a month headline is twelve months billed €228 up front, six months is €29 a month billed €174, and the shortest commitment, three months, is €39 a month billed €117. VAT is not included in any of them. - A dynamic code made during the trial does not survive the trial. QRFY's help centre: "Any Dynamic QR Codes that you created during the trial period will be deactivated and linked to a service page." ## What Is QRFY? QRFY is an online QR code generator at qrfy.com, run by The Internet Company Group S.L, a Spanish company named in the site's footer. It makes static codes for free and sells dynamic codes, scan statistics and editing on a subscription after a seven-day trial. In practice it is a builder in the browser: pick one of 25 QR types, fill in the content, style the code, then create an account to download it. Whether that costs anything depends on which type you picked, which is what the rest of this page covers. ## Is QRFY Free? The Short Answer Yes, for static QR codes, and only after you create an account. QRFY's static codes cost nothing, carry no expiry date and are not metered by scans, which its own FAQ states plainly. Its dynamic codes are a paid product with a seven-day trial in front of them, and the trial ends by switching the codes off rather than by charging you. The claim worth quoting exactly is the one on QRFY's homepage, because it is the answer to most of the question: "You can create static QR codes for free and they never expire. For Dynamic QR codes, we offer a 7-day free trial with no credit card required." The FAQ page repeats the second half in its own words - "7 days, in which you can try our QR code generator" - and the pricing page repeats it a third time above the plans. The first half of that promise does not depend on trusting QRFY, and the second half depends on nothing else. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. Once such a file is downloaded, QRFY could close tomorrow and the code would keep resolving, because the phone reads the destination out of the pattern rather than asking a server for it. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a link to the provider's server, which forwards each scan to wherever the destination currently points. That is the feature people pay for, and it is also the dependency: the code works for exactly as long as the account behind it does, which is the subject of the note on [what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## Only Seven of QRFY's Twenty-Five QR Types Are Static The sentence "static QR codes are free" is doing more work than it looks, because most of QRFY's catalogue is not static. KoloQR counted the types in QRFY's own front-end code on 31 August 2026, where every type in the builder carries a flag saying which kind it is: 7 of 25 are static and 18 are dynamic. The consequence is specific rather than general. A reader who arrives wanting a free QR code for a website, a PDF menu or a set of product images is choosing a dynamic type, is therefore inside the seven-day trial, and will find the code deactivated afterwards. The free ones are the payload types that were never worth redirecting in the first place. | Kind | How many | Which types | | --- | --- | --- | | Static - free, no expiry | 7 | Text, Wi-Fi, vCard, email, WhatsApp, SMS, static URL | | Dynamic - trial then subscription | 18 | Website, PDF, product, vCard Plus, images, video, link list, business, menu, coupon, MP3, app, landing, event, feedback, playlist, barcode, social | Counted by KoloQR on 31 August 2026 from the type table in QRFY's own front-end bundle, in which each entry is marked static or not. QRFY offers a static URL type as well as the dynamic Website one, and they sit in different places in the picker. One detail is worth knowing before you go looking: the static URL type exists, so a plain link can be encoded for free, but it is not the tile the homepage pushes you towards. If a free permanent link code is what you came for, that is the entry to find - and the [difference between the two kinds](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) is the difference between owning a file and renting a redirect. Wi-Fi and vCard being static is a small point in QRFY's favour and worth saying, since those are the two types most often sold as dynamic elsewhere. It also means the payload is inside the pattern: a Wi-Fi code carries the network password in plain text, which is worth knowing before it goes on a poster by the door. ## Nothing Downloads Without an Account QRFY builds the code before it asks for anything, and asks at the download. The line under the finished preview reads: "In order to download, manage and analyze your QR codes it is necessary to create an account. It will not take more than 30 seconds." That is an account rather than a payment, and for a static code the account is where it ends. The behaviour matches the copy. QRFY renders the file server-side and hands it back through its own API, and the endpoint the download button calls answered an unauthenticated request from KoloQR on 31 August 2026 with HTTP 401 and the message "Empty credentials." There is no path in the site that produces a file for someone who has not signed in. This is a real difference from the free static generators that hand over a file to an anonymous visitor, and it is the honest reason to name it: an account means an email address, a password and a record on QRFY's servers of every code you have made. [QRCode Monkey](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free) asks for none of that, and neither does [the KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/), which draws the code in your browser. It also decides what happens to the code later. Because your codes live in a QRFY account, the site can and does describe what becomes of them: "Your QR codes won't go anywhere, but you won't be able to access them or the collected data until you update your plan. Your QR codes will disappear only if you delete your QRFY account." For a static code none of that reaches the printed pattern. The file on your disk is finished, the destination is in the modules, and the account is only where the copy lives. For a dynamic code the account is the code. ## What €19 a Month Actually Costs QRFY's headline price is €19 a month and its smallest possible purchase is €117, because it does not sell a month. All three plans carry the same features and differ only in how long you buy at once, which QRFY states in its FAQ: "Today at QRFY we offer 3 plans that give you access to all the tools on our platform. The difference is in the duration time." | Plan | Displayed rate | Actually billed | Up front | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 12 months | €19 / month | €228 annually | €228 | | 6 months | €29 / month | €174 every semester | €174 | | 3 months | €39 / month | €117 every quarter | €117 | Read off qrfy.com/pricing by KoloQR on 31 August 2026, in euros, with the page's own note that Value Added Tax is not included in the amounts. Prices are shown in the currency of your region, so a reader elsewhere will see a different symbol against the same plan. The €19 rate is therefore a prepaid year rather than a monthly price, and the page says as much in the small line under it - "Billed €228 annually" - beside a banner reading "Best Value: Save 51% · €240 off/year". The 51% is measured against the quarterly rate, which is the most expensive way to buy the same thing. What that money buys is worth stating flatly, because it is the same on every plan: unlimited dynamic codes, unlimited scans, unlimited users, bulk creation, a custom domain, pixel integrations and full analytics. QRFY does not meter the product; it meters the calendar. For a business that needs editable destinations at all, that is a simpler shape than a per-code cap, and it is the case for buying it - the [roundup of what seven platforms charged](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives) puts the figure in context. Two smaller terms are worth knowing before the card goes in. Renewal is automatic - "Unless the subscription is canceled - at the latest - one day before the renewal date, your subscription will renew automatically" - and there is a refund window: "we offer a 14-day refund policy for your first subscription payment, provided the service hasn't been extensively used." ## What Happens to a Trial Code on Day Eight A QRFY trial ends by switching your dynamic codes off, not by charging you. Its help centre is direct about it: "Any Dynamic QR Codes that you created during the trial period will be deactivated and linked to a service page. If you wish to continue using these codes beyond the free trial, you will need to upgrade your account." Nothing is charged silently. "At QRFY, we believe in giving you full control over your subscription. That's why we do not automatically switch your account to a paid plan once the free trial period ends," the help centre says, and the FAQ adds that cancelling is not something you have to remember: "No. The free trial period automatically ends after 7 days. Only payment plans can be cancelled." The warning arrives twice, by email. "The first email will be sent 48 hours before the trial period ends, to let you know that the codes will deactivate soon. The second email will be sent once the codes have been deactivated." That second email is the one that matters, because by then anything printed is pointing at a service page rather than at your site. Your work is kept for a while after that. QRFY's FAQ: "Your QR codes will be stored for three months after the trial period has ended. During this period you will not be able to access them until you contract one of our plans." Commercial use during the trial is allowed - asked whether trial codes can be used commercially, QRFY answers "Yes." The practical rule follows from the mechanism rather than from the policy: never print a trial dynamic code. A seven-day trial and a print run have incompatible timescales, and the failure is silent from your side - the code still scans, and it simply arrives somewhere else. If something must be printed this week, use one of the static types, or a redirect on a domain you control. 1. **Pick a Static Type, Not the Website Tile.** The Website tile builds a dynamic code on the trial clock. For a plain link, choose QRFY's static URL type instead; for anything else, the free types are text, Wi-Fi, vCard, email, WhatsApp and SMS. 2. **Encode a URL You Control.** If the destination might ever change, point the static code at a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. The printed pattern then never has to change, and the redirect belongs to you rather than to a vendor. 3. **Create the Account Before Designing Anything.** Nothing downloads without one, so it costs less to do first than to discover at the end of a long styling session. No card is required for it. 4. **Download the SVG.** QRFY offers png, jpeg, eps and svg. Take the SVG for anything that will be printed or enlarged, and avoid JPEG entirely - its compression softens the module edges a scanner reads. 5. **Scan the File at Its Printed Size.** Print or display it at the size it will really appear and scan it with two different phones, remembering QRFY's own floor of 3 x 3 cm for a static code. Our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) is the check to run when a phone is not to hand. ## The Help Centre Still Describes a Free Plan That Is Not on the Pricing Page QRFY's help centre carries an article titled "What is the Free Plan?", filed under Plan Information and dated February 2023, which reads: "Our Free Plan is an ideal option for those who want to try out our app and explore its features without committing to payment. With this plan, you can enjoy all the available options except for API and Bulk creation." No such plan appears anywhere on qrfy.com today. The pricing page offers three durations and a seven-day trial; the FAQ describes three plans and a trial; the trial articles in the same help centre describe deactivation rather than a free tier. The most likely reading is an old article that outlived the plan it documented, which is ordinary and worth naming rather than treating as a promise. Documentation drifts behind software everywhere, and the useful habit is the same on every site: believe the pricing page and the checkout, not the knowledge base. The same check found the opposite kind of drift at QRCode Monkey, where [the files carried more than the documentation claimed](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free) in one format and less in another. If a genuine free tier matters more than any particular tool, the shape to look for is a generator that hands over a file with no relationship attached, which is what the [2026 roundup of free QR code generators](https://koloqr.com/blog/best-free-qr-code-generators-2026) sorts by. ## QRFY's Own Print Advice, and Where It Is Worth Following QRFY publishes a size rule that is stricter than most and correct in its reasoning: "in general, dynamic QR codes should not be less than 2 x 2 cm and static QR codes should not be less than 3 x 3 cm". The gap between the two numbers is the point - a dynamic code encodes a short link, a static one encodes the whole payload, and more data means more modules in the same square. That is the single most useful thing on QRFY's site for someone about to print, and it generalises past QRFY: the minimum size of a code is a function of how much you put in it, which is what the guide on [the minimum size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) works through, and what our [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) turns into a number for your data and scanning distance. One QRFY limitation is stated as a feature and deserves to be read as a limitation: the logo size is fixed. "Can I change the size of my QR logo? No. To avoid errors in the process of reading the QR code, this option is not available. But don't worry, we use a standard size so that the logo is easily readable and doesn't compromise the scan." A conservative default is a defensible choice, and it does remove the most common way people break their own codes - covering too much of the symbol and spending the whole [error correction](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) budget before the print shop has had its share. Downloads come in four formats, which QRFY lists in its FAQ as png, jpeg, eps and svg. The SVG and the EPS are the ones to send a printer; JPEG is the one to avoid for a QR code, because its compression softens exactly the hard black-and-white edges a scanner is looking for. The [SVG versus PNG guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers why the vector file is the one that survives being enlarged. ## When QRFY's Free Version Is the Right Answer QRFY's free side is the right tool when the payload is one of its seven static types, you do not mind holding an account, and nothing has to be measured. That covers Wi-Fi codes on a door, a contact code on a card, an SMS or WhatsApp shortcut on a counter sign, and a plain link that will not move. - **The payload is Wi-Fi, a contact or a fixed link.** Those are static at QRFY, they are free, and the file you download is yours whatever happens to the company. - **Something is going to print this month.** Use a static type or your own redirect. A trial dynamic code deactivates on day eight and nothing on the printed sheet will say so. - **You want the destination to change later.** That is the paid product, and the cheapest way in is €117 for three months, not €19 for one. - **You need scan counts.** Also the paid product. QRFY's static codes are not tracked, which is a privacy feature and an analytics gap depending on which you came for. - **You would rather not create an account at all.** QRFY cannot help; nothing downloads without one. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, overlaps with QRFY only on the free half - static codes, no expiry, SVG and PNG export - and differs in two ways that matter to this question. It needs no account, because the code is drawn in your browser rather than on a server, and it changes the outline of the symbol rather than only the modules inside it. It is also open source, so what this article had to establish by reading a bundle can be answered by reading the code. It replaces nothing on QRFY's paid side. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no hosted landing pages, no bulk CSV import and no team accounts, and QRFY's 25 content types are a genuinely larger catalogue than a static generator will ever have. If an editable destination or a menu that lives on someone else's server is the requirement, QRFY is the better answer, and the [side-by-side comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrfy) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. ## FAQ ### Is QRFY Free to Use, or Is There a Catch? QRFY is free for static QR codes, which its FAQ says "never expire", and free to try for seven days on dynamic ones. The catch is a boundary rather than a bill: you need an account to download anything, most of QRFY's 25 QR types are dynamic rather than static, and a dynamic code made in the trial is deactivated when the trial ends. ### Do I Need an Account to Download a QR Code From QRFY? Yes. QRFY builds the code first and then asks: "In order to download, manage and analyze your QR codes it is necessary to create an account." KoloQR checked the endpoint the download button calls on 31 August 2026 and an unauthenticated request returned HTTP 401 "Empty credentials." An account is required even for a free static code, though no payment is. ### Which QRFY QR Codes Are Free Forever? The static ones. Counted in QRFY's own front-end code on 31 August 2026, seven of its twenty-five types are static: plain text, Wi-Fi, vCard, email, WhatsApp, SMS and a static URL type. Those encode the payload inside the pattern, so they keep working with no subscription. The other eighteen, including the Website tile, are dynamic. ### What Happens to My QRFY QR Codes When the Free Trial Ends? Dynamic codes stop working. QRFY's help centre: "Any Dynamic QR Codes that you created during the trial period will be deactivated and linked to a service page." You are not charged automatically, and the codes are stored for three months in case you subscribe. Static codes you downloaded are unaffected, because they never depended on the account. ### How Much Does QRFY Cost After the Trial? Read off the pricing page on 31 August 2026, in euros and before VAT: twelve months at €19 a month billed €228 up front, six months at €29 a month billed €174, three months at €39 a month billed €117. There is no monthly option, so €117 is the smallest purchase. Every plan carries the same features and differs only in duration. ### Does QRFY Put a Watermark on Free QR Codes? No. Nothing on QRFY's site describes a watermark, a logo overlay or an advertisement on scan, and the free static codes are ordinary codes. That is worth contrasting with free tiers that monetise the scan instead of the download - [ME-QR shows an advertisement to the person scanning](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-me-qr-free), and QR TIGER shows one on codes made under its free plan. ### Can I Edit a QRFY QR Code After Printing It? Only if it is dynamic, and only while the subscription runs. QRFY's FAQ: "The biggest difference between the two is that the dynamic QR code can be edited even after being printed, and the static one cannot." A static code cannot be converted later either - asked whether one can become the other, QRFY answers "No, due to the technical differences between each of the codes." ### Who Is Behind QRFY? The site's footer names The Internet Company Group S.L, a Spanish company, and support runs through support.qrfy.com, where the help centre articles are published under the name Qrfy. Nothing on the site names a parent company, so any claim about who ultimately owns the tool is a claim without a source behind it. ### How Small Can a QRFY QR Code Be Printed? QRFY's own answer is stricter than most: "dynamic QR codes should not be less than 2 x 2 cm and static QR codes should not be less than 3 x 3 cm". The reasoning is right - a static code holds the whole payload, so it needs more modules in the same square. Test the printed piece at its real size rather than trusting any single number. --- # QR Tiger Is Free Twice Over, and Only One of Them Is Really Free URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-tiger-free Yes - QR Tiger's static codes are unlimited and never expire. Its three free dynamic codes stop at 500 scans each and show an ad to whoever scans them. Industry · 2026-08-31 QR Tiger's free plan gives you unlimited static QR codes that its own FAQ says "never expire", and three dynamic codes with a 500-scan ceiling each. The two halves are not the same offer. A static code is a file you own; a free dynamic code is a redirect through QR Tiger that shows an advertisement to the person scanning before it forwards them, which the site states plainly and removes on any paid plan. KoloQR read the pricing page, the FAQ and the free generator page on 31 August 2026 and wrote down what each half costs, in money and in everything else. ## Key Points - QR Tiger's static codes are free and unmetered, by its own account: "There is no limit to the number of free static QR codes you can create. The best part is that these QR codes never expire." - The free plan's dynamic side is capped twice. The pricing page lists "3 dynamic QR codes" and "500 scans per dynamic QR code" - and, in the same list of features, "With QR TIGER logo popup". - The popup is an advertisement shown to whoever scans your code: "QR TIGER ads display when users scan QR codes generated from the free trial version, but the ad will disappear if you purchase any of our subscription plans." - Paying does not remove all the branding. QR Tiger states that Regular and Advanced accounts still carry a "Powered by QR TIGER" footer on some hosted page types, and that removing it requires the Premium plan's white-label feature. - Read off qrcode-tiger.com/payment on 31 August 2026, in the page's monthly view: Regular US$7 a month for 12 dynamic codes, Advanced US$16 for 200, Premium US$37 for 600. Static codes stay unlimited and free on every tier, including none. ## Is QR Tiger Free? The Short Answer Yes for static QR codes, with no limit and no expiry, and conditionally for dynamic ones. QR Tiger's free plan includes unlimited static codes, three dynamic codes, 500 scans per dynamic code, basic analytics and an advertisement on every scan of those dynamic codes. Nothing on the static side is metered, and nothing on it is advertised. The static promise is worth quoting because it is the part that does not depend on QR Tiger: "There is no limit to the number of free static QR codes you can create. The best part is that these QR codes never expire. Feel free to generate as many static QR codes as you need, knowing that they will remain functional." That promise is structural rather than generous. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. Once the file is downloaded, QR Tiger could close tomorrow and every static code it ever produced would keep resolving, because the phone reads the destination out of the pattern rather than asking a server for it. The dynamic promise is the opposite kind of thing. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a link to the provider's server, which forwards each scan to wherever the destination currently points. Its lifetime is the lifetime of the account behind it, its scan ceiling is a setting on that account, and what the scanner sees on the way through is a decision QR Tiger makes rather than one you make. ## What the Free Plan Contains, Line by Line QR Tiger publishes the free tier as a column on its pricing page rather than burying it, and the column is short enough to quote in full. Its own description of the tier: "Three dynamic QR codes with limited scans - ideal for simple personal projects, one-off events, or trying out the platform." | Free plan feature | As listed | What it means in practice | | --- | --- | --- | | Static QR codes | Unlimited static QR codes | Free forever, no account dependency once downloaded | | Dynamic QR codes | 3 dynamic QR codes | Three live redirects at a time, editable while the account exists | | Scans | 500 scans per dynamic QR code | The code stops counting - and the plan stops covering it - past that | | Analytics | Basic scan analytics | Counts rather than the location, device and time breakdowns on paid tiers | | Branding | With QR TIGER logo popup | An advertisement interstitial shown to the person scanning | | Card | No credit card required. Upgrade any time | Signup is an email address, not a payment method | The middle column is quoted from the free plan's feature list on qrcode-tiger.com/payment, read by KoloQR on 31 August 2026. The right-hand column is our reading of it. Two things are missing from that list rather than present in it, and both appear one tier up: "Ads-free" and "High-resolution images" are listed from the Regular plan onwards. The second matters more than it sounds for anything going to print, and it has a free workaround covered below. ## Someone Pays for a Free Dynamic Code, and It Is Whoever Scans It A free QR Tiger dynamic code shows an advertisement to the person scanning before it forwards them. QR Tiger says so in the answer to a question phrased as a complaint: "How to get rid of the ad when QR code is scanned before redirecting to the destination URL? QR TIGER ads display when users scan QR codes generated from the free trial version, but the ad will disappear if you purchase any of our subscription plans." The cost of that is not paid by you, which is exactly why it is worth naming. A customer at a table scans a menu code and meets an interstitial for a QR code platform before reaching the menu; a guest at an event meets one before the schedule. It costs nothing on the invoice and something on the two seconds where a scan either works or is abandoned. Paying removes the interstitial but not all of the branding. QR Tiger: "An account with our regular or advanced plan will mention our brand for some pages on our website. It will show as a footer in this form: 'Powered by QR TIGER.' This shows up on certain types of QR codes like vCard and Link in Bio QR code for social media. To remove the logo pop-up, you will need to use our premium plan, which will give you access to our white label feature." So the branding ladder has three rungs: an ad on scan for free, a footer credit on the hosted pages for US$7 or US$16 a month, and no branding at US$37 a month. That is an ordinary way to run a freemium platform and an unusual one to document this openly, and both halves of that sentence are meant. It is also the same business model as [ME-QR's free tier](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-me-qr-free), which monetises the scan rather than the download, and the opposite of [QRCode Monkey's](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free), which sells a second product and leaves the free generator alone. [QRFY](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qrfy-free) is a fourth shape again: free for its static types, and a seven-day trial for everything else. [Unitag's free generator](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) is a fifth: a free download whose code is switched off after 100 scans. Which of them suits you depends entirely on whether anyone but you ever sees the code. ## 500 Scans Is a Smaller Number Than It Looks The free plan's 500-scan ceiling per dynamic code is generous for a personal project and short for anything public. Divided across a month it is about 16 scans a day; across a two-day conference it is 250 a day; on a restaurant table tent it is a few weeks of ordinary service at one scan per party. None of those divisions is a claim about your traffic - they are arithmetic on QR Tiger's published number, and the useful move is to do the division with your own divisor before printing anything. The question is not whether 500 is a lot but whether the thing you are about to print will be scanned more than 500 times in its life. What happens at the ceiling is the part to plan for. QR Tiger meters free dynamic codes by scans and unmetered scanning is a paid feature - its FAQ says of the paid tiers that "there is no scan limit for dynamic QR codes generated under any paid QR TIGER plans" and that dynamic codes have "unlimited scans with a valid subscription". A printed free code that runs out of scans cannot be topped up by reprinting, because the pattern is not the problem. The way out of that trap costs nothing and almost nobody takes it: encode a URL on a domain you control and do the redirecting yourself. The printed code is static, permanent, unmetered and free, and the destination stays editable forever because the redirect is yours rather than a vendor's. It is the only arrangement on this page that no pricing change and no acquisition can affect. ## The Static Half Is the Genuinely Free Half QR Tiger's free static generator is one of the more capable ones, and it is the half of the free plan with no strings attached. The company says it offers "up to 14 distinct QR code solutions for free", listing them as URL, Wi-Fi, Google Form, Event, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter (X), Location, Email, Text and SMS. Styling is included rather than withheld: colours, module patterns, eye shapes, frames and a logo are all available on free static codes, which QR Tiger states in as many words - "You have complete control over the pattern, eyes, and colors and the addition of your brand or picture! It's possible to do it even if the static QR Code is free!" The export note is the one to act on. QR Tiger says of the free generator: "It allows you to download your QR code as PNG or SVG in static mode." Take the SVG. It sidesteps the "High-resolution images" feature listed on the paid tiers entirely, because a vector file has no resolution to be low - it is coordinates and curves, and it enlarges to a shop window without softening a single module edge. The [SVG versus PNG guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) is the longer version of that argument. 1. **Choose Static Unless You Genuinely Need to Edit Later.** A static code has no scan ceiling, no advertisement, no account dependency and no monthly line item. Everything the free plan meters is on the dynamic side. 2. **Point It at a URL You Control.** If the destination might change, encode a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. That buys the editability of a dynamic code without the platform, the cap or the interstitial. 3. **Download the SVG, Not the PNG.** The free tier does not include the high-resolution raster export, and it does not need to. The SVG carries the same design as vector paths and prints at any size. 4. **Keep the Logo Well Under the Maximum.** Error correction level H can recover roughly 30% of a damaged symbol, and printing, folding and poor light spend from the same allowance before your logo does. Our [error correction guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-error-correction) sets out what each level costs in capacity. 5. **Scan the Final File at Its Printed Size.** Print or display it at the size it will really appear and scan it with two different phones. That single check catches more failures than any feature comparison, and our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) covers the case where no phone is to hand. ## What the Paid Plans Cost, and What Stops When They Stop QR Tiger's paid tiers are priced per dynamic code rather than per scan, and the ladder is steep at the bottom and shallow at the top. The figures below are the monthly view of the pricing page as read on 31 August 2026; the page also offers a yearly switch, and yearly rates are the ones to check before subscribing. | Plan | Displayed price | Dynamic codes | Notable additions | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Free | 3, at 500 scans each | Unlimited static codes; ad on scan | | Regular | US$7 / month | 12, unlimited scans | Ads-free, high-resolution images, 500 API requests | | Advanced | US$16 / month | 200, unlimited scans | Bulk codes up to 3,000 per batch, 3,000 API requests, 2 users | | Premium | US$37 / month | 600, unlimited scans | White label on one domain, 20 MB uploads, 10,000 API requests | Read off qrcode-tiger.com/payment by KoloQR on 31 August 2026 in the page's monthly view. QR Tiger's FAQ adds a Professional plan supporting up to 1,200 dynamic codes above these. What stops when a subscription stops is the dynamic codes, not the static ones. QR Tiger states it directly: dynamic codes have "unlimited scans with a valid subscription. If your plan expires, it will stop working." The data outlives the redirect for a while - "if your plan expires, we will retain your data for a maximum period of 1 year" - but a printed code pointing at a lapsed account is a dead code in the meantime. That asymmetry is the whole reason to decide static or dynamic before designing anything rather than after. A static code has no renewal date; a dynamic one turns a print run into a subscription with a physical dependency, which is what the note on [what a dynamic QR code subscription actually buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription) works through, and what the [roundup of what seven platforms charge](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives) prices. ## When QR Tiger's Free Version Is the Right Answer QR Tiger's free plan is the right tool when you want a well-styled static code from a mature platform, you will download the SVG, and no stranger has to sit through an advertisement to reach your content. That covers most Wi-Fi codes, most business cards, most product labels and a good share of event signage. - **The code is static and going to print.** Free, unlimited, unexpiring, and the SVG export is all a printer needs. - **The code is dynamic and public.** Reconsider. Free dynamic codes show your customers an advertisement and stop at 500 scans each; a paid plan starts at US$7 a month and removes the first problem. - **You are testing a platform before committing.** Three dynamic codes with real analytics is a genuine trial, and QR Tiger asks for no card to start one. - **You need the destination to change later without paying anyone.** Encode a redirect on your own domain in a static code. It is the free version of a dynamic code for everything except the analytics. - **You want the whole code to be a shape other than a square.** QR Tiger styles the modules, eyes and frame but keeps the square outline, which is the one design job it does not do. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, overlaps with QR Tiger's free static half almost exactly - unlimited static codes, no expiry, no watermark, SVG export - and differs on that last rule, by changing the outline of the symbol rather than only the modules inside it. It needs no account, shows nobody an advertisement, and is open source, so its behaviour can be read rather than measured. It replaces nothing on QR Tiger's paid side. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no bulk generation, no API and no team accounts, and QR Tiger is a larger and older platform with an app, integrations and a support desk behind it. If editable destinations and campaign reporting are the requirement, QR Tiger is the better answer, and the [side-by-side comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrtiger) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. ## FAQ ### Is QR Tiger Really Free, or Is There a Catch? Static QR codes are genuinely free, unlimited and permanent on QR Tiger, with styling and SVG export included. The catch sits on the dynamic side of the same free plan: three codes, 500 scans each, and an advertisement shown to whoever scans them, which QR Tiger removes on any paid plan starting at US$7 a month. ### How Do I Remove the QR Tiger Ad When Someone Scans My Code? Two ways. QR Tiger's own answer is to subscribe: "QR TIGER ads display when users scan QR codes generated from the free trial version, but the ad will disappear if you purchase any of our subscription plans." The free way is to use a static code instead, which forwards nobody through QR Tiger's servers and so cannot show anything. ### What Happens When a Free QR Tiger Code Hits 500 Scans? The free plan covers 500 scans per dynamic code, and unmetered scanning is a paid feature - QR Tiger says dynamic codes have unlimited scans "with a valid subscription". A printed code cannot be fixed by reprinting, because the ceiling is on the account rather than the pattern. Static codes have no scan limit at all. ### Do QR Tiger QR Codes Expire? Static ones do not: "There is no limit to the number of free static QR codes you can create. The best part is that these QR codes never expire." Dynamic ones depend on the subscription - "If your plan expires, it will stop working" - though QR Tiger says it retains account data for up to a year, so a lapsed plan can be revived. ### How Many Free QR Codes Can I Make With QR Tiger? Unlimited static codes and three dynamic ones. QR Tiger describes fourteen free static solutions, including URL, Wi-Fi, Google Form, Event, Location, Email, Text, SMS and the main social networks. The three dynamic codes are the ones subject to the 500-scan ceiling and the advertisement. ### Can I Download a High-Resolution QR Code on QR Tiger's Free Plan? The "High-resolution images" feature is listed from the Regular plan upwards, but the free static generator offers SVG, and QR Tiger says so: "It allows you to download your QR code as PNG or SVG in static mode." A vector file has no resolution ceiling, so for print the free tier is not actually limited - take the SVG rather than the PNG. ### Is QR Tiger Safe to Use for Commercial Work? Nothing on QR Tiger's site restricts commercial use of the codes, and its static codes carry no dependency on the company once downloaded. The commercial judgement to make is about the free dynamic tier rather than legality: an advertisement between your customer and your content is a business decision, not a licensing one. ### Does QR Tiger Have a Free Trial of the Paid Plans? The free plan is the trial. QR Tiger's FAQ: "You can sign up for our Free version any time, where you can generate three free dynamic QRs with a 500 scan limit each," and the pricing page adds "No credit card required. Upgrade any time." There is no separate time-limited trial to forget to cancel. ### Who Runs QR Tiger? The site's footer names QR TIGER INCORPORATED LIMITED and states that "'QR Code' is a trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED", the same trademark note every generator should carry. QR Tiger says it has been running since 2018 and is used by 850,000 brands, which is its own figure rather than an independently verified one. --- # Unitag's Free QR Codes Stop Working After 100 Scans URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free Unitag's free QR generator needs no account and downloads instantly. Unitag's own FAQ says those codes are deactivated after 100 scans. Read August 2026. Industry · 2026-08-28 Unitag's public generator is genuinely free to use, needs no account and downloads a styled PNG on the spot. What it does not download is a permanent code. Unitag's own FAQ states it in one sentence: "If a non-HD QR Code is created via our public generator, it is limited to 100 scans. Afterwards, they are automatically deactivated." KoloQR read the generator page, the FAQ and both pricing pages on 31 August 2026. This is what the free tier really gives you, why a free code can be switched off at all, and what the alternative costs. ## Key Points - Unitag's free codes are metered by scans, not by time. Its FAQ: "If a non-HD QR Code is created via our public generator, it is limited to 100 scans. Afterwards, they are automatically deactivated." - The generator page states the same limit in its own FAQ block - "Free QR codes created through the generator will stop working after being scanned a hundred times" - beneath a banner that reads "Free instant download · Easy customisation · Lifetime validity". - A code that can be deactivated is a code that redirects. Unitag reserves the word static for its console: "static QR codes are only available from our console... They do not use any redirection on our platform and hence are completely independent of our services once downloaded." - The free file is small. "With our free generator, you can download the QR Code in PNG at a size of 300 pixels" - which is 2.54 cm at 300 dpi, below the 3 cm minimum print size Unitag itself recommends on the same page. - Read off unitag.io/pricing/qr-plans on 31 August 2026: Silver £19, Gold £49 and Platinum £99 a month excluding VAT, with Diamond starting at £4,870 a year. Vector exports - PDF and SVG - start at Silver. ## Is Unitag Free? The Short Answer Unitag's public QR code generator is free to use and free to download from, with no account and no watermark, and the code it gives you stops working after 100 scans. Both halves of that sentence come from Unitag's own site, and the second one is the half most people find out about later. The generator page advertises the offer in three words each: "Free instant download", "Easy customisation", "Lifetime validity". The first two are accurate. The third is answered in the FAQ directly below it: "Free QR codes created through the generator will stop working after being scanned a hundred times. HD QR codes are valid forever, no matter how many times they are scanned, and will continue to function indefinitely." So lifetime validity is a property of the paid HD download, not of the free one, and the two sit within a screen of each other on the same page. Nothing here is hidden - Unitag publishes the limit in at least two places - but the reader who takes the banner at face value and prints a thousand flyers has made a reasonable mistake with an unreasonable cost. The number to hold on to is 100. That is not 100 people, or 100 days: it is 100 scans, after which the code is deactivated at Unitag's end and the person holding the phone gets an error page instead of your website. ## A Free Code That Can Be Switched Off Is Not a Static Code A QR code can only be deactivated remotely if it points at the vendor rather than at your destination, and Unitag is unusually clear about which of its products does which. Its FAQ on lifespan separates them into three cases - static codes, public generator codes, and dynamic codes - and puts the free generator in the middle. On its static codes: "These QR Codes directly encode the data you entered (website address, phone number, business card, and so on). They do not use any redirection on our platform and hence are completely independent of our services once downloaded. They will always contain the data you entered when creating the code, and their lifespan is unlimited!" The same answer notes that "static QR codes are only available from our console" - the paid product, not the free generator. That is the definition doing the work on this page. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so nothing has to stay online for the code to keep working. A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a link to the provider's server, which forwards each scan to wherever the destination currently points. Only the second kind can be counted, capped or switched off, because only the second kind asks a server for permission on every scan. Read against those two definitions, the free Unitag code behaves as the second kind with the features of neither: it can be deactivated like a dynamic code, and it cannot be edited like a static one. That is a defensible way to run a free tier - the scan counter is what makes it a demonstration rather than a giveaway - and it is worth knowing before rather than after the print run. The comparison across free tiers is instructive here, because free means something different at every one. [QRCode Monkey](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free) gives away a genuinely static file and sells a separate product. [ME-QR](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-me-qr-free) gives away dynamic codes and charges the person scanning by showing them an advertisement. [QRFY](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qrfy-free) gives away seven static payload types and puts the other eighteen behind a seven-day trial. Unitag gives away a hundred scans. ## The Free Download Is 300 Pixels, Which Is 2.5 cm at 300 dpi Unitag caps the free download by resolution as well as by scans, and publishes both numbers: "With our free generator, you can download the QR Code in PNG at a size of 300 pixels" and, for the paid one-off, "An HD QR Code will be sent in a PNG format, size 1200*1200px." On the same page, Unitag gives print advice that its own free file cannot satisfy at standard print resolution: "To be sure that your QR Codes are readable, do not print them in less than 3cm square (1.2 inches)." A 300-pixel image at 300 dpi is exactly one inch - 2.54 cm - so the free download lands below Unitag's own floor unless you drop to about 254 dpi, which is where module edges start to soften. | Download | Pixels | Width at 300 dpi | Available on | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free generator PNG | 300 × 300 | 2.54 cm | Free, no account | | HD QR code PNG | 1200 × 1200 | 10.16 cm | One-off paid download | | Vector - PDF, SVG - and PNG/JPEG to 3000 px | No fixed ceiling | Any size | Silver plan and above | Pixel figures quoted from Unitag's own FAQ on 31 August 2026; the widths are arithmetic at 300 dpi, the resolution most commercial printers ask for. The same sum runs in either direction, and our [DPI calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-dpi-calculator) does it for any printed width: give it the width you need and it returns the pixels. This matters more than the scan cap for anything larger than a business card. A 300-pixel PNG enlarged to a table tent is a blurred code, and blurred module edges are one of the ordinary causes of a code that reads slowly in good light and not at all in bad - alongside low contrast, a crowded [quiet zone](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-quiet-zone), and printing below [the minimum size for the amount of data](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print). Unitag's own line on why vector matters is the honest one, and it names the tier: "Starting from the Silver plan, you have access to QR Code in high-resolution: (vector-based graphic: PDF, SVG, PNG/JPEG up to 3000px)." A vector file is an image made of coordinates and curves rather than pixels, so it can be enlarged to any size without losing sharpness, which is the [difference between SVG and PNG](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) in one sentence. ## What to Do If You Have Already Printed a Free Unitag Code Nothing about a printed code can be fixed by reprinting the same code, because the limit lives on Unitag's server rather than in the pattern. The sequence below is what is worth doing this week rather than after the hundredth scan. 1. **Scan Your Own Code and Read Where It Goes.** Point a phone at it and look at the URL your browser lands on before it forwards you. If it starts on a Unitag domain rather than your own, the code is a redirect and the 100-scan rule applies to it. 2. **Count What Is Already Out There.** One hundred scans is roughly three a day for a month, or one per table over a busy weekend. Estimate honestly rather than optimistically, because the failure is silent - nothing warns you, and the first sign is a customer saying the code is broken. 3. **Generate a Replacement That Nobody Can Switch Off.** Encode the destination directly, from any generator that produces genuinely static codes - Unitag's own console does, and so does [the KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/), which draws the code in your browser and never sees the payload. 4. **Point It at a URL You Own.** Encode a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. The printed pattern then never has to change again, and the destination stays editable forever because the redirect is yours rather than a vendor's. 5. **Print at 300 dpi and Test the Real Piece.