How to Make a QR Code in Canva (2026 Update): What Changed, and Every Workaround

If you have made a QR code in Canva before and just opened the app again, something probably looks different. The generator moved, the codes look different, and a few things that used to work do not any more.

Here is what changed, what each change means in practice, and how to get the result you were after anyway.

The short version

• The third-party QR Codes app that many designers used has been removed from the marketplace, replaced by Canva's own QR generator.
• Codes made with the new generator carry a Canva logo in the centre. Users report it can only be removed on a higher plan tier.
• The new codes route through a Canva-owned short domain before reaching your destination URL.
• Codes you made previously can no longer be edited — you cannot change the URL, colour, or margin on an old code.
• The new generator accepts a URL only. Plain text, contact cards, WiFi credentials, and coupon codes are no longer options in that flow.
• Rollout appears to be staged by region, so your account may not match a colleague's yet.

A note on sourcing: the details below come from designers reporting their own experience in the r/canva community through late July and early August 2026, including one thread where Canva support responded directly. Canva has not published a changelog for the switch. Plans and availability change, and this article deliberately avoids quoting any plan price — check your own Canva account for what applies to you.

What changed in Canva's QR codes #

The QR Codes app was replaced #

For years the go-to method was a third-party app called QR Codes, found through the Apps marketplace. That app has been pulled. In its place, Canva surfaces its own QR generator, reachable from Elements → search "QR code" or through Apps.

Functionally it is a simpler tool, and for a plain link on a poster it works fine.

Codes now carry a Canva logo #

The most visible change. Codes generated with the new tool have a Canva mark in the centre of the pattern. Multiple users report the option to remove it sits on a higher plan tier than the one they were on, and that Canva support confirmed this when asked in the community.

Worth knowing: a centre logo is not just cosmetic. QR codes tolerate a logo because of built-in error correction, but the bigger the covered area, the more scan reliability you spend. On small print — a business card, a product label, a table tent — that margin matters.

Codes route through a Canva domain #

Scanning a new code no longer takes the phone straight to your URL. It hits a Canva-owned short domain first, then redirects. This is standard behaviour for any dynamic QR product, and it is what makes editable codes possible at all — more on that below, including why it is a fair thing to ask us about too.

Old codes are no longer editable #

This is the one that has caused real work for people. Codes created under the old app can no longer be opened and changed. If you need a different destination URL, a different colour, or a wider quiet zone, you generate a new code — which means reprinting whatever the old one was on.

The generator takes a URL only #

The old app handled plain text, vCard contact details, WiFi credentials, and coupon codes. The current flow is built around a link. If you were using QR codes for a WiFi password card or a digital business card, that path is gone from the native tool.

It may not have reached you yet #

Several people reported still seeing the old app while colleagues on the same team had already switched, with the difference tracking to region. If your Canva still looks like it did last month, this is probably why — and it is likely temporary.

How to make a QR code in Canva right now #

The current native flow, start to finish:

1. Open your design.
2. Go to Elements in the left sidebar and search for QR code. (You can also open Apps and search there.)
3. Select the QR code option. A panel opens on the left.
4. Paste the destination URL.
5. Adjust the options offered — colour and background are typically available.
6. Click to generate. The code drops into your canvas.
7. Position and resize it, then export your design as usual.

Two habits worth keeping regardless of which tool you use:

• Scan the exported file, not the on-screen preview. Export at final size, open it on your phone, scan it. Compression and scaling break more codes than bad generators do.
• Keep the quiet zone. That empty margin around the pattern is part of the code. Designers routinely crop it to make a layout tidier, and scanners then struggle.

The four new limits, and what to do about each #

1. You want a code without a logo in the middle #

Options, in order of least effort:

• Upgrade the plan tier, if the built-in removal option is available on your account and the rest of that tier is useful to you.
• Generate the code elsewhere and place it in your design. Any generator that outputs a clean PNG or SVG works — including free ones. You upload the file to Canva and treat it as an image. This is the most common workaround being shared in the community right now.
• Use a Canva app that generates codes without a mark. Bulk QR generates plain static codes inside Canva with no centre logo, and it is free.

If you do want your own logo in the centre, keep it small — roughly under a fifth of the code's width — and always test-scan the export.

2. You need to change a code that is already printed #

A static QR code has the destination baked into the pattern. Changing where it points means a different pattern, which means reprinting.

The only way around this is a dynamic QR code: the pattern encodes a short link you control, and you repoint that link whenever you like. The printed code never changes; the destination does.

