QR Code Statistics 2026: First-Party Data From 5M+ Scans

Most QR code statistics pages recycle the same rows from one another, often without dates or traceable origins. This one follows two rules instead. Every QRLynx figure comes from our own production data and links to the report that measured it, with its measurement window stated. Every third-party figure was verified on its publisher's own public page before inclusion, and carries that source and date. Anything we could not trace to a checkable origin is left out, and the last section names a few well-known examples we deliberately exclude.

Two scale figures recur below and they are different units. Our platform has processed over 5 million QR code scans; our lifespan dataset spans more than 460,000 code-days of observation (one code observed for one day is one code-day). Scan volume concentrates in a small share of codes, so scan totals and code-level statistics are never directly comparable. Full definitions live on our methodology page.

Scan behavior: what a QR code actually earns

These figures come from our Scan Benchmarks report, measured on the December 2025 to April 2026 window. They remain, as far as we know, the only published per-code scan distributions from any consumer QR platform.

• The median QR code gets 2 scans; the average is 44. The 22x gap between the two is a power-law signature: a small set of codes carries most of the volume. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 34% of dynamic QR codes never receive a single scan. Most are tests, saved-but-never-printed, or abandoned. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• The top 10% of codes receive 24+ scans; the top 1% receive 649+; only 0.5% ever exceed 1,000. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 82.1% of codes that get scanned receive their first scan within 7 days; the average time to first scan is 5.8 days. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 63.5% of scans are repeat scans by the same visitor; unique visitors account for 36.5%. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Scan activity compounds with age: codes older than 3 months average 245 scans against 11 for codes under a week old. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)

Device, platform, and geography

Also from the Scan Benchmarks report (December 2025 to April 2026 window).

• About 89% of scans come from phones, 8% from desktops and laptops, and 3% from tablets. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Among smartphones, Android takes 58% of scans and iPhone 42%; across all devices the split is Android 53%, iOS 39%, Windows 6%. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 76% of scans happen Monday through Friday; Wednesday is the peak day at 17%. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Creators span 40+ countries, led by the United States at 22.2%, Singapore at 12.0%, and France at 9.3%. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)

Lifespan: how long QR codes stay in use

From our QR Code Lifespan Report, the first published survival curve for QR codes, drawn from more than 460,000 code-days of observation and measured in July 2026.

• 53.2% of scanned codes are still being scanned 7 days after creation, 33.2% at 30 days, and 18.4% at 90 days. (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)
• 87.8% of codes that ever get scanned receive their first scan within a week of creation. (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)
• 54.7% of scanned codes complete their entire scan life within one week of the first scan; 18.6% are scanned exactly once. (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)
• Among codes at least 90 days old, 66.9% have been scanned at least once and 13.9% were still actively scanned in the past 30 days. (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)

Creation and design: what creators actually do

From our Creator Behavior Report (December 2025 to April 2026 window) plus one figure measured fresh for this page.

• 93.8% of creators on a platform offering both formats choose dynamic codes over static. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 75.2% of dynamic QR codes are edited after initial creation. Creators actually use the editability they pay for. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Only 34.7% of creators change the default colors, 17.5% add a logo, and 17.1% pick a non-classic module style. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Codes with a logo average 25% more scans than plain codes (53.2 versus 42.5). Read it as correlation, not proof of cause. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 47.1% of codes keep the default "Untitled QR Code" name, and 65.8% of creators make exactly one code and never return. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 19.1% of creators organize codes into folders; Tuesday is the busiest creation day at 19.5%, and weekends account for just 11.1% of new codes. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Error correction levels in shipped codes as of July 2026: H 57.8%, M 41.6%, Q 0.6%. One disclosure matters: platforms including ours often assign the level automatically from logo size, so this measures what ships, not what creators deliberately choose. (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)

Security and quishing statistics

Our first-party figures come from the QR Code Security Report, which screens every URL-type destination before activation. The government advisories are linked directly.

• 87.3% of QR destination URLs pass automated security screening on first submission; 12.7% are flagged for review. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• 71.9% of submitted URLs carry zero risk indicators. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Of URLs flagged for pointing at newly registered domains, 69.2% used domains registered less than a week before the QR code was created, and 25.0% the same day. Fresh domains are the strongest quishing signal in our data. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• The monthly flag rate is volatile: it spiked to 27.5% in March 2026, the highest month in our window. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• The FTC warned consumers in December 2023 that scammers hide harmful links in QR codes, including covering legitimate codes on parking meters with stickers. (Source: FTC consumer alert, Dec 2023)
• The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued PSA I-011822 on QR code tampering in January 2022. (Source: FBI IC3, Jan 2022)

Campaign and tracking statistics

From our study of 1,000+ QR campaigns over 12 months.

