Skip to the generator

App download QR code generator

Point people at your app listing without making them search a store.

The App Store or Google Play page for your app. One QR code cannot open a different store per phone without a server behind it, so point it at whichever store matters most, or at a page on your own site that offers both.

Your QR code appears here

Start typing and it updates as you go.

PNG is 2048px. SVG scales to any size, which is what print wants.

Design
Colours

Or start from a pair that scans well:

Module shape

The empty border around the code. 4 is the standard.

Recovers about 15% damage. The usual choice.

Centre logo

Optional. Keep it simple - a mark reads better than a wordmark at this size.

What is actually in an app download QR code

An app QR code is a link, and nothing more sophisticated than that. It holds the store URL as text - a Play Store listing, an App Store listing, or a page of your own - and the phone opens it. If the store app is installed, the link hands off to it and the person lands on the listing with an Install button, rather than in a browser copy of the store.

Here is the limitation nobody else states plainly: a QR code cannot send iPhone users to one store and Android users to another. The code contains a fixed string, there is no logic in it, and nothing about it can look at the device. Anything that appears to do this is a redirect on somebody's server, checking the browser and forwarding accordingly. That server can go away, take your printed codes with it, and usually wants a subscription in the meantime.

The version we would use ourselves is a short page on your own site - yoursite.com/app - with both store buttons on it, or a redirect you control. It costs one page, it works on desktop as well as mobile, and it means you can change stores, add a third platform or repoint the whole thing later without reprinting anything. If you only ship on one platform, point the code straight at that listing and skip the page entirely.

The text inside the code

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.example.app

Good for

  • A poster in a gym or studio
  • A table talker for order-at-table
  • A hotel key card sleeve
  • A shelf edge label in store
  • A conference stand
  • A delivery box insert

Worth knowing before you print it

  • One code cannot branch by platform

    Your choices are a page of your own that offers both stores, two codes printed side by side and labelled iPhone and Android, or a single store link because you only ship on one. Two labelled codes look clumsy and work perfectly; a single unlabelled store link sends half your audience somewhere useless.

  • Never encode a custom scheme like myapp://

    A deep link into your own app only works for people who already have it installed. Everybody else - which is the entire audience for a download poster - gets a scan that does nothing at all, with no error and no explanation. Use the store URL or a normal https link that your app claims.

  • Check the listing is live in the countries that will scan it

    A store link for an app that is not released in the scanner's country shows a "not available in your region" page, and the same happens with a listing still in review. Test the finished code on a real handset, signed into a store account, before the print run.

  • Trim the link, keep the parameters you will read

    Store URLs get long once campaign and referrer parameters are attached, and every character makes the pattern finer. Keep the ones you will actually look at in your analytics and drop the rest. On a poster read from two metres away, a shorter link is the difference between an instant scan and a person shuffling closer.

Common questions

Not on its own. The code holds one fixed link and cannot detect the device. To do it you need a page in the middle that checks the browser and forwards - that page can be a simple one on your own site, and hosting it yourself means nobody else can take it down or start charging for it.

The listing URL from the store itself, which you can copy from the app page. Take it from the store rather than from a search result, since search URLs carry query parameters that make the link longer and can expire.

Only if you pointed it at a page you control. The code itself is fixed - there are no dynamic codes here - but a code that points at yoursite.com/app can be repointed by editing that page. That single decision is what makes a print run reusable next year.

Not from the code, which reports nothing to anybody. Use the campaign or referrer parameters the stores support, or send people through a page of your own and read that page in your analytics. Both count scans that reached the destination, which is the number worth having anyway.

A store link opens the listing, which shows Open instead of Install. If you use a link your app claims - a universal link on iOS or an app link on Android - the phone can open the app directly at that screen. Test both cases, because the two audiences behave very differently.

Yes, because those are ordinary web links. Be aware that beta programmes have their own tester limits and expiry rules set by the platform, so a printed code pointing at one has a shelf life that has nothing to do with the QR code.

Other kinds of QR code

All free, all made in your browser.

Printing it? How to print a QR code covers size, contrast and the quiet zone.