Your printed QR code stopped working?
If a code on a menu, poster or package now opens an error page, the pattern is usually fine. The link inside it was switched off.
Why it happens
A dynamic QR code does not hold your web address. It holds a short link run by the company that made it, and that link forwards each scan to your page. Many QR services sell those short links as a subscription or a free trial. When the trial ends or the subscription stops, the company switches the short link off, and every printed copy stops working at once.
A static code holds the address itself, so it works for as long as that address does.
What you can do now
- Reactivate it with the company that made it. The short link is theirs, so paying them again is usually the only way to switch it back on without reprinting.
- Reprint. Make a new code and replace the printed copies.
QRKeeps cannot revive another company’s codes. Only the company that owns the short link can switch it back on.
How to avoid it next time
- Use a static code when the address will never change. There is no short link to switch off. The free generator makes one in your browser, without an account.
- Use a dynamic code you pay for once when you may need to change where it points. A QRKeeps code costs $7 once, or less in a pack, and never stops because of billing. Every account gets one dynamic code free.
- Put it on your own domain if you can. A code printed with your own domain can move to another service without reprinting. The 50-pack includes up to 5 of your own domains, and the shutdown guarantee explains how they move.