Random QR Code Generator

What a sample QR code is for

A sample QR code is a real, working code that holds harmless placeholder content. People reach for one in a handful of situations, and they all come down to needing a code that scans without it mattering what it says:

• Testing a scanner or an app. If you are building or checking a QR reader, you need codes of every type to throw at it: plain text, a link, a WiFi login, a phone number, a contact card.
• Design mockups. A menu, poster, label or business card design needs a code in the layout long before the real link exists.
• Printing tests. Before printing a thousand stickers, print one sample at the size you plan to use and check it scans from the distance people will stand.
• Teaching. Showing a class or a team how QR codes work is easier with codes that are safe for anyone to scan.

Pick a type above, press New random code until you like the look, and download it as a PNG for screens or an SVG for print.

Why every sample here points somewhere harmless

The most common mistake with placeholder QR codes is filling them with something that looks fake but is real. A made-up link can belong to a stranger, and a printed mockup tends to travel further than anyone planned: it ends up on a proof sheet, in a pitch deck or on a sign that never got its real code swapped in.

So every sample this tool makes uses addresses that are set aside for exactly this purpose:

• Links go to example.com, a domain reserved by the internet standards body for documentation and examples. Nobody can ever register it.
• Phone numbers use the 555-0100 to 555-0199 range, which is reserved for fictional use in North America and connects to no one.
• Email addresses also use example.com, so a test message goes nowhere.
• WiFi samples name a network that does not exist, so a phone that scans one simply fails to join.

When the real content is ready, make the final code with the QR code generator and drop it into the same spot in your design.

QR code examples by type, and what each one holds

Every QR code is just text in a pattern. What changes between types is the format of that text, which tells the phone what to do with it. These are the formats the samples above use:

• Plain text holds the words as they are. A phone shows them and does nothing else.
• A link holds a full address starting https://. The phone offers to open it.
• WiFi holds a line like WIFI:T:WPA;S:network;P:password;;. The phone offers to join that network. The WiFi QR code generator makes real ones for your own network.
• Phone holds tel: followed by the number. The phone offers to dial it.
• Email holds mailto: followed by the address. The phone opens a new message.
• Contact holds a vCard, a short block starting BEGIN:VCARD with a name, number and email. The phone offers to save it. For a real one, use the contact QR code generator.

The more a code holds, the denser its pattern. A random number makes a sparse, chunky code; a contact card makes a busy one. That difference matters when you print small, which is one reason to test the actual type you will use rather than any code at all.

Random or sample: which one do you need?

Random text and random numbers are best for testing. Each press gives a different code, so you can check that a scanner reads every one rather than just one familiar pattern, and you can tell results apart.

Sample links, WiFi, phone, email and contact are best for mockups and demonstrations, because they behave like the real thing when scanned: a phone recognizes the type and offers the matching action.

How to test a printed QR code properly

Print the sample at the exact size it will appear, then scan it with two different phones from the distance people will actually stand. A rough rule is that a code needs to be about one tenth as wide as the scanning distance, so a code read from a metre away wants to be around 10 cm across.

If it struggles, the usual causes are too small a print, low contrast, a glossy surface catching light, or too little white space around the edge. The QR code not scanning guide covers each of these. To check what a code really contains before you trust it, run it through the QR code scanner, which shows the content and where any link goes.