What happens to your printed codes

Once a code is printed on a menu, a box or a poster, it has to keep working. Here's exactly what a scan does in every situation.

Last updated 12 October 2026. This page explains the “Printed codes” section of our Terms of service in plain words; if the two ever differ, the Terms apply. Changes that affect you are announced at least 15 days ahead, by e-mail or in the app.

When	What people who scan see
You move to a smaller paid plan	Every code, page, card, form and product keeps resolving; you just can't add more than the new plan allows. Custom domains beyond its allowance keep working for 72 hours, then show a neutral resting page until you upgrade or remove some.
Your paid plan ends (you cancel, or a payment stays unpaid for 14 days)	Everything within the Free plan keeps resolving for as long as your account exists, except in the cases below. We e-mail the owners 5 days and 24 hours before the plan ends, when the end is known ahead.
The first 72 hours on Free	Codes, pages, cards, forms and products beyond the Free plan keep working as usual, so a missed weekend or a busy week costs nothing.
After those 72 hours	What's beyond the Free plan pauses for 45 days. Scans see a neutral “resting” page, never anything about billing. Renew any paid plan, or choose which items use your Free allowance, and it's back on at once.
45 days later	We send a final notice 7 days before, then delete what's still paused. Deleted codes show “This code is no longer active” and their address is never reused; pages, cards and products go to the trash for 30 days, and forms are archived with their responses kept.
Your codes use your own domain and the paid plan ends	The Free plan doesn't include custom domains. Your domain keeps working while items beyond the Free plan wind down, then rests: scans on it see a neutral resting page until you buy a plan that includes custom domains. If nothing was beyond the Free plan, it rests when the plan ends. Codes on QRiva's own address aren't affected.
You pause a code or link	Scans see a short holding page. Resume it and it redirects again immediately.
You archive a code or link	Scans see a holding page; it leaves your active list. You can bring it back any time.
A scan limit or end date is reached	Scans go to the fallback address or page you chose, or to a clear “no longer available” page.
You delete a code	Scans see “This code is no longer active”. The short address is retired for good and never given to anyone else, so a printed code can't start pointing somewhere unexpected.
You delete a workspace or close your account	The same as deleting each code. Before closing, you can download the redirect table (every code and where it points), your codes, leads and scan history.
A destination turns out to be unsafe	The code is blocked with a safety page and you're told why. It resolves again once the destination is fixed and checks clean.
A page is reported and confirmed as abuse after review	It's taken offline and you're told why; you can contact support to appeal.
Our database has a short outage	Codes that were scanned recently keep redirecting from a cached copy (a resting code stays resting); others show a “try again” page — never “this code doesn't exist”.