Do QR codes expire?

A QR code is a way of encoding text as a grid of black and white squares. There is nothing in the standard about time limits — a printed code from 2015 scans exactly the same way today as it did then, because scanning just reads the pattern back into text.

So when a printed code 'stops working', the pattern hasn't degraded or expired. Something on the other end of it has changed or gone away. There are three common failure modes.

If a static code encodes a URL and that page gets deleted, moved, or the underlying website is taken down, the code now leads to a dead link. This is the single most common reason a QR code 'stops working' — nothing about the code changed, the target did.

This is the one failure mode a dynamic code protects you against: since the code encodes a short link you control, you can update where that short link points whenever the real destination changes, without touching the printed material.

A dynamic QR code depends on the redirect domain staying registered and online. If the company running the service shuts down, or a domain lapses, every code that depended on it stops resolving — even though the physical pattern is intact.

This is a genuine dependency you take on with any dynamic QR provider, 123QR included. It's a reasonable trade for editability and analytics, but it's worth knowing it exists rather than assuming a dynamic code is somehow more permanent than a static one.

Some QR services time-box their free tier and disable codes after a trial period unless you upgrade to a paid plan. If a business printed thousands of flyers on a trial code and the trial ends, the code goes dead on schedule — this looks exactly like the code 'expiring' from the customer's side.

123QR doesn't run time-limited trials on QR codes: a code you create stays active for as long as your account exists and the code hasn't been deleted. Deactivating a code (rather than deleting it) shows a branded page instead of an error if you ever need to pause one.