QR code not working?
Check it below to see exactly what's wrong, then follow the fix for your case. Most problems have a quick fix, even if the code is already printed.
The image is read on your device and never uploaded. If the code holds a link, we visit it once to see where it goes.
What you'll find out
- • What the code holds: a link, Wi-Fi, a contact…
- • Where the link really ends up, step by step
- • Whether it's flagged as unsafe
- • Whether it depends on a QR service that can switch it off
It scans, but opens a notice, an error or an upgrade page
The code was switched off by the service that made it
This is the most common reason a code that used to work suddenly doesn't. A dynamicQR code doesn't hold your web address. It holds a short link on the service you made it with, which forwards to your page. When the free trial ends or the subscription lapses, the service stops forwarding, and everyone who scans sees its notice page instead. The printed code is fine; the account behind it isn't active.
Your options, fastest first:
- Reactivate it with that service.If thousands of copies are already out there, paying for a month is usually the quickest fix. Their support can find the account from the code's short link if you've lost track of it.
- Make a new code and cover the old one. Print the new code on stickers and put them over the old ones on menus, signs and packaging. It takes an afternoon and ends the dependency.
- Reprint, if you were going to anyway. Next run, use a code whose rules you know before you print (below).
Nobody else can take over the old short link: it belongs to that service's domain. Be wary of anyone offering to “transfer” or “unlock” it.
Phones don't react when they point at it
The printed code can't be read
The camera needs to see the pattern clearly. The usual culprits:
- Too small for the distance. A code should be about a tenth as wide as the distance people scan from: 2.5 cm on a table, 10 cm on a wall seen from a metre away. See the size chart.
- No white margin. Codes need a clear border about four squares wide. Cropped edges and codes printed tight against a photo often fail.
- Low contrast or inverted colours. Dark code on a light background. Pale colours, light-on-dark and codes over patterns are hard for many phones.
- A blurry print. A small PNG scaled up turns soft. Print from SVG or PDF; our guide to print formats explains why.
- Glare, curves or damage. Glossy lamination under bright lights, a code wrapped around a bottle, or a scratched sticker. Matte material and a flat spot help.
If the checker above can read a photo of it but phones struggle, it's almost always size or glare. If the checker can't read it either, the code itself needs reprinting.
It opens a page that says "not found" or doesn't load
The page behind the code is gone
The code works, but the page it points at was moved, renamed or taken down, often after a website redesign.
- Dynamic code: log in to the service that made it and change the destination. Every printed copy follows straight away.
- Static code: the address is printed into the pattern. Ask whoever runs the website to send the old address to the new page (a redirect), or reprint.
It opens something unexpected or asks for payment details
The code may have been tampered with
Fake QR stickers placed over real ones on parking meters, posters and shop windows are a growing scam. They send people to look-alike payment pages. Run the code through the checker above: it shows the real destination and whether it's flagged as unsafe.
If you run the sign, check it for a sticker on top of the original, and consider printing the short address under the code so people can compare. If you scanned it and paid, contact your bank.
So it doesn't happen again
Use a static code for anything that won't change. Wi-Fi details, a contact card, a fixed address: the content lives in the pattern, so no account can switch it off. Ours are free and never expire.
Know a dynamic code's rules before you print. How long does it work free? What happens when you stop paying? At QRvora, free dynamic codes run 12 months and paid ones run while you subscribe, plus 30 days after you cancel, and those rules sit on the pricing page. We wrote more about why QR codes die and whether they expire.
Test a printed copy. Scan one real print with an iPhone and an Android before printing the rest.