Writing
Practical guides about QR codes, written by the people who build the thing. Mostly about the stuff that goes wrong, because that is where the useful information is.
We write about the parts of QR codes that cost people money when they go wrong: codes that stop resolving, analytics that quietly stop recording, logos that eat more error correction than they can afford, and print sizes that look generous on screen and fail on card.
Almost everything here comes out of building the thing. The piece on styled codes failing to decode exists because our own renderer shipped that bug to a test suite, which caught it. Where we cite a competitor’s pricing or policy, the figure carries the date we checked it and a link to the source — including when the source turned out to be a 404.
What you will not find here
No invented statistics. Where a number appears it is either arithmetic we can show you, a figure from the published specification, or an attributed third-party source with its date and its limitations stated. Single-vendor telemetry is labelled as such, because one platform’s traffic is not the market.
No listicles that exist to rank. The QR niche is unusually full of near-identical “top 10 generators” posts, several of them published by the generators themselves on randomised URLs. We would rather publish six pieces that answer a real question than sixty that answer a search query.
Do QR codes expire? The honest answer
QR codes do not expire. The services behind some of them do. Here is the difference, and how to tell which kind you are holding.
Why your QR code stopped working: 7 causes, most likely first
A diagnostic order for a QR code that used to scan and now does not — from the most common cause to the rarest, with how to check each one.
Static vs dynamic QR codes: which one to print
The real trade-off between static and dynamic QR codes, with a decision rule and the cases where each one is clearly right.
How to test a QR code before you print 500 of them
A pre-print checklist for QR codes: the eight checks that catch almost every failure, and the one test nearly everyone skips.
QR code size for print: the numbers that actually matter
How big a QR code needs to be, worked out from module size and scanning distance — with a table for common placements.
Google review QR codes: getting the link right
How to make a QR code that opens the Google review box directly, where to put it, and the rules about asking for reviews.
How to leave your QR code platform without reprinting anything
The redirect-chaining method for migrating QR platforms with no reprinting, step by step — including how to leave us.