Policy · How static codes work
A QR code we never had cannot be switched off.
Every static code on this site is computed on your device. The text you type becomes a pattern of squares in your browser's memory, you download the file, and that is the end of it. There is no account, no database row, no timer.
The trap this site exists to avoid
Search for "free QR code generator" and the top results issue codes that work for a trial period, then stop scanning unless you subscribe. The codes were never yours: they pointed at a redirect on the vendor's server, and the vendor turned the redirect off. People find out when a printed menu, a wedding invitation, or a lobby sign stops working weeks after it was ordered.
The largest of these sites has thousands of one-star reviews describing exactly this. The complaint is so common that search engines autocomplete "that doesn't expire" and "no sign up" after the phrase "free QR code generator".
Static versus dynamic, in one paragraph
A static code contains the destination itself: the URL, the WiFi password, the contact card. Anyone with a camera can read it forever, because the information is in the ink. A dynamic code contains a short link to someone else's server, which then forwards the phone to the real destination. Dynamic codes can be edited and counted, which is genuinely useful, but they work only as long as that server chooses to forward.
What StoneQR does
- Static codes are the default and they never leave your browser. Read the source to verify it.
- Every download is decoded again on your device before the button turns on, so what you print is what a phone will read.
- The sizing panel tells you when a code is too small for the distance it will be scanned from.
- Vector exports (SVG, PDF, EPS) with real millimetre dimensions, so a print shop can use them directly.
If you need an editable code
Sometimes the destination has to change after printing. For that, StoneQR offers a hand-off to SignUpCity, a separate product by the same maker, which creates a short link you can edit and see scan counts for. SignUpCity publishes a no-deactivation policy: links are never turned off for non-payment, and free links stay free. StoneQR itself stores nothing either way.
The short version
If a generator asks for your email before it gives you the SVG, or if its "free" code is a link to its own domain, the code can be taken away. StoneQR's cannot, because we never had it.