** Export vector where you can, print at the size the job needs, and scan the printed sheet with two different phones before the run. Our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) covers the case where no phone is to hand. ## What Unitag Charges, and What It Is Good At Unitag sells to businesses rather than to individuals, and the pricing reflects it. Its plans page lists Silver at £19 a month, Gold at £49 and Platinum at £99, all excluding VAT, with a Diamond tier starting at £4,870 a year on a custom contract and a 10% discount for paying yearly. | Plan | Monthly, excl. VAT | Data history | Batch creation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Silver | £19 | 2 weeks | 25 codes per batch | | Gold | £49 | 1 year | 150 codes per batch | | Platinum | £99 | 3 years | 8,000 codes per batch | | Diamond | From £4,870 a year | Unlimited | 15,000 codes per batch | Read off unitag.io/pricing/qr-plans by KoloQR on 31 August 2026. Add-ons are priced separately: a custom domain is £7.99 a month per domain from Gold, extra users are £4.79 to £8.29 a month, and single-use codes start at £0.01 each. What every tier includes is the part worth naming, because it is unusual: "Unlimited QR Codes", "Unlimited scans, with no per-scan fees at any volume", dynamic codes, scan analytics and EU-hosted infrastructure. A platform that does not meter scans at all is rarer than it should be, and it removes the single most common way a QR campaign fails - hitting a ceiling in the middle of the thing you printed it for. Unitag's other genuine strength is regulatory rather than creative. It offers GS1-compliant 2D barcodes with a Digital Link resolver aimed at Digital Product Passport work, an API for integrators and printers, EU hosting with GDPR framing, and a partner programme for white-label resale. For packaging and retail compliance work, that is a different market from the one most QR generators compete in, and Unitag is a serious participant in it. None of that is available on the free generator, which is the honest summary of this page: Unitag's free tier is a sample of a business platform, not a free tool with a business platform attached. ## When Unitag's Free Generator Is the Right Answer Unitag's free generator is the right tool when the code will be scanned a handful of times, or when you want to see a design before deciding anything. It styles well, it downloads instantly, and it asks for nothing. - **A mock-up or a design review.** Free, instant, no account, and the 100-scan ceiling is irrelevant to a slide. - **A code for one meeting or one desk.** A hundred scans is plenty when you know who is scanning. - **Anything printed for the public.** Do not use the free code. It will be deactivated mid-campaign, and the printed piece cannot be corrected. - **Anything larger than a business card.** The free download is 300 pixels, which is 2.54 cm at 300 dpi. Vector export starts at the Silver plan. - **GS1, Digital Link or packaging compliance work.** That is what Unitag is actually built for, and the free generator has nothing to do with it. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, differs from Unitag's free tier in the one respect this page is about: the codes it produces are static, so there is nothing to deactivate and no counter running. It needs no account, adds no watermark, exports SVG and PNG, and draws the code in your browser rather than on a server. It is also open source, so its behaviour can be read rather than inferred. It replaces nothing on Unitag's paid side. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no analytics, no GS1 Digital Link resolver, no API and no team accounts, and Unitag's unmetered scanning and EU hosting are real advantages for the work it is aimed at. If editable destinations, packaging compliance or campaign reporting are the requirement, Unitag is the better answer, and the [side-by-side comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-unitag) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. ## FAQ ### Is Unitag's QR Code Generator Really Free? The generator is free to use and free to download from, with no account required. The code it produces is not permanent: Unitag states that "if a non-HD QR Code is created via our public generator, it is limited to 100 scans. Afterwards, they are automatically deactivated." Free covers the file, not the lifetime of the link. ### Why Did My Unitag QR Code Stop Working? Most likely it reached 100 scans. Codes from Unitag's public generator are deactivated automatically at that point, which is a limit on Unitag's server rather than a fault in the printed pattern. Reprinting the same code will not help; you need a genuinely static code, or a Unitag subscription, to replace it. ### Do Unitag QR Codes Expire? It depends which kind. Free public-generator codes are deactivated after 100 scans. Paid HD codes are, in Unitag's words, "valid forever, no matter how many times they are scanned". Static codes made in Unitag's console encode the data directly, use no redirection, and have an unlimited lifespan - but the console is the paid product. ### What Resolution Is Unitag's Free QR Code Download? 300 × 300 pixels, in PNG. At 300 dpi that is 2.54 cm across - just under the 3 cm minimum print size Unitag itself recommends. The paid HD download is 1200 × 1200 pixels, about 10 cm at 300 dpi, and vector formats such as PDF and SVG start at the Silver plan. ### How Much Does Unitag Cost? Read off its plans page on 31 August 2026, excluding VAT: Silver £19 a month, Gold £49, Platinum £99, and Diamond from £4,870 a year on a custom contract. Paying yearly takes 10% off. Every plan includes unlimited QR codes and unlimited scans with no per-scan fees, which is unusual in this market. ### Can I Edit a Unitag QR Code After Printing It? Only a dynamic one, and only with a subscription. Unitag: "QR Code updates are possible for Dynamic URL QR Codes, and if you subscribe to our Live account." A free public-generator code cannot be edited and cannot be topped up - it can only be replaced, which means reprinting whatever it was printed on. ### Does Unitag Add a Watermark or an Ad to Free QR Codes? No. Nothing on Unitag's site describes a watermark on the image or an advertisement shown to the person scanning, which is a genuine point in its favour next to free tiers that do. The free tier's cost is the 100-scan ceiling and the 300-pixel file, not branding on your artwork. ### Is a Free Unitag QR Code Static or Dynamic? It behaves as a redirect. Unitag reserves the word static for console codes that "do not use any redirection on our platform", and a code that can be automatically deactivated after 100 scans is necessarily one that asks Unitag's server on every scan. It is a metered redirect with none of the editing a dynamic code normally buys. ### Who Is Unitag? Unitag is a QR code and Digital Link platform trading since 2013, with offices listed in London and Toulouse and EU-hosted infrastructure. Its business is GS1-compliant 2D barcodes, packaging and campaign analytics for brands rather than one-off codes, which is the context the free public generator sits in. --- # How to Create a QR Code in Canva and Export It So It Still Scans URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva Open a design, choose Apps, search QR code, paste the URL and select Save. Then export as PDF Print, not PDF Standard, and keep the code 2 cm or larger. Industry · 2026-09-18 · Updated 2026-10-02 To create a QR code in Canva, open a design, select Apps in the side panel, search for QR code, choose Static QR codes or Dynamic QR codes, paste the URL, and select Save. The QR code lands on the canvas as an element that can be moved and resized. Both tools are free to use with a Canva account: Static QR codes fixes the link and sets only the colours and margin, while Dynamic QR codes adds patterns and corner styles and lets the link be changed later. The steps are below, followed by the three things that decide whether a Canva QR code works in print: the export format, the printed size, and the contrast between the two colours. ## Key points - Canva creates a QR code from Apps or Elements inside any open design, with two tools: Static QR codes and Dynamic QR codes. Both are available on the free plan, and a Canva account is required before anything can be downloaded. - A dynamic Canva QR code made on Free, Pro or Education carries the Canva logo in its centre. A static Canva QR code never does, but its link can never be changed. - Canva exports the whole design rather than the QR code alone. To get the code by itself, place it on an empty canvas sized to the code and export that. - For print, download from Canva as PDF Print, which is 300 DPI. PDF Standard is 96 DPI, which is a screen resolution and prints a small QR code soft. - A QR code in a Canva layout should be at least 2 cm wide for close scanning, with a clear margin of four modules on every side. - Canva's QR code is always square. A circular, triangular or hexagonal QR code has to be generated elsewhere and uploaded to Canva as an SVG or PNG file. ## How to Create a QR Code in Canva Open any Canva design, select Apps in the side panel, search for QR code, choose Static QR codes or Dynamic QR codes, enter the URL, and select Save. The whole procedure takes about two minutes. Canva moves its interface labels from time to time, so the steps below describe what to look for as well as what the button is currently called. 1. **Sign In and Open a Design.** Sign in at canva.com and open the flyer, menu, business card or poster the QR code belongs on. To make a QR code on its own, create a custom-size design of 1000 x 1000 px instead. 2. **Open Apps in the Side Panel.** Select Apps at the bottom of the left-hand side panel. On the Canva mobile app, tap the plus button first and scroll the bottom bar to Apps. 3. **Search for QR Code and Pick Static or Dynamic.** Type QR code into the Apps search box. Canva's own two tools appear: Static QR codes, for a fixed link with no Canva logo, and Dynamic QR codes, for a link that can be changed later. Third-party QR apps appear in the same results and have their own sign-ups and limits. 4. **Paste the URL.** For a dynamic code, pick a pattern first. Enter the full web address, including https://. Use the shortest address that works, because a shorter URL produces a QR code with fewer, larger modules that scans more easily at small sizes. 5. **Select Save and Position the Code.** The panel confirms that the QR code is ready and the code appears on the canvas. Drag a corner handle to resize it so the code stays square. 6. **Set the Colours, and the Pattern for a Dynamic Code.** Select the code and choose Edit. A static code takes a code colour, a background colour and a margin. A dynamic code adds patterns and corner styles, and logo choices need Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit. Keep the code dark on a light background, then scan it from the screen with a phone. To change the destination later, select the QR code, choose Edit, change the URL and select Save. Only a dynamic code can be changed this way, and printed copies follow the change. A static code's link is fixed for good, and Canva cannot convert one kind into the other, so the choice in step 3 is the one that matters. ## What Canva's QR Code Tools Can and Cannot Do Canva's two QR code tools cover the common case well: a square QR code for a URL, placed in a layout in one step, either fixed with Static QR codes or editable with Dynamic QR codes. Neither tool offers custom shapes, vector export of the code alone, a contrast check, or control over error correction. Those limits follow from the tools being elements inside a design tool rather than a dedicated generator. | Capability | Canva QR code tools | What that means in practice | | --- | --- | --- | | Encode a URL | Yes | Any web address works, including links to a PDF, a form or a social profile | | Wi-Fi, contact card or calendar codes | No dedicated form | Both tools take a URL; other code types need a generator that builds that format | | Custom colours | Yes | Two colours, set under Edit, with no warning when the pair is too close to scan | | Module pattern and corner styles | Dynamic only | Static codes are plain squares; the Dynamic tool's patterns and corner styles restyle the code without changing its data | | Shape of the code | Square only | A round frame can be drawn around it, but the code inside stays square | | Logo in the centre | Dynamic only, with limits | On Free, Pro and Education a dynamic code carries the Canva logo; preset or custom logos, or no logo, need Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit | | Change the link after printing | Dynamic only | A static code's link is fixed for good, and Canva cannot convert one kind into the other | | Error correction level | No control | The app does not show or let you choose how much of the code can be covered or damaged | | Download the code alone | No | Canva exports the design; the code must sit alone on its own canvas to be exported by itself | | Vector file | Canva Pro | SVG export is a paid feature; PDF Print is available on the free plan | | Download without an account | No | The editor asks for a sign-in before any export | Canva's plan boundaries move. Confirm paid-tier details on Canva's pricing page before a project depends on them. A dynamic QR code made on Canva Free, Pro or Education carries the Canva logo in its centre, and only Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit can remove or replace it. For a plain code without a logo on the other plans, use Static QR codes, which never include the Canva logo. A logo chosen inside the tool is allowed for when the code is drawn, which is safer than the alternative: dragging a separate image over the finished code covers modules the scanner needs. Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is covered. Canva's tools give no control over the error correction level, so a logo placed over the code by hand spends a reserve of unknown size. Keep a hand-placed logo under about a tenth of the code's area and test the result on two phones. ## Are Canva QR Codes Static or Dynamic, and Do They Expire? Canva makes both kinds, on every plan. Static QR codes stores the URL in the pattern; Dynamic QR codes routes the scan through Canva so the link can be updated later, and is available on Free as well as paid plans. Canva's help centre states that a code never expires unless an expiry date is set, which only Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit accounts can do. Which kind a given code is can be checked in under a minute. A static QR code is a code whose destination is stored in the pattern itself, so the destination cannot be changed after the code is made. A static QR code does not expire: nothing sits between the scan and the page, so there is no scan limit and nothing to switch off. A dynamic QR code stores a short link owned by the provider instead, and keeps working for as long as that provider keeps the link alive. 1. Download the Canva design, or take a clean export of the QR code. 2. Decode the file with a tool that shows the stored text, such as the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-scanner), rather than opening the link. 3. If the decoded text is exactly the URL that was typed in, the code is static. If the decoded text is a different, shorter address that forwards to the URL, the code is dynamic and depends on that forwarding service. The trade-off runs both ways. A static QR code cannot be edited after printing, so if the destination page moves, the printed code still points at the old address. A dynamic QR code can be edited, but it works only while its owner keeps it: the creator is the only person who can delete it, and on Business plans it can be given an expiry date. [Do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire) covers each way a Canva code can stop working. There is a way to keep a printed static QR code editable without any subscription. Point the QR code at an address on a domain you control, such as example.com/menu, and set that address up as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes and the redirect can be edited at any time. [Static vs dynamic QR codes](https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes) covers when each type is the right choice. ## How to Download a Canva QR Code for Print Select Share, then Download, and choose PDF Print for anything that will be printed. PDF Print exports at 300 DPI and offers crop marks and bleed. PDF Standard exports at 96 DPI, which is a screen resolution: a QR code exported at 96 DPI and printed 3 cm wide has roughly a third of the pixel detail per module that the 300 DPI file has. | Where the QR code will be used | Canva download setting | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Professional print: flyers, menus, business cards | PDF Print, with crop marks and bleed if the printer asks | 300 DPI, and what a print shop expects to receive | | Home or office printer | PDF Print, or PNG with the size slider raised | Keeps module edges sharp at final size | | Website, email, social post | PNG | Lossless, so module edges stay hard | | Large format: banners, signage | SVG on Canva Pro, otherwise PDF Print | A vector file scales to any size without softening | | Anywhere | Not JPG | JPG compression smears the edges between dark and light modules | To export the QR code without the rest of the design, create a new custom-size design of 1000 x 1000 px, generate or paste the QR code into it, and stretch the code to fill the canvas with its margin intact. Download that design as PNG for screen use. On the free plan the PNG size slider stops at the design's own dimensions, which is why the canvas should be made large to begin with. Never take a screenshot of a QR code in the Canva editor and use that as the file. A screenshot records the code at whatever zoom level the editor happened to be showing, and the result is usually a few hundred pixels wide with softened edges. ## How Big Should a QR Code Be in a Canva Design? A QR code in a printed Canva design should be at least 2 cm wide for scanning at arm's length, and 3 cm is the safer minimum. As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 2 m needs a code about 20 cm wide. Canva shows element sizes in pixels by default, which hides the printed size. For a print design, create the design in millimetres or inches - A5, 148 x 210 mm, for a flyer, for example - and read the code's width from the position panel. A QR code that looks large on screen in an A3 poster template can still be under 2 cm on paper. - **Business card:** 2 to 2.5 cm wide, with a short URL so the modules stay large. - **Flyer or menu held in the hand:** 3 cm wide or more. - **Table tent read from a seat:** 4 to 5 cm wide. - **Poster read from 2 m:** about 20 cm wide. A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR code standard, ISO/IEC 18004, sets it at four modules on every side. Canva templates are where the quiet zone most often gets lost: a code dropped into a decorative frame, tucked against a photo, or placed on a patterned background has no clear margin left. The [minimum QR code size for print](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-minimum-size-for-print) guide gives the sizes by material and distance. ## How to Add a Circular or Custom QR Code to a Canva Design Generate the QR code in a dedicated generator, download it as SVG or PNG, and upload the file through Uploads in Canva's side panel. The uploaded QR code then behaves like any other image in the design. This is the route for a circular code, a code with a logo built in, a vector code on the free Canva plan, or a Wi-Fi or contact code. 1. Create the QR code in the generator of your choice and check that it scans on screen. 2. Download the code as SVG for print, or as PNG at the final printed size and at least 300 DPI. 3. In Canva, select Uploads in the side panel, then Upload files, and choose the file. 4. Drag the uploaded QR code onto the canvas and resize it from a corner handle only, so it stays in proportion. 5. Leave the code's own margin intact and keep other elements out of it. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, fits this workflow because it exports the code by itself. KoloQR downloads SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account, draws the symbol as a square, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), triangle or hexagon, and checks the contrast of the chosen colours before download. KoloQR makes static codes only and has no layout tools, so Canva still does the flyer. The [KoloQR vs Canva comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-canva) sets the two side by side. An uploaded SVG stays sharp at any size in Canva, including after the design is resized from a flyer to a poster. An uploaded PNG does not, so a PNG code should be exported at the largest size it will ever be printed at and only ever scaled down. ## Why a Canva QR Code Does Not Scan A Canva QR code that does not scan has usually been shrunk to fit the layout, coloured with too little contrast, or exported at screen resolution. The code Canva generates is valid; the failures come from what happens to it in the design afterwards. | Symptom | Likely cause | Fix | | --- | --- | --- | | Scans on screen, fails on paper | Exported as PDF Standard or a small PNG | Download again as PDF Print | | Fails on paper at any distance | Printed under 2 cm, or a long URL made the modules tiny | Enlarge the code, or shorten the URL and regenerate | | Some phones read it, others do not | Brand colours too close in lightness | Use a dark foreground on a light background; check the pair with a contrast tool | | Never scans, even on screen | Light code on a dark background | Swap the colours, or put the code on a light panel | | Stopped scanning after a design tweak | Stretched from a side handle, or another element overlaps the margin | Reset the proportions and clear four modules of space on every side | | Scans, but opens the wrong or a dead page | The URL was mistyped or the page has moved | A static code cannot be edited; regenerate and reprint | Transparency is a Canva-specific trap. Setting the QR code's transparency slider below 100 to blend it into a background lowers the contrast of every module at once, and the editor gives no warning. Keep a QR code fully opaque, and check colour pairs in the [QR code contrast checker](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-contrast-checker) before the design goes to print. Print one copy at final size before ordering the run, and scan it with one iPhone and one Android phone at the distance people will actually stand. For a wider list of causes, see [why a QR code is not scanning](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-qr-code-is-not-scanning). ## FAQ ### Is the Canva QR Code Generator Free? Yes. Both Static QR codes and Dynamic QR codes are included in Canva's free plan, and a free Canva account is required to download the design. Scan Insights, expiry dates, logo choices and removing the Canva logo from a dynamic code need Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit; SVG export needs a paid plan. Check Canva's pricing page for the current boundaries. ### Where Is the QR Code Option in Canva? The QR code option is in Apps, at the bottom of the side panel inside an open design. Type QR code into the Apps search box and choose Static QR codes or Dynamic QR codes, both published by Canva; under Elements the same two appear as Create static and Create dynamic. Once a QR code is on the canvas, selecting it and choosing Edit reopens its panel. ### Can I Create a QR Code in the Canva Mobile App? Yes. Open a design in the Canva app, tap the plus button, scroll the bottom bar to Apps, and search for QR code. The app takes a URL in the same way as on desktop. Export settings for print are easier to check on a desktop. ### Can I Change the Link in a Canva QR Code After Printing? Only if it was made with Dynamic QR codes. The pattern of a static QR code is the address, so its link is fixed for good, and Canva cannot convert a static code into a dynamic one. Decode the printed code to check: if it holds the typed URL, it is static. To stay flexible either way, point the code at a redirect on your own domain. ### Can I Put a Logo in the Middle of a Canva QR Code? Only on a dynamic code, and only on Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit, which can pick a preset logo, upload their own or remove Canva's. On Free, Pro and Education a dynamic code carries the Canva logo and a static code has none. Avoid dragging a separate image over a finished code: that covers modules the scanner needs. A code with a built-in logo can also be generated elsewhere and uploaded. ### Can Canva Make a QR Code for a PDF or a Wi-Fi Network? For a PDF, yes, indirectly: upload the PDF somewhere with a public link and paste that link into Canva's Static QR codes tool. For Wi-Fi, no - a Wi-Fi QR code uses a special text format rather than a URL, and Canva's QR code tools only accept URLs. Generate a Wi-Fi code in a dedicated generator and upload the image. ### Can I Make a QR Code That Links to My Canva Design? Yes. Select Share in the Canva editor, create a public view link for the design, and paste that link into Static QR codes in another design. Anyone scanning the code sees the live design. Public view links from Canva are long, so print the resulting code a little larger than usual. ### Does Resizing a QR Code in Canva Break It? Resizing from a corner handle is safe, because the code scales in proportion. Dragging a side handle crops or distorts the code and can cut into its margin. After any resize, check that the printed width is still at least 2 cm and that nothing else in the design touches the code's margin. --- # QRCodeChimp Is Free, Until Your Code Gets Popular URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-chimp-free Yes - unlimited static codes and 10 dynamic codes at $0. The catches are a 1,000-scan monthly meter on the dynamic codes and a 1024 px download cap. Industry · 2026-09-22 QRCodeChimp is free, and the free plan is not a trial: the pricing page read on 22 September 2026 labels it "Free Forever" and lists unlimited static QR codes, 10 dynamic QR codes and 1,000 scans a month at $0. What free means here depends on which of the two kinds of code you make. A static code is drawn once, downloaded, and never metered. A dynamic code lives on QRCodeChimp's server, and the 1,000-scan meter sits on the printed code, not on you - once the public has scanned your ten dynamic codes a thousand times in a month, the codes pause until the month ends. The other catch is in print: free downloads stop at 1024 × 1024 pixels, which is about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. ## Key Points - QRCodeChimp is free and says so without a time limit. Its pricing page, read on 22 September 2026, prices the FREE plan at $0 with the label "Free Forever", and help article 32 states: "You can have free plan forever with the above limits." - The free plan is two products. Static codes are unlimited, unmetered and, in QRCodeChimp's own words, "free forever". Dynamic codes are capped at ten, and the ten share one meter of 1,000 scans a month. - The meter is on the printed code, not on the user. Help article 58: "if you are in the free plan and the total scans are over 1000, your dynamic QR codes are paused for that month, and at the start of next month, your codes receive 1000 scans again." - Paid plans read on 22 September 2026: STARTER $9.99 a month or $6.99 a month billed yearly, PRO $19.99 or $13.99, ULTIMA $49.99 or $34.99. - The print catch is resolution. Free downloads stop at 1024 × 1024 pixels, which prints to about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI; STARTER raises the cap to 2048 and PRO and ULTIMA to 4096. SVG is not a download option by default - help article 53 says it is enabled "for your account on request". - Many people search for the tool as QR Code Chimp, two words and a space. The company spells it QRCodeChimp, and this page uses that form. ## Is QRCodeChimp Free? The Short Answer Yes. QRCodeChimp's FREE plan costs $0, carries no expiry date, and its pricing page - read on 22 September 2026 - lists unlimited static QR codes, 10 dynamic QR codes, 1,000 scans a month, one digital business card, basic analytics, two folders, a 2 MB upload limit and a 1024 × 1024 pixel download cap. QRCodeChimp's help centre answers the "will it ask for payment later" question directly: "You can have free plan forever with the above limits." The free plan is not a demonstration that runs out. That distinction matters because most dynamic QR platforms use a free tier as a timed trial, and this one does not. The ten dynamic codes stay active, help article 29 says, "indefinitely" - as long as the scans stay under the monthly limit. Where free stops is not at a date but at a number, and the number is not one you control. Everything else on this page follows from that: the meter counts scans by the public, the cap is on the pixel size of the file you print, and the account is the container the code lives in. ## Two Kinds of Free: Unmetered Static, Metered Dynamic QRCodeChimp's free plan bundles two products that behave differently once printed, and the difference is the whole answer to "is it free". A static code is free in the plain sense: made, downloaded, and then no further relationship with QRCodeChimp. A dynamic code is free in the metered sense: it works for as long as the account exists and the monthly scan count stays under 1,000. A static QR code is a code that carries its destination inside the pattern itself, so no server has to stay online for the code to keep working. QRCodeChimp's help article 29 describes its own static codes in exactly those terms: "Static QR codes are unlimited and free forever. Since scan requests do not reach our server, there is no limit on scans, but analytics will not be available for these scans." A dynamic QR code is a code that encodes a short link on the provider's server, so every scan is redirected through that server before it reaches your page. That intermediate stop is what makes the destination editable after printing and what makes each scan countable. It is also where a meter can be fitted, and QRCodeChimp fits one. The two kinds of free are therefore not two prices for one thing. A static code from QRCodeChimp costs nothing and can never stop working because of QRCodeChimp; a dynamic code from QRCodeChimp costs nothing and can stop working next Tuesday if a code goes viral. The [static versus dynamic guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/static-vs-dynamic-qr-codes) sets out the general trade; this page is about where QRCodeChimp draws its particular line. ## What QRCodeChimp Costs, Read on 22 September 2026 QRCodeChimp's pricing page prints four plans with a monthly and a yearly toggle, and the four pairs below are the figures it showed on 22 September 2026. Yearly billing is quoted per month but charged for the year, and the page also lists ULTIMA multiples - 2x through 5x - for larger accounts. | Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | What the money buys | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | FREE | $0 | $0 | Unlimited static codes, 10 dynamic codes, 1,000 scans a month, 1024 px downloads | | STARTER | $9.99 | $6.99 a month | More dynamic codes and scans, 2048 px downloads | | PRO | $19.99 | $13.99 a month | Marked "Most Popular"; 4096 px downloads; help article 28 quotes 150,000 scans a month | | ULTIMA | $49.99 | $34.99 a month | 4096 px downloads; help article 28 describes its scans as unlimited | Read by KoloQR from qrcodechimp.com/pricing on 22 September 2026. Prices are in USD as the page displayed them; the yearly column is the page's own per-month figure for annual billing. The scan allowances for the paid plans are quoted from help article 28 rather than the pricing table, because that is where QRCodeChimp states them in a sentence. The yearly discount is about 30% on every paid tier - $6.99 against $9.99, $13.99 against $19.99, $34.99 against $49.99 - which is smaller than ME-QR's and paid up front. The number to compare with the free plan is the STARTER monthly figure: $9.99 is the price of moving the resolution cap from 1024 to 2048 pixels and lifting the code and scan limits, and nothing on the free plan gets you there. KoloQR's [roundup of free QR code generators](https://koloqr.com/blog/best-free-qr-code-generators-2026) records the same entry price for QRCodeChimp, and the July 2026 figures on our [comparison page](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcodechimp) match the ones above. Prices on hosted platforms move without notice, so the useful habit is the same as for any subscription: read the number on the day you pay. ## What the Free Plan Includes and Leaves Out The free plan is generous on design and thin on operations. Read off the pricing page on 22 September 2026, the FREE column ticks the novelty design set - 3D QR codes, custom shapes, stickers and pre-designed templates - and crosses out everything to do with running codes at scale: bulk upload, API access, white labelling, form submissions, event ticketing and email notifications on scan. | What | FREE | Where it changes | | --- | --- | --- | | Static QR codes | Unlimited | Unlimited on every plan | | Dynamic QR codes | 10 | More on every paid plan | | Scans a month, all dynamic codes combined | 1,000 | 150,000 on PRO, unlimited on ULTIMA, per help article 28 | | Digital business cards | 1 | More on paid plans; Apple and Google Wallet passes are paid | | Analytics | Basic | UTM tracking, location precision, email reports and Excel export are paid | | Folders | 2 | More on paid plans | | Download resolution | 1024 × 1024 px | 2048 on STARTER, 4096 on PRO and ULTIMA | | Upload size for logos and files | 2 MB | Higher on paid plans | | 3D QRs, shapes, stickers, templates | Included | Included on every plan | | Bulk upload, API, white label, forms, event ticketing, scan email | Not included | Paid plans, by tier | The FREE column of qrcodechimp.com/pricing as read on 22 September 2026. Where the right-hand column names a plan, that is the tier on which the pricing page or help article 28 first shows the change. One thing the free plan does not include is a way to download without an account. QRCodeChimp's dashboard is where codes are saved, designed and downloaded, and every route into it starts with a login. The homepage FAQ, read the same day, offers one exception: "you can create a static QR code without signup and download it by right clicking the QR image and choosing Save As option." A right-click save takes the preview image as the browser rendered it, at whatever size the page drew it, and KoloQR did not exercise that route on 22 September 2026 - so this page does not claim a format or a pixel size for it. Treat it as a way to get a screen-sized image, not a print file. Analytics for static codes are not withheld; they are impossible. The help centre says so in the sentence quoted above - scans of a static code "do not reach our server". If scan counts are the reason for choosing QRCodeChimp, the codes have to be dynamic, and dynamic is where the meter is. ## The 1,000-Scan Meter Is on the Printed Code, Not on You QRCodeChimp's free plan meters the public's behaviour, not yours. The pricing page words the limit as 1,000 scans a month with the footnote "Once you reach the 1000 scans limit for a month, scans are paused, but they reopen next month for another 1000 scans." The scans in question are scans of your printed code by other people, and the count is shared across all ten dynamic codes on the account. What a paused code does is stated in help article 28: "Once the limit is reached, any new scans will redirect to a default page informing users that the QR Code is not available, and your display page will be paused. It will remain paused until your scan limit resets or you upgrade to a higher plan." The person holding the phone sees a page saying the code is not available. Nothing tells them to try again on the first of the month. A thousand scans a month is about 33 a day, shared. One code on a shop window that catches on, or a single busy weekend for a menu, can spend the whole allowance and pause the other nine codes with it - including the digital business card. The meter does not distinguish a useful scan from a curious one. That is the shape of free that QRCodeChimp has chosen, and it is worth naming against the alternatives. ME-QR charges nothing and shows the scanner an advertisement instead, which [our ME-QR post](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-me-qr-free) sets out; QRCodeChimp shows no advertisement and counts instead. [Unitag's free generator](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) counts too, and switches the code off for good at 100 scans. All three are honest, and all three put the consequence on the person scanning rather than the person paying. The general case for paying for dynamic codes is in our note on [what a dynamic QR subscription buys](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## The Print Catch: 1024 Pixels Is About 8.7 cm A free QRCodeChimp download stops at 1024 × 1024 pixels, and a 1024-pixel raster file prints sharply to about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. The arithmetic is 1024 ÷ 300 = 3.41 inches, and 3.41 × 2.54 = 8.67 cm. Above that size the printer stretches each pixel over more paper, the module edges soften, and softened edges are the first thing a phone camera loses. The same sum gives the paid caps: 2048 pixels on STARTER is about 17.3 cm, and 4096 pixels on PRO and ULTIMA is about 34.7 cm. A table tent or a business card sits comfortably under the free cap; an A4 poster with a 10 cm code does not, and an A2 poster is STARTER territory at least. Our [print size calculator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-print-size-calculator) does the sum for any size and distance, and the [resolution guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-resolution) explains why 300 DPI is the reference figure. The way round a pixel cap is a vector file, and on QRCodeChimp that is not a default. Help article 53, read on 22 September 2026, states: "By default, QRCodeChimp offers QR codes in PNG and PDF formats" and "If you need SVG format, we can enable it for your account on request." The same article warns that the SVG uses the SVG 2 standard, "renders best in Google Chrome" and "may not open correctly in Illustrator or similar design software", and suggests printing the SVG from Chrome to a PDF as a workaround. It does not mention EPS. The default PDF may or may not be vector; QRCodeChimp's help centre did not say which when we checked, and this page does not guess. The safe reading is that a free account gets a 1024-pixel raster, a paid account gets a larger raster, and a vector file is a support request rather than a button. The [SVG versus PNG guide](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-vs-png) covers what to ask a printer for and why. ## What Happens to Printed Codes When the Plan or the Scans Lapse A printed static code from QRCodeChimp never stops because of QRCodeChimp; a printed dynamic code can. Help article 200, "If my plan expires, what happens to my QR Codes?", read on 22 September 2026, says a lapsed paid account moves to the free plan, static codes continue without restriction, and "only 10 of your dynamic QR codes will be active, and you will be allowed only 1000 scans per month." The article does not say which ten stay active, and this page does not claim to know. An account that held forty dynamic codes on PRO and let the plan lapse has thirty printed codes that now resolve to nothing, and no published rule for choosing the survivors. Anyone in that position should ask support before the renewal date rather than after it. The free plan's own failure mode is the monthly pause described above, and it is temporary: help article 58 says the codes "receive 1000 scans again" at the start of the next month. A code that pauses on the 20th is back on the 1st, which is fine for a notice board and a problem for a product label. None of this is a defect in QRCodeChimp; it is the structure of any dynamic code, and QRCodeChimp documents its version more clearly than most. Our [guide to whether QR codes expire](https://koloqr.com/guides/do-qr-codes-expire) covers the general case. The steps below are the ones that keep a free dynamic code from becoming a reprint. 1. **Decide Static or Dynamic Before Designing.** If the destination will not move and nobody needs a scan count, make the code static. It is unmetered, it downloads the same way, and the 1,000-scan pause cannot reach it. Only choose dynamic for a destination that will change or a count you will actually read. 2. **Estimate the Scans Against 1,000 a Month, Shared.** Count every dynamic code on the account, not just the new one, and imagine the busiest week. A code in a window on a high street, on a conference lanyard or on a product that sells well can exceed 33 scans a day on its own. If the estimate is close, budget for STARTER before printing, not after the pause. 3. **Point the Code at a URL You Control.** Encode a short path on your own domain and redirect from there. If QRCodeChimp's limits, prices or policies change, the redirect is yours to edit and the printed pattern does not have to. This is the one arrangement no platform change can reach. 4. **Check the Printed Size Against the Resolution Cap.** A 1024-pixel file is good to about 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. If the code will print larger, either pay for the 2048 or 4096 cap, ask support to enable SVG and test the file in the software the printer uses, or generate the code as a vector elsewhere. 5. **Write Down Who Owns the Account.** A dynamic code works for as long as somebody's login does. Record the account email, who renews it, and what each printed code points at, before the print run exists. A code whose owner left the company is the most common way a working code dies. 6. **Test the Printed File at Printed Size on Two Phones.** Print one proof at final size and scan it from the real distance on an iPhone and an Android phone. Our [QR code validator](https://koloqr.com/tools/qr-code-validator) checks the file when a phone is not to hand. A screen preview hides the two failures that matter in print: size and softened edges. ## Does QRCodeChimp Put a Watermark on the Code? Not on the image, as far as QRCodeChimp's own pages state. Neither the pricing page nor the help centre, read on 22 September 2026, describes a watermark on a downloaded QR code at any tier. The one "watermark" the help centre documents is something else: article 43 is about removing "QRCodeChimp's branding / watermark / Promotional message (e.g. footer message "Get your own page for free!") from QR code display page" - a line on the landing page a dynamic code opens, not a mark on the code. That branding line is a paid removal. The article says that on the free plan "a Plan Upgrade Required pop-up will appear" when you try to switch it off. So a free dynamic code that opens a QRCodeChimp-hosted page - a digital business card, a menu page, a link page - carries QRCodeChimp's footer on that page, and a free static code that points straight at your own site carries nothing of the kind, because QRCodeChimp is not in the path. A related question is the loader image, the chimp logo shown while a hosted page loads. Help article 298 says it can be replaced with your own image from the dashboard profile settings, and does not tie that to a plan. What this page cannot verify is whether a downloaded free-plan image ever carries a mark, because we did not download one that day; if you have one, look at the corners. ## When QRCodeChimp Is the Right Tool QRCodeChimp is the right tool when the destination will change after printing, when the scans need counting, or when the code is really a small hosted page rather than a link. Those are three real jobs, and a static generator cannot do any of them. The free plan covers all three for a small account, and the paid plans exist because at some volume the meter and the cap stop being theoretical. - **The destination will move and the print will not.** A seasonal menu, a campaign page, an event that changes venue. Ten free dynamic codes cover a small operator, and re-pointing one is a dashboard edit rather than a reprint. - **You want scan counts.** The free plan's basic analytics are enough to know whether a placement is working at all. UTM tracking, location precision and exports are paid, and worth paying for only when someone will read them. - **A digital business card is the point.** One is free, it is one of the ten dynamic codes, and it is exactly the kind of hosted page a static code cannot be. The free version carries QRCodeChimp's footer on the page. - **A team runs many codes.** Folders, sub-accounts, bulk upload, forms and white labelling are the paid tiers' actual product, and a team that needs them has already outgrown any free generator. - **The brief calls for a novelty outline.** QRCodeChimp's shape set - hearts, animals, food, 3D effects and stickers - is wider than most, and the pricing page ticks it on FREE. The usual caution applies: the data area stays a square grid inside the outline, and every shape needs a scan test. Where QRCodeChimp is the wrong tool is narrower than it looks: a code that points at one fixed page, needs no count, and will be printed larger than about 8.7 cm. That code gains nothing from a dashboard and inherits the 1024-pixel cap for no benefit. Make it static, in QRCodeChimp or anywhere else, and ask for a vector. ## The KoloQR Alternative, and What It Does Not Do KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is the alternative for the static half of the job and nothing else. It makes static codes only, in the browser, without an account; it exports SVG, PDF and EPS as well as PNG, so there is no resolution cap to plan around; and it adds no watermark and no branding line, because it is never in the path between the scan and your page. It does not replace the dynamic half. KoloQR has no dynamic codes, no scan analytics, no dashboard, no hosted pages, no digital business cards, no bulk upload and no API, and it cannot re-point a printed code. If any of that is the requirement, QRCodeChimp's free plan is a better answer than anything KoloQR offers, and the [side-by-side comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcodechimp) sets out feature by feature where each one leads. The honest middle path costs nothing on either tool: make a static code that points at a short path on your own domain, and run the redirect yourself. The printed pattern is permanent and unmetered, the destination stays editable in your hosting panel, and your own web analytics count the visits. That gives totals, not per-code geography - and it is the one arrangement that no scan meter, resolution cap or lapsed login can affect. ## FAQ ### Is QRCodeChimp Free, or Is There a Catch? QRCodeChimp is free, and the catches are limits rather than a hidden charge. The pricing page read on 22 September 2026 labels the FREE plan "Free Forever" and lists unlimited static codes, 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 scans a month. The two limits that bite are the shared monthly scan meter on the dynamic codes and the 1024 × 1024 pixel download cap, which is about 8.7 cm in print. ### Does the QRCodeChimp Free Plan Expire? No. QRCodeChimp's help centre answers this question by name: "You can have free plan forever with the above limits." Help article 29 adds that the first 10 dynamic codes "will remain active indefinitely". What does run out is the monthly scan allowance - after 1,000 scans across all dynamic codes, they pause until the next month begins. Static codes have no allowance to run out. ### What Happens When a Free QRCodeChimp Code Hits 1,000 Scans? The dynamic codes pause for the rest of the month. QRCodeChimp's help article 28 says new scans "will redirect to a default page informing users that the QR Code is not available", and article 58 says the codes "receive 1000 scans again" at the start of the next month. The limit is shared across every dynamic code on the account, so one busy code pauses the others. ### Does QRCodeChimp Add a Watermark to QR Codes? QRCodeChimp's pricing page and help centre, read on 22 September 2026, do not describe a watermark on the downloaded image at any tier. The watermark the help centre does document is a branding footer on the hosted display page a dynamic code opens, and removing it requires a paid plan. A static code pointing at your own site never shows that page. ### Can I Download a QR Code From QRCodeChimp Without an Account? Only by right-clicking the preview. QRCodeChimp's homepage FAQ says a static code can be made without signup and saved "by right clicking the QR image and choosing Save As option", while saving a code or making a dynamic one requires registration. The proper download, with its resolution options, sits inside the dashboard behind a login. The right-click route yields the preview image at screen size. ### How Big Can I Print a Free QRCodeChimp Code? About 8.7 cm at 300 DPI. The free plan's downloads stop at 1024 × 1024 pixels, and 1024 ÷ 300 × 2.54 gives 8.67 cm. Larger than that, the module edges soften. The STARTER plan's 2048-pixel cap reaches about 17.3 cm and the 4096-pixel cap on PRO and ULTIMA about 34.7 cm. A vector file has no cap, and on QRCodeChimp SVG is enabled on request rather than by default. ### Does QRCodeChimp Give You an SVG? Not by default. Help article 53, read on 22 September 2026, says QRCodeChimp offers PNG and PDF and that "If you need SVG format, we can enable it for your account on request." The article warns the SVG uses the SVG 2 standard and "may not open correctly in Illustrator or similar design software", and suggests printing it from Chrome to a PDF. EPS is not mentioned. ### What Happens to My QRCodeChimp Codes if I Stop Paying? The account reverts to the free plan. QRCodeChimp's help article 200 says static codes continue without restriction, and "only 10 of your dynamic QR codes will be active, and you will be allowed only 1000 scans per month." The article does not say which ten stay active, so an account with more than ten printed dynamic codes should ask support before the plan lapses. ### Is QRCodeChimp Free for Commercial Use? Nothing on the pricing page or in the help centre articles read on 22 September 2026 restricts the free plan to personal use, and the paid tiers are sold on volume, resolution and team features rather than on a commercial licence. QRCodeChimp's terms of service are the document that governs this, and this page did not review them, so read the terms before putting a free code on a product. --- # Do Canva QR Codes Expire? Which Ones Can Stop Working, and Why URL: https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire No. Canva's static and dynamic QR codes never expire unless a Business user sets a date. Deleting a design, a share link or a code still breaks them. Industry · 2026-10-08 No. Canva QR codes do not expire on their own. Canva makes two kinds - Static QR codes, which store your URL in the pattern, and Dynamic QR codes, which pass through Canva's redirect - and Canva states that a code never expires unless someone on a Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit plan sets an expiry date. A Canva QR code stops working for other reasons: the page it points at disappears, a Canva design or share link behind it is deleted, a Canva website is unpublished, the owner deletes a dynamic code, or it came from a third-party app whose plan ended. Decoding the code and reading the URL inside tells you which of those risks applies. ## Key Points - Canva QR codes do not expire by default. Canva's help centre, read on 2 October 2026, says of its QR codes: "Without an expiry date, your QR code never expires." Only Canva Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit accounts can set an expiry date. - Canva has two first-party QR tools. Static QR codes store the URL in the pattern and cannot be edited; Dynamic QR codes pass through Canva and can be re-pointed. Dynamic codes are available on every plan, including Free, and Canva states that neither kind can be converted into the other. - A Canva QR code with the Canva logo in the middle, or with dotted, star or heart modules, is a dynamic code. Canva states that static codes never include the Canva logo, and the static tool only changes the two colours and the margin. - Most Canva QR codes that "expire" are pointing at something that was removed: a design deleted from Trash, a public view link deleted, a Canva website unpublished, or a custom canva.link slug lost when a paid plan was cancelled. - Third-party QR apps inside Canva follow their own provider's rules. The marketplace app called "Dynamic QR Codes" is powered by Hovercode, not Canva, and Hovercode states that dynamic codes created above its free limit expire after a downgrade. ## 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](https://koloqr.com/guides/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. | What you see on the code | What it means | How sure you can be | | --- | --- | --- | | Canva logo in the middle | Dynamic QR code from Canva | Certain: Canva states static codes never include the Canva logo | | Dotted, star, heart or other patterned modules | Dynamic QR code from Canva, or a third-party app | High: the static tool has no pattern setting | | Plain square modules, no logo | Static from Canva, or dynamic on Business with the logo removed | Not enough on its own: decode it | | A logo of a QR provider, or a provider's frame | A code from a marketplace app, not from Canva | Check the app's own plan terms | Decoding is the reliable test. Upload an export of the code to the [QR code scanner](https://koloqr.com/tools/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. | What the code points at | Can it stop working? | Why | How to prevent it | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Static code to a page on your own website | Only if your page or domain dies | The URL is in the pattern; Canva is not involved after export | Keep the page live and the domain renewed | | Static code to a short path on your domain that redirects | Only if your domain lapses | You edit the redirect, not the code | Auto-renew the domain; use a 302 redirect | | Dynamic Canva code, no expiry date | Yes, if the owner deletes it | Scans pass through Canva's redirect, which the owner controls | Keep the code in the creator's account; do not delete it | | Dynamic Canva code with an expiry date | Yes, on the date set | Scanners go to the URL after expiry, or to Canva's generic error page | Clear the date, or set a sensible URL after expiry | | Dynamic code reused for a new purpose | Old prints open the new page | Changing the URL updates the code in every design that uses it | Make a new code for each printed piece | | Static code to a Canva design share link | Yes | Deleted design, or sharing changed away from Anyone with the link | Do not delete or restrict the design; prefer a website or your own page | | Static code to a Canva public view link | Yes | Deleting the link deletes the URL; a new link gets a new URL | Never delete and recreate the link after printing | | Static code to a custom canva.link slug | Yes | Custom slugs are removed at the end of the billing cycle when a paid plan is cancelled | Encode the auto-generated link, or your own domain | | Static code to a Canva website (my.canva.site or your domain) | Yes | Unpublishing or deleting the design takes the site offline; a lapsed domain does too | Keep the site published and the domain on auto-renew | | Code from a marketplace QR app | Yes, if it is dynamic | The provider's plan, trial or code limit decides | Read the app's terms, or use a static code | Plan names and limits are Canva's and the app providers' as read on 2 October 2026. They move, so confirm the current wording before printing in quantity. 