Smart Redirects: Send Every Scanner to the Right Page Automatically

A single QR code on a poster, package, or business card can only point to one URL. That works fine when every person who scans it needs to see the same page. But the moment your audience spans multiple countries, uses different devices, or visits at different times, a one-size-fits-all destination starts leaving value on the table.

Smart Redirects solve this. Instead of sending every scan to the same URL, you define rules that automatically route each scanner to the right page based on who they are and when they scan. The QR code stays the same. The destination changes based on conditions you choose.

What are Smart Redirects?

Smart Redirects is a Pro feature in QRShift that lets you attach conditional rules to any QR code. When someone scans the code, the system evaluates the rules in priority order and redirects to the first matching destination. If no rule matches, the scanner lands on the default URL you set when you created the code.

You can set rules based on six condition types:

• Country — redirect based on the scanner's geographic location
• Device — redirect based on whether they are on mobile or desktop
• Time of day — redirect based on the current UTC hour
• Day of week — redirect based on Monday through Sunday
• Day of month — redirect based on the calendar date (1–31)
• Month of year — redirect based on January through December

Rules are evaluated by priority. The first rule that matches wins. This means you can layer conditions and control exactly which rule fires first when multiple conditions could match the same scan.

Global rules vs. per-code rules

Smart Redirects work at two levels: global and per-code.

Global rules are set once and apply to every QR code in your account that is configured to follow them. This is useful when you have a blanket redirect policy — for example, always sending French visitors to your French-language site, regardless of which QR code they scanned.

Per-code rules override the global ones for a specific QR code. If a particular code needs different behavior — maybe a product-specific landing page for German visitors instead of the generic German site — you can toggle off "Follow global rules" and define custom rules for that code alone.

The toggle is on each QR code's Smart Redirects page. When "Follow global rules" is on, the code uses your account-wide rules. When it is off, the code uses its own custom rules and ignores the global set entirely.

How to set up your first Smart Redirect

1. Open the Smart Redirects page. From your dashboard, click the three-dot menu on any QR code and select "Smart Redirects." For global rules, go to Smart Redirects in your dashboard navigation.
2. Enable Smart Redirects. Toggle the switch at the top of the page to turn the feature on.
3. Pick a rule type. The six condition types appear as a grid of buttons. Click the one you want — for example, "Country."
4. Select values. A panel opens below the grid. Choose the conditions — for country rules, use the dropdown to pick one or more countries. For device rules, check "Mobile" or "Desktop." For time and date rules, select the relevant hours, days, or months.
5. Set the destination URL. In the same panel, paste the URL you want matching scanners to be redirected to.
6. Add more rules if needed. Click "Add another rule" to create additional entries within the same type, or click a different type button to set up rules for another condition.
7. Save. Click "Save Changes" in the sticky bar at the top. You will see a confirmation when the rules are live.

Tip: You can enable and disable individual rule types without deleting them. Click the "Disable" button in the panel header to temporarily turn off all rules of that type. Enable them again later when you need them.

Practical examples

Country-based localization

You sell a product internationally and print a QR code on the packaging. Rather than sending everyone to an English landing page and hoping they figure out the language switcher, you create country rules:

• Scanners in France → your French product page
• Scanners in Germany and Austria → your German product page
• Scanners in Japan → your Japanese product page
• Everyone else → the default English page

One QR code on every box, every region gets their own language automatically.

Device-specific app downloads

You have a mobile app with separate App Store and Google Play listings. A "Download our app" QR code on printed material can route scanners to the correct store automatically:

• Mobile scanners → a smart link that detects iOS vs. Android (or a direct store link if your audience skews one way)
• Desktop scanners → a landing page with both download options and a "text me the link" form

Time-of-day restaurant menus

Your restaurant has different menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead of three QR codes on the table, use one with time-based rules:

• Scans between 6:00–10:00 UTC → breakfast menu
• Scans between 11:00–14:00 UTC → lunch menu
• Default → dinner menu

Adjust the hours for your timezone. The rules use UTC, so convert your local meal times accordingly.

Day-of-week promotions

You run a weekly rotation of promotions — Taco Tuesday, Wine Wednesday, Friday happy hour. A single QR code on your window display can route to the right promotion page based on the day:

• Tuesday → taco special page
• Wednesday → wine promotion page
• Friday → happy hour page
• Other days → your general menu or upcoming events

Seasonal campaigns by month

A printed flyer or storefront poster with a QR code can automatically swap destinations by season without any manual intervention:

• December → holiday gift guide
• February → Valentine's Day collection
• June, July, August → summer sale page
• Default → main product catalog

Set it up once and forget it. The same printed code runs the right campaign at the right time, year after year.

Combining multiple rule types

You are not limited to one rule type at a time. You can enable country rules, device rules, and time rules simultaneously. The system evaluates all enabled rules in priority order and uses the first match.

For example, you could set up:

1. Country rule: Germany → German landing page (priority 0)
2. Device rule: Desktop → desktop-optimized page (priority 1)
3. Time rule: 20:00–23:00 → evening promotion (priority 2)

A German visitor on mobile at 21:00 would hit the German landing page (the first matching rule by priority). A US desktop visitor at 21:00 would hit the desktop-optimized page. A US mobile visitor at 15:00 would fall through to the default URL.

The priority order follows the order of rule types as they appear in the interface: Country, Device, Time, Weekday, Date, Month. Within each type, rules are ordered by their position in the list.

Things to keep in mind

• Time rules use UTC. If your audience is in New York (UTC-5), a rule for hour 17 fires at 12:00 PM local time. Convert your desired local hours to UTC before setting rules.
• Country detection uses IP geolocation. It is accurate for the vast majority of scans but can be off for users on VPNs or corporate proxies. This is inherent to all IP-based geolocation, not specific to QRShift.
• No overlapping values within a type. You cannot assign the same value to two different rules within the same type. If you want both France and Germany to go to the same URL, put them in the same rule. If you need them to go to different URLs, create separate rules — one for France, one for Germany.
• Disabled types are preserved. When you disable a rule type, the rules are not deleted. They are just skipped during evaluation. Toggle them back on whenever you need them.
• The default URL always catches unmatched scans. If no rule matches, the scanner goes to the original destination URL you set when you created the QR code. Make sure that URL is a sensible fallback.

Who is this for?

Smart Redirects are available on the Pro plan. They are most valuable for:

• International businesses that need to route visitors to localized content without managing separate QR codes per region
• Restaurants and hospitality that want time-aware menus and day-specific promotions from a single printed code
• App developers who need device-aware download links
• Marketing teams running seasonal or day-of-week campaigns on printed materials they cannot reprint
• E-commerce brands shipping products globally who want every customer to land on the right page in the right language

If you have a QR code that needs to behave differently depending on who scans it or when, Smart Redirects eliminate the need for multiple codes, manual URL swapping, or third-party routing services.