This is exactly what Qrdy — Dynamic QR does inside Canva. Generate the code into your design, print it, and change the destination later from your dashboard. It also reports scans — how many, when, on what device, from which country — which static codes cannot do by definition.

The practical cases: a restaurant menu that changes seasonally, a promo poster where the offer expires, packaging with a long production lead time, a conference banner reused next year.

3. You need WiFi, a contact card, plain text, or SMS #

These are all static code types — the information lives in the pattern itself, so there is no server involved and nothing to expire. You just need a generator that still offers them.

Bulk QR covers link, plain text, email, SMS, WiFi, and MeCard/vCard, and inserts straight into your Canva design. It also reads codes back from an image, which is handy when you have a print file and no record of what the code pointed to.

4. You need a lot of codes at once #

Fifty table numbers, three hundred event tickets, one code per product SKU. Doing that one at a time in any generator is a bad afternoon.

Paste the list once into Bulk QR and it produces the whole set, ready to lay out for printing.

"But doesn't your dynamic QR redirect through your domain too?" #

Yes. And this is the right question to ask — it is the part of the Canva change that has bothered people most, more than the logo.

Being straight about it: any dynamic QR code, from any vendor, works by pointing at a domain the vendor controls. That indirection is the mechanism. It is what lets you change a destination without reprinting, and what makes scan tracking possible. A dynamic code with no redirect is not a thing.

So the honest framing is not "redirect versus no redirect." It is:

Do you actually need a dynamic code? Often, no. A WiFi card, a vCard, a link to a domain you own and will keep — those should be static. Nothing in the middle, nothing that can expire, no dependency on anyone. If you do not need to change the destination after printing, do not take on the dependency. Use a static generator and be done.

If you do need one, what should you require of the provider? A reasonable list:

• The link does not expire while your account is active, and free-tier codes are not quietly deactivated.
• A custom domain option, so printed material carries your brand rather than a stranger's — and so you can migrate later.
• Your data is exportable, so scan history is not held hostage.
• The redirect is one you chose, not one applied to a code you already made.

That last point is the actual difference in what happened here, and it is worth naming plainly rather than dressing up: choosing a dynamic provider is a trade you make deliberately, with your eyes on the terms. Having one appear on codes you already generated is a different experience.

We hold ourselves to the same list. If a provider — us included — will not answer those four questions clearly, that tells you what you need to know.

Static or dynamic: which do you need? #

Canva's native generator vs Qrdy #

Canva's generator wins on one real thing: it is already there, with nothing to install. For a one-off link on a poster, that is often enough.

FAQ #

Why does my Canva QR code have a logo in it now? Canva replaced the previous third-party QR app with its own generator, and codes from the new tool include a Canva mark in the centre. Users report the removal option sits on a higher plan tier.

Can I remove the Canva logo from a QR code? On a higher plan tier, users report there is a toggle. Otherwise, generate the code with another tool — including Bulk QR inside Canva — and place it in your design as an image.

What happened to the QR Codes app in Canva? It was removed from the marketplace and replaced by Canva's own generator. Canva has not published a changelog explaining the change.

Can I edit a QR code I already printed? Not if it is static — the destination is encoded in the pattern. Only a dynamic QR code lets you change the destination without reprinting, and it has to have been dynamic from the start.

Why can I no longer edit my old Canva QR codes? Codes made under the previous app are no longer editable in the new generator. You would need to create a new code, which means updating whatever the old one was printed on.

How do I make a WiFi QR code in Canva now? The native generator currently takes a URL only. Use an app that still supports WiFi codes, such as Bulk QR, which handles WiFi along with vCard, SMS, email, and plain text.

Do Canva QR codes expire? Static codes cannot expire — the data is in the pattern. Any code that redirects through a provider's domain depends on that provider keeping the link alive, which is worth confirming before printing at volume.

I still see the old QR app. Why? The rollout appears to be staged by region. Accounts have been switching over at different times, and a colleague on the same team may see something different from you.

Are Canva QR codes free? The native generator is available within Canva, though the logo-removal option is reported to sit on a higher tier. Static codes from Bulk QR are free and unlimited.

Where to start #

If your codes are fixed and printed once, use a static generator with no mark and move on. If they go on anything expensive to reprint, or you want to know whether anyone is actually scanning them, make them dynamic from the start — retrofitting is impossible.

• Qrdy — Dynamic QR — editable destinations and scan tracking, inside Canva.
• Bulk QR — free static codes in every type, generated in bulk.

Last updated 8 August 2026. Canva's rollout is still in progress and behaviour varies by account and region — if what you see differs from the above, that is worth knowing about.