Your QR code stopped working? Here's why, and what to do.
A printed code that worked and now doesn't is often a dynamic code that its service switched off. Here is how to tell.
Free for up to 25 links. No trial that ends, no watermark.
- During the trialYour page
- After it endsA notice from the generator
How to check
Scan the code with your phone and read the address it shows before you open it.
If the address is a QR code company's, the code depends on that company. Sign in there and check whether the code is still active.
If the address is ni.run, it is a Nimbli code, and its link may have been deleted or switched off: see why a link says "link not found".
If the address is your own page, the code itself is fine. Check that the page still opens in your browser: it may have moved or been deleted.
Other causes are less common: a code printed too small, with too little contrast, or damaged. Test a printed copy with your phone.
Why it happens
Often, a code that stops working was made on a QR code generator's free trial, or on a paid plan that has ended. These are dynamic codes: the code holds a short address on the generator's own website, and that website sends people on to your page.
Some generators switch those codes off when the trial or the subscription ends. People who scan the code then see a notice from the generator instead of your page. Only the company that owns that address can turn it back on, not Nimbli or anyone else. Here is what some of them say on their own pages.
What you can do
Pay them to turn it back on.
Some generators bring the codes back when you pay again. Ask what it costs for as long as you need the code, and what happens if you stop again.
Put a sticker over it.
Make a new code that goes to your page (Nimbli's QR code maker needs no account), test it with your phone, print it as a sticker and cover the old one.
Reprint.
Make a new code and print it where the old one was. This is the easy choice if the old one is on something you will reprint anyway.
Avoid it next time
A static code.
It holds the final address itself, so it never expires and nobody can switch it off. You can't change where it goes, so it suits something that won't change, such as your website's address. Nimbli's QR code maker makes static codes with no account.
A dynamic code that stays on.
Choose a service that promises, in writing, not to switch codes off when a trial or plan ends. Ours, on Our promise:
"We won't switch off a link because it's on the free plan."
The exception is a link that breaks our rules, such as one used for phishing; the Terms, section 6 say what we do then.
Free for up to 25 links. No trial that ends, no watermark.