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How to Make a Free QR Code for a Link or Text (and Make Sure It Scans)

A QR code is a square pattern that stores a piece of text, most often a web address. Point a phone camera at it and the phone reads the text and offers to open it. You see them on menus, posters, shop counters, business cards and delivery boxes, and making one takes less than a minute.

Making the code is the easy part. Making one that scans every time takes a little more care.

Make one in four steps

1. Open the QR code generator.
2. Paste your link or type your text into the box.
3. Choose a size and press Generate QR.
4. Press Download PNG to save the image, then print it or place it in a design.

The code you get is a regular, static code. It does not expire and there is no account or watermark. It simply holds your text, so it keeps working for as long as the link or information inside it stays valid.

What you can put inside

• A web address. The most common use, such as a menu, a portfolio or a form.
• Plain text. A short message, a reference number or instructions.
• An email address or a phone number. Type it in as mailto:name@example.com or tel:+920000000000 and most phones will offer to start the email or the call.
• A Wi-Fi network. Many phones understand text written like this: WIFI:T:WPA;S:NetworkName;P:Password;; and offer to join the network. Be careful, though. Anyone who scans it can see the password, so do not display it somewhere public.

The rules that decide whether it scans

• Keep the contrast high. Dark code on a light background works best. Pale grey on white, or a code printed on a busy photo, makes scanning slow or impossible.
• Leave a blank margin. The empty border around the code is part of the design. Do not crop it off or run text right up to the edge.
• Do not stretch it. Keep it square. Squashing it in a design tool distorts the pattern.
• Print it big enough. As a rough guide, a code needs to be at least about 2 cm across to scan from close range, and larger if people will scan from further away, such as from a poster across a room.
• Use a short link. A longer address needs a denser pattern with smaller squares, which is harder to read. If your link is long, shorten it first.

Test before you print

Scan the code with two different phones, in normal room light, before you print a hundred flyers. Check that the link opens the right page, and that the page works on a phone. A perfect code that leads to a page that does not load on mobile is not much use.

If the link might change

A static code is fixed. If you print it on packaging and the web address changes later, the code will lead nowhere and you cannot edit it. For anything long-lived, point the code at an address you control, such as a page on your own site, and change what that page shows when you need to.

A word on safety

People scan codes without thinking about where they lead. Be careful with stickers on posters, parking meters or tables, because a sticker can be placed over the real code. If a code asks you to sign in or pay, check the address your phone shows before you continue. And if you make codes for other people, it is kind to say what the code does, with a short line next to it.

That is the whole job: a clear link, strong contrast, a blank margin and a quick test before printing.