QR code stopped working after the free trial?

Why a printed code stops opening

Many QR generators make “dynamic” codes by default. The code doesn’t contain your page address. It contains a short link on the generator’s own domain, so every scan goes to their server first.

When the trial or the subscription ends, the service can switch that forwarding off or show its own page instead. The ink on your menus and flyers hasn’t changed. The link inside it now leads somewhere else.

Check the code in a minute

1. Point your phone camera at the printed code on qrinspect.com, or upload a photo or screenshot of it.
2. See the address stored in the code. If the domain belongs to a QR service or a link shortener we know, QRInspect names it.
3. Press “Show the full route” to follow the redirects to the final page. We stop after 10 redirects.

The image is decoded in your browser and isn’t uploaded. Only the address from the code goes to our server, and only when you ask for the full route.

If the code still opens

1. Write down the final page address from the route.
2. Make a static code to that page. It stores the address itself, with no middleman.
3. Keep the old plan active until every printed copy is replaced. A sticker with the new code over the old one works for menus, signs and packaging.

If the code no longer opens

If you know the page address, make a static code to it and replace or cover the old code.

If you don’t know it, the old service account is the only place that remembers where the code was meant to go. Sign in there or ask their support for the target address.

Some services reactivate a code after you pay again. That’s a question about their pricing; we can only show where the code points today.

What a static code can’t do

A static code can’t be edited after printing: a new address needs a new code. If your page may move, point the code at a permanent address on your own site and change what that page shows.