Turn a profile into a code people can scan from a poster, window or business card, instead of searching for your handle.
Profile addresses change more often than people expect: handles get renamed and platforms restructure their paths. A printed code pointing at a profile is a bet that the address will outlive the print run, which is the argument for pointing it at a page you control instead.
Enter content to generate QR code
Choose the platform and type your handle; the code encodes the profile URL that platform uses. The handle is cleaned first — a leading @ is dropped, and a whole profile URL pasted into the handle field is reduced back to the handle — because both are what people actually type, and both used to produce a dead link. On a phone, the installed app usually intercepts its own domain and opens the profile natively.
Instagram, handle typed as @scanme, and the code holds:
https://instagram.com/scanmeThe leading @ is stripped before the URL is built, and so is a whole profile address pasted into the handle field. Both are what people actually type, and both used to produce a dead link.
Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest each have their own profile URL shape, and the generator builds the right one. Type the handle alone — "scanme", not "@scanme" and not the full URL, though both of those are cleaned up if you paste them. LinkedIn assumes a personal profile path; for a company page, encode the full URL with the URL type instead.
Renaming a profile breaks every printed code pointing at the old handle, and on most platforms the old name becomes available to somebody else. If a rebrand is possible, point a dynamic code at your profile instead: the printed pattern survives the rename and you update where it goes.
This type encodes a single profile. To promote several at once, put them all on a link-in-bio page and encode that page’s address with the URL type, or use a dynamic code so you can reorder the list later without new artwork.
A code removes friction; it does not create interest. "Follow us" beside a bare code is close to invisible. Naming what is on the other side — the recipe, the fitting video, the discount for followers — is what turns a scan into a follow.
Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Pinterest. Anything else can be encoded by pasting the full profile address with the URL type.
You can; it is stripped for you, as is a full profile URL pasted into the handle field. The clean handle is what gets encoded either way.
If the app is installed it normally claims the link and opens the profile directly; otherwise the browser shows the web version of the profile.
Not directly. Put them on a link-in-bio page and encode that page, ideally as a dynamic code so you can add or reorder profiles without reprinting.
Every printed code breaks, and on most platforms your old handle can be claimed by someone else. A dynamic code avoids that: the pattern stays, the destination moves.
Use the URL type with the full company page address. The LinkedIn option here builds a personal profile path.