This page is policy, not marketing — every clause below is how the service is built

The never-break pledge

A QR code usually ends up printed — on menus, invitations, business cards, packaging. Reprinting costs more than any subscription, which is exactly why some services break codes to force upgrades. We wrote down the opposite policy, in full, so you can hold us to it.

1

Static codes cannot be broken by us — by construction

Static codes are generated entirely in your browser: your URL, WiFi credentials or payment data are encoded directly into the pattern, and the file is written to your disk without our servers ever seeing it. There is no account to lapse, no trial to expire, and no redirect to switch off. We could not break a static code if we wanted to — the machinery to do so does not exist.

You don't have to take that on faith: Scan-Check decodes every finished design with a real scanner engine before you download it and shows you the exact payload — your address, not a tracking link.

2

Cancellation freezes editing — never the redirect

When a paid plan lapses — whether you cancel or a payment fails — here is the exact sequence:

  • Days 1–30: nothing changes. Full function — editing, analytics, redirects — with a banner in your dashboard so the state is never a surprise.
  • After 30 days: your codes become frozen. Frozen means: every scan keeps redirecting to the last destination you set, indefinitely. Editing and new analytics stop; the edit API refuses changes until you resubscribe.
  • If you come back: resubscribing reactivates everything with your history intact — same codes, same slugs, same stats.

The redirect is a contract; editing and analytics are the service. Cancellation ends the service, never the contract. Your printed material keeps working whether or not you ever pay us again.

3

Only terms-of-service violations disable a code

"Disabled" is a separate status from "frozen", and it is reserved exclusively for codes that violate our terms — phishing, malware and the like. A disabled code stops redirecting and shows an explanation page instead, because continuing to serve it would harm the people scanning it.

"Stopped paying" and "violated the ToS" are different things, and the system treats them differently: non-payment can only ever freeze a code, never disable it. We will never point your code at an upgrade page, an ad, or anything other than the destination you chose.

4

The sunset clause: if we ever shut down

Any service selling "forever" owes you an answer to "what if you disappear?" Ours is written down:

  • 12 months' notice, published publicly, before anything is switched off.
  • Redirects keep running through the entire notice period — the redirect service is deliberately tiny and cheap to keep alive.
  • A takeout file mapping every one of your codes to its destination, so nothing about your setup is locked in. Takeout is actually available at all times, not just at shutdown — even to lapsed accounts.
  • A 301 hand-off on request: we'll permanently redirect your codes' links to your own domain, so you can take over serving them yourself and your printed codes keep working under your control.

Why we can afford this

The pledge sounds generous, but it's architecturally cheap — which is precisely why you should believe it. Serving a redirect costs us roughly $0.13 per million scans. Keeping a frozen code redirecting for years costs fractions of a cent. Companies break printed codes because the ransom is profitable, not because keeping them alive is expensive; we've simply priced the product so the ransom is never needed. Honesty here isn't a sacrifice — it's the cheapest feature we ship.

Verify it yourself

A pledge you can't check is just copy. So: every dynamic code's status — active, frozen, disabled — is queryable from your dashboard, and frozen is visibly distinct from disabled. The takeout export is available on every plan, at any time, including after cancellation. And the free /check tool decodes any QR code — ours or anyone else's — on your device and shows exactly what it contains, so you can audit any code you've printed, from any service, in seconds.