Routing QR Code Scans by Device, Location, Time or Language

A dynamic QR code holds a short link. When a phone opens it, the QR service’s server decides where to send the browser. Routing means that decision depends on the scan instead of being the same for everyone. The server works from what the phone’s request reveals: the time, the browser’s user agent, the language setting and the IP address.

A routed code has a list of rules and a default destination:

• Each rule has one or more conditions and a destination.
• Rules are checked in priority order.
• All conditions in a rule must match. “Weekday AND 4–6 pm” needs both.
• The first rule that matches decides. Later rules are not checked.
• If nothing matches, the scan goes to the default destination.

These are the conditions CirculateQR offers, with what each one actually reads from the scan.

Routing is only as accurate as the signals behind it. Device and time are reliable. Location is not. IP geolocation finds the right country for most scans but often misses the city: MaxMind, a large provider, estimates about 66% accuracy for US cities within 50 km (as of October 2026). A VPN shows the VPN server’s location, not the person’s, and mobile networks can place a phone in a city some distance away.

So design rules that fail gracefully:

• Make the default useful. A store finder’s default should list every store, not show an error.
• Let people switch. A Spanish page should link to the English one. Plenty of Spanish speakers keep their phone in English.
• Avoid tight radii. A 2 km circle around a shop will miss many customers standing at its door. Use radius rules to pick the nearest region, not to prove presence.
• Remember A/B splits aren’t sticky. Someone who scans twice may see both versions, so judge tests on scans, not on what one person reports.

A time window includes both its first and last minute, which is why the menu example uses 10:59 and 11:00 rather than 11:00 twice. Overnight windows such as 22:00–06:00 work too. For the full menu setup, see how to make a restaurant menu QR code. There is also a free app store QR code generator.

Test every rule and the default with real phones, not just a preview:

• Device: scan with an iPhone and an Android phone, and open the short link in a desktop browser.
• Time and day: temporarily set a window that includes the current time, scan, then restore it. Then do one real scan just after each boundary.
• Language: move another language to the top of the phone’s language list (on iPhone, Settings → General → Language & Region), scan, and switch back. Some browsers keep their own language list.
• Location and weather: look at your own test scan in the analytics. The city it shows is what the rule sees, which may not be where you are. A VPN set to another city tests the “outside” case.
• Random split: scan 20 times and check both pages appear in roughly the planned proportion.
• New vs returning: your first scan from a network is new and the next is returning. Switching from WiFi to mobile data can make you new again.

Then check the scan log. A good tool records which rule or destination each scan used, which turns “it went to the wrong page” into a fixable rule. See what scan analytics record.

CirculateQR rules can combine device, time of day, day of week, language, weather, location radius, scan count, scan rate, random split and new vs returning visitor. Rules run in priority order, all conditions must match, the first match wins, and otherwise the code uses its default destination. Each scan records which rule or destination it used, and the code’s UTM tags are added to whichever destination is chosen.

Per the pricing page, device and language routing are on every plan; time, date, location and A/B rules are included from Studio ($12/month); and weather routing from Artisan ($39/month). There is no country or city condition and no GPS routing: use a radius for places. For a dated promotion, use a date rule, or give the code an end date, after which scanners see a message that the campaign is over.