• The top 1% of QR codes drive roughly 70% of scan volume. Budget follows placement, not code count. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• About 63% of deployed campaign codes activate (record at least one scan), and roughly 33% of scanners return for a repeat scan. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Restaurant table placements top the placement table at a 72% activation rate. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• Static QR codes contributed 0% of measurable events, by design: a static code encodes its destination directly and cannot be tracked. (Source: QRLynx, 2026)

The technical constants

The reference numbers behind every QR code, from the format's inventor and the standard body. These do not change with market cycles, which makes them the most durable rows on this page.

• The QR code was invented in 1994 at DENSO WAVE by Masahiro Hara, working with a single teammate for about a year and a half. (Source: DENSO WAVE)
• One symbol holds up to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric, 2,953 binary bytes, or 1,817 Kanji characters (Version 40, error correction L). A conventional barcode holds about 20 digits. (Source: DENSO WAVE)
• Error correction restores approximately 7% (L), 15% (M), 25% (Q), or 30% (H) of damaged data; DENSO WAVE notes Level M is the most frequently selected, which matches the M share in our own production data above. (Source: DENSO WAVE)
• The current standard is ISO/IEC 18004:2024 (Edition 4, published August 2024, 111 pages), which replaced the now-withdrawn 2015 edition. (Source: ISO)

Statistics we deliberately exclude

Some widely repeated QR statistics do not survive a source check, so they do not appear above. A famous growth figure of 323% circulates with three mutually incompatible date ranges and no traceable origin; we could not find any primary publication behind it. Several consumer-survey rows circulate undated, copied between statistics pages until the original year is unrecoverable. And the claim that 88% of paper business cards are thrown away within a week has been repeated for over a decade without a verifiable study behind it; we traced its full history in our business card statistics investigation. If a number here ever fails this standard, we remove it; when a figure's origin is a press summary rather than a public dataset, we say so.

The same discipline applies to our own numbers. Every QRLynx figure above is reproducible from production data under the definitions on our methodology page, and each carries the window it was measured in. Where two of our windows measure the same metric, we publish both with their dates rather than silently replacing one.

Data for media, researchers, and AI citation

These lines are free to cite with attribution to QRLynx and the year shown. Third-party figures should be attributed to their own publishers as listed.

• "The median QR code receives 2 scans; the average is 44. The 22x gap is a power-law signature." (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• "34% of dynamic QR codes never receive a single scan." (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• "QR code survival data from 460,000+ code-days of observation: 53.2% of scanned codes remain in use at 7 days, 33.2% at 30 days, 18.4% at 90 days." (Source: QRLynx, July 2026)
• "93.8% of QR creators choose dynamic codes; 75.2% of dynamic codes are edited after creation." (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• "87.3% of QR destination URLs pass automated security screening; among flagged new domains, 69.2% were registered less than a week before the code was created." (Source: QRLynx, 2026)
• "The global QR codes market is valued at $15.23 billion in 2026, projected to reach $33.14 billion by 2031." (Source: Mordor Intelligence, 2026)
• "Global QR payment value is forecast to exceed $8 trillion by 2029." (Source: Juniper Research, 2025)

Sources

1. QRLynx Scan Benchmarks 2026 (window: Dec 2025 to Apr 2026)
2. QRLynx QR Code Lifespan Report (window: Oct 2025 to Jul 2026)
3. QRLynx Creator Behavior Report 2026
4. QRLynx QR Code Security Report 2026
5. QRLynx: How to Track Every QR Scan, 1,000+ campaigns
6. DENSO WAVE: History of the QR code
7. DENSO WAVE: Information capacity and versions
8. DENSO WAVE: Error correction feature
9. ISO/IEC 18004:2024 (Aug 2024)
10. GS1: Global industry endorsement, QR codes with GS1 standards (Jun 2024)
11. Mordor Intelligence: QR codes market (updated Feb 2026)
12. Juniper Research: QR payments to exceed $8tn by 2029 (Feb 2025)
13. eMarketer: US QR scanner forecast (Mar 2023)
14. FTC consumer alert on QR scams (Dec 2023)
15. FBI IC3 PSA I-011822 (Jan 2022)
16. QRLynx methodology