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](https://koloqr.com/blog/dynamic-qr-code-subscription). ## 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](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) 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](https://koloqr.com/tools/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](https://koloqr.com/guides/why-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](https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva) 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](https://koloqr.com/guides/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](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-canva) sets the two side by side, and a code from [the KoloQR generator](https://koloqr.com/#generator) can be uploaded into any Canva design. ## FAQ ### Do Free Canva QR Codes Expire? No. A QR code made on Canva Free has no expiry date, because only Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit accounts can set one. A static code from the free plan works for as long as its URL does. A dynamic code from the free plan, recognisable by the Canva logo in the middle, works until its owner deletes it. ### Will My Canva QR Code Stop Working If I Cancel Canva Pro? A QR code made with Canva's static or dynamic tool should keep working: Canva makes dynamic codes on the Free plan, so they do not depend on Pro. What cancelling Pro removes is custom canva.link slugs, at the end of the billing cycle. A code that encodes a custom slug like canva.link/my-menu will then fail. ### Why Does My Canva QR Code Have a Canva Logo in the Middle? Because it is a dynamic QR code made on a Free, Pro or Education plan, where Canva adds its logo by default. Removing or replacing the logo needs Canva Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit. If you want a code with no logo on a free plan, make it with Static QR codes instead, which never include the Canva logo. ### Can I Change the Link of a Canva QR Code That Is Already Printed? Only if it is a dynamic code. Select the code, choose Edit, change the URL and select Save, and every printed copy follows. A static code cannot be edited, and Canva states a static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one. Changing the link of a static code means a new code and a reprint. ### What Do People See When a Canva QR Code Expires? They land on the URL after expiry that the owner entered, or on Canva's generic QR code error page if none was entered. Only codes whose owner set an expiry date can reach this point. Clearing the date in the code's settings makes the printed copies redirect to the destination again. ### My Canva QR Code Worked Last Month and Now Shows a 404. Why? Most likely it points at a Canva design or website that was deleted or unpublished. Decode the code: a canva.link or canva.com address means it depends on a design that must still exist and stay shared. If the design is in Trash, restore it within 30 days. A deleted public view link cannot be brought back. ### Do QR Codes From Canva Apps Like Hovercode or Uniqode Expire? Their static codes do not. Their dynamic codes follow the provider's plan, not Canva's. Hovercode states that dynamic codes created above its free limit expire after a downgrade, and Uniqode states that dynamic codes go inactive when a trial ends or a subscription is cancelled, and that deleted codes stop working immediately. ### Is There a Scan Limit on Canva QR Codes? Canva's QR help page names no scan limit for either static or dynamic codes, as read on 2 October 2026. A static code cannot have one, because no server sees the scan. Scan counts themselves, through Insights, are listed for Business, Enterprise and Nonprofit plans only. --- # KoloQR vs the Popular QR Code Generators URL: https://koloqr.com/compare See how KoloQR compares with QR Tiger, ME-QR, QRFY, Flowcode, and QRCode Monkey on design, pricing, and tracking. Pick a tool for the full side-by-side. Honest, side-by-side comparisons with the QR code generators people ask about most. Pick a tool below to see where each one genuinely leads. ## Compare KoloQR Side by Side Choose a generator to see the full side-by-side - features, pricing, and the honest picture of where each tool leads. ## Static Design, or Dynamic Tracking? Nearly every comparison here comes down to the same split. KoloQR is built for free, design-first static codes; most of the others are platforms built around dynamic codes and scan analytics. Neither is better, they're built for different jobs. ### KoloQR: Free, Design-First Static Codes If you want a good-looking, print-ready code in seconds, with no account and no subscription, KoloQR is the quickest path. - **Custom Shapes**: Circular, hexagonal, triangular, and rectangular codes, plus logos and full colour control. - **No Account, No Cost**: Generate, style, and download PNG and vector files without signing up or paying. - **Print-Ready and Open Source**: SVG, PDF, and EPS export, a contrast checker, and source you can inspect or self-host. KoloQR makes static codes: the data is encoded directly, so they never expire and never depend on a subscription. The trade-off is that you can't change where they point or track scans once printed. ### The Alternatives: Tracking, Campaigns, and Scale If you need to edit a code after printing, measure scans, or manage codes across a team, a dynamic platform is built for exactly that, and KoloQR isn't. Tools like QR Tiger, ME-QR, QRFY, and Flowcode centre on dynamic codes you can repoint after printing, with analytics by time, location, and device, plus bulk creation, campaign management, and integrations. That depth is the reason to pay for one, and the reason it stops working if the subscription lapses. Pick a comparison above to see exactly where each tool leads. ## FAQ ### How Do I Choose Between KoloQR and a Tracking Platform? Ask whether the code needs to change or be measured after printing. If yes, a dynamic platform like QR Tiger, ME-QR, QRFY, or Flowcode is worth the account and subscription. If not, a free static KoloQR code is simpler, permanent, and costs nothing. ### What's the Difference Between Static and Dynamic QR Codes? A static code stores the data in the pattern itself, so it never expires and needs no service behind it, but the destination is fixed once printed. A dynamic code stores a link to the provider's redirect, which they can repoint and track for as long as the account stays active. KoloQR makes static codes. ### Is KoloQR Free Compared to the Alternatives? Yes. KoloQR is free with no account, no subscription, and no watermark, including vector export. Most alternatives have a free tier too, but gate dynamic codes, analytics, or vector downloads behind an account and paid plans. ### Can KoloQR Track Scans or Edit a Code After Printing? No. KoloQR makes static codes, so there's no scan tracking and the destination is fixed once printed. If you need either, use a dynamic platform - each comparison above shows which one fits. ### Which QR Code Generator Is Best for Design? KoloQR leads on design: custom outer shapes (circular, hexagonal, triangular), logos, full colour control, print-ready vector export, and a contrast checker. It's also open source. Most tracking platforms style patterns and frames but keep a square code. ### Which Is the Best Free QR Code Generator? For free static codes, KoloQR is hard to beat: no account, no watermark, custom shapes and colors, and vector export all included. Tools like QRCode Monkey and QR Tiger also have free tiers, but usually gate dynamic codes, analytics, or downloads behind a paid plan. ### Do QR Codes From These Tools Expire? Static codes never expire, the link is encoded directly. Dynamic codes depend on the provider's redirect and usually stop working if the subscription lapses. Check the plan's terms before printing dynamic codes at volume. ### Which Comparison Should I Read? Pick the tool you're weighing KoloQR against above. Each page is an honest, side-by-side look at features, pricing, and where that tool genuinely leads, including the things it does better than KoloQR. --- # The Free QR Tiger Alternative URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrtiger Looking for a QR TIGER alternative? QR TIGER is a subscription platform for dynamic codes and scan analytics. KoloQR designs the code itself - free, open source. Both create QR codes, but they solve different problems. QR Tiger is built for dynamic codes, scan tracking, and large marketing campaigns. KoloQR is built for beautiful, print-ready static codes you can design and download in seconds - free, with no account. Here's an honest side-by-side to help you pick the right one. ## Feature Comparison The areas where KoloQR leads. QR Tiger's own strengths - dynamic codes, tracking, and bulk campaigns - are covered in the overview below, so this table stays focused on design and access. | Feature | KoloQR | QR Tiger | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Sign-up - Export full-quality files instantly. QR Tiger requires an account to download SVG and other vector formats. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. QR Tiger is a proprietary, hosted platform. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Circular, rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal outer shapes - not just pattern and eye styling. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-made frames with a call to action. Both tools offer these. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export (SVG, PDF, EPS) - Both export print-ready vectors. QR Tiger gates SVG behind an account. | Yes | Yes | | Copy Straight to Figma - Paste a QR code into a Figma file without exporting and re-importing. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Generate a QR code from any open webpage in one click. | Yes | No | | Built-in Contrast Checker - Warns you when foreground and background contrast is too low to scan reliably. | Yes | No | ## Where Each Tool Actually Leads The table only tells part of the story. KoloQR and QR Tiger are built for different jobs. Here's the honest picture so you can choose the right tool rather than the loudest one. ### KoloQR: Design and Quick, Free Static Codes If you care how the QR code looks and you want a print-ready file in seconds without an account, KoloQR is the faster path. - **Custom Shapes**: Circular, hexagonal, triangular, and rectangular codes, plus logo support and full color control. - **No Account, No Cost**: Generate, style, and download high-quality PNG and vector files without signing up or paying. - **Print-Ready by Default**: SVG, PDF, and EPS export at any size, with a contrast checker to keep codes scannable. - **Built for a Designer's Workflow**: Copy straight to Figma, or generate a code from any page with the Chrome extension. KoloQR makes static QR codes. The data is encoded directly, so the code never expires and never depends on a subscription staying active - the trade-off is that you can't change where it points once it's printed. ### What Is QR Tiger? Tracking, Campaigns, and Scale If you need to change a code after printing, measure scans, or manage QR codes across a team, QR Tiger is built for exactly that - and KoloQR isn't. QR Tiger's dynamic QR codes let you edit the destination after printing and track every scan by time, location, and device. It adds bulk generation, campaign management, scan alerts, password protection, and integrations with tools like Zapier, HubSpot, Canva, and GA4, plus an API on higher tiers. That depth is why large brands rely on it. It's the trade-off for a paid, account-based platform whose dynamic codes stop working if the subscription lapses. Choose QR Tiger when tracking and editability matter more than free, design-first static codes. ## How to Choose - and How to Make a QR Code That Actually Scans Whichever tool you pick, a few habits keep your codes reliable in the real world. These matter more than most feature lists admit. - **Match the Tool to the Job**: Need to edit the link or count scans after printing? Use a dynamic code from a tracking platform. Just need a clean, permanent link? A free static code is simpler and cheaper. - **Keep Static Codes for Permanent Links**: Menus, business cards, and packaging that point to a stable URL work fine as static codes - nothing to expire and no subscription to keep alive. - **Test on Real Phones Before Printing**: Scan with both an iPhone and an Android using the native camera. A code that reads on screen can still fail on paper at small sizes. - **Respect the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear space around the code, roughly four modules wide. Crowding it is the most common reason a code won't scan. - **Keep Strong Contrast**: Dark code on a light background scans best. Light-on-dark can work, but low-contrast or busy backgrounds break scanning. A contrast checker catches this before you print. - **Size for Scanning Distance**: A rough rule: the code should be about a tenth of the distance it's scanned from. A poster read from 3 m needs a code around 30 cm wide. - **Use Vector Files for Print**: Export SVG, PDF, or EPS so the code stays crisp at any size. PNG is fine for screens and small prints but degrades when scaled up. - **Add a Logo Carefully**: A centered logo builds trust, but keep it small and raise the error-correction level so the code stays readable. - **Don't Rely on Style for Scannability**: Shapes and colors are fine, but they don't speed up scanning - legibility does. Style within the limits of contrast and quiet zone. - **Tell People What to Expect**: A short prompt like 'Scan for the menu' lifts scans more than any design trick. People scan when they know what they'll get. ## Design Your QR Code in Seconds - Free If your project needs a beautiful, print-ready static QR code without an account or a subscription, KoloQR is the quickest way there. And if you need dynamic codes, scan analytics, or campaign management across a team, QR Tiger is the better fit - we'd rather point you to the right tool than pretend one size fits all. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR a Good QR Tiger Alternative? Yes, if you want design-first static QR codes for free. KoloQR focuses on custom shapes, logos, and print-ready vector export with no account. It isn't an alternative for QR Tiger's dynamic codes, scan tracking, or campaign tools - those it doesn't offer. ### What's the Main Difference Between KoloQR and QR Tiger? KoloQR makes static, design-focused QR codes for free with no sign-up. QR Tiger is a paid platform built around dynamic QR codes you can edit and track after printing. One is about design and access; the other is about analytics and campaigns. ### Does QR Tiger Require an Account to Download QR Codes? For vector files, yes - QR Tiger's own guidance says you need to create an account to export SVG. KoloQR lets you download PNG and vector files instantly, without signing up. ### Can KoloQR Create Dynamic QR Codes? No. KoloQR makes static QR codes, where the data is fixed in the code itself. That means they never expire and need no subscription, but you can't change the destination or track scans after printing. For that, use a dynamic platform like QR Tiger. ### Which Is Better for a Restaurant Menu? It depends on whether the menu link changes. For a stable menu URL, a free static KoloQR code is simpler and never expires. If you swap menus often or want to see how many people scan, a dynamic QR Tiger code is worth the subscription. ### Does KoloQR Make Circular QR Codes? Yes. Circular QR codes are one of KoloQR's core features, along with rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal shapes. QR Tiger customizes patterns, colors, and frames but doesn't offer full circular or hexagonal outer shapes. ### Is KoloQR Really Free? Yes. You can generate, customize, and download QR codes - including vector formats - without paying or creating an account. QR Tiger has a free tier too, but its dynamic codes, analytics, and vector downloads sit behind an account and paid plans. ### Do KoloQR QR Codes Expire? No. Because they're static, the link is encoded directly and works as long as the destination page is live. Dynamic codes, like QR Tiger's, can stop working if the subscription behind them lapses. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR doesn't track scans, since a static code carries no redirect to measure. If scan analytics matter - location, device, time - QR Tiger is built for that and KoloQR isn't. ### Is KoloQR Open Source? Yes. You can inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. QR Tiger is a proprietary, hosted platform, so its code isn't available to review or run yourself. ### Can I Use KoloQR Codes for Commercial Printing? Yes. Export SVG, PDF, or EPS and the code stays sharp at any size, from a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) to a billboard. Vector files are the right choice for professional print work. --- # The Free, Ad-Free ME-QR Alternative URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-me-qr Looking for a ME-QR alternative? Its free dynamic codes show an ad between the scan and your page. KoloQR makes static codes - no ad, no account, no expiry. Both create QR codes for free, but they aim at different things. ME-QR is built around free dynamic codes, scan tracking, and a wide range of content types. KoloQR is built for beautiful, print-ready static codes you can design and download in seconds - open source, with no account required. Here's an honest side-by-side to help you choose. ## Feature Comparison The areas where KoloQR leads on design and access. ME-QR's own strengths - free dynamic codes, tracking, and many content types - are covered in the overview below. | Feature | KoloQR | ME-QR | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Sign-up - Both generate and download a static QR code with no account. Editing an ME-QR dynamic code later does require signing up. | Yes | Yes | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. ME-QR is a proprietary, hosted platform. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Circular, rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal outer shapes - beyond pattern, color, and frame styling. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-made frames with a call to action. Both tools offer these. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export (SVG, PDF, EPS) - Both export print-ready vector files for professional printing. | Yes | Yes | | Copy Straight to Figma - Paste a QR code into a Figma file without exporting and re-importing. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Generate a QR code from any open webpage in one click. | Yes | No | | Built-in Contrast Checker - Warns you when foreground and background contrast is too low to scan reliably. | Yes | No | ## Where Each Tool Actually Leads The table only tells part of the story. KoloQR and ME-QR are built for different jobs. Here's the honest picture so you can choose the right tool rather than the one with the longest feature list. ### KoloQR: Design and Clean, Ad-Free Static Codes If you care how the QR code looks and you want a print-ready file in seconds, KoloQR is the faster, simpler path - and the code points straight to your link with nothing in between. - **Custom Shapes**: Circular, hexagonal, triangular, and rectangular codes, plus logo support and full color control. - **No Account, No Ads**: Download high-quality PNG and vector files without signing up, and static codes link directly with no ad interstitial. - **Print-Ready by Default**: SVG, PDF, and EPS export at any size, with a contrast checker to keep codes scannable. - **Built for a Designer's Workflow**: Copy straight to Figma, or generate a code from any page with the Chrome extension. KoloQR makes static QR codes. The link is encoded directly, so the code never expires, needs no account to stay live, and shows no ads when scanned - the trade-off is that you can't change where it points or track scans once it's printed. ### What Is ME-QR? Free Dynamic Codes and Scan Tracking If you want to edit a code after printing, track scans, or pick from many content types without paying, ME-QR's free tier is genuinely generous - and KoloQR doesn't do any of that. ME-QR is built around free dynamic QR codes you can edit after printing, with scan analytics by time, location, and device. It supports a wide range of content types, bulk creation, a digital menu builder, branded-domain redirects, and API access. The main trade-offs on the free plan: scanners see a short advertisement before reaching your content, and editing or tracking a code requires an account. Choose ME-QR when free tracking and editable codes matter more than design control and a direct, ad-free link. ## How to Choose, and What the Free Tier Actually Costs ME-QR gives away tracking and editable codes; the price is paid at scan time rather than at checkout. These checks decide whether that trade works for your project. - **Time the Full Scan, Not the Download**: The editor is not where these tools differ - the difference lands between the camera and your page. A free ME-QR code sends the scanner through an advertisement first; a static code opens the destination directly. Generate one of each, scan both on mobile data rather than office Wi-Fi, and count the seconds and the taps. That number is the actual comparison. - **Let the Destination Decide, Not the Feature List**: Ask whether the link behind the code can still change once the artwork is at the printer. A menu URL that gets rewritten next season needs a dynamic code and is worth an account. A booking page, a portfolio, or a Wi-Fi password will outlive the print run, and a static code carries it with nothing in the middle to fail. - **Count the Ad Against the Cost of a Reprint**: An interstitial is cheap until it is in front of a paying customer at a table. Weigh it where the code will actually live: on a takeaway flyer it costs a second of patience, on a restaurant table or a product label it sits between someone's hunger and your menu on every scan, for as long as the print exists. - **Name the Account Owner Before the Print Run**: A dynamic code works for exactly as long as somebody's login does. Write down who holds the ME-QR account, who renews it, and what each printed code points at, before ten thousand of them exist. A static code needs none of that bookkeeping, which is its quiet advantage. - **Give the Symbol Room to Breathe**: A scanner finds a QR code by its edges, so it needs an empty margin four modules deep on every side. Frames, folds, die-cuts and busy photography all eat into that margin, and a crowded symbol is the most common reason a code that worked on screen fails on paper. - **Judge Contrast in Grayscale**: Cameras read brightness, not hue. Two colors that clearly differ on a monitor - a mid-blue on a mid-grey, say - can carry almost no difference in luminance and defeat the scanner. Desaturate the artwork and look again: if the code stops standing out in grayscale, it will stop scanning in the real world. - **Scale by Reading Distance, Not by the Layout Grid**: Allow roughly one centimetre of code for every ten centimetres between the phone and the print. A table tent read at 30 cm wants about 3 cm; a wall poster read at 3 m wants about 30 cm. Hold 2 cm as the floor for anything printed, because ink spread and an unsteady hand both eat the margin. - **Export Vector for Anything With Ink on It**: SVG, PDF and EPS stay sharp at whatever size the layout settles on. A PNG carries a fixed ceiling, and a code enlarged past it develops soft module edges that a camera reads as noise. Archive the vector file, not only the copy placed in the document. - **Raise Error Correction Only When a Logo Needs It**: A centered logo covers part of the symbol, and error correction is the redundancy that keeps the rest readable - level Q or H recovers roughly a quarter of it. The catch: a higher level adds modules, so at the same printed width every module gets smaller. Raise it because there is a logo, not by default. - **Say What the Code Leads To**: A three-word prompt beside the symbol - 'scan for the menu' - moves more scans than any styling choice, because people scan when they already know what they will get. Print the destination as readable text too, for anyone with a cracked lens, a dead battery, or no data left. ## Design Your QR Code in Seconds - Free If your project needs a beautiful, print-ready static QR code with no account and no ads on scans, KoloQR is the quickest way there. And if you need editable codes, scan analytics, or many content types for free, ME-QR is a strong fit - we'd rather point you to the right tool than pretend one size fits all. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR a Good ME-QR Alternative? Yes, if you want design-first static QR codes with custom shapes, logos, and print-ready export. KoloQR is open source and shows no ads on scans. It isn't an alternative for ME-QR's dynamic codes, scan tracking, or many content types - those it doesn't offer. ### What's the Main Difference Between KoloQR and ME-QR? KoloQR makes static, design-focused QR codes with no account and no ads. ME-QR is built around free dynamic codes you can edit and track after printing. One is about design and a direct link; the other is about analytics and editability. ### Does ME-QR Show Ads on QR Codes? On its free plan, yes - ME-QR's own documentation notes that scanners see an advertisement before reaching your content. Paid plans remove it. KoloQR's static codes link straight to your destination, so there's no ad interstitial at any tier. ### Can KoloQR Create Dynamic QR Codes? No. KoloQR makes static QR codes, where the data is fixed in the code. They never expire and need no account, but you can't change the destination or track scans after printing. For that, a dynamic platform like ME-QR is the right choice. ### Is ME-QR Free? Yes, ME-QR has a genuinely generous free tier with dynamic codes and tracking, though free scans show an ad and editing a code requires an account. KoloQR is also free and needs no account, but it makes static codes only. ### Does KoloQR Make Circular QR Codes? Yes. Circular QR codes are one of KoloQR's core features, along with rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal shapes. ME-QR customizes colors, logos, and frames but doesn't offer full circular or hexagonal outer shapes. ### Which Is Better for a Restaurant Menu? It depends on how often the menu changes. For a stable menu link, a free static KoloQR code is simple, ad-free, and never expires. If you update the menu often or want scan numbers, ME-QR's dynamic code and menu builder are worth the sign-up. ### Do KoloQR QR Codes Expire? No. Because they're static, the link is encoded directly and works as long as the destination page is live. Dynamic codes, like ME-QR's, depend on the platform account staying active. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR doesn't track scans, since a static code carries no redirect to measure. If scan analytics matter - location, device, time - ME-QR is built for that and KoloQR isn't. ### Is KoloQR Open Source? Yes. You can inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. ME-QR is a proprietary, hosted platform, so its code isn't available to review or run yourself. ### Can I Use KoloQR Codes for Commercial Printing? Yes. Export SVG, PDF, or EPS and the code stays sharp at any size, from a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) to a billboard. ME-QR also offers vector export, so both work for professional print. --- # The Free, No-Signup QRFY Alternative URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrfy KoloQR vs QRFY compared honestly. KoloQR makes free, design-first static QR codes with no signup. QRFY adds dynamic codes, scan analytics, and bulk campaigns. These tools solve different problems. KoloQR is a free, design-focused generator for beautiful static QR codes you can download without an account - ideal for print, packaging, and branding. QRFY is a subscription platform for teams that need dynamic codes they can edit after printing, scan analytics, and bulk campaigns. This page lays out where each one genuinely leads so you can pick without guessing. ## Feature Comparison A quick view of where KoloQR leads. This table focuses on design and workflow - see the overview below for where QRFY leads on dynamic codes and analytics. | Feature | KoloQR | QRFY | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup - Download QR codes instantly without creating an account. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. | Yes | No | ## Where Each Tool Actually Leads The table only tells part of the story. KoloQR and QRFY are built around different goals, so the honest answer is that the right choice depends on whether you care more about design and privacy or about tracking and editable destinations. ### KoloQR KoloQR is for anyone who wants a good-looking QR code fast, without an account and without an ongoing subscription. Everything happens in the browser, so your content is never uploaded, and what you download is print-ready. - **Design and Custom Shapes**: [Circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), rectangular, [triangular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes), and [hexagonal](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes) QR codes, plus logo support and custom colors. Useful when the code has to fit a brand rather than look like a default black square. - **No Signup, Private by Design**: Generate and download without creating an account. Codes are built client-side, so your link, Wi-Fi password, or vCard details never leave your device. - **Print-Ready Vector Export**: Export SVG, PDF, and EPS at any size without pixelation - the formats a printer or designer actually asks for. - **Fits a Designer's Workflow**: Copy straight into Figma, generate a code from any page with the Chrome extension, and check contrast before you commit to colors. - **Free and Open Source**: No paywall on exports, and the code is open so you can inspect or self-host it. The trade-off is deliberate: KoloQR makes static QR codes. The destination is encoded directly into the code, so it never expires - but it also can't be edited after printing, and there is no scan tracking. If you need to change a link later or measure scans, that's exactly where QRFY fits. ### What Is QRFY? QRFY is a subscription platform aimed at businesses and marketing teams. Its strengths are the things a design tool doesn't try to do - and it's fair to name them plainly. QRFY's core advantage is dynamic QR codes: you can change where a printed code points without reprinting it, and see scan analytics like counts, location, and device. It supports bulk creation via CSV and an API, over 25 content types (menus, PDFs, vCards, coupons, reviews), hosted landing pages, custom domains, tracking pixels, and team roles. The costs are an account, a subscription (dynamic codes run on a trial that pauses if you don't upgrade), and content hosted on QRFY's servers. If dynamic destinations and tracking are the point, QRFY is the stronger choice. ## How to Choose, and How to Get a QR Code That Scans A short decision guide, followed by the practical rules that matter no matter which tool you use. - **Pick KoloQR for Static, Design-Led Codes**: Business cards, menus, packaging, posters, wedding signage - anything printed where the link won't change and the look matters. Static codes never expire and cost nothing. - **Pick QRFY When the Link Must Change Later**: If a printed code needs to point somewhere new next month, you need a dynamic code. KoloQR doesn't offer that; QRFY does. - **Pick QRFY When You Need Scan Analytics**: To measure how many people scan, from where, and on what device, you need a tracking platform. KoloQR intentionally doesn't track, so choose QRFY if reporting matters. - **Keep Enough Contrast**: Dark code on a light background scans most reliably. Light-on-dark can work but is riskier; very low contrast fails. KoloQR's contrast checker flags this before you print. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear space around the code - roughly four modules wide. Crowding it against text or an edge is one of the most common reasons a code won't scan. - **Add a Logo Carefully**: A logo in the center is fine if it stays small and error correction is high enough. Cover too much of the pattern and scanners give up. Test before mass printing. - **Export as Vector for Print**: Use SVG, PDF, or EPS so the code stays crisp at any size, from a business card to a banner. Both tools support vector export; avoid low-resolution PNGs for large print. - **Mind the Minimum Print Size**: As a rule of thumb, keep a code at least 2 x 2 cm, and larger for signage read from a distance. More data in the code means denser modules, which need more size. - **Always Test on Real Phones**: Scan the final file with more than one phone and camera app before printing thousands of copies. This single step catches most avoidable failures. - **Consider Privacy for Sensitive Content**: For a Wi-Fi password or personal contact details, client-side generation keeps the data on your device. KoloQR builds codes in the browser; hosted platforms store content on their servers. ## Try KoloQR for Your Next QR Code If you want a beautiful, print-ready static QR code without an account or a subscription, KoloQR does that in seconds - circular and custom shapes, logo support, and SVG, PDF, and EPS export. And if what you actually need is a link you can edit after printing or scan analytics for a campaign, QRFY is the better fit - there's no point pretending otherwise. Choose based on the job, not the marketing. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR a Good QRFY Alternative? For design-led static QR codes, yes. KoloQR is free, needs no signup, and exports print-ready vector files. It's not a replacement if you specifically need QRFY's dynamic codes or scan analytics - those are different jobs. ### Does KoloQR Have Dynamic QR Codes Like QRFY? No. KoloQR makes static QR codes, where the link is encoded directly into the code. That means it never expires, but it also can't be edited after printing. QRFY's dynamic codes can be updated later, which is its main advantage. ### Can I Use KoloQR Without Creating an Account? Yes. You can generate and download QR codes on KoloQR without signing up. QRFY requires an account, and its dynamic codes and exports depend on a subscription. ### Which Is Better for a Restaurant Menu QR Code? It depends. If your menu link is stable and you want a branded, print-ready code, KoloQR is simpler and free. If your menu changes often and you want to swap the destination without reprinting, or to track scans, QRFY's dynamic codes fit better. ### Does QRFY Offer Scan Analytics, and Does KoloQR? QRFY provides scan analytics, including counts, location, and device data on its paid plans. KoloQR does not track scans by design, which keeps generation private and account-free. ### Is KoloQR Free? Is QRFY Free? KoloQR is free, including exports. QRFY offers [free static codes](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qrfy-free), but its dynamic codes run on a trial that pauses when it ends, and ongoing use requires a subscription. ### Can I Make a Circular QR Code in QRFY? QRFY focuses on colors, logos, and frames rather than the code's overall shape. Circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR shapes are a KoloQR feature. ### Will My QR Code Expire on KoloQR or QRFY? KoloQR's static codes never expire because the data lives in the code itself. QRFY's static codes also don't expire, but its dynamic codes stop redirecting if the subscription lapses. ### Which Is Better for Professional Printing? Both export vector formats. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, and EPS, and includes a contrast checker to catch scanning issues before print. For a designer handing files to a printer, KoloQR's workflow is well suited. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR intentionally leaves out tracking so codes can be created privately and without an account. If measuring scans is essential, use a dynamic platform like QRFY. ### Is KoloQR Open Source? Yes. KoloQR's source code is open, so you can inspect, modify, or self-host it. QRFY is a closed, proprietary platform. --- # The Free, Open-Source Flowcode Alternative URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-flowcode Compare KoloQR and Flowcode side by side. See how the two QR code generators differ on design, custom shapes, exports, tracking, pricing, and open-source access. Both create QR codes, but they sit at opposite ends of the market. Flowcode is a premium, design-led platform built around dynamic codes, scan analytics, and landing pages - powerful, but account-based and paid for anything serious. KoloQR is a free, open-source generator for print-ready static codes you can design and download in seconds, with no account. Here's an honest side-by-side to help you choose. ## Feature Comparison The areas where KoloQR leads on design freedom and access. Flowcode's own strengths - dynamic codes, analytics, and landing pages - are covered in the overview below. | Feature | KoloQR | Flowcode | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Sign-up - KoloQR downloads need no account. Flowcode requires you to create an account before you can download any code. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. Flowcode is a proprietary, hosted platform. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Circular, rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal outer shapes. Flowcode styles pattern, color, and frame within a square code. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-made frames with a call to action. Both tools offer these. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export (SVG, PDF, EPS) - Both export vectors, but KoloQR's are free and unwatermarked. Flowcode's SVG needs a paid plan and free codes carry a watermark. | Yes | Yes | | Copy Straight to Figma - Paste a QR code into a Figma file without exporting and re-importing. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Generate a QR code from any open webpage in one click. | Yes | No | | Built-in Contrast Checker - Warns you when foreground and background contrast is too low to scan reliably. | Yes | No | ## Where Each Tool Actually Leads The table only tells part of the story. KoloQR and Flowcode are built for different jobs. Here's the honest picture so you can choose the right tool rather than the one with the longest feature list. ### KoloQR: Free, Permanent, Design-Flexible Static Codes If you want a print-ready QR code in seconds - no account, no watermark, and a code that keeps working no matter what - KoloQR is the simpler path. - **Custom Shapes**: Circular, hexagonal, triangular, and rectangular codes, plus logo support and full color control. - **No Account, No Watermark**: Download high-quality PNG and vector files without signing up, and with no branding added to your code. - **Codes That Don't Expire**: Static codes are encoded directly, so they never expire and don't depend on a platform account or subscription staying active. - **Print-Ready and Open Source**: Free SVG, PDF, and EPS export, a contrast checker, plus source code you can inspect and self-host. KoloQR makes static QR codes. Because the link lives in the code itself, it's platform-independent - you can switch tools anytime without reprinting. The trade-off is that you can't change the destination or track scans once it's printed. ### What Is Flowcode? Premium Design, Tracking, and Landing Pages If you want polished branded codes, scan analytics, landing pages, and lead capture in one platform, Flowcode is built for that - and KoloQR isn't. Flowcode is a design-led marketing platform, known for high-quality branded codes, dynamic destinations you can edit after printing, and real-time analytics by location, device, and time. It adds Flowpage landing pages, first-party data collection, CRM integrations, bulk generation, an API, and strong privacy compliance (GDPR, CCPA, SOC2). The trade-offs: you need an account to download anything, the free plan adds a watermark and caps scans, SVG export and serious features sit on paid plans from $25/month, and because the codes are dynamic they're tied to Flowcode - if the subscription lapses, they stop working. Choose Flowcode when tracking, landing pages, and data collection matter more than free, permanent, platform-independent codes. If the subscription is the sticking point rather than the platform, the other options are weighed against each other in [seven Flowcode alternatives](https://koloqr.com/blog/flowcode-alternatives). ## How to Choose, and Where Brand Design Meets Scannability Flowcode sells codes that look designed, and design is exactly where scanning quietly breaks. These are the checks that keep a beautiful code working once it is on paper. - **Check What the Free Plan Adds to the Symbol**: Before the artwork is signed off, download the actual file you intend to print and open it at full size. Flowcode's free tier stamps a watermark and caps how many scans a code will serve - both are easy to miss in a preview and impossible to fix once the run is off the press. - **Confirm the Export Format Before the Layout Is Locked**: SVG sits behind a paid plan, and that single fact sets your maximum print size. If the code will appear on anything larger than a flyer, settle the export question first: designing a billboard around a PNG is a problem you discover at the worst possible moment. - **Separate What the Code Is From What Renders It**: A dynamic code is a pointer at a vendor's redirect service, so the printed object outlives the thing that makes it work. A static code encodes the destination itself and keeps working with no account behind it. Decide which of the two you are printing before anyone opens a design tool. - **Style Within the Limits, Not Against Them**: Rounded modules, custom eyes and a brand palette are all fine, and none of them help a camera. Scanning is decided by contrast, quiet zone and module size, and every styling decision spends part of that budget. Design freely inside those three constraints and the code stays reliable. - **Keep the Code Darker Than Its Background**: Inverted codes - light modules on a dark field - do scan on many current phones and fail on enough of the rest to matter in print. If the brand guideline calls for it, test on an older Android as well as a recent iPhone before committing, and keep a conventional version ready. - **Protect the Margin the Design Wants to Fill**: The empty band around the symbol, four modules deep, is what tells a scanner where the code starts. It is also the first thing a layout borrows when space runs short. Treat it as part of the code rather than as padding, and never let a frame or a background image cross into it. - **Size the Code for the Furthest Reader**: Work from the reading distance rather than from the space the layout has left over. The symbol needs roughly a tenth of the distance it will be scanned from: a shelf label read at arm's length is fine at 3 cm, while a code in a shop window read from the pavement needs more width than a designer usually wants to surrender. - **Pay for the Logo in Modules**: A logo over the center removes modules the scanner expected to find, and error correction is what covers the loss - levels Q and H hold back roughly a quarter of the symbol for exactly that. It costs density: the same printed width now carries more, smaller modules. Keep the logo small enough that you barely need the higher level. - **Proof It on the Real Material**: Gloss lamination under a downlight is the classic failure - the highlight blows out part of the symbol and the camera never locks on. Test the printed proof, on the actual stock, at the actual distance, in the light the code will live in. A matte finish solves most of it. - **Give People a Route That Is Not the Camera**: Print the destination as short readable text beside the code, and a phone number where one makes sense. It costs a line of type and covers everyone with a cracked lens, an empty battery or no data allowance - the most common omission on otherwise careful print work. ## Design Your QR Code in Seconds - Free If your project needs a beautiful, print-ready static QR code with no account, no watermark, and no subscription, KoloQR is the quickest way there. And if you need dynamic codes, scan analytics, landing pages, or lead capture, Flowcode is a strong, design-led choice - we'd rather point you to the right tool than pretend one size fits all. