Schedule a Campaign (Active Date Range)

What Is Campaign Scheduling?

Campaign scheduling lets you define an active date and time range for a QR code. Outside of this window, the code is automatically inactive — scanners either see a default message or are redirected to a fallback URL you choose. Inside the active window, the code behaves normally and routes scanners to your destination.

This feature is especially useful when you print QR codes on physical materials in advance and want them to go live automatically at a specific time — without having to manually enable them at the moment the campaign kicks off.

How to Set a Start and End Date

1. Open My QR Codes and select the code you want to schedule.
2. Click Edit to open the QR code editor.
3. Navigate to the Advanced Settings tab.
4. Find the Campaign Schedule section and toggle it on.
5. Set the Start Date and Time — the moment the QR code becomes active.
6. Set the End Date and Time — the moment the QR code automatically deactivates.
7. Select your timezone (see the timezone section below).
8. Optionally enter a fallback URL for scans outside the active window.
9. Click Save to apply the schedule.

You can set a start date without an end date (the code runs indefinitely from the start), or an end date without a start date (the code is active immediately but expires at the end date). Both fields are optional independently.

Timezone Selection

Campaign schedules are timezone-aware. When setting your start and end times, select the timezone that matches your campaign's target location. For example:

• A New York store promotion running from 9 AM to 5 PM should use America/New_York.
• A London event check-in running on a specific date should use Europe/London.
• A global online campaign where timing doesn't depend on geography can use UTC.

Lifetime QR Codes stores all schedule times in UTC internally and converts to your selected timezone for display. If you change the timezone of an existing schedule, double-check that the converted start and end times are still correct before saving.

What Happens Outside the Active Window

When a scanner opens the QR code before the start date or after the end date, Lifetime QR Codes intercepts the scan before routing it to the destination. You have two options for what the scanner sees:

• Default inactive message — Lifetime QR Codes shows a branded page indicating that this QR code is not currently active. The message can vary slightly depending on whether the campaign hasn't started yet or has already ended.
• Custom fallback URL — Redirect out-of-window scanners to a page of your choice, such as a "campaign coming soon" teaser page, a "this offer has expired" notice, or simply your homepage.

Scans that occur outside the active window are recorded in your analytics as out-of-window scans, separate from scans that successfully reached the destination.

Common Use Cases

• Timed promotions — Run a flash sale or limited-time discount where the QR code only routes to the offer page during the promotion window. Print the code on flyers days in advance and let the schedule do the rest.
• Event check-in — Set the code active only during event hours so that anyone who tries to use it outside of event time sees a clear "doors are not open" message rather than a broken link.
• Seasonal campaigns — A holiday menu, seasonal product page, or back-to-school promotion can be scheduled to activate and expire on the exact right dates without manual intervention.
• Time-zone-specific content — Coordinate multi-region campaigns where different codes go live at different local times for different markets.
• Advance printing for product launches — Include QR codes on packaging before a product launch date and have them automatically become active on launch day.

Combining Campaign Scheduling with Scan Limits

Campaign scheduling and scan limits can be used together on the same QR code for even finer control. For example, you could run a promotion that:

• Is only active during a specific 48-hour window (campaign schedule), and
• Caps out after the first 200 redemptions (scan limit).

In this combined setup, the QR code deactivates as soon as either condition is met — whichever comes first. This is useful for "first 200 customers during the event" style promotions where you need both a time boundary and a quantity cap.

When both settings are active, you can configure a single fallback URL that applies to both the out-of-window state and the scan-limit-exceeded state, or configure them separately depending on your needs.