A QR code that never expires

Have you ever scanned a printed QR code - on a menu, a poster, even packaging - and landed on an error page or a site that no longer exists? You’re not alone. It’s one of the most common disappointments people run into with QR codes, and it’s usually not the fault of whoever scanned it. It comes down to how the code was built in the first place.

Two very different kinds of QR codes

What most people don’t realize is that there are two fundamentally different types of QR codes, even though they look identical.

Static codes store the actual information - a web address, text, WiFi credentials, and so on - directly in the pattern itself. When a phone scans the code, it reads the data straight out of the black and white pattern. No middleman, no server that needs to respond.

Dynamic codes, on the other hand, point to a short link owned by whichever service generated the code. That service’s server then redirects the scan to the real destination. This can sound convenient, since it lets you change where the code points later - but it also means the code depends entirely on that service staying online. If a subscription lapses, the company shuts down, or the server is taken offline, the code stops working, even if it’s already printed on thousands of copies out in the world.

That’s exactly why people scan an old poster or a product label and get “page not found.” The code itself isn’t broken - the middleman it relied on is simply gone.

How qrkodi.is avoids this

Every code generated on qrkodi.is is static. The web address, text, or WiFi details you enter get baked directly into the code’s pattern when it’s created in your browser - they’re never stored on a server of ours. That means the code keeps working regardless of whether qrkodi.is is still running, whether you still have an account, or whether any subscription is active. There’s nothing to renew, because there’s no middle step that can expire.

The practical upshot: if you’re printing codes onto menus, packaging, or signage meant to last for years, you can trust that the code will scan just as well five years from now as it does today - as long as whatever it points to (your website, for instance) still exists.

The one caveat

The only thing that can stop working is the destination itself, not the code. If a code points to a web address and that page gets taken down, scanning it obviously won’t lead anywhere - but that’s true of any link, QR code or not. The code’s pattern itself stays exactly as readable, forever.

Create a static QR code you can rely on - free, with no subscription that can expire under you.