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR a Good Flowcode Alternative? Yes, if you want free, design-flexible static QR codes with no account and no watermark. KoloQR offers custom shapes, logos, and free vector export, and it's open source. It isn't an alternative for Flowcode's dynamic codes, analytics, or landing pages - those it doesn't offer. ### What's the Main Difference Between KoloQR and Flowcode? KoloQR makes free static codes with no account and no watermark, and the codes are permanent. Flowcode is a premium platform built around dynamic codes, analytics, and landing pages, with an account required and paid plans for anything serious. One is about free, permanent codes; the other about tracking and marketing. ### Do I Need an Account to Download a Flowcode QR Code? Yes. Flowcode's own generator asks you to create an account before you can download, even on the free plan. KoloQR lets you download PNG and vector files instantly, with no sign-up. ### Does Flowcode Add a Watermark? On its free plan, yes - free Flowcode codes carry a watermark and a 500-scan cap, and SVG export requires a paid plan from $25/month. KoloQR's codes are unwatermarked and its vector export is free. ### Can KoloQR Create Dynamic QR Codes? No. KoloQR makes static codes, where the data is fixed in the code. They never expire and need no account, but you can't change the destination or track scans after printing. For that, a dynamic platform like Flowcode is the right choice. ### Do KoloQR QR Codes Expire? No. Static codes are encoded directly and keep working as long as the destination page is live. Dynamic codes, like Flowcode's, route through the platform and can stop working if the subscription lapses. ### Does KoloQR Make Circular QR Codes? Yes. Circular QR codes are a core KoloQR feature, along with rectangular, triangular, and hexagonal shapes. Flowcode offers strong branded styling - colors, logos, patterns - but keeps the standard square outer shape. ### Which Is Better for a Restaurant Menu? It depends on your needs. For a stable menu link, a free static KoloQR code is simple, unwatermarked, and never expires. If you update the menu often, want scan numbers, or want a branded [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code), Flowcode's dynamic codes and Flowpage are worth the subscription. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR doesn't track scans, since a static code carries no redirect to measure. If analytics matter - location, device, time - Flowcode is built for that and KoloQR isn't. ### Is KoloQR Open Source? Yes. You can inspect, modify, and self-host the KoloQR source code. Flowcode is a proprietary, hosted platform, so its code isn't available to review or run yourself. ### Can I Use KoloQR Codes for Commercial Printing? Yes. Export SVG, PDF, or EPS free and the code stays sharp at any size, from a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) to a billboard. Flowcode also offers vector export, though on a paid plan. --- # The Open-Source QRCode Monkey Alternative URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcode-monkey KoloQR vs QRCode Monkey compared fairly. Both are free, no-signup static QR generators with vector export. KoloQR adds custom shapes, open source, and Figma. These two are close. Both let you create static QR codes for free, without an account, and both export print-ready vector files. QRCode Monkey is a long-established, widely trusted generator with deep control over dot and corner styling. KoloQR is a newer, design-first tool that adds custom code shapes, open source, and a workflow built for designers. This page lays out the real differences so you can pick the right one. ## Feature Comparison Where the two differ. Both share the essentials - free downloads with no signup, vector export, and a contrast check - so this table focuses on what sets KoloQR apart. | Feature | KoloQR | QRCode Monkey | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup - Download QR codes instantly without creating an account. | Yes | Yes | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. | Yes | No | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. | Yes | Yes | ## Where Each Tool Actually Leads Because these two overlap so much, the honest comparison is about workflow and design control rather than one being clearly better. Both are free static QR generators; here is where each genuinely pulls ahead. ### KoloQR KoloQR is built for people who care about how the code looks and how it fits into a design process. It keeps the free, no-account, static approach, then adds control and workflow that a classic generator doesn't. - **Custom Code Shapes**: Beyond dot styling, KoloQR can change the overall form of the code: [circular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), rectangular, [triangular](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes), and [hexagonal](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes). Useful when the code has to sit inside a specific layout or brand mark. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: The code is open, so you can inspect how it works, adapt it, or run it yourself. That matters for teams with privacy or compliance requirements. - **Designer Workflow**: Copy a code straight into Figma, generate one from any page with the Chrome extension, and reach for ready-made frames instead of building them by hand. - **Print-Ready by Default**: SVG, PDF, and EPS export, plus a contrast check so a design choice doesn't quietly break scanning. - **Free With No Account**: Generate and download without signing up. Codes are static, so they never expire. KoloQR is a newer tool. QRCode Monkey has years of use behind it, and if all you need is a well-styled code with a logo, that track record is worth something. KoloQR's case is design range and workflow, not that the other tool is bad. ### What Is QRCode Monkey? QRCode Monkey is one of the most established free QR generators on the web, and it earns real credit for what it does well. Its strengths are maturity and fine-grained styling. Millions of codes have been made with it, so it's a known, trusted quantity. You get individual control over the body dots and the corner (eye) elements, a template gallery to start from, custom colors, and a logo that can cover up to about 30% of the code. Exports include PNG, SVG, PDF, and EPS, and it's free for commercial use with no expiry. Where it stops: it's not open source, it doesn't change the overall shape of the code, and there's no Figma copy or browser extension. Its dynamic codes and scan tracking live in a separate paid product rather than the free generator. If you want deep dot-and-eye styling from a proven tool, QRCode Monkey is a solid pick. If the question behind your search is where the free version stops rather than which tool to use, that is answered separately in [what QRCode Monkey's free version really includes](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-monkey-really-free), including what we found inside its four download formats. ## How to Choose, and How to Get a QR Code That Scans A short decision guide, then the practical rules that apply whichever tool you use. - **Pick KoloQR for Custom Code Shapes**: If you need the whole code to be circular, triangular, or hexagonal rather than a square with styled dots, that's a KoloQR feature. QRCode Monkey styles the dots and corners but keeps the square outline. - **Pick KoloQR for Open Source or Self-Hosting**: If you need to inspect the code, adapt it, or run it on your own infrastructure, choose KoloQR. QRCode Monkey is a closed tool. - **Pick KoloQR for a Design Workflow**: Copy to Figma, a Chrome extension, and ready-made frames speed up work if you're producing codes as part of a larger design. QRCode Monkey doesn't offer these. - **Pick QRCode Monkey for Proven, Detailed Dot Styling**: If you mainly want fine control over dot and corner styles from a long-established tool with a big track record, QRCode Monkey is a dependable choice. - **Keep Enough Contrast**: A dark code on a light background scans most reliably. Both tools help you check this; low contrast is one of the most common causes of failed scans. - **Protect the Quiet Zone**: Leave clear space around the code, roughly four modules wide. Crowding it against text or an image edge often stops it scanning. - **Add a Logo Without Breaking the Pattern**: A centered logo is fine if it stays modest and error correction is high enough. QRCode Monkey allows up to about 30% coverage; even so, always test before printing at scale. - **Export as Vector for Print**: Use SVG, PDF, or EPS so the code stays sharp from a business card to a poster. Both tools export vector formats; avoid low-resolution PNGs for large print. - **Respect the Minimum Size**: Keep a printed code at least 2 x 2 cm, and larger for signage read from a distance. Denser codes with more data need more physical size to scan cleanly. - **Test on Real Phones Before Printing**: Scan the final file with more than one phone and camera app. This single check catches most avoidable failures, whatever generator made the code. ## Try KoloQR for Your Next QR Code If you want custom code shapes, open source, and a design-ready workflow - free, with no account and no expiry - KoloQR does that in seconds, and exports SVG, PDF, and EPS for clean printing. QRCode Monkey remains a strong, proven option, especially for detailed dot and corner styling. If that's your main need, either tool will serve you well; pick the one whose strengths match your work. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR a Good QRCode Monkey Alternative? Yes. Both are free static QR generators with no signup and vector export, so KoloQR is a close alternative. It adds custom code shapes, open source, Figma copy, and a Chrome extension, while QRCode Monkey offers more mature, detailed dot styling. ### Are Both KoloQR and QRCode Monkey Free? Yes. Both let you generate and download static QR codes for free without an account, and both are usable for commercial projects. Neither charges for the core static generator. ### Do I Need to Sign up to Use Either Tool? No. You can create and download codes on both KoloQR and QRCode Monkey without creating an account. ### Can QRCode Monkey Make Circular or Triangular QR Codes? QRCode Monkey styles the dots and corner elements but keeps the standard square outline. Changing the overall shape of the code - circular, triangular, or hexagonal - is a KoloQR feature. ### Which Has Better Design Customization? It depends on what you mean. QRCode Monkey gives detailed control over dot and corner styles with a template gallery. KoloQR adds overall shape options, frames, and a designer workflow. For dot-level styling QRCode Monkey is strong; for shape and workflow KoloQR leads. ### Do QR Codes From Either Tool Expire? No. Both create static codes, where the link is encoded directly into the pattern. Static codes never expire and have no scan limits, regardless of which tool made them. ### Which Is Better for Professional Printing? Both export vector formats suitable for print. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, and EPS with a built-in contrast check; QRCode Monkey exports PNG, SVG, PDF, and EPS. For print, either works - choose based on the design control you need. ### Is KoloQR Open Source and Is QRCode Monkey? KoloQR is open source, so you can inspect, modify, or self-host it. QRCode Monkey is a closed, proprietary tool. ### Can I Add My Logo to a QR Code in Both Tools? Yes. Both support adding a logo. QRCode Monkey allows coverage up to about 30% of the code. In either tool, keep the logo modest and test the result, since covering too much of the pattern can stop it scanning. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR or QRCode Monkey? The free generators are for static codes and don't track scans. QRCode Monkey offers dynamic codes and analytics through a separate paid product. KoloQR focuses on static, design-led codes without tracking. --- # KoloQR vs qr.io: Which QR Code Generator Fits the Job? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-io KoloQR is a free, open-source QR code generator that downloads without an account. qr.io is a paid subscription built around dynamic codes and scan tracking. KoloQR and qr.io are built for two different problems. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, produces a print-ready static code in the browser with no account, no watermark and no expiry, and its source code is open. qr.io is a subscription platform built around dynamic QR codes, where the destination stays editable after printing and every scan is recorded in a dashboard. The deciding question is simple: if the code will point at one URL for its entire life, a free static code is enough; if the destination has to change after the print run or the scans have to be counted, a dynamic service is the correct tool and KoloQR is not it. ## Feature Comparison The rows below cover code design, export and workflow, which is where the two tools differ most. They do not cover dynamic QR codes or scan analytics - that is qr.io territory and KoloQR has no equivalent, which the overview under the table sets out in full. Verified against the qr.io pricing and features pages in July 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | qr.io | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup - Download QR codes instantly without creating an account. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. | Yes | No | ## What Each Tool Is Actually For KoloQR is a design and export tool for static QR codes. qr.io is a hosting and tracking service for dynamic QR codes. A static QR code stores the destination inside the pattern itself, so it works forever and cannot be edited. A dynamic QR code stores a short redirect URL, so the destination stays editable and every scan passes through the provider's server, which is what makes tracking possible. ### KoloQR: Design the Code, Own the File KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, runs the whole job in the browser: paste a URL, pick a shape, set the colors, drop in a logo, download the file. There is no account, no watermark, no scan limit and no expiry date, and the generated code belongs to whoever made it. Because the codes are static, nothing routes through KoloQR servers after the download - the phone goes straight to the destination. - **No Account, No Watermark, No Expiry**: A KoloQR code is generated and downloaded without signing up, and it keeps working as long as the destination URL exists. Nothing is stored on a plan that can lapse, so a code printed on packaging in 2026 still resolves in 2031. - **Shapes the Standard Square Does Not Cover**: KoloQR outputs rectangular, circular, triangular and hexagonal QR codes, plus custom colors, a center logo and ready-made frames. Shape and color never improve scan performance - contrast, size and quiet zone do that - but they let a code sit inside a brand layout instead of fighting it. - **Print-Ready Vector Export**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats, so a KoloQR code scales from a 2 cm business-card corner to a 3 m building wrap with no loss of edge sharpness. PNG covers screens and email. Most print shops will ask for the vector file. - **Open Source, and a Contrast Checker Built In**: The KoloQR source code can be inspected, modified and self-hosted, which matters when a legal or security review asks where a URL was processed. The built-in contrast checker flags foreground and background combinations likely to fail on a phone camera before the file reaches the printer. ### What Is qr.io? Editable Destinations and Scan Statistics qr.io is a paid QR code platform. A single subscription - listed at $39.99 per month or $350 per year in July 2026, after a 7-day trial - covers unlimited codes and scans, dynamic and static codes, PNG and SVG download, custom landing pages, scan statistics by count, date and location, API access, bulk creation and five team seats. Creating anything requires an account, and the free trial is time-limited rather than a permanent free tier. qr.io is the better fit when the destination is not settled: a campaign [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) that will be swapped, a menu URL that moves between seasons, a printed catalogue whose links outlive the pages behind them. It also wins on volume - bulk creation and an API beat generating hundreds of codes by hand. KoloQR does none of that, and pretending otherwise would waste a print run. Where KoloQR is the stronger choice is a code with a fixed destination, a design that has to match a brand, and a budget of zero. ## Choosing Between Them, and Getting the Code Right Either Way The tool matters less than four decisions: static or dynamic, how big the code is printed, how much contrast it has, and whether anyone tested the exported file. The list below covers the choice first, then the print rules that apply whichever generator produced the code. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before Designing Anything**: Ask one question: will this URL still be correct in three years? A fixed destination - a homepage, a Wi-Fi login, a vCard, a permanent product page - is a static code, and paying a subscription for it adds a dependency without adding value. A destination that will move, or one whose scan count decides a budget, needs a dynamic code from a service such as qr.io. Switching later means reprinting, so decide before the artwork is signed off. - **A Redirect on Your Own Domain Buys Flexibility Without a Subscription**: Encoding a short URL you control - koloqr.com/menu rather than the destination itself - gives a static code an editable destination, because the redirect is changed server-side while the printed pattern stays identical. This is the standard workaround for the static-only limitation and it costs nothing beyond the domain. Two conditions: the redirect must exist before the print run, and the domain must be renewed for as long as the printed material is in circulation. - **Size the Code for the Distance It Is Read From**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 cm as the practical minimum for anything printed. A table tent read from 30 cm works at 3 cm; a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Measure the real distance rather than guessing from the mockup, because the mockup is always closer than the pavement. - **Leave the Quiet Zone Empty**: The quiet zone is the blank margin around a QR code that lets a scanner find where the symbol starts and ends. ISO/IEC 18004 specifies four modules - four of the small squares that make up the code - on every side. Layouts break this constantly: a price band, a border rule or a photo edge creeping into the margin is one of the most common reasons a code that scanned in the file fails on the printed sheet. - **Keep the Modules Darker Than the Background**: Most phone cameras expect dark modules on a light field, and inverted codes - light modules on a dark background - fail on a meaningful share of devices even though some scanners handle them. Brand colors are fine as long as the contrast ratio stays high and the direction stays conventional. Pale yellow on white and mid-grey on black are the two combinations that look best on screen and fail most often in a shop. - **Keep a Center Logo Small, Then Rescan**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. A center logo eats into that budget, so keep it well under a quarter of the code area, raise the error correction level when covering more, and rescan the finished file - the logo that looks balanced at 100% zoom can push a small print over the edge. - **Shorten the URL Before Generating the Code**: Fewer characters mean a lower QR version, fewer modules and therefore larger individual modules at the same printed size - which is the single cheapest way to make a small code more reliable. A 30-character URL produces a visibly coarser, more forgiving pattern than a 200-character link with tracking parameters. Strip the parameters, or put them behind a short redirect on your own domain. - **Export Vector for Print and PNG for Screens**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats: the code is stored as geometry, so it stays sharp at any size and print shops can place it without resampling. PNG is a raster format and is the right choice for email, slides, social posts and anything that will only ever be viewed on a screen. Sending a print shop a 600-pixel PNG for an A1 poster is the classic way to get a blurry, unscannable code back. - **Test the Exported File on Two Phones, at Full Size**: Scan the final artwork at its printed dimensions, from the distance the reader will actually stand at, on one iPhone and one Android device. The on-screen preview in any generator is backlit, perfectly flat and pixel-sharp, which hides the three problems that matter in print: size, reflection and quiet-zone clipping. This one test catches more failures than every design decision that preceded it. - **Print the URL and a Phone Number Next to the Code**: A QR code should be the fast path, never the only path. Some people will not scan a code at all, some older or budget Android phones still need a scanner app, and no code works in a cellar bar with no signal. A short readable URL and a phone number beside the code cost a line of type and remove the failure mode entirely. ## Generate a Free QR Code and See Whether That Is All You Need Paste a URL into KoloQR, choose a shape, set the brand colors and download SVG for print or PNG for screen. No account, no watermark, no expiry, and no charge for commercial use. If the destination turns out to need editing or the scans need counting, a dynamic service such as qr.io is the honest recommendation - but most printed codes point at one URL and never move. Before committing to a subscription, try the free route once: generate the static code, put a redirect on your own domain behind it, and print a single proof at full size. If that covers the job, the recurring cost was never necessary. If it does not, you will know exactly which capability you are paying for rather than buying a plan and hoping. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR Free, or Is There a Paid Tier? KoloQR is free. Codes are generated and downloaded without an account, without a watermark and without a scan limit, and there is no charge for commercial use. The codes are static, so nothing runs on a subscription that can lapse - the code keeps resolving as long as the destination URL exists. ### Does qr.io Have a Free Plan? qr.io offers a 7-day free trial rather than a permanent free tier, and an account is required before anything can be created. After the trial, access to the platform is a paid subscription, listed at $39.99 per month or $350 per year in July 2026. qr.io states that static codes made during the trial keep working afterwards. Confirm current pricing on the qr.io pricing page. ### What Is the Difference Between a Static and a Dynamic QR Code? A static QR code stores the destination inside the pattern itself, so it works without any service behind it and cannot be edited after printing. A dynamic QR code stores a short redirect URL owned by the provider, so the destination can be changed at any time and every scan is logged. Dynamic codes need an active account; static codes do not. ### Can I Change Where a KoloQR Code Points After It Is Printed? Not directly - KoloQR generates static codes, and the destination is baked into the pattern. The standard workaround is to encode a short URL on your own domain and redirect it server-side, so the printed code stays identical while the destination moves. That redirect has to be in place before the print run, not after it, and the domain has to stay renewed. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR has no analytics, because static codes send the phone straight to the destination without passing through any server that could count them. The closest approximation is giving each printed placement its own URL or UTM parameter and reading the traffic in your web analytics. That measures page visits rather than raw scans, so the totals run slightly low, but the comparison between placements is reliable. For real scan counts, use a dynamic service. ### Which One Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu? Use a static code from KoloQR if the menu lives at a stable URL such as yoursite.com/menu, and update the page rather than the code. Use a dynamic code from a service such as qr.io if the menu URL itself changes each season or lives on a platform that generates new links. Table codes are read from about 30 cm, so 3 cm of code width is enough. ### Do KoloQR Codes Expire? No. A static QR code has no expiry mechanism - the pattern encodes the destination directly, so it resolves for as long as that URL exists. This is a real difference from dynamic codes on any platform, which route through the provider and stop resolving if the account ends or the redirect is disabled. It is the main reason to prefer a static code for packaging, signage and anything printed once. ### What Happens to qr.io Codes if I Cancel the Subscription? qr.io states that static codes continue to work after the trial expires. Dynamic codes on any platform, qr.io included, depend on the provider's redirect staying active, so they can stop resolving when a plan ends. Check the current terms with qr.io before printing dynamic codes at scale, and treat a lapsed plan as a reprint risk rather than an inconvenience. ### Does a Circular or Custom-Shaped QR Code Still Scan Reliably? Yes, when the module grid, the quiet zone and the contrast are intact - the shape affects the frame and the styling around the symbol, not the data it carries. Styling never improves scan performance, so size, contrast and a clear four-module quiet zone still decide whether a code works. Rescan every styled code at printed size before signing off the artwork. ### Which Tool Is Better for a Designer Working in Figma? KoloQR, for two practical reasons: codes copy directly into Figma, and a Chrome extension generates a code from whatever page is open, which removes the copy-paste round trip during layout work. Vector export in SVG, PDF and EPS then hands the print team a file they can scale. qr.io has no Figma path, so its codes arrive as downloaded files. --- # KoloQR vs QRStuff: A Feature-by-Feature Comparison URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrstuff KoloQR is a free, open-source QR code generator built for design and print. QRStuff is a subscription platform for dynamic QR codes and scan tracking. KoloQR and QRStuff solve different halves of the same problem. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is built for producing a static code that looks correct in a layout and survives printing - every export format downloads without an account, and the source code is open. QRStuff is a subscription QR code platform built around dynamic codes, where the destination URL stays editable after printing and each scan is logged with location, device and time. The practical rule: if the code will never need to change, KoloQR covers it at no cost; if you need to redirect or measure it later, QRStuff's paid plans do that and KoloQR does not. ## Feature Comparison This table compares the design, export and workflow features of KoloQR and QRStuff. It does not cover dynamic QR codes, scan analytics, bulk CSV generation or team accounts - QRStuff provides all four and KoloQR provides none of them. Those differences are described in full below the table. | Feature | KoloQR | QRStuff | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. | Yes | No | ## What Each Generator Is Actually Built For KoloQR is a design tool for static QR codes; QRStuff is a campaign platform for dynamic QR codes. A static QR code stores the destination inside the symbol itself, so it works forever and cannot be edited or tracked. A dynamic QR code stores a short redirect URL, so the destination can be changed and every scan can be counted - but it depends on the provider's redirect servers staying online and paid for. ### KoloQR: Static QR Codes Made for Layouts and Print KoloQR is a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, aimed at people who have to place a code inside a design and hand it to a printer. Codes are static and permanent, exports are unwatermarked, and nothing is held back behind an account. The trade-off is deliberate: KoloQR has no redirect layer, so it offers no editable destinations and no scan analytics. - **No Account for Any Format**: Every export format on KoloQR, raster and vector, downloads without signing up, without a watermark and without a trial limit. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, and lets you change module and eye styling, colors and the center logo. - **Vector Files a Printer Accepts**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS, so the code stays sharp at any size - a 6 mm code on a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) and a 300 mm code on a poster come from the same file. - **Tools That Fit a Designer's Workflow**: KoloQR includes a contrast checker, a copy-to-Figma action and a Chrome extension that turns the page you are on into a QR code without leaving the tab. ### What Is QRStuff? Dynamic Codes, Scan Analytics and Team Accounts QRStuff does several things KoloQR does not, and they are the reason to choose it. QRStuff supports dynamic QR codes whose destination URL can be edited after the code is printed, records scans with location, device and time, generates codes in bulk from a CSV on its higher plans, and offers an API, password protection and multi-seat accounts for teams. If a printed run has to be redirected later, or a campaign has to be measured, KoloQR cannot do it and QRStuff can. The condition attached to dynamic QR codes is worth planning for: they resolve through the provider's redirect servers, so a QRStuff dynamic code stops working if the subscription lapses, while static codes created on either tool keep working indefinitely. Reprinting is the cost of static; an ongoing subscription is the cost of dynamic. For a menu, a business card, a Wi-Fi code or packaging artwork where the destination is fixed, the static route removes a recurring dependency - and that is the case KoloQR is designed for. ## Choosing Between the Two, and Getting the Code to Scan The choice between KoloQR and QRStuff comes down to one question - will the destination ever change? Everything after that is production detail that decides whether the printed code actually scans. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: If the destination is fixed - a homepage, a Wi-Fi network, a vCard, a PDF that keeps its URL - a static code from KoloQR is enough and costs nothing to keep alive. If the destination will change, or scans have to be counted, use a dynamic code from QRStuff or a similar platform. - **Use Your Own Redirect if You Want Editable Destinations for Free**: Point a static KoloQR code at a URL you control, such as example.com/menu, and change where that URL redirects. You keep the ability to edit the destination without a subscription, but you lose scan analytics unless your own server logs them. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to a Printer**: SVG, PDF and EPS store the QR code as shapes, so the modules stay geometrically exact at any output size. PNG stores pixels, so a code scaled up from a small PNG gains soft edges that scanners read less reliably. Send vector to print; keep PNG for screens. - **Keep the Quiet Zone at Four Modules**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard specifies four modules of clear space on every side. Backgrounds, borders and frames placed inside that margin are the most common cause of a code that scans in the editor and fails in print. - **Size the Code to the Scanning Distance**: A printed QR code should be at least 2 x 2 cm for close scanning. As a working rule, allow about 1 cm of code width for every 10 cm of scanning distance - a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Measure the real distance before choosing the size rather than scaling the code to fit the layout. - **Keep Dark Modules on a Light Background**: Camera apps expect dark modules on a light background. Inverted codes - light modules on a dark field - are read by some scanners and refused by others, so an inverted code is a gamble on the reader's phone. Where a dark layout demands it, place the code inside a light panel instead of inverting the symbol. - **Check Contrast Rather Than Trusting the Preview**: Two colors that look distinct on a backlit screen can collapse under warm restaurant lighting or on uncoated stock. Run the pair through a contrast check before export - KoloQR includes one - and treat pale colors on white and mid-tone-on-mid-tone pairs as failures even when the preview looks fine. - **Raise Error Correction When You Add a Logo**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that keeps it readable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. A center logo covers modules, so use level H and keep the logo under about a fifth of the code area. - **Test on Both iOS and Android Before Printing**: Native camera apps on iOS and Android use different decoders, and third-party scanners differ again. Test the exported file at final print size on at least one iPhone and one Android phone, from the distance a real person will stand at, before approving a print run. - **Print a Proof on the Real Material**: Ink spread on uncoated paper thickens modules and closes the gaps between them, and glossy lamination adds reflections that blind the camera at certain angles. A proof on the actual stock, viewed under the actual lighting, catches both problems while reprinting is still cheap. ## Make the Code First, Decide on Tracking Later KoloQR generates a static QR code with custom shapes, colors and a logo, and exports it as PNG, SVG, PDF or EPS without an account. Nothing is watermarked and nothing expires. If it later turns out the campaign needs editable destinations or scan analytics, a platform with dynamic codes such as QRStuff is the right tool for that part - and the static codes you already printed keep working either way. ## FAQ ### Should I Use KoloQR or QRStuff? Use KoloQR if the QR code's destination is fixed and the design matters - it is free, needs no account, and exports print-ready vector files. Use QRStuff if you need to change the destination after printing, count scans, generate codes in bulk from a spreadsheet, or share an account with a team. Those features require a QRStuff subscription and KoloQR does not offer them. ### Do I Need an Account to Download a QR Code From KoloQR? No. Every export format on KoloQR - PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS - downloads without creating an account, without a watermark and without a usage limit. QRStuff also lets you generate a code without signing up, but its account unlocks the customization and dashboard features, so the free anonymous output is more limited than KoloQR's. ### Does KoloQR Offer Dynamic QR Codes or Scan Analytics? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes only, which means the destination is encoded in the symbol itself and cannot be changed or tracked. There is no dashboard, no scan counter and no redirect layer. If editable destinations or scan statistics are required, QRStuff and similar subscription platforms provide them; KoloQR deliberately does not. ### What Happens to My QR Codes if I Cancel a QRStuff Subscription? Static QR codes keep working after cancellation, because the destination is stored inside the symbol and no server is involved. Dynamic QR codes stop resolving, because they rely on the provider's redirect servers. Anything already printed with a dynamic code becomes a dead link, so treat a dynamic code as a recurring cost for the lifetime of the printed material. ### Can I Generate Hundreds of QR Codes at Once With KoloQR? No. KoloQR creates one QR code at a time and has no CSV import or API. For bulk work - SKU codes, event badges, personalized direct mail - QRStuff supports spreadsheet upload on its higher plans and offers an API for automated generation. KoloQR fits single, designed codes rather than batch production. ### Do Circular and Custom-Shaped QR Codes Scan as Reliably as Square Ones? Yes, provided the symbol itself is untouched. The shape option changes the frame and the styling around the code, not the module grid that carries the data. Reliability drops when the shape crops the quiet zone, when contrast is weak, or when a logo covers too many modules - not because the outline is round or hexagonal. ### Which Generator Is Better for Printed Packaging? KoloQR is better for the artwork itself, because it exports SVG, PDF and EPS without an account, so the code stays exact at any size and drops straight into the layout. QRStuff is better if the packaging URL may need redirecting after the run is printed, which only a dynamic code can do. Many teams use a static code for packaging and accept reprinting if the destination ever changes. ### Can I Make the Logo in the Middle of the QR Code Bigger? Only up to a point. A center logo covers modules, and error correction can only rebuild so much: level H recovers roughly 30% of the symbol. Keeping the logo under about a fifth of the code area is the practical limit. Beyond that, scanning becomes device-dependent - some phones read it, others fail - so enlarge the code rather than the logo. ### Why Does a QR Code That Worked on Screen Fail After It Is Printed? Three causes account for most print failures: the quiet zone was reduced below four modules by a border or background, the code was printed too small for the scanning distance, or the color contrast that looked fine on a backlit screen collapsed on paper. Glossy lamination adds a fourth by reflecting light back into the camera. ### What Does It Mean That KoloQR Is Open Source? KoloQR's source code is published, so anyone can read how the codes are generated, modify the tool, or run it on their own infrastructure. In practice this matters for auditability and continuity: the generation logic is inspectable rather than a black box, and the project can be self-hosted if the hosted version ever goes away. QRStuff is closed-source commercial software. --- # KoloQR vs Scanova: Which QR Code Generator Fits the Job? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-scanova KoloQR is a free, open-source generator for circular and custom-shaped QR codes. Scanova is a subscription platform built around dynamic, trackable codes. KoloQR and Scanova solve two different problems, and the wrong choice is expensive in both directions. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, produces a print-ready static code in the browser with no account, no watermark and no expiry, and its source code is open. Scanova is a subscription platform built around dynamic QR codes: the destination stays editable after printing, every scan is recorded, and features such as lead capture forms, password protection and conditional redirection sit on top. The deciding question is what happens when the payments stop. A static code from KoloQR keeps resolving forever because the URL is encoded directly in the symbol. A dynamic Scanova code routes through a short link that its plan keeps alive, so it stops working when the subscription or trial ends. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover code design, export and workflow, which is where the two tools diverge most. They do not cover dynamic QR codes or scan analytics - that is Scanova territory and KoloQR has no equivalent, which the overview under the table sets out in full. Every row was checked against Scanova's own product and pricing pages in July 2026; plans change, so verify anything that affects a purchase. | Feature | KoloQR | Scanova | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - KoloQR exports PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS from the browser with no account and no watermark. Scanova's free tool creates a static code you download as a PNG; design customization and vector formats sit behind an account and a paid plan. | Yes | No | | Open Source - KoloQR's source code is public, so it can be inspected, modified and self-hosted, which matters when a procurement or security review asks where the data goes. Scanova is a proprietary hosted platform, certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 rather than open to inspection. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - KoloQR renders the entire symbol as a circle, triangle or hexagon while keeping the finder patterns and quiet zone intact. Scanova customizes colors, center logo, module and eye patterns, frames and AI-generated backgrounds, but the symbol itself stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Both tools ship ready-made frames with call-to-action text such as 'Scan for menu'. A frame is the graphic border around a QR code that carries the instruction telling people why to scan, and it is the single cheapest way to raise scan rates on print. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Both tools export vector files, which is what a printer needs for anything larger than a business card. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS free of charge; Scanova lists raster (PNG, JPG) and vector (SVG, EPS, PS, PDF) downloads as a paid-plan feature. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - KoloQR copies the code straight onto a Figma canvas as vector layers, so a designer can drop it into a layout without a download step. Scanova publishes no Figma integration; the route there is export, then import the file manually. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - KoloQR's Chrome extension turns the page you are currently on into a QR code without leaving the tab, which is the fastest path for one-off links. Scanova's published integrations cover analytics and automation platforms rather than in-browser code generation. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - KoloQR checks the foreground-to-background contrast before export and warns when a color pair is too close for a camera to separate reliably. Scanova covers contrast in its written guidance rather than as a check inside the editor. | Yes | No | | Code Keeps Working With No Subscription - A static QR code encodes the destination directly in the symbol, so it resolves for as long as the destination exists, with no service in between. Scanova's static codes behave the same way and are free forever; its dynamic codes route through a hosted short link and stop working when the plan or the 14-day trial ends. | Yes | Static codes only | ## Two Tools, Two Jobs: Design Ownership Versus Campaign Tracking KoloQR is a design and export tool for QR codes you own outright. Scanova is a QR code management platform you subscribe to. Neither is a lesser version of the other, and teams that print at any volume frequently end up using both - a free static code for the sign that will never change, a tracked dynamic code for the campaign that has to be measured. ### Where KoloQR Is the Better Fit KoloQR fits work where the destination is fixed, the code has to look like it belongs to the brand, and nobody wants a recurring bill attached to a printed sign. A static QR code is a code that encodes its destination directly in the symbol, so it works forever and needs no account behind it. KoloQR generates only static codes, exports print-ready vector files free, and its source code is public. - **Permanent Signage and Packaging**: A door sign, a museum label, a wine back-label or a Wi-Fi card points at the same URL for years. A static code from KoloQR keeps resolving with no service in the middle and no renewal date, which removes an entire class of failure from a print run you cannot recall. - **Design-Led Work and Brand Systems**: Circular, triangular and hexagonal symbols, custom colors, center logos and frames make the code read as part of the layout rather than a black square dropped onto it. Copy-to-Figma and SVG, PDF and EPS export mean the file arrives in the designer's tool at full vector quality, not as a screenshot. - **One-Off Links and Internal Use**: The Chrome extension turns the open tab into a code in a couple of clicks, with no login and nothing saved to an account. For a shared document, a meeting-room booking page or a workshop handout, that is the whole job. - **Procurement and Privacy Review**: Open source means the code that builds your QR symbol can be read, audited and self-hosted. A static code also involves no redirect service, so no third party sits between the person scanning and your own page - which is the shorter answer to give a privacy reviewer. ### What Is Scanova? Scanova is the better tool whenever the destination might change after printing or the scans have to be counted. Dynamic QR codes route through a hosted short link, so the destination is editable and every scan is logged. Scanova reports scans by date, location, device, browser and operating system, and its higher plans add lead capture forms, password-protected content, age gating, scheduled expiry, conditional redirection by country or device, bulk generation and custom domains. KoloQR does none of this and should not be stretched to try. Two honest caveats apply in both directions. On Scanova's side, a dynamic QR code is rented rather than owned: it stops working when the subscription or the 14-day trial lapses, and Scanova states this plainly, which is more than many competitors do. Its free tool also does not allow design customization - the free output is a plain static code downloaded as a PNG. On the KoloQR side, the workaround for a changing destination is a redirect you control: encode a short URL on your own domain, print that, and change where it points whenever you need to. That keeps the code static and free, but it requires a domain and someone who can edit the redirect, and it still gives you no scan data unless your own server logs it. ## How to Choose, and How to Avoid the Expensive Mistakes The choice between a free static generator and a paid QR platform is usually made once and lived with for years, because reprinting is the costly part. These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: Ask one question: could the destination change after this goes to print? If the answer is no, a free static code is enough and a subscription adds risk rather than removing it. If the answer is yes or maybe, use a dynamic code from a platform such as Scanova, or point the static code at a redirect URL on a domain you control. - **Budget for a Dynamic Code as an Ongoing Cost, Not a Purchase**: A dynamic QR code depends on a live redirect service, so the printed artefact outlives the thing that makes it work. Before printing 10,000 labels with a dynamic code, confirm who owns the account, who renews it, and what happens to those labels if the card on file expires. Scanova's Ultra Lite one-time plan exists precisely to solve this for a single permanent code. - **Give the Code About 1 cm of Width for Every 10 cm of Scanning Distance**: A code read from 30 cm needs roughly 3 cm of width; a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Keep 2 cm as the floor for anything printed, even for close scanning, because paper stock, ink spread and camera shake all eat into the margin. Both tools export vector files, so scale in the layout rather than enlarging a PNG. