What happens to your QR codes if the QR company shuts down

QR code services come and go like any other online business. When one closes, what happens to the codes its customers printed depends on two things: the kind of code, and what becomes of the domain inside it.

Static codes: nothing happens

A static code holds its destination itself. The company that made it isn’t involved when someone scans it, so its closing changes nothing. The code keeps opening whatever it opened before.

Dynamic codes follow the domain

A dynamic code holds a short link on the company’s domain, and the company’s servers do the forwarding. When the company shuts down, one of three things usually happens:

• The servers stop. Scans end on an error or a blank page.
• Someone buys the business. The new owner keeps the domain running, on their own terms, which may mean a new subscription.
• The domain expires. Nobody renews it, and after a grace period it goes back on the market. Whoever registers it next decides where every printed code leads. Domains that still get traffic are exactly what spammers look for.

The third is the dangerous one. The codes don’t just stop; they can start sending your customers somewhere you’d never choose.

Protecting codes you’ve already printed

If your codes are on the company’s domain, you can’t move them. You can get ready:

1. Export your codes and their destinations now, while you can still sign in.
2. Write down where each code is printed, so you know what to cover or reprint if it comes to that.
3. Print new codes on a domain you own.

Codes already on your own domain are in much better shape. If the company goes away, you point the domain at a new home that does the same redirects, and the printed codes keep working.

What a good exit plan looks like

Before you buy dynamic codes, ask what happens if the company closes. A useful answer has specifics: how much notice, what you get, and whether your codes can run without the company. Here’s ours, which is also in section 5 of our Terms of Service:

• At least 90 days’ notice by email, and a final exit kit for every account with codes.
• The exit kit, which we also email every month, holds your codes and a small website that does the same redirects we do. It runs on any free web host.
• Codes on your own domain move with one DNS change. Codes on our shared domain keep forwarding to their last destination for at least five years after we close. They can’t be changed after that day, so for anything you’ll need to edit later, connect a domain first.
• The code that builds the kit is public on GitHub, so you can check it does what we say.