Guides
How QR codes behave once they are printed, and what makes them stop working. Written from the mechanics, including the parts that are awkward for us.
When a code stops working
Something printed has stopped resolving, or you want to know what could.
Do QR codes expire?
The printed pattern cannot expire. The redirect service behind a dynamic code can be switched off, and that is what has usually happened.
Why your QR code is not working
Four questions asked in order, each one ending in a specific fix rather than a longer list of things to check.
Your QR code says it is no longer active
Work out who made it, get it working again with them, and decide afterwards whether to move it.
What happens to your QR codes when you stop paying
Each vendor's own words, linked, with the date each one was checked.
Getting it right in print
Sizes, file formats and the things that fail on press rather than on screen.
How big should a printed QR code be?
Distance-based sizes in millimetres and centimetres, from a table tent to a roadside banner, and why a longer address needs a bigger print.
QR code file formats for print: SVG, EPS, PDF or PNG
Why vector survives scaling and raster does not, what rich black does to a code on press, and how a traced SVG differs from a generated one.
Printing a QR code so it actually scans
Minimum size in millimetres, the border that is load-bearing, and what a logo really costs you.
QR codes on business cards: how small can you go?
The millimetre floor for a card read at arm's length, why a vCard baked into the pattern fails at card size, and how textured stock moves the numbers.
QR codes for flyers and posters
The code is the cheapest thing on the leaflet. Placement, the line to print beside it, and what a dead code costs across a run.
Before you choose
What the options actually are, and what to ask any provider before you print.
Static or dynamic QR codes: how to choose
Chosen by the job rather than the feature table. Static wins more jobs than the comparisons admit, and it costs nothing.
Can you change a QR code after it is printed?
Yes, if it is the right kind of code. How to tell which kind you have, and what to do if it is the other kind.
How to choose a QR code generator
The six questions that separate providers, why each matters before you print, and our own answers, including the one we lose.
Free QR code generators in the UK
What free actually buys you, which free tiers expire, and how VAT changes the price you were quoted.
QR code tracking without personal data
What scan counts can and cannot tell you, and how to have them without storing anything about the person scanning.
For a particular job
The same mechanics, applied to the things people actually print.
A QR code menu without the ordering system
Link to a page rather than a PDF, laminate matt, and stop reprinting table talkers every time a price changes.
A QR code for church giving
The noticeboard outlives the giving platform. How to print a code the PCC will not have to replace.
A QR code for Google reviews
Getting the review link out of your Business Profile, what to print next to the code, and why the destination will not stay still.
QR codes for charity fundraising in the UK
Gift Aid, what the Church of England tells parishes about free providers, and how printed appeals get killed.
Everything else
How to cancel a QR TIGER subscription
What their own FAQ says about cancelling, refunds and the codes you have already printed.
How to cancel a Uniqode subscription
The click path, the 30-day refund window, and the two places their own pages disagree.
How to cancel a QR Code Generator subscription
The steps, the refund position in their own words, and why no confirmation email arrives.