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Even When the Symbol Is Not Square**: The quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the standard calls for four modules of clear space. Circular and hexagonal symbols still need it. Do not let a frame, a fold, a die-cut or a background photograph encroach on that margin. - **Test Contrast With the Camera, Not With Your Eyes**: Scanners read luminance difference, not color difference, so a mid-blue code on a mid-grey background can look fine on screen and fail on paper. Keep the code darker than its background, avoid light-on-dark inversion unless you have tested it on both an iPhone and an Android handset, and check the printed proof under the lighting the code will actually live in. - **Raise Error Correction When You Add a Logo, and Only Then**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets it stay readable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered, at four levels - L, M, Q and H, recovering roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. A center logo needs Q or H. Raising the level also adds modules, which makes each module smaller at the same physical size, so do not raise it by default. - **Shorten the URL Before You Generate the Code**: Fewer characters means fewer modules, and fewer modules means larger, more forgiving squares at the same printed size. Strip UTM parameters and session IDs from the encoded URL where you can. If you need campaign attribution and are using a dynamic code, add the parameters at the redirect instead of in the symbol. - **Always Print the Destination in Readable Text Next to the Code**: A QR code should be the fast path, never the only path. A short URL and, where relevant, a phone number beside the code covers people with a cracked camera, a dead battery, no data allowance or a screen reader. This costs nothing and is the single most common omission on printed materials. - **Scan the Final Printed Proof, Not the File on Screen**: Test the actual substrate at the actual distance, with an iPhone and an Android phone, in the light where it will hang. Gloss lamination under downlights is the most common real-world failure: the specular highlight blows out part of the symbol and the camera never locks on. Matte laminate fixes most of it. - **Record What Each Code Points At While You Still Remember**: Keep a simple sheet listing every printed code, its destination, where it was placed, the export file and the date. With static codes this is the only record that exists. With dynamic codes it is what stops someone editing the wrong campaign two years later. ## Design the Code First, Decide the Platform Second If the destination is fixed, KoloQR gives you a print-ready static QR code in the browser - circular or square, in your colors, with your logo - exported as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG with no account and no expiry. If you already know you need editable destinations, scan analytics or lead capture, a subscription platform such as Scanova is the right tool for that part of the work, and KoloQR does not compete for it. Many teams run both: free static codes for permanent signage, a paid dynamic code for the campaign that has to be measured. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR Really Free, or Is There a Paid Tier Later? KoloQR is free to use and free to export. There is no account requirement, no watermark, no scan limit and no expiry on the codes it generates, and PNG, SVG, PDF and EPS downloads are all included. The trade-off is scope rather than price: KoloQR generates static codes only, so there is nothing to track and nothing to edit after export. ### Is Scanova Free? Scanova has a free static QR code generator and paid plans for dynamic codes. The free tool creates a static code you download as a PNG and it works forever, but design customization is not available on it. Dynamic codes - editable destinations, scan analytics, landing pages, lead capture - require a subscription, with a 14-day trial available first. ### What Happens to My Scanova QR Codes if I Stop Paying? Static codes keep working; dynamic codes stop. A dynamic QR code resolves through a hosted short link, so when the subscription or trial ends the link is no longer served and the printed code leads nowhere. Anything already printed with a dynamic code becomes dead paper. Static codes, from Scanova or KoloQR, encode the destination directly and have no such dependency. ### Can I Change Where a KoloQR Code Points After Printing? Not in the code itself, but there is a reliable workaround. Encode a short URL on a domain you control, such as yoursite.com/menu, and set a server-side redirect to the real destination. The printed symbol never changes and you edit the redirect whenever you need to. This requires a domain and someone who can change the rule, and it gives you no scan data unless your server logs it. ### Can Scanova Make Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. Scanova offers extensive design customization - brand colors, a center logo, module and eye pattern styles, frames and AI-generated background art - but the symbol keeps its square outline. KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a circle, triangle or hexagon while preserving the finder patterns and quiet zone, which is its main visual difference from most QR platforms. ### Does a Circular or Colored QR Code Scan Worse Than a Plain One? Not inherently, but every design choice spends part of the scanning margin. What actually determines reliability is contrast, printed size, quiet zone and error correction level. A circular symbol with strong contrast at 3 cm scans fine; a square one in two similar mid-tones at 1.5 cm fails. Styling never improves scan performance - it just needs to avoid degrading it, which is why a contrast check before export is worth the ten seconds. ### Which One Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu? Use a dynamic code if the menu URL changes seasonally or you want to know how many diners scan; use a static code from KoloQR if the menu lives at one permanent URL. A middle path that costs nothing: print a static code pointing at yoursite.com/menu on your own domain and repoint that URL whenever the menu moves. Table tents want roughly 2.5 to 3 cm of code width. ### Do I Need Vector Files, or Is a PNG Enough? Ask the printer, but assume vector for anything larger than a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards). SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that stay sharp at any size, while PNG is raster and will show soft or stepped module edges once enlarged. KoloQR exports all four free. Scanova lists vector downloads among its paid-plan features, so a free Scanova export gives you PNG. ### Can I Put My Logo in the Middle Without Breaking the Code? Yes, within limits. Keep the logo under roughly 20-25% of the symbol width, center it, and raise error correction to Q or H so the covered modules can be reconstructed. Never cover a finder pattern - the three large squares in the corners - because those are what a scanner uses to locate and orient the symbol, and no error correction level recovers them. ### Why Did My QR Code Work on My Phone but Not on a Customer's? Usually size, lighting or laminate rather than the code itself. Older handsets have lower-resolution cameras and slower autofocus, so a code that scans instantly on a recent phone may need a longer, closer attempt on a three-year-old one. Gloss lamination under a downlight is the other frequent culprit: the reflection erases part of the symbol. Test the printed proof on at least one iPhone and one Android handset before the full run. --- # KoloQR vs Uniqode: Which QR Code Generator Fits the Job? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode KoloQR is a free, open-source QR code generator that exports vector files with no account. Uniqode is an annual-billing platform for dynamic codes and analytics. KoloQR and Uniqode solve two different problems, and the honest comparison starts there. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, produces a print-ready static code in the browser with no account, no watermark and no expiry, and its source code is open for inspection and self-hosting. Uniqode, formerly Beaconstac, is a QR management platform: dynamic codes whose destination stays editable after printing, scan analytics, bulk generation, team seats, and SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA and ISO compliance for organizations that need it. The deciding question is not which tool is better but whether the code has to change or be measured after the print run. If it does, a platform subscription is the right purchase and KoloQR is not it. If it does not, a subscription buys infrastructure the project will never use. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover code design, export and workflow, which is where the two tools diverge most. They do not cover dynamic codes, scan analytics, team seats or bulk creation - those are Uniqode capabilities KoloQR does not attempt, and the overview under the table sets them out in full. Verified against Uniqode's pricing page, free generator and help center in July 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | Uniqode | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Uniqode's free generator produces a code without login but downloads it as PNG; SVG, EPS and PDF require an account. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Uniqode is proprietary hosted software. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Uniqode offers a circular frame plus module and eye shape options, but not triangular or hexagonal symbol outlines. | Yes | Circular only | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Both tools ship frame styles with editable call-to-action text. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Uniqode exports the same vector formats once you are signed in. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. Uniqode integrates with Canva instead, so its codes reach a design file as a downloaded asset. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. The Uniqode platform has no browser extension; codes are made in the dashboard. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Uniqode shows a broader real-time scannability score inside its dashboard rather than a dedicated contrast check. | Yes | In dashboard | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool. Uniqode is a redirect and measurement platform. Both produce a scannable QR code, but the thing you are paying for - or not paying for - is what happens after the code leaves the screen. ### KoloQR: A Free Static QR Code Generator With Shape Control KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. There is no account, no dashboard, no subscription and no server between the scan and the destination, which also means there is nothing that can expire or be switched off. Every code KoloQR makes keeps working for as long as the URL it points at keeps working. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, not just the modules and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **No Account Between You and the File**: KoloQR downloads in every supported format without a signup, an email address or a credit card. That matters for one-off jobs: a poster for a single event should not create a login you have to remember and a mailing list you have to leave. - **Print-Ready Vector Output**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen. Vector files scale from a 2 cm sticker to a 3 m banner without pixel stepping on the module edges, which is what causes soft, hard-to-read codes at large sizes. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Organizations that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is Uniqode? A QR Platform for Codes That Change and Get Measured Uniqode is built around the dynamic QR code - a code that encodes a short redirect URL owned by the platform, so the destination can be changed at any time without reprinting. That single architectural choice is what unlocks the rest of the product: scan counts by time, device and location, A/B testing, smart rules, bulk generation from a spreadsheet, team seats and enterprise compliance. If a printed code will outlive the page it points at, or if the number of scans has to appear in a report, Uniqode is solving a problem KoloQR does not attempt. The trade-off is structural rather than a matter of price. A dynamic QR code stops redirecting when the subscription behind it lapses: Uniqode states that dynamic codes go inactive once a free trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, while static codes keep working. Uniqode also bills annually - it confirms on its pricing page that it does not offer monthly plans - so the commitment is a year at a time, from roughly $9 a month for entry-level dynamic codes up to $49 a month for its Core plan, and a custom domain is a $2,000-per-year add-on on the Plus plan. Those figures were listed in July 2026 and should be checked against the current pricing page before you rely on them. The honest summary: Uniqode is a reasonable purchase for a marketing team running measurable campaigns, and an expensive way to put a menu link on a [table tent](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus). ## How to Choose Between a Free Generator and a QR Platform The choice is not about features. It is about one question - will anything about this code need to change or be counted after it is printed? These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: If the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, a static QR code from a free generator is enough and costs nothing to maintain. If the destination will change, or scans have to be counted, buy a dynamic QR service and accept the subscription. Choosing wrongly is expensive in one direction and unrecoverable in the other, because a static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one after printing. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Understand What Happens to Your Codes if You Stop Paying**: Dynamic QR codes depend on the provider's redirect server, so they stop working when the account lapses. Uniqode states that dynamic codes become inactive once a trial expires or a subscription is cancelled, and that static codes continue to work. Before committing to any platform, find the sentence in its documentation that answers this question, and factor a permanent annual cost into any code you print on something durable like packaging or signage. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Looks Right on Screen**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. A code read from arm's length at 30 cm needs roughly 3 cm; a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Keep 2 cm as the practical minimum for any printed code regardless of distance, because below that the modules approach the resolution limit of an ordinary print process. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Decorative frames, background images and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when placing a logo in the center, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area, and test on a real phone rather than trusting the on-screen preview. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to Print**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that stay sharp at any size; PNG is a raster format that softens the module edges when scaled up. Send the printer a vector file and let the print process rasterize it at its own resolution. If a PNG is the only option, generate it at the final physical size at a minimum of 300 DPI rather than enlarging a small one. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL and, where relevant, a phone number next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path - this is an accessibility requirement, not a nicety. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and dark ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job. ## Make a Static QR Code Now, for Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you a print-ready code in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no expiry date on the code. If the destination will change, or you need scan analytics, team seats or HIPAA compliance, a dynamic QR platform such as Uniqode is the right tool and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong one. A middle path worth trying first: generate a free static code here, point it at a redirect URL on your own domain, and keep the ability to change the destination without a subscription. That covers most menus, posters, packaging and signage - and if it turns out you also need per-code scan data, you have lost nothing by starting free. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR Really Free, or Is There a Paid Tier? KoloQR is free to use with no account, no watermark and no paid tier gating the export formats. You can download SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG without signing up. The trade-off is that KoloQR generates static QR codes only: the destination is encoded in the symbol itself, so it cannot be changed after printing and no scans are recorded. ### Can I Download a QR Code From Uniqode Without Creating an Account? Uniqode's free generator lets you create and download a static QR code without logging in, but the no-account download is PNG. Uniqode's own documentation directs you to sign up for an account to download print-ready SVG and EPS files. For a print job, that means an account either way. KoloQR exports every format without a signup. ### What Happens to My Uniqode QR Codes if I Cancel the Subscription? Uniqode states that dynamic QR codes become inactive when a free trial expires or a subscription is cancelled - they stop redirecting and analytics pause. Static codes created on Uniqode keep working, because the destination is encoded in the symbol rather than served by the platform, though account access ends. Confirm the current terms on Uniqode's pricing page before you rely on this. ### Does Uniqode Offer Monthly Billing? No. Uniqode's pricing FAQ states that it offers annual subscription plans only and that switching from annual to monthly is not possible. Entry-level dynamic plans were listed around $9 per month billed annually and the Core plan at $49 per month in July 2026, with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check the pricing page for current figures. ### Does Uniqode Offer a Nonprofit Discount? Yes. Uniqode states that it offers 10% off its plans for non-profits, on top of the 14-day free trial (checked on uniqode.com on 2 October 2026). The pricing page does not mention the discount, so ask sales to apply it before paying for the annual plan. A nonprofit that only needs printed codes for donation links, event sign-ups or volunteer forms may not need a subscription at all - [QR codes for nonprofits](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/nonprofits) covers which uses are static and cost nothing. ### Can a Static QR Code Be Converted to a Dynamic One Later? No. A static QR code encodes the destination in the pattern itself, so changing the destination means generating and reprinting a different code. Uniqode confirms in its own FAQ that a code's nature cannot be changed after creation. If there is any chance the destination will move, either buy dynamic codes from the start or point a static code at a redirect URL on a domain you control. ### How Do I Get an Editable Destination Without Paying a Subscription? Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain - for example yoursite.com/menu - and set that path to redirect to the real destination. Editing the redirect changes where every printed code lands, with no reprint and no monthly fee. The limitation compared with a dynamic platform is that you get no scan analytics unless your own server logs them, and you must keep the domain renewed. ### Can KoloQR Track How Many People Scan My QR Code? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a dynamic QR platform such as Uniqode, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Does Uniqode Support Circular QR Codes? Yes, partly. Uniqode's frame options include a circular frame that turns a QR code into a round design, alongside module pattern and eye shape customization. What it does not offer is a full set of symbol outlines. KoloQR renders rectangular, circular, triangular and hexagonal codes, which matters when the code has to sit inside a specific physical shape such as a hexagonal label. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The three usual causes are a quiet zone eaten by a frame or background, ink spread on uncoated paper closing the gaps between modules, and gloss lamination throwing a specular reflection into the camera. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and scan it at the real distance under the real lighting before approving the run. On-screen previews never reproduce any of these. ### Which Tool Should a Small Restaurant or Shop Choose? Choose a free static code if the menu or [landing page](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) lives at a stable URL, and point it at your own domain so you keep the ability to redirect it. Choose Uniqode or another dynamic platform if you run seasonal campaigns, need per-location scan data, or manage codes across many sites. A single table tent rarely justifies an annual subscription; twenty tracked campaign codes usually do. --- # KoloQR vs QRCodeChimp: Which QR Code Generator Fits the Job? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qrcodechimp KoloQR is a free, open-source QR designer that exports vector files without an account. QRCodeChimp is an account-based platform for dynamic codes, analytics and campaign management. KoloQR and QRCodeChimp overlap on design and part ways on everything else. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, runs in the browser, exports SVG, PDF and EPS without an account, and its source code is open for inspection or self-hosting. QRCodeChimp is a QR management platform: codes live in a dashboard behind a login, downloads are capped by plan resolution, and the paid tiers add dynamic codes, scan analytics, folders, forms and white labeling. The deciding question is whether the code is a design asset or a campaign. A logo-bearing code going onto packaging that ships next month is a design asset, and a free static export finishes the job. A code that has to be re-pointed after printing, or counted, is a campaign, and a platform with dynamic codes is the right tool - KoloQR does not do that. ## Feature Comparison The rows below cover export, ownership and workflow, which is where the two tools differ most. Both generate shaped and logo-bearing codes, so design alone will not decide this. They do not cover dynamic QR codes or scan analytics - that is QRCodeChimp territory and KoloQR has no equivalent, which the overview under the table sets out in full. Verified against the QRCodeChimp pricing page and help center in July 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | QRCodeChimp | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. QRCodeChimp requires a signed-in account before a code can be downloaded. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. QRCodeChimp is proprietary software operated as a hosted service. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. QRCodeChimp offers a wider novelty set, including heart, animal and food outlines. | Yes | Yes | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. QRCodeChimp calls these stickers and pre-designed QRs, and includes them on every plan. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. QRCodeChimp downloads PNG and PDF by default and enables SVG per account on request through support. | Yes | SVG on request | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma, so the code lands in the layout as an editable object instead of a downloaded file. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. QRCodeChimp also publishes a Chrome extension; the KoloQR one downloads without an account. | Yes | Yes | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning, checked in the editor before export rather than after printing. | Yes | No | ## Static Design Tool or QR Management Platform KoloQR and QRCodeChimp solve two different problems that look identical at the moment of generating a code. The difference shows up later: at the print shop, at the renewal date, and the day someone asks how many people scanned it. ### What KoloQR Does KoloQR is a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes that produces print-ready static codes in the browser. Nothing is stored on an account, nothing expires, and the exported file is the finished asset - the same file can go to a print shop, into a Figma layout, or into a packaging template five years from now and still resolve. - **Vector Export by Default**: SVG, PDF and EPS store the code as geometry, so it stays sharp at any size and a print shop can scale it without resampling. PNG is available for screens. There is no resolution ceiling to plan around, because vector files do not have one. - **No Account, No Expiry**: Codes download without signing up, without a watermark and without a scan limit, and commercial use is free. A static code has no subscription to lapse: it resolves for as long as the destination URL exists. - **Open Source**: The source code can be inspected, modified and self-hosted, which matters when a security review asks where the URL was processed. KoloQR generates in the browser, so the encoded data does not need to travel to a dashboard. - **Design Controls With a Contrast Check**: Circular, rectangular, triangular and hexagonal shapes, custom colors, a center logo, designer frames and a contrast checker that flags a color pair before the file reaches print rather than after. ### What Is QRCodeChimp? QRCodeChimp is a QR management platform, and its real product is the dashboard rather than the image file. Dynamic codes let the destination change after printing, scan analytics report totals and, on higher plans, locations and devices, and folders, sub-accounts, bulk upload, forms, digital [business cards](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards) and white-labeled scan domains support teams running many codes at once. The free plan listed in July 2026 includes unlimited static codes, 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 combined scans per month, with paid tiers from $9.99 per month. Two conditions attach to the platform model and both are worth knowing before printing. Downloads are capped by plan resolution - 1024 × 1024 pixels on the free plan, 4096 × 4096 on the top tiers - and a raster file printed above roughly its pixel count ÷ 300 × 2.54 cm starts to soften at the module edges, which is where scanning fails first. And a dynamic code is a live dependency: QRCodeChimp pauses scans once the free monthly limit is reached and pauses dynamic codes beyond the most recent ten if a paid account reverts to free, so the printed sheet stops working even though the ink has not changed. Neither is a flaw, but both are the trade for editability, and a static vector file has neither. ## How to Choose, and What to Check Before Printing Practical rules for deciding between a static design tool and a QR platform, and for getting a code that survives the print run either way. - **Decide by Whether the Destination Will Move, Not by Price**: If the URL will point at the same page for the life of the print run, a free static code is enough and a subscription adds nothing. If the destination has to change after printing, or the scans have to be counted, a dynamic platform such as QRCodeChimp is the correct tool and KoloQR is not it. Price is downstream of that question, not a substitute for it. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription by Using a Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a short path on a domain you control, such as example.com/menu, and redirect that path to the real page with a 302. The printed code never changes and the destination becomes editable in a hosting panel. Server logs count the hits, which covers basic scan totals. This does not replace per-code analytics, geo breakdowns or a campaign dashboard, but it removes the most common reason people pay for dynamic codes. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Check the Resolution Ceiling Against the Printed Size**: A raster file prints cleanly up to roughly its pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 cm at 300 DPI. A 1024 × 1024 PNG is therefore good to about 8.6 cm, 2048 × 2048 to about 17 cm, and 4096 × 4096 to about 34.7 cm. Anything larger needs a vector file: SVG, PDF or EPS store geometry rather than pixels and have no ceiling at all. - **Size the Code for Reading Distance, Not for the Layout**: A printed QR code needs roughly 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, with 2 × 2 cm as the practical floor for close reading. A table tent read from 30 cm needs about 3 cm, a shelf label read from 50 cm needs about 5 cm, and a poster read from 3 m needs about 30 cm. Shrinking a code to fit a layout is the most common self-inflicted scanning failure. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear When the Code Has a Decorative Outline**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends, and the QR standard specifies four modules on every side. Circular masks, sticker frames and novelty outlines are drawn outside the symbol, so they are safe - until a designer nudges the artwork to close a visual gap and the frame crosses into the margin. Measure the margin in modules, not in millimeters. - **Raise Error Correction Before Enlarging the Logo**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that lets it stay scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered, and it comes in four levels: L, M, Q and H, recovering roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. A center logo consumes that budget. Level H with a logo covering under about a fifth of the area is a workable starting point, and the only real check is a scan test. - **Encode a Short URL So the Symbol Stays Coarse**: Longer data means more modules in the same physical square, and smaller modules are the first thing a phone camera loses at distance or in poor light. Strip UTM parameters and long path segments, or hide them behind a short redirect on your own domain. A 30-character URL produces a visibly coarser, more forgiving code than a 120-character one at the same printed size. - **Test the Exported File at Full Size on Two Phones**: Print the final artwork at its real dimensions and scan it from the distance the reader will actually stand at, on one iPhone and one Android device. The editor preview is backlit, flat and pixel-sharp, which hides the three failures that matter in print: size, reflection off gloss lamination, and a clipped quiet zone. This single test catches more problems than every design decision before it. - **Print the URL and a Phone Number Next to the Code**: A QR code should be the fast path, never the only path. Some people will not scan a code, some older Android devices still need a scanner app, and no code works in a basement with no signal. A short readable URL and a phone number beside the code cost one line of type and remove the failure mode entirely. - **Archive the Vector Source, Not Just the Placed Image**: Keep the SVG or EPS alongside the artwork file, with the encoded URL written in the filename or a sidecar note. Reprints happen years later, usually at a different size and usually when nobody remembers which URL was encoded. A vector file plus the URL makes a reprint a five-minute job instead of a scavenger hunt through a dashboard or an old designer's downloads folder. ## Generate a Free QR Code and Find Out Whether That Is All You Need Paste a URL into KoloQR, choose a shape, set the brand colors, add a logo and export SVG, PDF or EPS for print or PNG for screen. No account, no watermark, no expiry and no charge for commercial use. If it turns out the destination has to change after printing or the scans have to be counted, a platform such as QRCodeChimp is the honest recommendation - but most printed codes point at one URL and never move. Try the free route once before committing to a subscription: export the static vector, put a redirect on your own domain behind it, and print a single proof at full size. If that covers the job, the recurring cost was never necessary. If it does not, you will know exactly which capability you are paying for instead of buying a plan and hoping. ## FAQ ### Is KoloQR Free, and Is There a Catch? KoloQR is free. Codes download without an account, without a watermark and without a scan limit, and commercial use costs nothing. The trade is that the codes are static: the destination is baked into the symbol and cannot be changed after printing, and no scans are recorded. Nothing expires, because there is no subscription for the code to depend on. ### Does QRCodeChimp Have a Free Plan? Yes. The QRCodeChimp free plan listed in July 2026 includes unlimited static QR codes, 10 dynamic codes and 1,000 combined scans per month, with downloads capped at 1024 × 1024 pixels. An account is required to download anything. Paid plans start at $9.99 per month and raise the code, scan and resolution limits. Confirm current terms on the QRCodeChimp pricing page. For where those limits bite in practice - the shared scan meter and the resolution cap in print terms - read [is QRCodeChimp free?](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-qr-code-chimp-free). ### Can I Download a QR Code From QRCodeChimp Without Signing Up? No. QRCodeChimp requires a signed-in account before a QR code can be downloaded, because codes are saved to a dashboard. KoloQR downloads without an account, since the file is generated in the browser and nothing is stored. If avoiding an account is the deciding factor, that is the difference in one sentence. ### Can I Get an SVG From QRCodeChimp? Not by default. QRCodeChimp downloads PNG and PDF out of the box and enables SVG per account on request through support, and its own help center notes the SVG output may not open correctly in Illustrator. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS directly. For large-format print or a print shop that asks for vector, that difference decides the workflow. ### How Large Can I Print a 1024 × 1024 Pixel QR Code? About 8.6 cm at 300 DPI. The rule is pixel width ÷ 300 × 2.54 to get centimeters, so 2048 × 2048 reaches roughly 17 cm and 4096 × 4096 roughly 34.7 cm. Beyond that a raster file softens at the module edges, which is exactly where scanning breaks. A vector file has no ceiling, so print size stops being a constraint. ### Do Both Tools Make Circular QR Codes? Yes. KoloQR makes circular, rectangular, triangular and hexagonal codes; QRCodeChimp offers those plus a larger novelty set including hearts, animals and food shapes. Shape alone will not decide between them. The functional module grid stays square in both cases - the circle is a mask and a frame around a square symbol, never a reshaping of the data area. ### What Happens to a Dynamic QR Code if I Stop Paying? It can stop resolving. QRCodeChimp pauses scans once the free plan's 1,000 monthly scans are used, and a lapsed paid account keeps only the most recent ten dynamic codes active. A printed sheet then fails through no fault of the ink. This is the structural cost of editability, and it is the strongest argument for using a static code wherever the destination is genuinely fixed. ### Can I Track Scans on a KoloQR Code? Not directly - KoloQR generates static codes and records nothing. The practical workaround is to encode a short path on your own domain and 302-redirect it to the destination, which puts every scan in your server logs or analytics. That gives totals and referrers, not per-code geo and device breakdowns. If campaign-level reporting matters, use a dynamic platform instead. ### Why Does My QR Code Stop Scanning After Printing When It Worked on Screen? Three causes account for most cases: the code was printed smaller than about 1 cm per 10 cm of reading distance, gloss lamination reflected the light back into the camera, or the quiet zone was clipped when the artwork was placed. Screen previews hide all three. Print one proof at full size and scan it from the real distance before approving the run. ### Can I Make the Center Logo Bigger? Only to a point, and no generator can promise a safe maximum. A logo eats into error correction, which recovers roughly 30% of the symbol at level H. A logo covering under about a fifth of the area at level H usually survives, but the outcome depends on the encoded data length, the printed size and the camera. Enlarge in steps and scan-test each one. --- # KoloQR vs Unitag: Which Free QR Code Keeps Working? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-unitag KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG free, with no account and no scan limit. Unitag's free codes are 300 px PNGs capped at 100 scans, with vector on paid plans. KoloQR and Unitag both advertise a free QR code generator, and the word free means something different in each. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG without an account, without a watermark and without a limit on how many times the code is scanned. Unitag's public generator also downloads without an account, but what it hands over is a low-definition PNG 300 pixels wide, and Unitag's own download dialog states that the code will be active for a maximum of 100 scans. Print-quality vector files start at Unitag's Silver plan, listed at £19 a month excluding VAT. Behind that generator sits a serious European platform - dynamic codes, scan analytics, EU hosting, GS1 Digital Link for packaging - which is what Unitag actually sells and what KoloQR does not attempt. This page sets out both sides so you can tell which half of Unitag you are being offered. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the free design and export workflow, which is where the two tools are most often mistaken for each other. They do not cover dynamic codes, scan analytics, GS1 Digital Link, team seats or the REST API - Unitag sells all five and KoloQR offers none of them, and the overview under the table sets that out in full. Verified against unitag.io in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | Unitag | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Unitag's public generator downloads without an account too, but only as a 300-pixel PNG carrying a 100-scan limit. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Unitag is proprietary hosted software. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Unitag styles the modules, eyes and colors inside a square symbol; the outline stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Unitag's public generator ships twelve design templates - classic, leaf and social network styles - rather than frames with call-to-action text. | Yes | No | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Unitag's FAQ places vector PDF and SVG on the Silver plan and above, listed at £19 a month excluding VAT. | Yes | Paid plans | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A Unitag code reaches a design file as a downloaded image. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. Unitag publishes QR Code Generator by Unitag on the Chrome Web Store, listed at around 10,000 users. | Yes | Yes | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Unitag's generator raises a contrast warning when the colors are too close, rather than a measured check. | Yes | Warning only | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool that gives the file away. Unitag is a European QR platform whose public generator is the top of a funnel. Both draw a good-looking code; what differs is what you walk away with. ### KoloQR: A Free Static QR Code Generator With No Scan Limit KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and nothing expires: a KoloQR code works for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Every Format, No Account**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all without a signup, an email address or a payment. The vector files are the ones a printer asks for, and they are not held back for a paid tier. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, not only the modules and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **No Scan Cap and No Deactivation**: A KoloQR code has no counter attached to it. Print it on a thousand flyers, scan it a million times, and the thousandth flyer behaves exactly like the first - because the destination is in the pattern and KoloQR never sees the scan. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is Unitag? A European QR Platform With a Free Generator in Front Unitag is a French-British company, trading since 2013 with offices in Toulouse and London, and its product is a QR management platform: dynamic codes that can be re-pointed after printing, scan analytics, campaign management, redirection filters, batch creation, sub-organisations and roles, EU hosting with GDPR compliance, plus GS1-compliant 2D barcodes with a Digital Link resolver for packaging. Its paid tiers were listed in August 2026 at £19, £49 and £99 a month excluding VAT for Silver, Gold and Platinum, with a Diamond tier from £4,870 a year and roughly 10% off for annual billing. For a marketing team that needs to change a destination or count scans, that is a coherent product and KoloQR is not a substitute for it. The public generator on unitag.io is a different thing, and it is worth reading its own words. The design tools are generous for a free tool - twelve templates, module and eye styles, separate inner and outer eye colours, gradients, an image-overlay fill, a logo you can position by hand, and a warning when the colours lack contrast. The download is where it narrows. Unitag's FAQ states that with the free generator you can download the QR code in PNG at a size of 300 pixels, and that vector PDF and SVG start at the Silver plan. The generator's own download dialog says the code will be active for a maximum of 100 scans, and Unitag's lifespan FAQ says such codes are automatically deactivated and can be reactivated only by contacting support - while a separate Unitag FAQ describes free codes as static and no longer attached to the platform. Unitag also offers a one-off HD download at 13 US dollars or 12 euros including tax, which it describes as a 1200 × 1200 PNG without a time or scan limit. Before printing anything with a code from Unitag's free generator, scan it a hundred times or buy the HD download - a poster that stops working in week two costs more than either. ## How to Choose Between a Free Generator and a QR Platform Two questions decide this, and neither is about design tools: will the destination change after printing, and does anything limit how often the code may be scanned? These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Read the Free Tier's Scan Limit Before You Read Its Features**: A scan limit is a cap on how many times a QR code may be scanned before the provider stops serving it. Unitag's public generator states a maximum of 100 scans on the free download; KoloQR's static codes have no cap because no KoloQR server is involved in a scan. Any generator that can count your scans can also stop answering them, so find the sentence in its documentation that states the limit - and if you cannot find one, that is a question for support, not an assumption. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: If the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, a static QR code from a free generator is enough and costs nothing to maintain. If the destination will change, or scans have to be counted, buy a dynamic QR service and accept the subscription. Unitag confirms that a static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one afterwards, so choosing wrongly means reprinting. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance. Unitag publishes the same ratio as a formula - code size equals scanning distance divided by ten, which is 33 cm for a code read from 3 m - and sets its own printed minimum at 3 cm square. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a short-range code and 3 cm as the safe one. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Decorative frames, background images and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when placing a logo in the center, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area - Unitag's own generator warns at 30% and locks redundancy to its strongest setting when a logo is added - and test on a real phone. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to Print**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that stay sharp at any size; PNG is a raster format that softens the module edges when scaled up. A 300-pixel PNG is roughly 2.5 cm at 300 DPI, which is why a free PNG from any generator is a screen file rather than a print file. Send the printer a vector, or generate the PNG at final physical size and at least 300 DPI. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. It also rescues the print run if the code itself is ever deactivated. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path - this is an accessibility requirement, not a nicety. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job. ## Make a Print-Ready QR Code Now, for Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no scan counter and no expiry date on the code. If you need to re-point a code after it is printed, count scans by device and country, run GS1 Digital Link on packaging, or keep everything on EU-hosted infrastructure with GDPR paperwork behind it, Unitag is a real platform for that and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. A middle path worth trying first: generate a free static code here, point it at a redirect URL on your own domain, and keep the ability to change the destination without a subscription. If the campaign later needs per-code analytics, you have lost nothing by starting free. ## FAQ ### Do Unitag's Free QR Codes Really Stop Working After 100 Scans? Unitag says so in three places. The generator's download dialog states that the code will be active for a maximum of 100 scans, the /qrcode FAQ says free codes stop working after being scanned a hundred times, and the lifespan FAQ says they are then archived and can be reactivated by contacting support. A fourth Unitag FAQ describes free codes as static and no longer attached to the platform. [Is Unitag free?](https://koloqr.com/blog/is-unitag-free) quotes each passage in full. Test before you print. ### Is KoloQR Really Free, or Is There a Paid Tier? KoloQR is free with no account, no watermark, no scan limit and no paid tier gating the formats: SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG all download without signing up. The trade-off is that KoloQR generates static QR codes only. The destination is encoded in the symbol, so it cannot be changed after printing and no scans are recorded. ### Can I Download an SVG From Unitag for Free? No. Unitag's FAQ states that high-resolution vector output - PDF, SVG and PNG or JPEG up to 3000 px - starts at the Silver plan, listed at £19 a month excluding VAT in August 2026. The free public generator gives a PNG 300 pixels wide, and the one-off HD purchase gives a 1200 × 1200 PNG rather than vector. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no account. ### How Much Does Unitag Cost? In August 2026 Unitag listed Silver at £19, Gold at £49 and Platinum at £99 a month excluding VAT, with a Diamond tier from £4,870 a year and about 10% off for annual billing. Unitag shows prices in pounds, euros or dollars depending on your region. A one-off HD download of a single code was 13 US dollars or 12 euros including tax, and GS1 and API plans started at £12 a month. ### What Is the Difference Between a 300 px PNG and a Vector File? A 300-pixel PNG is a fixed grid of pixels: printed at 300 DPI it measures about 2.5 cm, and enlarging it softens the module edges until scanners struggle. SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that describe the modules as shapes, so the same file is sharp on a business card and on a 3 m banner. For anything going to a printer, ask for vector. ### Can KoloQR Track How Many People Scan My QR Code? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a dynamic QR platform such as Unitag, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Does Unitag Support Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. Unitag's generator customizes what is inside the symbol - module style, eye style, separate inner and outer eye colors, gradients, an image-overlay fill and a logo - but the symbol outline stays square. KoloQR renders the whole code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which matters when the code has to sit inside a round sticker or a hexagonal label. ### What Happens to My Unitag Codes if I Stop Paying? Unitag states that dynamic codes remain functional if a subscription expires but you lose control of them - no editing, no analytics, no downloads - and that codes created in the client dashboard are subscription-dependent, with a buy-back offer available through support. Static codes created in the console keep working, since the destination is in the symbol. Confirm the current terms before you commit. ### Which Tool Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu or a Shop Sign? Use a free static code if the [menu](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) lives at a stable URL, and point it at your own domain so you keep the ability to redirect it later. Choose Unitag or another dynamic platform if you run seasonal campaigns, need per-location scan data, or manage codes across many sites. A table tent rarely justifies a subscription; twenty tracked campaign codes usually do. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The four usual causes are a quiet zone eaten by a frame or background, a raster file enlarged past its resolution, ink spread on uncoated paper closing the gaps between modules, and gloss lamination throwing a reflection into the camera. A fifth, specific to free tiers, is a scan limit reached after distribution. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and test it before approving the run. --- # KoloQR vs QR Batch: One Code, or Thousands From a Spreadsheet URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-batch KoloQR designs one QR code free, with vector export and no account. QR Batch builds up to 100,000 static codes from a spreadsheet, priced per code from $0.50. KoloQR and QR Batch both make static QR codes, and they are not really competing for the same job. