Dynamic QR Codes
Dynamic QR codes
A dynamic QR code does not contain the destination. It contains one of our short addresses, which looks the destination up at scan time. That single difference is what makes the code editable after printing and measurable scan by scan.
How it works
A short address goes into the modules
When the code is created it gets an address like q.yourdomain.com/j9K2xAb, and that is what gets drawn in black and white. The page you actually want people to land on never enters the artwork.
The destination lives in a record, not on paper
That short address is paired with the current destination. Changing it is an edit to the code’s entry in your dashboard: the artwork does not move by a single module, and printed material stays valid.
Scanners pass through us and carry on
The phone opens the short address, the redirect engine answers with the destination of the moment, and the browser gets there without stopping. It is a hop measured in milliseconds that nobody sees.
Every hop leaves a data point
The time of the scan, the device type and the approximate country are recorded while the person is already on their way: analytics never adds latency. The IP address is never stored in the clear.
What it is for
Printed material that has to last
Flyers, signage, labels, packaging, plaques: the code stays the same for years while the campaign or page behind it changes every season.
Fixing a mistake without reprinting
A wrong link on a thousand postcards already in the post is fixed in ten seconds from the dashboard, instead of with a new print run.
Knowing whether a channel works
How many scans that poster brings in, on which days, from which devices and which countries. Without a dynamic code there is no way to find out.
Closing a finished campaign
Pull a withdrawn offer and anyone scanning finds a courtesy page instead of an expired promotion or a server error.
Strengths
The destination stays editable
Forever, as often as needed, even on material already distributed. It is the whole reason this mode exists.
Scan analytics
Scans day by day, devices, geographic origin and the latest reads, for a single code or for a whole folder.
Artwork that is easier to read
A short address takes few characters, so the modules stay large: the code still reads when printed small, on a curved surface or in poor light.
It can be switched off
Control over the code does not end at the printer: it stays yours for as long as the material is out there.
Limits worth knowing
It needs an account
Free, but required: a unique short code, a redirect to serve and a scan table that keeps growing all live on our servers, and they need an owner. The Free plan is enough — it is a sign-up, not a subscription.
Whoever scans must be online
The phone has to reach the short address to learn where to go. In a basement with no signal a dynamic code leads nowhere.
It does not apply to every content type
A Wi-Fi network, a contact or a plain text has to sit inside the code for the camera to read it: there the dynamic mode is simply not available, and that is a technical limit rather than a commercial one.
When to choose it
Choose dynamic whenever the code lands on something you cannot reprint at will, or when you care about how much it actually gets used. If the content will never change and the person scanning might be offline, static does the same job without asking for anything.
Try it now
The generator sits above the fold on the home page: pick a type, style it and download the result.