App Store and Google Play QR code: one code that works on every phone

Why a store URL makes a poor QR code

Apple has its own generator. App Store Marketing Tools makes a QR code that links to your app on the App Store. It's free and official. But an Android phone that scans it lands on a web page for an app it can't install.

Printing two codes side by side, one per store, works but asks people to pick the right one. Some will scan the wrong code. A single code that checks the phone removes that choice.

There's a second difference. A static QR code has the destination written into the pattern. If your store URL changes, or you want desktop visitors to go somewhere new, the printed code can't follow. A code made from a link you control is dynamic: the pattern stays the same and you change where the link goes.

Make the code, step by step

1. Make the link. Add your App Store URL, Google Play URL and website to one smart link. On URX, that's a free link such as urx.si/yourapp. Our guide to making one link for both stores walks through it.
2. Open the QR tab on the link and pick your colours. Keep the code dark on a light background.
3. Choose error correction. Use M for clean print and screens. Use Q or H if the code will get scuffed, sit outdoors or carry a logo in the middle.
4. Download the right file. Use PNG for slides, emails and social posts. Use SVG for print, because it stays sharp at any size.
5. Put it in the artwork with its white border intact, then test the exported file and a printed proof.

URX codes carry a small scan marker, so each link counts its QR scans separately from taps. Scans are clicks too, with the same country and device breakdown. See QR codes for the details.

Size, contrast and the white border

Print problems are easier to prevent than to fix. Three things matter most.

The quiet zone. A QR code needs a blank margin four modules wide on every side. A module is one of the small squares. Denso Wave, which invented the QR code, sets this rule. Designers often crop it to save space, and then the code stops scanning against a busy background.

Contrast. Dark modules on a light background scan most reliably. Avoid pale colours, gradients through the code, and placing it over a photo.

Size. There's no official minimum, but QR vendors commonly suggest at least 2 cm by 2 cm for something held in the hand. For distance, a common rule of thumb is that the code should be about a tenth as wide as the scanning distance: about 10 cm wide for a poster read from a metre away. Treat both as starting points and test at the real size.

Shorter URLs help too. A short link needs fewer modules than a long store URL with tracking parameters, so the squares can be bigger at the same print size.

The percentages are approximate and come from Denso Wave's error correction notes. Higher levels add modules, so an H code needs more space than an L code to scan as easily.

Tell people what the code does

A bare code gives people no reason to scan it. Add a short line that says what happens and who it's for, for example: Scan to get yourapp on iPhone or Android.

If you add store badges, follow each store's rules. Apple's marketing guidelines ask for the App Store badge to be at least 10 mm tall in print, with clear space around it, and to come first in a row of badges. Google's badge guidelines ask for the Google Play badge to be at least 7.6 mm tall in print and the same size as, or larger than, other store badges. Remember that badges on paper aren't tappable. The code does the work.

Test before you print

The iPhone Camera app has read QR codes since iOS 11. On Android, use the Camera app or Google Lens. Test both, with the printed proof at its final size:

If a scan fails, try the original file on a screen. If the file scans and the print doesn't, the problem is size, contrast or the border, not the link.

Keep the code working after it's printed

Once a code is on paper, the link behind it has to outlive the print run. Don't delete the link to change it. Edit its destinations instead, and the same code follows.

On URX Free, a link that has no clicks, scans or edits for six months is switched off after reminders, with 90 days to reactivate it. Scans count as activity, so a code people use stays live. Free also shows a short URX page once the month's click allowance is used, until the month resets. Paid plans never show it, which matters for a code on a large print run.

Ready to make one? Claim a free link, download its QR code, and run the test sheet above before you send the artwork.