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, designs one code in the browser and exports it as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG with no account and no payment. QR Batch, a product of the Indian company Trycon, is a bulk generator: you upload a CSV or Excel file of up to 100,000 rows, apply one shared design to the whole batch, pay for the batch, and download the codes as a ZIP of images or as printable label sheets. QR Batch charges per QR code rather than per month - $0.50 each for the first ten images in August 2026, falling as the volume rises - and requires an account before anything but a small plain-text test batch. If you need one good-looking code, KoloQR gives you the finished file for nothing. If you need 5,000 unique serial codes on 5,000 different boxes, KoloQR cannot do it at all and QR Batch is built for exactly that. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the design and export workflow for a single code, plus the bulk row where QR Batch is the only one of the two that can help at all. They do not cover dynamic QR codes or scan analytics: neither tool offers them, because both produce static codes only. Verified against qrbatch.io in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | QR Batch | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. QR Batch requires a free account, and the free batch is limited to 50 plain-text codes exported as JPG. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. QR Batch is proprietary hosted software, certified to ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 rather than open to inspection. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. QR Batch styles the modules, eyes, colors and background inside a square symbol; the outline stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. QR Batch supports frames and caption text, but frames sit in its custom-design path, which is a paid export rather than part of the free batch. | Yes | Paid batches | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. QR Batch exports SVG, EPS, PDF and DXF as well - the widest format list of the two, DXF included - once the batch is paid for. | Yes | Paid batches | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A QR Batch code reaches a design file as a downloaded file from the batch ZIP. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. QR Batch publishes no browser extension; every code starts from a data row in its web app. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. QR Batch has no contrast check in the editor, which matters more in bulk: one bad color pair is repeated across the whole batch. | Yes | No | | Bulk Generation From a Spreadsheet - Turn a CSV or Excel file into thousands of different QR codes in one run. QR Batch accepts up to 100,000 rows per batch and exports them as images or label sheets. KoloQR makes one code at a time and has no import or API. | No | Yes | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design tool for the one code that has to look right. QR Batch is a production line for the ten thousand codes that have to be different from each other. Both produce static QR codes that never expire, so the choice is about volume and workflow rather than about the codes themselves. ### KoloQR: One Designed Code, Free and Print-Ready KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is a browser editor for a single code at a time. 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. Pick a shape, set the colors, drop in a logo, check the contrast, download the file - no account, no watermark, no payment and no per-code price. - **Every Format, No Account**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all without a signup, an email address or a payment. The vector files are the ones a printer asks for, and they are not held back behind a purchase. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, not only the modules and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **Contrast Checked Before Export**: KoloQR warns when the foreground and background colors are too close for a camera to separate. On a single code that saves one reprint; the same mistake in a batch of 10,000 identical designs is a much more expensive lesson. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is QR Batch? A Paid Production Line for Codes That Differ Row by Row QR Batch is a bulk static QR code generator from Trycon, the Indian company that also publishes Scanova, QR API and Ticket Generator. Its workflow is four steps: supply the data by hand for up to 100 codes or by CSV, XLS or XLSX upload for up to 100,000, apply one design that every code in the batch shares, pay for the batch, then export. It covers five content types - website URL, plain text, vCard, serial code and random code - and its random-code generator produces up to 100,000 hard-to-guess codes, which is the feature behind most anti-counterfeit and warranty-label projects. Batches take between a few minutes and eight hours to process depending on size. QR Batch prices per code, not per month, and there is no subscription. In August 2026 pay-as-you-go started at $0.50 per QR code image for the first ten, $0.60 for labels and $0.65 for custom-design images, with the unit price falling as the batch grows; credit packs listed at $5 for 10 codes, $23 for 100, $80 for 1,000, $187 for 10,000 and $602 for 100,000. A free account generates a batch of up to 50 static codes exported as JPG, and QR Batch states there is no free trial beyond downloading the first code of a batch for testing. The parts KoloQR has no answer to are worth naming plainly: 43 ready-made label layout sheets in square, rectangle and circle formats exported as print-ready PDF or DXF, exact output sizing in pixels, inches, centimetres or millimetres, DXF export for cutting and engraving machines, and one design applied consistently across every row of a spreadsheet. QR Batch confirms that its codes are static and permanent - encoded directly, not linked to the service - so a paid batch keeps working whether or not the account does. ## How to Choose Between a Single-Code Editor and a Bulk Generator One question settles it: does every code carry different data? If yes, you need batch generation and KoloQR is the wrong tool. If no, you need one good file, and paying per code buys you nothing. These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Count the Distinct Destinations Before You Count the Features**: A batch generator earns its price only when the codes differ from each other. One poster reprinted 10,000 times needs one QR code file, generated once and placed in the artwork - the print run does the duplicating, not the generator. Ten thousand product boxes with a unique serial each need 10,000 different symbols, which is a spreadsheet job. Work out which of the two you have before comparing anything else. - **Test One Code From the Batch Before You Pay for All of Them**: QR Batch lets you download the first code of a batch for testing before purchase, and that free sample is the only chance to catch a design fault cheaply. Scan it with an iOS phone and an Android phone, at the real distance, printed at the real size. Every design decision in a QR Batch run is shared by the whole batch, so a logo that covers too much of one code covers too much of all of them. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. Neither KoloQR nor QR Batch offers dynamic codes, so this is the only way to keep a destination editable with either tool - and it keeps working as long as you own the domain, which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Use Serial or Random Codes, Not Sequential URLs, for Anything Unique**: A sequential URL such as example.com/w/1001 tells anyone holding one code how to guess the next thousand. For warranty registration, prize codes, ticketing or anti-counterfeit labels, generate random codes instead - QR Batch's random-code category exists for this, and its output is deliberately hard to guess. Sequential numbering is fine for internal asset tags that nobody gains anything by forging. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a code scanned at arm's length and 3 cm as the safe minimum. On small labels, a longer data string is the hidden danger: more data means more modules in the same square, and each module gets smaller. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. QR Batch adds a quiet zone by default and KoloQR keeps one intact even on circular and hexagonal codes, but a tight label layout or a decorative frame added later in artwork can still eat it. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when placing a logo in the center, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area, and test on a real phone. On labels that will be handled, scuffed or curved around a bottle, level H buys back the margin the surface takes away. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to Print**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that stay sharp at any size; PNG and JPG are raster formats that soften the module edges when scaled up. JPEG compression is the worse of the two for QR codes, because it blurs exactly the hard black-to-white edges a scanner reads. Send the printer a vector, or generate the raster at final physical size and at least 300 DPI. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. On a batch of unique codes, print the serial in human-readable text as well - support cannot help a customer who can only describe a square pattern. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job, and far less than a batch of 10,000 labels. ## Make a Print-Ready QR Code Now, for Free If you need one QR code rather than a spreadsheet of them, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no per-code price and no expiry date on the code. If every code in the run carries different data - serial numbers on packaging, warranty codes on inserts, one vCard per employee, a unique link per asset - KoloQR cannot generate them and QR Batch can, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. The two also combine: design the look in KoloQR to see how a shape, a logo and a color pair actually scan, then rebuild that design once in QR Batch and apply it to the whole spreadsheet. For everything else - the menu sign, the shop window, the business card, the event poster - one free code from KoloQR is the whole job. ## FAQ ### Can KoloQR Generate QR Codes in Bulk From a CSV? No. KoloQR creates one QR code at a time and has no spreadsheet import, no batch queue and no API. For runs where every code carries different data - serial numbers, ticket codes, one link per asset - QR Batch accepts up to 100,000 rows from a CSV, XLS or XLSX file and returns the codes as a ZIP. KoloQR is the better fit when one designed code is duplicated by the printer. ### Is QR Batch Free? Only in a limited form. A free QR Batch account generates a batch of up to 50 static QR codes exported as JPG, and you can download the first code of any batch for testing before paying. Everything beyond that is paid per code: in August 2026 pay-as-you-go started at $0.50 per image for the first ten, with the unit price falling as the batch grows. There is no free trial and no subscription. ### How Much Does QR Batch Cost for 10,000 QR Codes? In August 2026 QR Batch listed a 10,000-credit pack at $187, where one credit equals one QR code, and a 100,000-credit pack at $602. Pay-as-you-go pricing for the same volume is a sliding scale that starts at $0.50 per image for the first ten codes and falls steeply with quantity. Labels and custom-design exports cost more per code than plain images. ### Do QR Batch Codes Expire or Stop Working? No. QR Batch states that its codes are static, that the data is encoded directly into the symbol, and that the code is not linked to the QR Batch service in any way. A paid batch keeps working after the account lapses. KoloQR's codes are static for the same reason. With either tool, the only thing that can break a code is the destination behind it going away. ### Can I Change Where a QR Batch Code Points After Printing? No. Both QR Batch and KoloQR produce static codes only, so the destination is fixed in the pattern once it is printed. Neither tool offers dynamic codes. If the destination has to change later, point the static code at a URL on your own domain and use a 302 redirect, or use a dynamic QR platform such as Scanova, QR Tiger or QRFY instead. ### Does QR Batch Support Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. QR Batch customizes what is inside the symbol - eye and data patterns, colors, a center logo, a background image, frames and caption text - but the symbol outline stays square. KoloQR renders the whole code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which matters when the code has to sit inside a round sticker or a hexagonal label. ### What Is DXF Export For, and Does KoloQR Have It? DXF is a CAD vector format that laser cutters, engravers and die-cutting machines read directly, which is why QR Batch offers it for both images and label sheets. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS but not DXF. If a code is being engraved into metal or cut into a physical surface, QR Batch's DXF output saves a conversion step - though most engraving software will import an SVG. ### Can Every QR Code in a QR Batch Run Have a Different Design? No. QR Batch states that all QR codes in a batch share the same design; only the encoded data varies row by row. To ship two designs you run two batches and pay for both. This is worth knowing before quoting a job that mixes, say, blue codes for one product line and green for another. ### Which Tool Should I Use for Product Labels With Serial Numbers? Use QR Batch. Unique serials are exactly what a bulk generator is for, and its serial-code and random-code categories plus 43 label layout sheets cover the whole path from spreadsheet to printable PDF. KoloQR would mean generating each code by hand. Design the look in KoloQR first if it helps - it is free - then rebuild it once in QR Batch for the run. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The four usual causes are a quiet zone eaten by a frame or label layout, a raster file enlarged past its resolution, ink spread on uncoated paper closing the gaps between modules, and gloss lamination throwing a reflection into the camera. On small labels, add a fifth: too much data packed into too small a symbol. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and test it before approving the run. --- # KoloQR vs QR Planet: Which Free QR Code Generator Should You Use? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-planet KoloQR and QR Planet both give away free vector QR codes with no account. KoloQR adds non-square shapes and open source; QR Planet adds CMYK and tracking. KoloQR and QR Planet are the two generators in this comparison set that both give away a print-ready vector file with no account and no watermark, so the usual free-versus-paywalled argument does not apply here. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG, renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, and publishes its source code. QR Planet exports SVG, EPS and PDF too, in RGB or CMYK, and states that static QR codes created on its site never expire and may be used commercially - its own FAQ says you can create as many static QR Codes as you like without registering. Behind that generator sits a QR management platform run from Vienna: dynamic codes, landing pages, scan analytics and GDPR paperwork, with a free account capped at 100 scans a day. Choose on two questions, not on price: does the code have to be a shape other than a square, and does the printer want CMYK. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the free design and export workflow, which is where the two tools overlap most. They do not cover dynamic codes, landing pages, scan analytics, team seats or the API - QR Planet sells all five and KoloQR offers none of them, and the overview under the table sets that out in full. Verified against qrplanet.com in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | QR Planet | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. QR Planet does the same for static codes: its FAQ states you can create as many static QR Codes as you like without registering, vector formats included. | Yes | Yes | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. QR Planet is proprietary hosted software, run by QR Planet GmbH in Vienna. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. QR Planet restyles the body, eye and eyeball inside the symbol; the outline of the code itself stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. QR Planet's frames come with or without a label and let you set the call-to-action text, its font and the frame colour. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. QR Planet exports the same three and adds a CMYK colour space, which KoloQR does not offer - its files are RGB. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A QR Planet code reaches a design file as a downloaded SVG placed by hand. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. QR Planet's generator runs on its website; no QR Planet extension is listed on the Chrome Web Store. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. QR Planet's help advises using contrasting colours, but the generator does not measure the pair you chose. | Yes | No | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool that gives the file away and nothing else. QR Planet is a QR management platform whose free static generator is unusually complete. Both hand over vector; what differs is the shape of the code and the colour space of the file. ### KoloQR: A Free Static Generator That Changes the Shape of the Code KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and no account exists to lose access to: a KoloQR code works for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), [triangle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) or [hexagon](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), not only the modules and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **Every Format, No Account**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all without a signup, an email address or a payment. The vector files are the ones a printer asks for, and no format is held back for a paid tier. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. - **Checks Built Into the Editor**: KoloQR measures the contrast between the code colour and its background while you design, and copies the finished code straight into Figma. Both save the round trip of exporting a file, placing it, and finding out on the proof that the pair was too close. ### What Is QR Planet? A Vienna Platform With an Unusually Complete Free Generator QR Planet is run by QR Planet GmbH from Vienna, with a second office in Barcelona, and traces back to qrd.by, which merged into the QR Planet brand in January 2023. Its free static generator gives away more than most: 15-plus code types including [Wi-Fi](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code), vCard, PDF and cryptocurrency, body, eye and eyeball shapes, gradients, a logo, ready-made templates, and frames whose call-to-action label, font and colour you set yourself. The download is vector - SVG, EPS or PDF - in RGB or CMYK, and QR Planet states that static QR Codes created with our service never expire and that codes made on the site can be used free of charge and commercially. On CMYK output QR Planet is ahead of KoloQR, whose exports are RGB. The paid product at QR Planet is the account, not the file. Signing in adds dynamic QR codes whose destination can be changed after printing, hosted landing pages, scan statistics covering unique visitors, devices and location, and e-mail alerts on scans - none of which KoloQR does. The free account is small on purpose: 1 QR code, 1 landing page, 25 MB of webspace, and QR Planet states that 100 QR Code scans are possible per day with the free account, with dynamic codes in free accounts not expiring if they are scanned less than 50 times per day. Above it sit Starter, Premium and White Label tiers by code count, and an Enterprise plan from 250 EUR a month; the pricing terms in August 2026 read 15-days trial, no monthly billing and a minimum term of 3 months. Read that last line before you start a trial - the commitment is quarterly, not monthly. ## How to Choose Between Two Free QR Code Generators When both tools are free and both export vector, price stops being the deciding factor and the file itself becomes it. These rules apply whichever generator you use. - **Ask the Printer for the Colour Space Before You Export**: CMYK is the four-ink colour space commercial presses print in; RGB is the additive colour space screens display in. A print shop that wants CMYK artwork can take a QR Planet PDF as it is, while a KoloQR SVG or PDF arrives in RGB and has to be converted. For a code printed in flat black the conversion is trivial - set the dark colour to 100% K and nothing else - but for a coloured or gradient code, ask first, because an uncontrolled conversion is where module edges pick up a colour fringe. - **Decide Whether the Code Has to Be Square**: If the code sits in a rectangle on a flyer, a menu or a business card, both tools are equally capable and the question never comes up. If it has to sit inside a round sticker, a bottle cap, a hexagonal label or a circular badge, only a generator that reshapes the whole symbol will do - QR Planet restyles the modules and eyes but keeps the outline square. Decide this before designing, because it is not a setting you can change at export. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, the ratio between scanning distance and QR code size is 10:1 - QR Planet publishes the same figure and gives 20 × 20 mm as the minimum for a code read from 20 cm, and 1 square metre for one read from 10 m. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a short-range code and 3 cm as the safe one, and measure the real reading distance rather than guessing it from the mock-up. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides, and QR Planet's print guidance repeats it as about 4 blocks in the code's own background colour. Decorative frames, background images and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. QR Planet sets the level to its highest value automatically when a logo is placed and says the logo may take up to 30% of the surface at level H; treat a quarter of the area as the working ceiling and keep the logo off the three corner eyes. - **Add One Design Element at a Time and Rescan After Each**: Gradients, patterned modules, rounded eyes, a logo and a frame each remove a little of the contrast a camera relies on, and QR Planet states the point plainly: the more designer elements you add to the QR code, the more difficult the QR code becomes to read. Scan after every change rather than at the end, so the element that broke it is the last one you added instead of one of five suspects. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Check the Scan Allowance Before You Print a Dynamic Code**: A dynamic QR code routes every scan through the provider's server, so the provider's limits are your limits. QR Planet's free account allows 100 QR code scans a day; other platforms count per month. Estimate the scans your print run will generate on its busiest day, not its average one, and buy the tier that covers the peak - a code that stops resolving on the one day the campaign works is the expensive failure. - **Avoid EPS When the Code Uses a Gradient**: EPS does not carry gradients as true vector artwork, which is why QR Planet recommends PDF or SVG for gradient codes and reserves EPS for flat black and white. If a print workflow insists on EPS and the design has a gradient, either flatten the gradient to a single dark colour or supply a PDF instead. A gradient that survives the export but not the RIP is discovered on the proof, not on screen. - **Print One Copy at Final Size Before the Full Run**: Print a single copy at the final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. QR Planet's own advice is to always do scan tests before printing QR codes in high volume, and its help warns off reflective surfaces, materials that crease and strongly curved objects. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. ## Design Your QR Code and Download the Vector, Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape - rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon - set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, then download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no scan counter and no expiry date on the code. If your printer needs CMYK separations in the file itself, QR Planet's free generator produces them and KoloQR does not - that is a real reason to use the other tool, and we would rather say so than watch a proof come back wrong. The same goes for re-pointing a code after it is printed, hosted landing pages or scan statistics: those are what a QR platform is for. A middle path worth trying first is a free static code pointed at a redirect URL on your own domain, which keeps the destination editable without a subscription and costs nothing if the campaign never needs analytics. ## FAQ ### Is QR Planet's Free QR Code Generator Really Free? Yes, for static codes. QR Planet states that you can create as many static QR Codes as you like without registering, that static QR Codes created with our service never expire, and that codes made on the site can be used free of charge and commercially. The vector download is included. The free account, which is a separate thing, is limited to 1 QR code and 100 scans a day. ### Can KoloQR Export a QR Code in CMYK? No. KoloQR's SVG, PDF and EPS exports are RGB, so a press that wants CMYK artwork needs the file converted - trivial for a flat black code, worth checking for a coloured or gradient one. QR Planet exports vector in CMYK as well as RGB and is the better choice when the print shop insists on separations in the supplied file. ### Does QR Planet Make Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. QR Planet's designer changes the body, eye and eyeball shapes inside the code, along with colors, gradients, a logo and a frame, but the symbol's outline stays square. KoloQR renders the entire code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which is what matters when the code has to fill a round sticker or a hexagonal label rather than sit in a square box inside one. ### How Much Does QR Planet Cost? QR Planet's free plan lists 1 QR code, 1 landing page and 25 MB of webspace, with paid Starter, Premium and White Label tiers stepping up to 5, 100 and 250 codes, and Enterprise from 250 EUR a month. The terms shown in August 2026 state a 15-day trial with no credit card, no monthly billing and a minimum term of 3 months, with about 20% off for annual billing. ### Which Tool Is Better for a Restaurant Menu? For a [menu](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) at a stable URL, either generator works and neither costs anything - point the code at your own domain so you keep the ability to redirect it later. Choose QR Planet if the menu link changes seasonally and you want scan numbers per table tent. Choose KoloQR if the code has to be round, hexagonal or otherwise shaped to the table stand it sits in. ### What Happens to a QR Planet Code if the Subscription Ends? Static codes keep working, because the destination is inside the pattern and no server is involved in a scan. Dynamic codes are the ones at risk: every scan is a request to QR Planet, so anything that ends the account or exceeds the plan's scan allowance affects the printed sheet. Confirm the current terms with QR Planet before printing a run that depends on a dynamic code. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a platform such as QR Planet, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Why Did My QR Code Stop Scanning After I Added a Gradient? A gradient lowers the contrast between the dark modules and the light background at one end of the code, and a camera needs that contrast across the whole symbol. Keep both ends of the gradient clearly dark against the background, or apply it to a light background rather than the modules. Note also that EPS does not store gradients as true vector, so a gradient code should be exported as SVG or PDF. ### Which Format Should I Send to a Print Shop, SVG, PDF or EPS? Send PDF unless the printer asks otherwise: it carries vector artwork, embeds colour information reliably and opens in every prepress tool. SVG is the better file for web use and for design tools, and EPS suits older print workflows and flat black and white codes. All three stay sharp at any size, which a PNG does not - a raster file enlarged past its pixel count softens the module edges first. ### Can I Use a QR Code From Either Tool Commercially? Yes. QR Planet states that codes created on its website can be used free of charge and commercially, and KoloQR places no licence conditions on the codes it generates. The QR code format itself is covered by ISO/IEC 18004 and is free to use - Denso Wave, which invented it, does not charge for the specification. Check the licence on any logo you place in the middle, which is a separate question. --- # KoloQR vs Bitly: Which QR Code Do You Actually Own? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-bitly KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG free with no account. Bitly needs a login, allows two QR codes a month free, and charges to edit a destination. KoloQR and Bitly both produce a QR code, and the two codes are different objects. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes your destination directly into the symbol and gives you SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account and no limit on how many codes you make. A Bitly QR code encodes a bit.ly short link, so every scan is a request to Bitly's servers before the visitor reaches your page. That indirection is the whole product: it is what lets Bitly count scans, break them down by country and device, and route one code to different destinations. It is also what makes the code dependent on Bitly. The free plan requires an account, allows two QR codes a month, does not include the ability to change a destination after printing, and - per Bitly's own support documentation - sends visitors through an interstitial preview page carrying an ad. This page sets out both sides so you can tell which of the two objects your job needs. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the free design and export workflow, which is the part of Bitly people compare against a QR code generator. They do not cover the part Bitly is actually built for - dynamic destinations, scan analytics by country and device, dynamic routing, UTM builders, branded domains, an API and team seats - which Bitly sells and KoloQR does not offer at all. The overview under the table sets that out in full. Verified against bitly.com in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | Bitly | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Bitly requires a free account before any QR code can be generated, and the free plan allows two codes a month. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Bitly is proprietary hosted software. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Bitly styles the dot pattern, corners and colors inside a square symbol; the outline stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Bitly's free plan includes a limited set of frames and colors; its advanced frames, patterns and logo overlay start on the Core plan. | Yes | Paid plans | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Bitly downloads as PNG, JPEG or SVG - SVG is vector and available free, but there is no PDF or EPS for a print workflow that asks for one. | Yes | SVG only | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A Bitly code reaches a design file as a downloaded image. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. Bitly publishes an official Chrome extension that shortens the current URL and creates a code without leaving the page. | Yes | Yes | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Bitly's editor offers color and gradient controls but documents no contrast measurement. | Yes | No | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool that gives the file away. Bitly is a link management platform, and its QR code is one of the shapes a Bitly link can take. Both draw a scannable code; what differs is what happens when someone scans it. ### KoloQR: A Free Static QR Code Generator With Nothing in the Middle KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, no account owns it, and nothing expires: a KoloQR code works for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Every Format, No Account, No Monthly Allowance**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all without a signup, an email address or a payment. There is no cap on how many codes you make in a month, which matters if you are producing one code per table, per shelf edge or per product variant. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, not only the dots and corners inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **No Redirect in the Path**: A scanner reading a KoloQR code goes straight to your URL. There is no short link to resolve, no preview page, no ad slot and no third party that has to be online for the scan to work. The shortest possible path between a camera and your page is the one with nothing in it. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is Bitly? A Link Platform Whose QR Code Is a Short Link in Disguise Bitly has run one of the internet's best-known URL shorteners since 2008, and its QR codes sit on top of that infrastructure: every Bitly code encodes a bit.ly link, which means the destination can be changed, the scans can be counted, and one code can be routed to different pages by country, device or platform. The analytics are genuinely good - scans by location, device, referrer and date, UTM parameters built in, an API, a mobile app and branded custom domains on the paid tiers. Bitly also sets error correction to level H on the codes it generates, the strongest of the four levels, which is the right default for a code that may end up with a logo on it or printed on something imperfect. If you need to re-point a printed code or report on scan volume, this is a mature product and KoloQR is not a substitute for it. The free plan is where the comparison usually happens, and it is worth reading in its own numbers. Bitly's free tier, as listed in August 2026, allows 5 short links, 2 QR codes, 2 landing pages and 3 custom back-halves per month, with unlimited clicks and scans on whatever you create. Design is limited to basic colors, frames and patterns; the logo overlay and the advanced frame and pattern options begin on the Core plan. The ability to edit a destination after the code is printed - the reason most people want a dynamic code - is a paid feature, listed from Core, so a free Bitly code is a tracked code you cannot re-point. Bitly's support documentation also states that free-plan links pass through an interstitial page showing a destination preview and an ad, removable by upgrading; because a Bitly QR code is a bit.ly link, a scan takes the same route as a click. Paid plans in August 2026 were listed at 10 US dollars a month for Core (billed annually, 120 US dollars a year, 5 codes a month), 35 for Growth (10 codes a month), 300 for Premium (200 codes a month), and custom pricing for Enterprise. Before printing anything with a free Bitly code, scan a test code with a phone that is not signed in and see exactly what your customer sees. ## How to Choose Between a Static Generator and a Link Platform Two questions decide this, and neither is about design tools: will the destination change after the code is printed, and does anyone need to see the scan numbers? These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: A static QR code stores the destination in the pattern; a dynamic QR code stores a short link that a provider resolves to the destination. If the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, a static code from a free generator is enough and costs nothing to maintain. If the destination will change, or scans have to be counted per campaign, buy a dynamic service and accept the subscription. A static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one afterwards, so choosing wrongly means reprinting. - **Check Whether the Free Tier Actually Lets You Edit the Link**: Free dynamic and editable are not the same claim, and QR platforms routinely offer the first while charging for the second. Bitly's free plan creates dynamic codes but lists destination redirects as a Core-plan feature, so a free Bitly code is tracked and unchangeable - the one property most people were buying a dynamic code for. Before you print, find the sentence in the pricing table that says the destination can be edited on your plan. - **Scan a Test Code From a Phone That Is Not Signed In**: You see your own codes as their owner, which hides interstitials, previews, warnings and ads that a stranger's phone will show. Make one throwaway code, print it at final size, and scan it with a device that has never touched the account. Bitly's support documentation states that free-plan links show a destination preview page with an ad before the redirect; whether that appears on your code is a thirty-second check, not a thing to assume in either direction. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. Server logs or your existing web analytics then give you visit counts. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Count the Codes Your Job Needs Before You Read the Feature List**: Monthly allowances decide more purchases than features do. Bitly's free plan allows 2 QR codes a month, Core 5, Growth 10 and Premium 200. A restaurant with 30 tables, a warehouse labelling 200 shelf locations or a shop tagging every product variant runs out of allowance long before it runs out of features, and static codes from a free generator have no allowance at all. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a code scanned at arm's length and 3 cm as the safe one. Measure the real distance in the real room rather than estimating it from the design file. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Decorative frames, background images and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when placing a logo in the center - Bitly's support documentation states it uses level H on the codes it generates - keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area, and test on a real phone. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to Print**: SVG, PDF and EPS are vector formats that stay sharp at any size; PNG and JPEG are raster formats that soften the module edges when scaled up. SVG is enough for most printers and Bitly does export it free, but some print workflows will only accept PDF or EPS, and a JPEG is the worst of the four because its compression blurs the hard edges scanners rely on. Send vector, or generate a PNG at final physical size and at least 300 DPI. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. It also rescues the print run if the code itself ever stops resolving. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path - this is an accessibility requirement, not a nicety. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job. ## Make a Print-Ready QR Code Now, for Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no monthly allowance, no interstitial between the scan and your page, and no third party that has to stay online for the code to work. If you need to re-point a code after it is printed, report scan volume by country and device, route one code to different destinations, or run codes on a branded short domain, Bitly is a real platform for that and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. A middle path worth trying first: generate a free static code here, point it at a redirect URL on your own domain, and keep the ability to change the destination without a subscription or a monthly code allowance. If the campaign later needs per-code analytics, you have lost nothing by starting free. ## FAQ ### How Many QR Codes Can I Make Free on Bitly? Two per month. Bitly's free plan, as listed in August 2026, allows 5 short links, 2 QR codes, 2 landing pages and 3 custom back-halves each month, with unlimited scans on whatever you create. The allowance is on creation, not on scanning. KoloQR has no account and no monthly allowance, so the number of codes you generate is not limited. ### Can I Change Where a Free Bitly QR Code Points? No. Bitly lists link and QR code redirects as a paid feature starting on the Core plan, which was 10 US dollars a month billed annually in August 2026. A free Bitly code is dynamic in architecture - it routes through bit.ly and records scans - but the destination is fixed once created. If editing after printing is the reason you chose Bitly, the free plan does not deliver it. ### Do Bitly QR Codes Show an Ad Before My Page? Bitly's support documentation states that free-plan links pass through an interstitial page showing a destination preview and an advertisement, and that upgrading to a paid plan removes it. A Bitly QR code encodes a bit.ly link, so a scan follows the same path as a click. Make one test code and scan it from a phone that is not signed in to the account before you commit to a print run. ### Can I Download an SVG From Bitly for Free? Yes. Bitly offers PNG, JPEG and SVG downloads, with PNG as the default, and SVG is available on the free plan. SVG is a true vector format, so it stays sharp at any print size. What Bitly does not export is PDF or EPS, which some print workflows require. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account. ### Is KoloQR Really Free, or Is There a Paid Tier? KoloQR is free with no account, no watermark, no monthly code allowance and no paid tier gating the formats: SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG all download without signing up. The trade-off is that KoloQR generates static QR codes only. The destination is encoded in the symbol, so it cannot be changed after printing and no scans are recorded. ### What Happens to a Bitly QR Code if I Delete the Link? It stops working. Bitly's support documentation states that a deleted link and any QR codes attached to it are removed permanently and cannot be recovered, and that anyone scanning afterwards lands on a Bitly error page. Bitly does say that bit.ly links keep resolving if you downgrade or your account is deleted for inactivity. A static KoloQR code has no account behind it to delete. ### Does Bitly Support Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. Bitly's editor customizes what is inside the symbol - colors and gradients, dot patterns, corners, frames, accompanying text and, on paid plans, a logo - but the symbol outline stays square. KoloQR renders the whole code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which matters when the code has to sit inside a round sticker, a bottle cap or a hexagonal label. ### Can KoloQR Track How Many People Scan My QR Code? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a dynamic platform such as Bitly, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Which Tool Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu or a Shop Sign? Use a free static code if the [menu](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) lives at a stable URL, and point it at your own domain so you keep the ability to redirect it later. Choose Bitly or another link platform if you run seasonal campaigns, need per-location scan data, or report on channel performance. A table tent rarely justifies a subscription; a thirty-table restaurant also exceeds Bitly's free allowance of two codes a month on day one. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The four usual causes are a quiet zone eaten by a frame or background, a raster file enlarged past its resolution, ink spread on uncoated paper closing the gaps between modules, and gloss lamination throwing a reflection into the camera. A fifth, specific to codes that route through a platform, is a link that has been deleted or an account that has lapsed. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and test it before approving the run. --- # KoloQR vs Canva: Which One Gives You the QR Code File? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-canva Canva puts a QR code inside a design and needs an account to download it. KoloQR exports the code itself as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG, free and without a signup. KoloQR and Canva are not the same kind of tool, and the comparison is still worth making because both answer the search "make a QR code". KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports the symbol on its own as SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG, with no account, no watermark and no limit on scans. Canva is a graphic design platform: its QR code app inserts a code into a design you are already building, so what you download is the flyer, the business card or the poster, with the code inside it. That difference decides almost everything else - Canva needs an account before it will let you download anything, SVG export sits behind Canva Pro, and the symbol Canva draws is a square with your colours applied. If you want a finished layout, Canva is the better tool and KoloQR does not attempt the job. If you want the code as a file - to hand to a printer, to place in Figma or InDesign, or to put on a curved label - this page explains why that is the harder path in Canva. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover making and exporting the QR code itself, which is the only part of the two tools that overlaps. They do not cover templates, stock photography, brand kits, team collaboration, print ordering or video - Canva does all of them and KoloQR does none, and the overview under the table says so plainly. Canva's plan boundaries move, so treat the paid-tier notes as a prompt to check its pricing page rather than a quote. | Feature | KoloQR | Canva | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Canva's QR code app lives inside the editor, and the editor requires a Canva account before it will export anything. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Canva is proprietary hosted software. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Canva applies your colors to a square symbol; the outline of the code stays square however the surrounding design is shaped. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Canva has no QR-specific frame library, though its design elements let you build any frame you like around the code by hand. | Yes | No | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Canva's SVG export is a Canva Pro feature, and it exports the whole design rather than the code alone. | Yes | Pro plan | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A Canva code reaches another design tool as a downloaded file, usually with the rest of the design attached to it. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. Canva has no extension that turns the page you are viewing into a QR code. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Canva's color picker will happily give a QR code two shades a camera cannot separate, with no warning. | Yes | No | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR makes one thing and gives you the file. Canva makes everything around the code and gives you the design. Both will draw a QR code that scans; what you leave with is different, and so is who should use which. ### KoloQR: A Generator That Exports the Code by Itself KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, produces the symbol as a standalone file. 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 it opens. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can switch the code off, and the file is yours the moment it downloads - no account, no watermark, no expiry. - **The Code as a File, Not as Part of a Design**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, each containing the code and nothing else. That is the file a printer, an InDesign layout or a packaging die-line expects, and it is also what you paste into Canva when the layout happens there. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), triangle or [hexagon](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), not only the modules inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round sticker where a square code wastes the corners. - **A Contrast Check Before You Print, Not After**: KoloQR checks that the foreground and background you picked are far enough apart for a camera to separate them. Brand colours are where most designed codes fail, and the failure appears on paper rather than on screen. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is Canva? A Design Platform With a QR Code App Inside It Canva is a graphic design platform, and its QR code feature is one app in a marketplace of hundreds. That context is the whole point of Canva and the reason it is often the right answer: templates for a flyer, a menu or a [business card](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/business-cards), a stock library, brand kits, team sharing, comments, and print ordering that ships the finished job to your door. If what you actually need is the poster rather than the code, no QR generator on this site competes with that, KoloQR included. [Adobe Express](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-adobe-express) is the same shape of tool, and the same comparison applies to it. Canva's QR codes come from two built-in tools, both available on every plan including Free. Static QR codes takes a URL, a code colour, a background colour and a margin, and its link is fixed for good. Dynamic QR codes adds patterns and corner styles and routes the scan through Canva, so the link can be changed later; on Free, Pro and Education a dynamic code carries the Canva logo in its centre. Their limits follow from being tools inside an editor. The symbol stays square. There is no contrast check, no error-correction control and no frame library aimed at codes. Nothing downloads until you have signed in, and what downloads is the design - so getting the code on its own means putting it alone on a canvas and exporting that. SVG export is a Canva Pro feature; the free tier's raster export is fine for screens and needs care in print. Scan Insights, expiry dates, custom logos and removing the Canva logo need Canva Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit, according to Canva's help centre in October 2026; plan boundaries move, so check before a campaign depends on one. ## How to Get a Print-Ready Code Out of Either Tool Most QR codes that fail in print fail for the same handful of reasons, and none of them is the generator's brand. These rules apply whether the code came from KoloQR, from Canva, or from the two used together. - **Use Both: Generate the Code in KoloQR, Lay It Out in Canva**: The fastest good workflow is not a choice between the two. Export the code from KoloQR as SVG, upload it into Canva as an element, and build the flyer or menu around it with Canva's templates. You get a vector code, a shape other than a square if you want one, and a contrast check, without giving up Canva's layout tools. If an SVG upload is refused on your plan, export a PNG from KoloQR at the code's final printed size and at least 300 DPI instead. - **Export the Design, Not a Screenshot of the Code**: A QR code cropped out of a finished design is a raster image at whatever resolution that design happened to be, which is how a code that looked perfect on screen prints soft. If the code has to leave the design, generate it separately and keep the original file. Screenshots and screen captures of a code are never print material, in any tool. - **Choose PDF Print Over PDF Standard for Anything on Paper**: Canva exports PDF Standard at 96 DPI, which is a screen resolution, and PDF Print at 300 DPI with an option for bleed and crop marks. A QR code exported at 96 DPI and printed at 3 cm has roughly a third of the module detail a printer needs. The choice takes one click in the download dialog and there is no reason to get it wrong. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm of code. Treat 2 cm square as the absolute floor for a code someone holds a phone right up to, and 3 cm as the safe minimum in print. Shrinking a code to balance a layout is the most common reason a design-led code will not scan. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Template-driven layouts are where this goes wrong most often: a code dropped into a decorative frame or over a photographic background loses its margin without anything on screen saying so. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Generate the code at level H when a logo sits in the centre, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area, and never paste a logo over a code that was generated without allowing for it - a design tool cannot add redundancy after the fact. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is permitted by the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If the brand palette demands a dark background, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it, and check that the two colours you chose are far apart in lightness, not only in hue. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: A static QR code is enough when the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, and it costs nothing to maintain because nothing hosts it. Choose a dynamic code when the destination will change after printing or scans must be counted, and accept the subscription that comes with it. A static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one afterwards in any tool, so getting this wrong means reprinting. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes and the redirect target can be edited whenever you like, which is the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee. The redirect also keeps working for as long as you own the domain, which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. It also rescues the print run if the code itself ever stops resolving. A QR code should be the fast path to the content and never the only path - this is an accessibility requirement rather than a nicety. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than reprinting the job. ## Make the Code Here, Make the Layout Wherever You Like KoloQR gives you the finished code file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no scan counter and no expiry date on the code. Upload that file into Canva, InDesign, Figma or a printer's template and the code is already the right kind of asset. If what you need is the design rather than the code - a template for the flyer, stock photography, a brand kit shared with a team, or print ordering that arrives at your door - Canva does all of that and KoloQR does none of it, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. The two are not really competitors: the only overlapping question is where the code comes from, and a vector code generated separately is better in Canva too. ## FAQ ### Can I Make a QR Code in Canva Without an Account? No. Canva's QR code app runs inside the Canva editor, and the editor requires an account before it will download anything. You can reach the canvas and see the code, but the export step asks you to sign in. KoloQR downloads SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account, no email address and no payment. For the steps inside the editor, see [how to create a QR code in Canva](https://koloqr.com/blog/how-to-create-a-qr-code-in-canva). ### Can I Download a QR Code as an SVG From Canva? SVG export is a Canva Pro feature, so it is not available on the free plan. There is a second catch: Canva exports the design, not the element, so an SVG from Canva contains everything on the canvas. To get the code alone you would place it on an empty canvas sized to the code and export that. KoloQR exports the code by itself as SVG, PDF or EPS for free. ### Are Canva QR Codes Static or Dynamic? Both, on every plan. Canva's Static QR codes tool stores the URL in the pattern, so the link can never change. Its Dynamic QR codes tool routes the scan through Canva, so the link can be edited after printing; it is available on Free too, with the Canva logo in the middle unless the account is Business, Enterprise or Nonprofit. Canva cannot convert one kind into the other. KoloQR generates static codes only and says so. Whether a given Canva code can stop working is covered in [do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire). ### Does Canva Make Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. Canva changes the code's colors and lets you place any shape around it, but the symbol itself stays square. A round frame with a square code inside it is not a circular QR code. KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which is what matters when the code has to fill a round sticker or a hexagonal label. ### Why Is My Canva QR Code Blurry When Printed? Almost always because the design was exported at screen resolution and enlarged. Canva's PDF Standard is 96 DPI and PDF Print is 300 DPI, and a raster export of a code softens the module edges as it scales. Export at 300 DPI at final physical size, or place a vector code in the design so the resolution question never arises. ### Is KoloQR a Replacement for Canva? No, and it is not trying to be. KoloQR makes QR codes and exports them; it has no templates, no stock library, no layout canvas, no team features and no print ordering. If you need a flyer, Canva or another design tool makes the flyer. KoloQR makes the code that goes on it, in a format the flyer can use. ### Can I Import a KoloQR Code Into Canva? Yes. Download the code from KoloQR as SVG and upload it in Canva's Uploads panel, then drag it onto the canvas and size it like any other element. A [vector QR code](https://koloqr.com/guides/qr-code-svg-and-vector-files) stays sharp at any size, so it survives being scaled to fit the layout. If an SVG upload is refused, export a PNG at the code's final printed size and at least 300 DPI instead. ### Does Canva Check Whether My QR Code Colors Will Scan? No. Canva's color picker treats a QR code like any other graphic, so two brand shades that a camera cannot separate will be accepted without a warning. Contrast is the most common reason a designed code fails in the wild. KoloQR checks the foreground and background you chose and tells you before you download. ### Can KoloQR Track How Many People Scan My QR Code? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes with no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, use a dynamic QR platform, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Which Should I Use for a Restaurant Menu or a Shop Sign? Design the [menu](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) or sign wherever your templates already live, and generate the code separately as a vector so it prints cleanly at any size. Choose a static code pointed at your own domain if the destination is stable, and a dynamic platform if you run seasonal campaigns or need per-location scan data. A table tent rarely justifies a subscription; twenty tracked campaign codes usually do. --- # KoloQR vs QR Code Generator: Which Free QR Code Can You Print? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-code-generator KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG free with no account. QR Code Generator's free download is a JPG - PNG, SVG and EPS need a signup, logos need PRO. KoloQR and QR Code Generator both give away static QR codes, and the difference shows up at the download button rather than in the editor. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG without an account, a watermark or a payment. QR Code Generator - qr-code-generator.com, which abbreviates itself QRCG and belongs to Bitly - is more generous than most on the things people usually get caught by: its FAQ states that static QR codes are free, never expire and have no scan limit. What it holds back is the file. QRCG's own FAQ says the free download is high-resolution JPG, and that PNG, SVG or EPS require account signup, with EPS supplied only in black and white without any designs. Adding a logo to the centre needs a PRO account, free for 14 days and paid after that. Behind the free generator sits a full QR marketing platform - dynamic codes, scan analytics, 22 code types, bulk creation, an API and team seats - which is what QRCG sells and what KoloQR does not attempt. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the free design and export workflow, which is where the two tools are most often mistaken for each other. They do not cover dynamic codes, scan analytics, bulk creation, the API or team seats - QRCG sells all five and KoloQR offers none of them, and the overview under the table sets that out in full. Verified against qr-code-generator.com in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | QR Code Generator (QRCG) | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. QRCG's FAQ states that the no-account download is high-resolution JPG, and that PNG, SVG and EPS require account signup. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. QRCG is proprietary hosted software, run by Bitly Europe in Bielefeld, Germany. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. QRCG styles the pattern, eyes and colors inside a square symbol; the outline stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. QRCG ships ready-made frames carrying call-to-action text, and its own description of the free three-step flow offers colors and frames before download. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. QRCG offers SVG and EPS after account signup, with EPS supplied only in black and white without any designs, and no PDF. | Yes | Account required | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A QRCG code reaches a design file as a downloaded image. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. QRCG publishes no browser extension of its own - its blog on the subject recommends third-party ones - though its parent Bitly ships an extension for Bitly accounts. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. QRCG publishes printing guidance and the rule that the foreground must be darker than the background, but the editor does not measure the contrast for you. | Yes | No | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool that gives the finished file away. QR Code Generator is a QR marketing platform whose free static codes are the top of a funnel. Both draw a good-looking code; what differs is the file you leave with and what happens after you print it. ### KoloQR: Every Export Format, With No Account KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file in the format you ask for. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and nothing expires: a KoloQR code works for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Vector on the First Click**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all without a signup, an email address or a payment. The vector files are the ones a printer asks for, and they are not held back behind an account or a trial. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, not only the modules and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **A Logo Without a Subscription**: Placing a logo in the centre of the code is part of the free editor, alongside full colour control and a contrast check. On QRCG the same feature sits behind a PRO account, free for the first 14 days. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is QR Code Generator? A Bitly-Owned QR Marketing Platform QR Code Generator started as Egoditor GmbH in Bielefeld, Germany, and has been part of Bitly since the December 2021 acquisition; the site's own footer files it under Bitly Europe. Its product is a QR management platform: dynamic codes that can be re-pointed after printing, scan analytics by time, place and device, 22 QR code types, bulk creation from a CSV, a REST API, team seats and built-in landing pages for people with no website. Plans listed in August 2026 were Starter at €16 a month or €8 a month billed annually, Advanced at €15 a month and Professional at €40 a month - both annual-only - all excluding VAT, with an Enterprise tier quoted on request. Starter allows 2 dynamic codes, 10,000 scans and 1 user; Advanced 50 codes and unlimited scans; Professional 250 codes. QRCG shows different amounts by region and currency, so check your own checkout rather than converting these. The free side of QR Code Generator is better than most free tiers and worse than it looks in one specific way. Better: QRCG's FAQ says all static codes are free - URL, vCard, plain text, email, SMS, Twitter, WiFi and Bitcoin - that they are yours forever, that they never expire, and that there is no scan limit. Nothing is deactivated behind your back, which is more than several rivals can say. Worse: the file. QRCG's FAQ states that generated codes download in high-resolution JPG, and that PNG, SVG or EPS require account signup, with EPS offered only in black and white without any designs. JPEG is a lossy format built for photographs: it compresses in 8 × 8 blocks and typically discards colour detail, which puts ringing artifacts along exactly the hard black-and-white edges a scanner reads, and it has no transparency, so the code arrives in an opaque rectangle. For a code that will be printed small, that is the wrong file - and it is a free signup away from being the right one. ## How to Choose Between a Free Generator and a QR Platform Two questions decide this, and neither is about design tools: what file do you need to hand over, and will the destination change after printing? These rules apply whichever tool you pick. - **Check the Free Download's File Format Before You Design**: The format a free generator gives away is the thing that decides whether the work is reusable, and it is usually stated in the FAQ rather than on the button. QRCG documents high-resolution JPG without an account and PNG, SVG or EPS with one; KoloQR exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account at all. Find that sentence for any generator before you spend an hour on colours, because the download is where free tiers narrow. - **Do Not Send a JPG QR Code to a Printer**: JPEG is a lossy raster format designed for photographs, and a QR code is the opposite of a photograph: it is hard black-and-white edges, which is what JPEG compression damages first. Re-saving compounds the artifacts, and JPEG has no transparency, so the symbol comes wrapped in an opaque rectangle. Use SVG, PDF or EPS for print, and PNG when a raster file is unavoidable - PNG is lossless and supports transparency. - **Decide Static or Dynamic Before You Design Anything**: If the destination is fixed for the life of the printed material, a static QR code from a free generator is enough and costs nothing to maintain. If the destination will change, or scans have to be counted, buy a dynamic QR service and accept the subscription. A static code cannot be converted into a dynamic one afterwards - QRCG says so in its own FAQ - so choosing wrongly means reprinting. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Count the Codes a Plan Allows, Not the Features It Lists**: Dynamic QR pricing is sold on allowances, and the allowance is what runs out. QRCG's Starter plan, the cheapest with dynamic codes, covers 2 codes, 10,000 scans and 1 user; 50 codes and unlimited scans start at Advanced, which is billed annually. Before subscribing, count the printed items that need their own code and their own numbers, then read the plan again - a campaign with eight posters does not fit a two-code plan. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. QRCG publishes the same floor from the other direction: for business cards, flyers and similar small print, codes should be at least 2 × 2 cm, around 0.8 × 0.8 in. Treat 2 cm as the absolute minimum and 3 cm as the comfortable one. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Decorative frames, background images and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when placing a logo in the centre, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area, and test on a real phone rather than trusting the preview. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background, and QRCG states the same rule in its own troubleshooting FAQ: the foreground must be darker than the background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. It also rescues the print run if a platform code is ever deactivated. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path - this is an accessibility requirement, not a nicety. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job. ## Make a Print-Ready QR Code Now, for Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no trial clock and no format held back for a paid tier. If you need to re-point a code after it is printed, count scans by time and place, build codes in bulk from a spreadsheet or manage them across a team, QR Code Generator is a real platform for that and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. A middle path worth trying first: generate a free static code here, point it at a redirect URL on your own domain, and keep the ability to change the destination without a subscription. If the campaign later needs per-code analytics, you have lost nothing by starting free. ## FAQ ### Is QR Code Generator Free, and What Does Free Include? QRCG's static QR codes are free, and its FAQ says they never expire and have no scan limit. What the free tier limits is the file and the design: the no-account download is high-resolution JPG, while PNG, SVG and EPS require account signup, and adding a logo needs a PRO account - free for 14 days, paid after that. KoloQR exports every format with no account. ### Can I Download an SVG From QR Code Generator for Free? Not without an account. QRCG's FAQ states that codes download in high-resolution JPG, and that PNG, SVG or EPS require account signup. It also warns that EPS is supplied only in black and white without any designs, so a coloured or framed code cannot be exported as EPS at all. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no signup and keeps the design intact. ### Is a JPG Good Enough for a Printed QR Code? No, not for anything that goes to a printer. JPEG is a lossy format built for photographs: it compresses in 8 × 8 blocks and puts ringing artifacts along hard black-and-white edges, which is precisely what a QR code is made of. It also has no transparency. Use SVG, PDF or EPS for print, or a PNG generated at final physical size and at least 300 DPI. ### How Much Does QR Code Generator Cost? In August 2026 QRCG listed Starter at €16 a month, or €8 a month billed annually, with Advanced at €15 and Professional at €40 a month, both billed annually and all excluding VAT. Starter covers 2 dynamic codes, 10,000 scans and 1 user; Advanced 50 codes with unlimited scans; Professional 250 codes. Prices differ by region and currency, and Enterprise is quoted on request. ### Do QR Code Generator's Free Codes Expire or Stop Working? No, and this is where QRCG is better than several free tiers. Its FAQ says static QR codes are valid for as long as you want, never expire, and have no scan limit - once created they are yours forever. The only way such a code dies is if the destination URL changes or is deleted. Dynamic codes are the ones tied to a subscription. ### What Happens to My QR Codes When the 14-Day Trial Ends? QRCG's support centre says dynamic QR codes are deactivated when the trial or subscription ends and point to a service page instead of your destination, though the code data is kept and reactivates if you upgrade. Static codes created in the account keep working, because the destination lives in the symbol rather than on QRCG's servers. Test any printed code after a plan change. ### Is QR Code Generator the Same Thing as Bitly? No, though they share an owner. Bitly acquired Egoditor GmbH, the Bielefeld company behind qr-code-generator.com, in December 2021, and QRCG now sits under Bitly Europe. They remain separate products with separate accounts, features and pricing: a QRCG subscription does not give you Bitly, and a Bitly plan does not give you QRCG. ### Can I Put My Logo on a QR Code Without Paying? On KoloQR, yes - the logo, the colours and the contrast check are all in the free editor. On QRCG, no: its FAQ says account signup to the PRO version is required to unlock the logo, with the first 14 days free. Whichever tool you use, keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area and raise error correction to level H before testing. ### Does QR Code Generator Support Circular or Hexagonal Codes? No. QRCG customizes what sits inside the symbol - pattern, eyes, colours, frames and, on PRO, a centre logo - but the outline stays square. KoloQR renders the whole code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which matters when the code has to fit a round sticker, a hexagonal label or a circular table decal. ### Can KoloQR Track How Many People Scan My QR Code? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics layer, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a dynamic platform such as QR Code Generator, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives page visits rather than true scan counts. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The usual causes are a quiet zone eaten by a frame or background, a raster file enlarged past its resolution, JPEG artifacts blurring the module edges, ink spread on uncoated paper closing the gaps between modules, and gloss lamination throwing a reflection into the camera. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and scan it with two phones before approving the run. --- # KoloQR vs Pageloot: Which QR Code Generator Fits Your Job? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-pageloot KoloQR is a free static QR code generator with circular and custom shapes. Pageloot sells dynamic codes, scan analytics and hosted QR pages. Which fits? KoloQR and Pageloot both start the same way - a QR code designed in the browser, downloaded in seconds - and then go in opposite directions. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account, renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, and publishes its source code. Pageloot is a subscription QR platform run by Pageloot OÜ from Tallinn, Estonia: its free generator makes a static code without signup, and its paid plans add dynamic codes you can re-point after printing, scan analytics down to city level, hosted QR pages and file hosting. The practical difference at the download button is that Pageloot's free tier hands over a PNG, while its own plan table puts PDF on the paid tiers and SVG from Premium up. Decide on two questions: does the destination need to change after the code is printed, and does the artwork need to be vector and non-square. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the design and export workflow, which is the part of the two tools that overlaps. They do not cover dynamic codes, editable destinations, scan analytics, hosted QR pages or file hosting - Pageloot sells all five and KoloQR offers none of them, and the overview under the table sets that out in full. Checked against pageloot.com in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | Pageloot | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Pageloot's free generator downloads a PNG without an account; its plan table lists PDF export on the paid tiers and SVG from Premium up. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Pageloot is proprietary hosted software, run by Pageloot OÜ from Tallinn, Estonia. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Pageloot restyles the dots and corner eyes - square, round, dash, stripe, pixel or diamond - inside an outline that stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Pageloot's frames carry a call-to-action line of up to 30 characters, with the wider frame choice reserved for its higher plans. | Yes | Yes | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Pageloot exports PDF on its paid plans and SVG from Premium up; EPS is not among the formats it lists. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A Pageloot code reaches a design file as a downloaded PNG or SVG placed by hand. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. Pageloot's generator runs on its website; no Pageloot extension is listed on the Chrome Web Store. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Pageloot lists readability scores - instant feedback on contrast and colors - as a feature of its paid plans rather than of the free generator. | Yes | Paid plans | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool that gives the file away and keeps nothing. Pageloot is a QR management platform sold by subscription, with a free static generator as its entry point. One ends at the download; the other begins there. ### KoloQR: A Free Static Generator That Ends at the Download KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and there is no account to lose access to: a KoloQR code keeps working for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), [triangle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) or [hexagon](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), not only the dots and eyes inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **Every Format, No Account**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, with no signup, no email address and no payment. The vector files are the ones a printer asks for, and no format is held back for a paid tier. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. - **Checks Built Into the Editor**: KoloQR measures the contrast between the code colour and its background while you design, and copies the finished code straight into Figma. Both save the round trip of exporting a file, placing it, and finding out on the proof that the two colours were too close. ### What Is Pageloot? A Subscription QR Platform With a Free Front Door Pageloot is run by Pageloot OÜ from Tallinn, Estonia, was founded in 2019, and says it is trusted by 20,000+ companies in 110 countries. Its free generator needs no account and makes a static code from more than 25 content types, including link, PDF, image, video, vCard, Wi-Fi, maps and forms. The editor is a capable one: dot styles square, round, dash, stripe, pixel and diamond, separate styling for the corner frames and balls, solid or gradient colours in four gradient directions, a transparent background, an uploaded logo, and a frame with a call-to-action line of up to 30 characters. The free download is a PNG at up to 1100 × 1100 pixels; the PDF and SVG buttons lead to a plan. The subscription is where Pageloot's real product lives, and it does several things KoloQR does not do at all. Paid plans add dynamic QR codes whose destination can be edited after printing, scan tracking with country-level data on every tier and city-level and device data higher up, CSV export of that data, hosted QR pages for link-in-bio, vCard and app-store routing, file hosting from 50 MB to 750 MB, folders, bulk print export and an ad-free scan experience. The plans are sized by active codes and annual scans - Pageloot lists 2 codes and 15,000 scans a year on Starter, 60 and 50,000 on Premium, 300 and 250,000 on Pro, and unlimited on its Custom tier - with scan history running from 60 days on Starter to a year on Pro. Billing is roughly €60 a year for Starter, €144 for Premium and €432 for Pro, with a noticeably higher month-to-month rate, a 14-day trial that asks for no card, a 30-day money-back guarantee and a lifetime deal advertised from time to time. Pageloot's own troubleshooting page states the trade-off plainly: a disabled code can only happen if you were using a paid version, and the QR code will work as long as your subscription is active. ## How to Choose Between a Free Generator and a QR Subscription The choice is decided by the destination, not by the design. These rules apply whichever of the two tools you use, and they are the ones that prevent an expensive reprint. - **Decide Whether the Destination Will Ever Change**: A static QR code stores the destination in the pattern, so changing it means printing a new code. A dynamic QR code stores a redirect URL, so the destination can be edited afterwards - which is what Pageloot's paid plans are for. Ask one question about the print run: if this URL turned out to be wrong six months from now, would I reprint or would I be stuck. A poster reprinted every season can be static; 5,000 stickers already applied to product cannot. - **Use Your Own Redirect Instead of a Subscription Where You Can**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a recurring fee, and the redirect keeps working for as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a platform-owned short link. Choose the platform instead when you need per-scan data that a web analytics tool cannot infer. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Check What the Free Tier Actually Downloads Before You Design**: Free QR code generators differ less in the editor than at the download button. Pageloot's free generator gives a PNG, and its plan table lists PDF export on the paid tiers and SVG from Premium up; KoloQR gives SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account. Find out which file you will end up with before spending twenty minutes on colours, because a PNG at 1100 pixels is fine for a business card and short of what a large-format printer wants. - **Send Vector to the Printer and Keep the PNG for Screens**: A vector file stores the QR code as shapes, so it stays sharp at any size; a PNG stores it as pixels and softens at the module edges once it is enlarged past its pixel count. Send PDF unless the print shop asks otherwise, use SVG for design tools and the web, and keep PNG for email signatures, slides and social posts. A 1100 × 1100 pixel PNG prints cleanly at about 9 cm at 300 dpi and no larger. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, the ratio between scanning distance and QR code size is about 10:1, so a code read from 30 cm needs roughly 3 cm across and one read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a short-range printed code and 3 cm as the safe one. Measure the real reading distance in the room rather than estimating it from the mock-up, where everything looks close. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear on Every Design**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides, in the code's own background colour. Decorative frames, background photographs and tight layouts are the most common cause of a code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet - and a call-to-action frame is exactly the element that tends to eat the margin. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Set the level to H before placing a logo, keep the logo to about a quarter of the code's area rather than the theoretical 30%, and keep it clear of the three corner eyes, which carry the position patterns a camera locks onto first. - **Treat Gradients and Dot Styles as Contrast Decisions**: Dash, stripe and pixel dot styles thin the dark modules, and a gradient lightens one end of the code, so both reduce the contrast a camera relies on even though the symbol still looks correct on screen. Keep the darkest and the lightest point of the code clearly separated, and apply gradients to the background rather than to the modules where you can. Add one styling element at a time and rescan after each, so the change that broke it is the last one you made. - **Estimate Scans on the Busiest Day, Not the Average One**: A dynamic QR code routes every scan through the provider's server, so the provider's allowance is your ceiling. Pageloot counts scans per year - 15,000 on Starter, 50,000 on Premium, 250,000 on Pro - and a campaign that works usually spends its allowance in bursts rather than evenly. Estimate the peak week, not the yearly average, and buy the tier that covers it. A code that stops resolving on the one day the campaign lands is the expensive failure. - **Print One Copy at Final Size Before the Full Run**: Print a single copy at the final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. Test the destination page on mobile data as well as Wi-Fi, since a scan that resolves to a page that will not load reads to the customer as a broken code. ## Design Your QR Code and Download the Vector, Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR gives you the finished file in the browser: pick a shape - rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon - set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, then download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no scan counter and no subscription that the code depends on. If you do need to re-point a printed code, count scans by city, host a vCard or link-in-bio page, or hand a client a report, Pageloot sells all of that and KoloQR builds none of it - that is a real reason to choose the other tool, and we would rather say so than have you find out after buying. Worth trying first, though: a free static code pointed at a redirect URL on your own domain keeps the destination editable without a recurring fee, and your existing web analytics will show the visits even if it cannot separate a scan from a click. ## FAQ ### Is Pageloot's QR Code Generator Free? The static generator is free and needs no account: choose a type, design the code and download a PNG at up to 1100 × 1100 pixels, with no expiry on the code. Vector output and everything else is paid - Pageloot's plan table lists PDF export on its paid tiers and SVG from Premium up, alongside dynamic codes, analytics and hosted QR pages. ### Can KoloQR Track Scans or Edit a Code After Printing? No to both. KoloQR generates static QR codes with no account and no server in the scan path, so there is nothing to record scans and nothing to re-point. If you need either, Pageloot is the right tool. The middle path is a static code pointed at a redirect on your own domain: the destination stays editable, and your web analytics counts the visits. ### Does Pageloot Make Circular or Hexagonal QR Codes? No. Pageloot's editor changes the dot style - square, round, dash, stripe, pixel or diamond - along with the corner frames and balls, colours, gradients, a logo and a frame, but the outline of the code stays square. KoloQR renders the entire symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which is what matters when the code has to fill a round sticker rather than sit in a square box inside one. ### How Much Does Pageloot Cost? Pageloot's plans are sized by active codes and annual scans: Starter at 2 codes and 15,000 scans, Premium at 60 and 50,000, Pro at 300 and 250,000, and a Custom tier with no cap. Billed yearly that works out at roughly €60, €144 and €432, with a considerably higher month-to-month rate. There is a 14-day trial with no card, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a lifetime deal offered periodically. ### What Happens to a Pageloot QR Code if I Stop Paying? Dynamic codes depend on the subscription. Pageloot's own troubleshooting page states that a disabled code can only happen if you were using a paid version and that the QR code will work as long as your subscription is active. A static code downloaded from the free generator has no such dependency, because the destination is inside the pattern. Print dynamic codes only where a reprint would be cheap. ### Which Tool Is Better for a Restaurant Menu? Pageloot if the menu link changes seasonally or you want scan counts per table tent, since editing the destination without reprinting is exactly what it sells. KoloQR if the [menu](https://koloqr.com/qr-codes-for/restaurant-menus) URL is stable and the code needs to be round, hexagonal or sized for a specific table stand. Either way, point the code at your own domain so you keep the option to redirect it later. ### Can I Use a Free Pageloot QR Code Commercially? Yes. Pageloot's free static codes carry no expiry and are meant to be used, and KoloQR places no licence conditions on the codes it generates. The QR code format itself is specified by ISO/IEC 18004 and is free to use - Denso Wave, which invented it, does not charge for the specification. The separate question worth checking is the licence on any logo you place in the middle. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Not on Paper? Almost always size, quiet zone or ink. A code that is comfortable at 4 cm on a monitor may be printed at 1.5 cm, the four-module margin is often cropped by a frame or a bleed, and ink spread on uncoated stock thickens the dark modules until the light ones close up. Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it before committing to the run. ### Is a 1100-Pixel PNG Big Enough for Print? It depends entirely on the printed size. At 300 dpi, 1100 pixels covers about 9 cm across, which is plenty for a business card, a flyer or a table tent and short of what a poster or a vehicle wrap needs. Above roughly 9 cm the module edges start to soften. Use a vector file - SVG, PDF or EPS - whenever the final size is not fixed at the moment you export. ### Can I Move a QR Code From One Tool to the Other Later? A static code cannot be moved, because its destination is fixed in the pattern - switching tools means a new code and a reprint. A dynamic code cannot be moved either, since the short URL belongs to the platform. The one design that survives a change of tool is a code pointing at a URL on your own domain: any generator can encode it, and the redirect is yours to re-aim. --- # KoloQR vs Adobe Express: Which One Should Make Your QR Code? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-adobe-express KoloQR designs the QR code - shapes, frames, contrast check, SVG, PDF and EPS, no account. Adobe Express designs the poster around it and wants an Adobe ID. KoloQR and Adobe Express both produce a free, static QR code that never expires, and they are built for different halves of the same job. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exists only to make the code: it renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, checks the color contrast before you export, and hands over SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG with no account and no watermark. Adobe Express is a design application - templates, Adobe Stock photography, fonts, brand kits and Firefly generative AI - whose Generate QR code quick action turns a URL into a code you can drop straight into a poster, flyer or social post you are already laying out there. Its QR side is deliberately narrow: URLs only, a short list of preset colors and styles, a square symbol, and a free Adobe account before you can save or download. Choose on one question. If the hard part is the code, use KoloQR. If the hard part is the artwork around it, use Adobe Express - or use both, because an SVG from KoloQR imports into an Adobe Express layout in one step. ## Feature Comparison These rows compare what each tool does to the QR code itself, plus the last row, where Adobe Express does something KoloQR does not attempt at all. Neither tool offers dynamic QR codes or scan analytics: both produce static codes, so the destination is fixed in the pattern at export. Verified against Adobe's own documentation in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | Adobe Express | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. Adobe Express is free to use for QR codes but asks you to sign in with an Adobe account to save or download your work. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. Adobe Express is proprietary hosted software and part of Adobe's Creative Cloud family. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. Adobe Express offers a short list of preset styles for the pattern inside the symbol; the symbol outline stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. Adobe Express has no QR frame presets, though its editor lets you build a frame and a call-to-action label by hand from shapes and text. | Yes | No | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. Adobe Express exports the QR code as SVG from the quick action and as PDF from the editor, but not EPS. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. An Adobe Express code reaches a Figma file as a downloaded PNG, JPG or SVG that you import. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. Adobe Express has no extension that turns the page you are reading into a code; you copy the URL and paste it into the quick action. | Yes | No | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. Adobe Express shows no contrast warning and exposes no error-correction control, so a low-contrast color pair or a logo covering too much of the symbol goes to print unflagged. | Yes | No | | Templates and Page Layout - Lay out the poster, flyer, menu or social post the QR code sits in, with templates, stock photography, fonts and brand kits. KoloQR makes the code and stops there; Adobe Express is a design application first. | No | Yes | ## What Each Tool Is Actually For KoloQR is a QR code generator. Adobe Express is a design application with a QR code quick action inside it. Both produce static QR codes that never expire and neither offers scan analytics, so the difference is not in the codes - it is in which part of the work each one takes off your hands. ### KoloQR: Everything Happens to the Code KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, is a browser editor for one code at a time. 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. Pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, read the contrast warning, download the file - no account, no watermark and no payment at any point. - **Every Format, No Account**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, with no signup, no email address and no watermark on any of them. EPS in particular is the format an older print workflow asks for, and Adobe Express does not produce it. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), triangle or hexagon, not only the modules inside a square outline. A circular code fits a bottle cap, a coaster or a round sticker where a square code wastes the corners. - **Contrast Checked Before Export**: KoloQR warns when the foreground and background colors are too close for a phone camera to separate them. That warning is the cheapest reprint insurance on the page, and it is the check most design tools leave to you. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is Adobe Express? A Design App That Also Makes QR Codes Adobe Express is Adobe's browser and mobile design application, free to start with an Adobe account and with a Premium tier listed at $9.99 a month in August 2026. Its QR code path is a quick action: choose Generate QR code, paste the destination URL, pick a file format from the dropdown - PNG, JPG or SVG - choose one of the preset colors and styles, then either download the file or open it in the editor to keep designing. Choosing SVG downloads the file only; the editor route runs on the raster formats. Adobe states that QR codes made in Express never expire, which follows from them being static, and Express offers no scan tracking of any kind. Two limits are worth knowing before you start. Adobe Express generates QR codes for URLs only - there is no Wi-Fi, vCard, plain-text or email code type - and the symbol is always square, with the preset styles changing the pattern inside it rather than its outline. Adding a logo means placing an image over the center of the code in the editor by hand, and because Express exposes no error-correction setting, nothing tells you when the logo has covered more of the symbol than the built-in redundancy can recover. Against that, Adobe Express does something KoloQR does not attempt: it lays out the whole piece. Templates, Adobe Stock photography, thousands of fonts, brand kits, resizing for every social format, video, PDF editing and Firefly generative AI all sit around the code. If the QR code is one element of a flyer you are designing anyway, that is a genuine advantage, and no dedicated QR generator replaces it. ## How to Get a Working QR Code Out of Either Tool The decision is short: if the code has to be a shape, a color pair or a file format the design app cannot produce, generate it in KoloQR and import it. If it is a plain square code inside a layout you are already building, the quick action is fewer steps. Everything below applies whichever route you take. - **Decide Whether the Code or the Layout Is the Hard Part**: If the difficult part of the job is the artwork - a poster, a menu, an Instagram post, a flyer with photography and type - build it in Adobe Express and use its quick action for the code. If the difficult part is the code itself - a circular symbol, an exact brand color, an EPS for the printer, a logo that has to sit in the middle without breaking the scan - generate it in KoloQR first. The two are not mutually exclusive: a KoloQR SVG imports into an Adobe Express project like any other file. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Use level H when a logo goes in the center and keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area. Adobe Express exposes no error-correction control, so a logo dropped onto a code in its editor is covering redundancy you cannot see or increase - generate that code somewhere the level is a setting. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear When the Code Lands in a Layout**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. A code exported with its quiet zone intact loses it the moment someone crops the image tight, sits a caption against its edge, or drops it into a colored panel - which is exactly what happens inside a page-layout tool. Leave visible margin around the code in the design, not just in the file. - **Never Put a QR Code on Top of a Photo or a Gradient**: A scanner needs a consistent light background behind the dark modules. A photograph, a gradient or a textured stock image behind a QR code changes that background from module to module and is one of the most common reasons a beautifully designed poster does not scan. Design applications make this mistake easy, because dragging a code onto a full-bleed image looks fine on screen. Place the code on a solid light panel instead. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by What Fits the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a poster read from 3 m needs roughly 30 cm. Treat 2 cm as the absolute floor for a code scanned at arm's length and 3 cm as the safe minimum. Layout tools invite you to scale the code to whatever gap is left in the design; the camera does not care about the gap. - **Export Vector for Anything That Goes to Print**: SVG and PDF are vector formats that stay sharp at any size; PNG and JPG are raster formats that soften the module edges when scaled up. JPEG compression is the worse of the two for QR codes, because it blurs exactly the hard black-to-white edges a scanner reads. Adobe Express can give you SVG from the quick action and PDF from the editor; if the printer specifically asks for EPS, KoloQR exports it and Express does not. - **Keep the Code Dark on Light, Never Inverted**: Most smartphone cameras expect dark modules on a light background. An inverted code - light modules on a dark background - is legal in the standard but decoded inconsistently across scanner apps and phone models. If a dark brand background is unavoidable, place the code inside a light panel rather than inverting it. Preset color styles in a design tool will happily give you a light-on-dark code that scans on your phone and fails on someone else's. - **Scan the Exported File and Check Where It Actually Goes**: Open the downloaded file at full size and scan it with a phone, then read the URL your camera shows before you tap it. This catches the two failures a visual check never does: a typo in the destination you pasted, and a redirect you did not expect between the code and your page. Do it once per code, on the exported file rather than on the preview in the editor. - **Get an Editable Destination Without a Subscription Using Your Own Redirect**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. Neither KoloQR nor Adobe Express offers dynamic codes, so this is the only way to keep a destination editable with either tool - and it keeps working as long as you own the domain, which is not true of a platform-owned short link. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Print the Destination in Text Beside the Code**: A short readable URL next to the QR code makes the content reachable for anyone whose camera fails, whose phone is old, or who simply does not scan codes. Add a two-or-three-word instruction as well - Scan for the menu - because a bare code tells nobody what is behind it. A QR code should always be the fast path to the content and never the only path. - **Test the Printed Code, on Paper, Before the Full Run**: Print one copy at final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. A single test print costs less than a reprint of the whole job. ## Design the Code in KoloQR, Then Take It Anywhere KoloQR gives you the finished QR code file in the browser: pick a shape, set the colors, add a logo, read the contrast check, download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no subscription and no expiry date on the code. If you only need the code, that is the whole job and it costs nothing. If you are laying out a poster, a flyer or a social post as well, the two tools stack rather than compete: export the code from KoloQR as SVG, import it into your Adobe Express project, and place it in the design like any other asset. You keep the shape, the exact brand colors, the checked contrast and the vector edges, and you keep everything Adobe Express is genuinely good at - templates, stock photography, type and brand kits. The one thing neither tool can do is change where a printed code points, so fix the destination first, scan the exported file, and only then send the artwork to print. ## FAQ ### Is the Adobe Express QR Code Generator Free? Yes. Generating and downloading a QR code sits in the free Adobe Express plan, with no payment and no trial period. Adobe Express Premium, listed at $9.99 a month in August 2026, adds premium templates, brand kits, stock assets and video features - none of which change the QR code itself. What the free plan asks for instead of money is an Adobe account. ### Do I Need an Adobe Account to Download a QR Code? In practice, yes. Adobe Express lets you start as a guest, but saving or downloading your work means signing in with a free Adobe ID. KoloQR asks for nothing: the code is generated in the browser and every format - SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG - downloads without an account, an email address or a watermark. ### Can Adobe Express Export a QR Code as SVG? Yes. The Generate QR code quick action has a file-format dropdown offering PNG, JPG and SVG. One catch: choosing SVG downloads the file and does not let you continue into the Express editor, so if you want to keep designing around the code you work in a raster format instead. Adobe Express exports PDF from the editor, but not EPS. ### Can Adobe Express Make a Wi-Fi, vCard or Plain-Text QR Code? No. Adobe Express generates QR codes for URLs only. There is no Wi-Fi, vCard, email, SMS or plain-text code type in the quick action. If the content is not a web address, Adobe Express cannot encode it and you need a generator that supports that type. A [URL QR code](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/url-qr-code) is the only thing it produces. ### Do Adobe Express QR Codes Expire or Track Scans? Adobe Express QR codes never expire, and they cannot be tracked. They are static codes, meaning the destination is stored in the pattern itself, so there is no service in the middle to switch off - and equally no service in the middle to count scans. KoloQR's codes are static for the same reason. For the other design tool, see [do Canva QR codes expire?](https://koloqr.com/blog/do-canva-qr-codes-expire). Scan analytics need a dynamic code from a paid QR platform. ### Can I Change Where an Adobe Express QR Code Points? Not after it is printed. Both Adobe Express and KoloQR produce static codes only, so the destination is fixed in the pattern at export. If the URL might change later, point the code at an address on your own domain and set that path up as a 302 redirect to the real page. To edit destinations in the platform itself, you need a dynamic QR service such as QR Tiger, QRFY or Scanova. ### Can Adobe Express Make a Circular QR Code? No. Adobe Express applies preset styles to the pattern inside the symbol, but the symbol itself stays square. KoloQR renders the whole code as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), triangle or hexagon, which is what you need when the code has to sit inside a round sticker, a bottle cap label or a hexagonal badge rather than a square gap in a layout. ### Can I Put My Logo in the Middle of an Adobe Express QR Code? You can place an image over the center of the code in the Express editor, but it is a layout move, not a generator setting - nothing raises the error-correction level to compensate. Keep the logo under about a quarter of the code area and scan the result before printing. A generator that sets error correction to level H for you removes the guesswork. ### Can I Use a KoloQR Code Inside an Adobe Express Design? Yes, and it is the best of both. Export the code from KoloQR as SVG or PNG, then upload it into your Adobe Express project and place it like any other image. You keep the custom shape, exact colors and checked contrast from KoloQR, and the templates, fonts and stock photography from Adobe Express. Nothing about the code changes on import. ### Why Does My QR Code Scan on Screen but Fail Once Printed? The four usual causes are a quiet zone cropped away in the layout, a raster file enlarged past its resolution, a photo or gradient sitting behind the code, and gloss lamination throwing a reflection into the camera. Ink spread on uncoated paper adds a fifth by closing the gaps between modules. Print one copy at final size on the final stock and test it before approving the run. --- # KoloQR vs The QR Code Generator: Which One Gives You the File You Need? URL: https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-the-qrcode-generator KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS free with no account. The QR Code Generator gives away PNG, but puts SVG, logos and watermark-free codes behind a signup. KoloQR and The QR Code Generator both put a working QR code on screen before you type an email address, and they part company at the download button. KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, exports SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG with no account, no watermark and no paid tier holding a format back. The QR Code Generator - TQRCG on its own site, and owned by Uniqode Phygital, Inc. - gives away unlimited static codes and two dynamic ones, but its editor offers the logo panel only on dynamic codes, its upgrade prompt lists SVG exports among the premium features, and its Free plan marks "Watermark-free QR codes" with a cross. In exchange it offers what KoloQR does not have at all: 30-plus code types, editable destinations, and scan analytics. Decide on the file, not the price. If the code has to reach a printer as vector with a logo on it, KoloQR finishes the job in the browser. If the destination has to change after printing, or the scans have to be counted, The QR Code Generator is the tool that can do it. ## Feature Comparison These rows cover the free design and export workflow - what you can get out of each tool and on what terms. They do not cover dynamic codes, scan analytics, Linkpages, bulk generation or the API: The QR Code Generator sells all five and KoloQR offers none of them, and the overview under the table sets that out in full. Verified against the-qrcode-generator.com in August 2026. | Feature | KoloQR | The QR Code Generator | | --- | --- | --- | | Downloads Without Signup (All Formats) - Download QR codes in all available formats without creating an account. The QR Code Generator's widget hands over a PNG anonymously, but its own upgrade panel lists "higher resolution downloads, SVG exports, and more" as premium features, and the Free plan's feature list marks watermark-free codes unavailable. | Yes | No | | Open Source - Inspect, modify, and self-host the source code. The QR Code Generator is proprietary hosted software, operated by Uniqode Phygital, Inc. | Yes | No | | Custom QR Shapes - Create rectangular, circular, triangular, and hexagonal QR codes. The QR Code Generator restyles the pixels inside the symbol - Classic, Rounded, Thin, Smooth or Circles - while the outline of the code itself stays square. | Yes | No | | Premium QR Frames - Ready-to-use designer QR frames. The QR Code Generator's design panel covers style, colour, background, outer margin and a logo; a framed code with a call-to-action label is part of the advanced customization its Free and Flex plans mark unavailable. | Yes | No | | Vector Export - Export SVG, PDF, and EPS for professional printing. The QR Code Generator offers SVG alongside PNG, which is what a printer needs, but the widget puts SVG behind its "Unlock Premium Features" prompt rather than beside the PNG button. | Yes | Yes | | Copy to Figma - Copy QR codes directly into Figma. A code from The QR Code Generator reaches a design file as a downloaded image placed by hand. | Yes | No | | Chrome Extension - Create QR codes from any webpage. The QR Code Generator publishes one too, listed by Uniqode Phygital Inc. and linked from its own footer; it creates a static or dynamic code from the active tab and syncs it with the TQRCG dashboard. | Yes | Yes | | Contrast Checker - Ensure your QR code has enough contrast for reliable scanning. The QR Code Generator's editor warns too: "Low contrast between background and pixels - QR may not scan reliably." | Yes | Yes | ## What Each Tool Is Actually Built to Do KoloQR is a design and export tool with nothing to sell you: the file is the product and there is no account behind it. The QR Code Generator is the free entry point to a QR management platform, and the free tier is shaped to lead somewhere. Both are worth using; they are worth using for different jobs. ### KoloQR: Every Format, No Account, No Upgrade Prompt KoloQR, a free QR code generator with circular and custom-shaped QR codes, encodes the destination directly into the symbol and hands you the file. 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. Nothing counts the scans, nothing can deactivate the code, and there is no account to lose access to: a KoloQR code works for as long as the URL it points at works. - **Shapes Beyond the Square**: KoloQR renders the whole symbol as a rectangle, [circle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/round-qr-codes), [triangle](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/triangle-qr-codes) or [hexagon](https://koloqr.com/inspiration/hexagon-qr-codes), not only the pixels inside a square outline. A circular code fills a bottle cap, a coaster or a round table decal where a square code wastes the corners. - **The Logo Is Not a Paid Feature**: KoloQR places a logo in the centre of a static code with no account and no upgrade. The QR Code Generator's editor states the opposite in its own words - "Logo can be added to dynamic QR Codes only" - and its help answer for adding a logo begins by telling you to sign up. - **Vector Sits Beside the PNG, Not Behind It**: KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS for print and PNG for screen, all from the same download control, all free. No format is reserved for a paid tier and no watermark is added to any of them. - **Open Source and Self-Hostable**: KoloQR's source code is published, so the generation logic can be inspected, modified or run on your own infrastructure. Teams that cannot send a destination URL to a third-party service can generate codes without one. ### What Is The QR Code Generator? Uniqode's Free Front Door The QR Code Generator, abbreviated TQRCG on its own site, is operated by Uniqode Phygital, Inc., and its pricing FAQ says so plainly: the Core and Plus plans "are offered by Uniqode, the parent company of The QR Code Generator", and buying either one redirects you to Uniqode's platform. That relationship explains the shape of the free tier. TQRCG states that it is "truly free for unlimited static QR Codes and 2 dynamic QR Codes", offers 30-plus code types including vCard, [Wi-Fi](https://koloqr.com/qr-types/wifi-qr-code), PDF, Multi-URL, WhatsApp and Google Review, runs in eight interface languages, and ships a Chrome extension and a mobile app. What it is not is a free print shop: the logo panel is reserved for dynamic codes, the upgrade prompt lists "higher resolution downloads, SVG exports" among the premium features, and the Free plan's own comparison row puts a cross beside "Watermark-free QR codes". The paid product is the account, and the ladder is unusually long. Free is $0 with 2 dynamic QR codes marked "(with Ads)", 1 user and 14 days of scan analytics. Flex starts at $5 a month billed yearly and scales with the number of ad-free dynamic codes, from 5 up to 45, adding bulk creation, watermark-free codes and CSV export of scan data. Above that the page stops being TQRCG: Core is $49 a month billed yearly for 250 dynamic codes and 10 Linkpages, Plus is $99 a month for 500 codes and 3 users, and both say "Continue to Uniqode". A 14-day free trial runs on both products, and TQRCG is honest about the ending - "After your free trial ends, two dynamic QR Codes will remain active but they will display ads" - which is gentler than Uniqode, where the FAQ says all trial codes become inactive. Cancellation stops the next cycle but earns no refund on the current one. If that ladder is where you are heading, [the full Uniqode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) covers the platform end of it. ## How to Tell a Genuinely Free Generator From a Free Tier Both tools here are free to start, and the word covers two different deals. These checks apply to any QR code generator, and they are quicker to run before you have designed the code than after. - **Download the File Before You Fall in Love With the Design**: The cost of a free QR code generator is discovered at the download button, not on the pricing page. Type a URL, press download immediately, and see what comes out and in which format. Thirty seconds of that tells you more than any feature list: whether an email address is required, whether SVG is offered next to PNG, and whether the image carries a watermark. Design the code afterwards, once you know the file you will get. - **Ask Which Features Are Tied to a Dynamic Code**: Some generators bundle design features with the code type rather than with the price, and the effect is easy to miss. The QR Code Generator's editor says "Logo can be added to dynamic QR Codes only", so a branded code there means an account, a hosted redirect and, on the free tier, ads. If you only ever wanted a logo in the middle of a static code, that is a large amount of infrastructure to accept for a small design decision. - **Treat a Watermark as a Print Problem, Not a Cosmetic One**: A watermark on a QR code image is not only branding; it is ink in or beside the symbol that your layout has to accommodate and your scanner has to look past. Check the downloaded file at 100% before it reaches a layout, and if the free tier marks watermark-free codes as unavailable - as The QR Code Generator's Free plan does - assume the mark is there until you have seen a clean file with your own eyes. - **Send Vector to a Printer, Never a PNG**: SVG, PDF and EPS store the code as shapes and stay sharp at any size; PNG stores it as a fixed grid of pixels and softens at the module edges when it is enlarged past its pixel count. Ask the print shop which of the three it wants - PDF is the safest default - and only accept a PNG for screens, email signatures and slides. A generator that charges for vector is charging for the only file a printer actually wants. - **Size the Code by Scanning Distance, Not by the Space in the Layout**: As a rule of thumb, a QR code needs about 1 cm of width for every 10 cm of scanning distance, so a code read from 30 cm wants roughly 3 cm and a poster read from 3 m wants roughly 30 cm. Treat 2 × 2 cm as the absolute floor for a close-range printed code. Measure the real reading distance in the room rather than estimating it from the mock-up, where everything is read at arm's length. - **Keep the Quiet Zone Clear Whichever Tool You Used**: A quiet zone is the empty margin around a QR code that lets a scanner detect where the symbol begins and ends. The QR code standard, ISO/IEC 18004, specifies four modules of clear space on all four sides. Both editors here expose an outer margin setting; the mistake happens later, when a designer crops the export tight or drops it onto a busy background. A code that scans in the design file and fails on the printed sheet has usually lost its quiet zone. - **Raise Error Correction Before Adding a Logo, Not After**: Error correction is the redundancy built into a QR code that allows it to remain scannable when part of the symbol is damaged or covered. Levels L, M, Q and H recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the symbol. Set the level to H before you place a logo, keep the logo to about a quarter of the code's area as a working ceiling, and keep it clear of the three corner squares - those are the finder patterns a camera locates first. - **Trust the Contrast Warning, and Check the Pair Yourself Anyway**: Both tools warn about weak contrast - The QR Code Generator says "Low contrast between background and pixels - QR may not scan reliably", and KoloQR measures the pair as you design. Neither warning knows what your ink and paper will do to it. Dark modules on a light background is the combination every camera expects; inverting it, or using two mid-tone colours, is where scanning gets conditional on the phone and the light. - **Keep Your Own Redirect Between the Code and the Destination**: Point a static QR code at a URL on your own domain, such as example.com/menu, and configure that path as a 302 redirect to the real page. The printed code never changes; the redirect target can be edited whenever you like. This gives you the main benefit of a dynamic code without a subscription, and the redirect keeps working as long as you own the domain - which is not true of a short link owned by a platform whose free tier may add ads to it. The 302 matters: a browser caches a 301, so it would keep going to the old destination after you change it. - **Print One Copy at Final Size Before the Full Run**: Print a single copy at the final size on the final material and scan it with at least two phones, one iOS and one Android, at the real distance and under the real lighting. Gloss lamination under a downlight and ink spread on uncoated stock are the two failures that never appear on screen. This is the last check that costs one sheet of paper instead of a reprint. ## Design Your QR Code and Download the Vector, Free If the destination is not going to change, KoloQR finishes the job in the browser: pick a shape - rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon - set the colors, add a logo, check the contrast, then download SVG, PDF, EPS or PNG. No account, no watermark, no upgrade prompt between you and the file, and no expiry date on the code. If the destination has to change after the code is printed, or the scans have to be counted, KoloQR cannot help and The QR Code Generator can - two dynamic codes cost nothing there, with ads on the free tier, and the paid ladder runs up into Uniqode's platform. That is a real reason to use the other tool, and we would rather say so than have you find out mid-campaign. A middle path worth trying first is a free static code pointed at a redirect on your own domain, which keeps the destination editable without a subscription and costs nothing if the campaign never needs analytics. ## FAQ ### Is The QR Code Generator Free? Yes, with limits worth knowing. The QR Code Generator states it is "truly free for unlimited static QR Codes and 2 dynamic QR Codes", and a static PNG comes out of the widget without an account. Its Free plan lists 1 user and 14 days of scan analytics, marks the two dynamic codes "(with Ads)", and puts a cross beside watermark-free codes and advanced customization. ### Can I Download an SVG From The QR Code Generator for Free? Not from the anonymous widget. The QR Code Generator's upgrade panel lists "advanced QR code types, higher resolution downloads, SVG exports, and more" as premium features, so vector sits behind a signup or a paid plan. KoloQR exports SVG, PDF and EPS with no account and no watermark, which is the difference that matters if the code is going to a printer. ### Who Owns The QR Code Generator? Uniqode Phygital, Inc. The QR Code Generator's own pricing FAQ describes Uniqode as "the parent company of The QR Code Generator", and its Core and Plus plans redirect you to Uniqode's platform after purchase. Uniqode was formerly called Beaconstac. If you are weighing up the platform rather than the free tier, the [KoloQR vs Uniqode comparison](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-uniqode) covers it. ### Is The QR Code Generator the Same as QR Code Generator (qr-code-generator.com)? No, and the near-identical names cause real confusion. The QR Code Generator is the-qrcode-generator.com, abbreviated TQRCG, and belongs to Uniqode. [QR Code Generator](https://koloqr.com/compare/koloqr-vs-qr-code-generator) is qr-code-generator.com, abbreviated QRCG, and has belonged to Bitly since 2021. Check the address bar before comparing pricing pages - the plans, limits and free tiers are not the same. ### Why Can't I Add a Logo to My Free Static QR Code There? Because The QR Code Generator ties the logo to the code type, not the price. Its editor states "Logo can be added to dynamic QR Codes only", and its help answer for adding a logo starts with signing up for the dashboard. A logo on a static code therefore means an account and a hosted redirect. KoloQR places a logo in a static code with no account at all. ### Does The QR Code Generator Make Circular or Hexagonal Codes? No. Its designer changes the pixel style - Classic, Rounded, Thin, Smooth or Circles - along with colours, background and outer margin, but the symbol's outline stays square. KoloQR renders the entire code as a rectangle, circle, triangle or hexagon, which is what matters when the code has to fill a round sticker or a hexagonal label rather than sit in a square box inside one. ### What Happens to My Codes When the Free Trial Ends? Static codes are unaffected: the destination is inside the pattern, so nothing on a server can switch them off. For dynamic codes, The QR Code Generator states that after the trial ends "two dynamic QR Codes will remain active but they will display ads", while Uniqode deactivates all trial codes. Confirm the current terms before printing anything that depends on a dynamic code. ### Can I Track Scans With KoloQR? No. KoloQR generates static QR codes and has no analytics, no dashboard and no account, so nothing is recorded on our side. If you need scan counts, either use a platform such as The QR Code Generator, or point a static code at a URL on your own site and read the visits in your existing web analytics. The second option gives you page visits rather than true scan counts. ### How Much Does The QR Code Generator Cost After the Free Plan? Flex starts at $5 a month billed yearly and scales with the number of ad-free dynamic codes, from 5 up to 45, adding bulk creation, watermark-free codes and CSV export. Beyond that the plans belong to Uniqode: Core at $49 a month billed yearly for 250 codes, Plus at $99 for 500. Cancelling ends the next billing cycle, and the current one is not refunded. ### Which Format Should I Send to a Print Shop? Send PDF unless the printer asks otherwise: it carries vector artwork, embeds colour information reliably and opens in every prepress tool. SVG is the better file for web use and design tools, and EPS suits older print workflows. All three stay sharp at any size, which a PNG does not - a raster file enlarged past its pixel count softens the module edges first, and soft edges are what a camera struggles with. --- # Who Builds KoloQR, and Why URL: https://koloqr.com/about KoloQR is a free QR code generator built by Andy Malinovskyi since June 2026: static codes, no account, no tracking, and an MIT-licensed shape library. KoloQR is a free QR code generator for static codes in circular, square, triangular, and hexagonal shapes. It is built by one person, and it exists because most QR tools rent you a redirect: the code you printed keeps working only while somebody keeps paying for it. Last updated: 2026-10-08 ## KoloQR at a Glance The facts people usually have to dig for before trusting a QR code generator with something they are about to print. - **Free, With No Account**: Every feature of KoloQR is free. There is no signup, no paid tier, no cap on how many codes you make, and no watermark on what you download. - **Static Codes Only**: A KoloQR code carries its content inside the symbol, so it resolves with no server in the middle. It also cannot be edited or tracked once it is printed. - **Generated in Your Browser**: The generator runs on your own device. The URL, Wi-Fi password, or phone number you type into it is never sent to KoloQR. - **Four Outer Shapes**: A code can be drawn as a square, a circle, a triangle, or a hexagon, and combined with 13 module patterns, three eye styles, and a set of frames. - **Print-Ready Exports**: Downloads are PNG, SVG, PDF, and EPS, plus a one-click copy into Figma. SVG, PDF, and EPS are vector, so they scale to any print size without softening. - **An MIT-Licensed Shape Library**: The library that draws KoloQR's non-square codes is published under the MIT license, so anyone can read it, fork it, or ship it in their own project. ## Why KoloQR Exists Most QR code generators were designed around a business model rather than around the person printing the code. KoloQR takes the other side of that trade. ### Most QR Generators Are Older Than the Phones That Scan Them Search for a QR code generator today and most of the results are interfaces laid out years ago that have barely moved since: one square black code, a colour picker, and a signup wall in front of the download. The assumptions baked into them date from when a QR code was a barcode on a warehouse pallet, not something printed on a menu, a wine label, or a shop window. - **Free until you print**: the code costs nothing to make, then the file you actually need is watermarked or behind a plan. - **A trial that expires**: dynamic codes stop resolving when the subscription ends, and the printed material dies with them. - **Design as an afterthought**: one square shape, a handful of colours, and no way to make the code belong to what surrounds it. ### A Static Code Is Something You Own A static QR code stores its content inside the symbol itself, so nothing has to stay online for it to resolve. A phone reads the URL, the Wi-Fi credentials, or the phone number straight off the paper - there is no account behind it that can lapse and no redirect that can be switched off. - **No expiry date**: the code keeps working for as long as the thing it points at does. - **No middleman**: the scan goes to your destination, not through somebody else's tracking domain first. - **No scan data**: KoloQR never sees a scan, which is also why it cannot offer analytics. This is a trade, not a free win. A static code cannot be re-pointed after printing and reports no scan counts, so a campaign that needs an editable destination or numbers to report on is better served by a dynamic provider - the [comparison pages](https://koloqr.com/compare) set out which one does what. ## How KoloQR Decides What to Build Three rules that settle most feature questions before they turn into arguments. - **The Data Never Leaves the Device**: If a feature would require sending what you encode to a server, it does not get built. That rules out dynamic codes and scan analytics, and it is why the Wi-Fi password you type into KoloQR is never transmitted anywhere. - **Design Is Not a Premium Tier**: Shape, colour, logo, and frame controls are the product rather than an upsell. A QR code goes on something a person has designed - a menu, a label, a card - and a black square that ignores everything around it is a defect, not a default. - **The Hard Part Is Public**: The geometry that keeps a non-square QR code scannable is the part most worth checking, so it is the part that is open source. The shape library is on GitHub under the MIT license, with its own tests for scannability. ## Who Is Behind KoloQR KoloQR is built and maintained by Andy Malinovskyi, who published the first public version on June 14, 2026. It is an independent project rather than a product of a larger company: the person who writes the generator is the person who reads support@koloqr.com. He is on X at x.com/malinovskyi. Working this way has one honest consequence worth stating on a page about trust. KoloQR has no support rota and no service-level agreement, so a reply may take a day or two. What it does have is a direct line: a bug report goes to the person who can fix it, without passing through a ticketing system first. ## What Is Open Source, and Under Which License The open source part of KoloQR is its shape library - the code that draws a QR symbol into a circle, a triangle, or a hexagon and culls the modules falling outside that outline. It is published at github.com/koloqr/qr-code-shapes under the MIT license, which permits commercial use, modification, and redistribution provided the copyright notice travels with the code. The website around that library is not open source: the editor interface, the logo handling, the PDF and EPS exporters, and the localized pages are closed. Naming the boundary matters more than claiming the label. "Open source" on a product page usually means one component is, and on KoloQR this is which one. Shaped codes are drawn at error correction level H, the highest the QR standard defines, because culling modules to fit an outline removes redundancy the symbol would otherwise rely on. That is the trade behind a circular QR code: the same data in a denser grid, with the recovery capacity spent on the shape instead of on damage. ## How KoloQR Stays Free KoloQR is free because a static QR code generator costs almost nothing to run. The generator executes in the visitor's browser, so there is no per-code compute to bill for, no redirect service to keep online, and no database of codes to maintain. It is also why there is no paid tier holding features back - there is nothing metered here to sell. The trade-off runs both ways. Nothing you have already generated depends on KoloQR staying online, because a static code resolves without this site existing at all. But there is no contract behind the site, and an organisation that needs a guaranteed, supported QR service in writing should buy one from a provider that sells it. ## What KoloQR Does Not Do Some of these are missing on purpose and some are simply not built. Both are worth knowing before a design goes to print: - Dynamic QR codes - a KoloQR code cannot be re-pointed once it is printed. If the destination may change, use a dynamic QR provider instead. - Scan analytics - KoloQR never sees a scan, so it cannot report scan counts, locations, or devices. - Accounts and saved codes - nothing is stored on a server, so a code you closed the tab on has to be rebuilt from scratch. - Bulk generation and a public API - codes are made one at a time in the browser, with no CSV import and no API to call. ## How KoloQR Has Changed So Far KoloQR ships in small dated releases rather than against a roadmap of promises. The public launch on June 14, 2026 covered free generation, PNG and SVG export, custom colours and eye styles, and logo support. A mobile-ready redesign followed on June 24, frames for every shape on June 29, and vector export to EPS and PDF with a one-click copy into Figma on July 1. A Chrome extension arrived on July 2, 2026, opening the generator from any tab so a code can be made without leaving the page you are on. Four more languages landed on July 20 and Hindi on September 1, so the site now reads in ten. Each release is dated on the changelog, which is the honest version of a roadmap: what exists, when it arrived. ## Contact Questions, bug reports, and corrections go to support@koloqr.com and are read by the person who maintains KoloQR. Anything about the shape library itself is better raised at github.com/koloqr/qr-code-shapes, where the discussion is public and a fix arrives with a version number attached. ## FAQ ### Who Owns and Runs KoloQR? KoloQR is run by Andy Malinovskyi as an independent project, not by a company or an agency. The first public version shipped on June 14, 2026, and every release since is dated on the [changelog](https://koloqr.com/changelog). Email sent to support@koloqr.com reaches the person who maintains the generator rather than a support desk. ### Is KoloQR Really Free, or Is a Paid Tier Coming? KoloQR is free with no paid tier: no account, no per-code charge, no watermark, and no export locked behind a plan. It is free because a generator that runs in your browser has almost no running costs. No page here can promise what pricing looks like in five years, but a code you have already downloaded is a file you own outright. ### Which Part of KoloQR Is Open Source? The shape library is - the code that draws QR symbols into circles, triangles, and hexagons, published under the MIT license at github.com/koloqr/qr-code-shapes. The website around it is not: the editor interface, logo handling, and the PDF and EPS exporters are closed. The MIT license lets you use, modify, and redistribute the library commercially. ### Why Doesn't KoloQR Offer Dynamic QR Codes? Because a dynamic code needs a redirect service, and a redirect service is something that can be switched off. A dynamic code points at a short link the provider controls, so when the account lapses every printed code stops working. If you need an editable destination or scan analytics, a dynamic provider is the better tool - the [comparison pages](https://koloqr.com/compare) say which. ### Does KoloQR See What I Encode in a Code? No. The generator runs in your browser, so the URL, Wi-Fi password, phone number, or text you type is never sent to KoloQR and never stored. It is also why KoloQR cannot show you a scan count: nothing sits between the scan and your destination. The [privacy policy](https://koloqr.com/privacy) sets this out in full. ### Can I Use KoloQR Codes Commercially? Yes. The QR code files you generate are yours to use for anything, including commercial work, with no attribution and no licence fee. KoloQR adds no watermark and claims no rights over the images you download. The MIT license covers the shape library's source code, which is a separate question from the files the generator produces. ### Is There a KoloQR Browser Extension? Yes. A Chrome extension released on July 2, 2026 opens the KoloQR generator from any tab, so a code can be made without navigating away from the page you are reading. It runs the same generator in a popup, with the same in-browser behaviour and the same export formats as the site. --- # How to Contact KoloQR URL: https://koloqr.com/contact Contact KoloQR at support@koloqr.com. One person reads every email and usually replies within a day or two - there is no phone line and no live chat. KoloQR has one contact address: support@koloqr.com. It reaches the person who builds and maintains the generator, and a reply usually takes a day or two. There is no phone line, no live chat, and no support desk in between. Last updated: 2026-08-03 Write to support@koloqr.com. A bug in the KoloQR generator is fixed fastest when the email says which browser and version you were using and what you clicked before it went wrong - the generator runs on your own device, so that is where most differences come from. For a code that will not scan, attach the exported file rather than a photo of the screen, and add the printed width in millimetres and which phone failed to read it. Never send a code carrying a Wi-Fi password you actually use; rebuild the same design with dummy content instead. Some things no reply can fix, because of how KoloQR is built rather than because of policy. KoloQR stores nothing on a server, so a code you closed the tab on cannot be recovered and has to be rebuilt - keeping the SVG export is what prevents that. A printed static QR code carries its destination inside the symbol, so re-pointing one means generating a new code and reprinting it. And KoloQR never sits between a scan and its destination, so there are no scan counts to look up - and no accounts and no paid plan, which means any invoice claiming to come from KoloQR did not come from KoloQR. --- # Privacy Policy URL: https://koloqr.com/privacy KoloQR is a free QR code generator. We built it to be private by default - your QR codes are created right inside your browser, and we never see what you encode. Last updated: 7 October 2026 This Privacy Policy explains what information KoloQR ("we", "us", the "Service") collects when you use our website at koloqr.com, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here. ## The Short Version - You don't need an account to generate and download a QR code. - Your QR codes are generated locally in your browser. The text, URL, Wi-Fi details, or other content you encode is not sent to or stored on our servers. - We don't sell your data, and we don't track the content of the codes you create. - The browser extension goes further than the website: it collects nothing at all, works offline, and asks for a single permission. - The iOS app follows the same rule: it's free, has no ads or accounts, collects nothing, and creates and scans codes on your device. ## Information We Don't Collect The core of KoloQR runs entirely on your device. When you type a URL, Wi-Fi password, contact card, or any other content into the generator, that data stays in your browser. It is used only to render and export your QR code - it is never transmitted to us, logged, or saved on our side. This means we cannot see, recover, or share the contents of the QR codes you generate. If you encode a password or other sensitive information, it lives only on your own device and in the file you download. You do not need to register, provide an email address, or create a profile to use the generator. ## Information We Do Collect To keep the Service running and to understand how it's used, we may collect a limited amount of technical and analytics data. ### Usage and Analytics Data We use Statable, a privacy-respecting, cookieless analytics service, to measure aggregate usage - things like how many people visit a page, which features are popular, and which countries our visitors come from. Statable does not use cookies and does not track individuals across sites. This data is aggregated and does not identify you personally, and it does not include the content of your QR codes. ### Server Logs Like most websites, our hosting provider automatically records standard server logs when a page is requested. These may include your IP address, browser type, the page requested, and a timestamp. Logs are used for security, debugging, and preventing abuse, and are retained only for a limited period. ### Cookies and Local Storage We use a minimal set of cookies and browser local storage to make the site work - for example, to remember your design preferences within the generator. We do not use advertising cookies. You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time; some convenience features may stop working if you do. ## Third-Party Services We rely on a few third parties to deliver the Service: - Hosting and content delivery - to serve the website and its files. - Fonts - we load web fonts from a font provider, which may receive your IP address as part of the request. - Statable - cookieless analytics to measure aggregate, non-identifying usage. Each of these providers processes data under its own privacy policy. We choose providers that are consistent with the privacy-first approach described here. ## How We Use Information The limited information we collect is used to: - Operate, maintain, and improve the Service - Understand which features are useful so we can prioritize them - Detect, prevent, and address security issues or abuse - Comply with legal obligations We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. ## The KoloQR Browser Extension Everything above describes the website at koloqr.com. The KoloQR browser extension is a separate product held to a stricter rule: it collects nothing at all. There are no servers behind it, no accounts, and no tracking. ### What the Extension Collects Nothing. The extension gathers no personal or usage data whatsoever. That includes: - No personally identifiable information such as a name, email address, or postal address - No content you enter - URLs, text, contact details, or Wi-Fi credentials - No location data - No browsing history or activity - No analytics, telemetry, or usage statistics - No cookies or advertising identifiers ### How Your Input Is Handled Everything you type into the extension - the text, URL, email address, phone number, Wi-Fi details, or social handle a code is built from - is processed locally in your browser to render that code. It is never sent to us or to any third party. When you close the popup that input is gone, and nothing is retained on any server. ### Works Fully Offline The extension needs no network connection to work. Its code, fonts, and assets are bundled inside it, and it neither loads nor executes remote code. ### Permissions The extension requests a single permission: - clipboardWrite - used only to put a QR code you generated on your clipboard when you choose "Copy to Figma", so you can paste it into your design tools. The extension never reads your clipboard. ### Third Parties and Source Code The extension integrates no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking services, and nothing is shared with anyone because nothing is collected. The QR rendering engine behind KoloQR is open source at github.com/koloqr/qr-code-shapes, and you are welcome to read it. ## The KoloQR iOS App The KoloQR app for iPhone and iPad follows the same rule as the browser extension: it collects nothing. It is free, with no ads, no in-app purchases, and no accounts, and there are no servers behind it. ### What the App Collects Nothing. The app gathers no personal or usage data, and it includes no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. That includes: - No personally identifiable information such as a name, email address, or phone number - No content of the codes you create or scan - URLs, text, contact details, or Wi-Fi credentials - No location data - No contacts, browsing history, or activity in other apps - No analytics, telemetry, or usage statistics - No advertising identifiers, and no tracking across other companies' apps or websites ### Codes You Create and Scan QR codes are generated and scanned entirely on your device. Whatever a code contains is never sent to us or to any third party. Your recent codes are kept only in the app's own storage on your device so you can find and reuse them, and deleting the app removes them all. ### Permissions The app asks for access only when a feature needs it, and you can change your choice at any time in iOS Settings: - Camera - used only to read QR codes while the scanner is open. The image is processed on your device and is never recorded or uploaded. - Photos (add only) - used only to save a QR code to your photo library when you ask the app to. The app cannot see the rest of your library. ### Sharing and Diagnostics When you share a code, the iOS share sheet passes it to the app or contact you choose, and that app's own privacy policy applies from there. If you have turned on "Share with App Developers" in iOS Settings, Apple may give us anonymous crash reports and aggregate usage figures. These never identify you, and we never receive the content of your codes. ## Your Rights Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal data we hold about you, or to object to certain processing. Because we collect so little personal data and don't require accounts, in most cases there is no personal profile for us to act on. If you have a request, contact us using the details below. ## Children's Privacy KoloQR is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will remove it. ## Changes to This Policy We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Significant changes will be highlighted on the site. Continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised policy. ## Contact If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, reach us at support@koloqr.com. --- # Terms of Service URL: https://koloqr.com/terms KoloQR is a free QR code generator you can use without an account. These terms cover what you can do with the Service and the few things we ask in return. Last updated: 15 June 2026 These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of KoloQR ("we", "us", the "Service"), available at koloqr.com. By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service. ## The Service KoloQR is a free online tool for generating and customizing QR codes. QR codes are generated locally in your browser, and you can download them as image files for personal or commercial use. No account or registration is required to generate and download a QR code. We provide the Service on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We may add, change, or remove features at any time, and we may limit or discontinue the Service without notice. ## Using the Service You agree to use KoloQR only for lawful purposes. In particular, you agree not to: - Encode content that is illegal, fraudulent, malicious, or harmful - including links to malware, phishing pages, or scams. - Use the Service to harass, deceive, or violate the rights of others. - Attempt to disrupt, overload, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorized access to the Service or its infrastructure. - Use automated systems to abuse the Service or generate codes at a scale that degrades it for others. You are solely responsible for the content you encode into a QR code and for where that code directs people. Because codes are generated on your device, we do not review, approve, or monitor the content you create. ## Your QR Codes The QR codes you generate with KoloQR are yours. You may use them for personal and commercial projects - business cards, menus, packaging, events, marketing, and more - without paying us a royalty or attribution fee. A QR code is a functional pattern, not an artistic work we claim ownership of. We make no claim to the destinations, content, or trademarks you encode, and we grant no rights to anything you do not already own. ## No Account, No Stored Codes Because the Service does not require an account and generates codes locally, we do not store your QR codes or their contents. Once you leave or refresh the page, your work is gone unless you have downloaded it. Keep your own copies of any files you need. ## Intellectual Property The KoloQR name, logo, website design, text, and software are owned by us and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, redistribute, or create derivative works of the Service itself without our permission. This does not restrict the QR code image files you generate and download. ## Disclaimer of Warranties The Service is provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that every generated QR code will scan correctly on every device. You are responsible for testing your QR codes before printing or publishing them. ## Limitation of Liability To the maximum extent permitted by law, KoloQR and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of or inability to use the Service - including any failure of a QR code to scan or function as expected. ## Third-Party Links QR codes you create may link to third-party websites, and our site may reference third-party services. We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of any third party. ## Changes to These Terms We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the revised Terms. ## Contact Questions about these Terms? Reach us at support@koloqr.com.