In short
You can make a Linxy Mark from the Linxy App: start the Create a TouchPoint wizard, choose Linxy Mark, say what it should open, then choose the picture it lives in. It is the fastest route from an idea to a working touchpoint, and it needs no desktop.
What to know before you rely on it: the phone offers three strength levels and no size or reading-distance controls. That suits a card, a label or a photo held in the hand, and does not suit a poster read from across a room. For anything printed at size, the web wizard’s size step is the right tool.
On this page
When the phone is the right place to do this
| Good on the phone | Better on the desktop |
|---|---|
| One-off items you need in the next five minutes | Anything going to a printer at volume |
| Cards, labels, stickers — things read at arm's length | Posters, signage, packaging — things read from a distance |
| Testing an idea before committing to it | Runs where every item needs its own identity |
| Marking a photo you have just taken | Work that must sit in a client and project from the start |
| Working away from a computer | Anything where you want to tune resolution deliberately |
Making one
Tap Create on the Home screen to open Create a TouchPoint. The wizard has five steps, and the step count shows at the top.
- Select TouchPoint TypeChoose Linxy Mark. Your Mark credits are checked at this tap, so if you are out of credits you find out now rather than after four more steps.
- TouchPoint PurposeChoose what a scan should open. Every type is listed; anything that cannot live on a Mark is dimmed and says why. Types marked Two steps open the full editor inside the App to finish — these include uploads such as a video, a PDF, an image gallery or any other file.
- Link DestinationFill in the details for that type, such as the web address. It can be changed later, so any working address gets you started.
- Name this TouchPointFor you, not the public. It is how the item appears in your list.
- Review & CreateCheck the summary and tap Create touchpoint.
On the Ready screen, tap Choose the artwork. This opens the Mark flow with your destination already filled in:
- Select ImageTake a photo, pick one from your library, or paste an image link. JPEG and PNG are supported. An image is required — a Mark is a signal carried inside a picture, so there is nothing to make without one. Only use images you own or have the right to use.
- Select MediaAlready set to the destination from the wizard.
- Almost DoneGive it a name, adjust the settings below if you want to, and tap Create My Linxy! The App tells you the Mark is being created and will be available shortly; it then appears in My Linxy.
The settings, and their phone defaults
The phone keeps tuning simple. The reading distance is set for you and cannot be changed here.
| Setting | Choices on the phone | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apply Default Settings | On or off | Off | On uses the default strength and hides the other settings. Switch it off to see them |
| Scan Strength | Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 | Level 2 (Default) | How firmly the signal is pressed into the picture. Busy photographs hide a higher level well; flat pastel areas and skin tones show it first |
| Content Display Orientation | Auto, Portrait, Landscape | Auto | How the content opens in the Linxy App. Auto follows the content; Portrait or Landscape holds the screen that way |
| Linxy Password | Optional | None | Asks for a password before the content opens |
The phone’s levels are not the same scale as the strength numbers in the web wizard or the console. Do not carry a number from one to the other.
What you can change afterwards
Everything about where a Mark leads stays editable for the life of the item, from either the phone or the console: the destination, the name and description, protection, and whether you are notified about activity.
What cannot be changed is the marked image itself. The signal is baked into the picture at the moment of creation, at the tuning you chose. Wanting different tuning means creating again with a new image — which is cheap before anything is printed and expensive afterwards.
Protecting it from the phone
The App can put an item behind protection and take it back out again, and can manage who is invited with Invite Members on a secured item. In practice that means you can lock something down from wherever you are the moment you realize it needs locking down, rather than waiting until you are back at a desk.
The rules are the platform's rules, not the App's, so protection applied here behaves identically on the web and on a tag tap. There is no such thing as an item that is protected in one place and open in another.
If it is going to be printed
- Create at the size it will be reproduced. A Mark is a physical pattern. Making one large and shrinking it in a layout destroys the signal while the picture still looks perfect — the most confusing failure in the whole system.
- Never scale down afterwards. Scaling up is harmless; scaling down is not.
- Prove one printed sample on the real stock, at the real size, scanned from where a real person will stand.
- Watch out for gloss and foil. They are the two finishes that most often defeat an otherwise good Mark.
- For a run of any size, use the console. The phone is not the tool for a hundred items that each need their own identity.
Symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The image could not be retrieved | A pasted image link could not be fetched | Try a different image, or one already saved on the phone |
| “Your mark is in review” | The image is being checked before the Mark is made | Nothing to do. Your upload worked, there is no need to send it again, and you have not been charged |
| The new Mark will not scan | Strength too low for the picture, or a flat, pale image | Choose a higher Scan Strength level, or use a busier picture. Both help |
| It scans on the phone but not in print | Created at one size and reproduced at another, or scaled down in a layout | Recreate at the real output size. Nothing else fixes this |
| You want different tuning on an existing Mark | The signal is fixed in the image at creation | Create a new one. Only the destination and rules are editable |
| It is not in a client or project | The phone route does not file it for you | Assign it in the console, or use the web wizard’s Full control path when the filing matters |
Things people commonly get wrong
Related reading: Creating with the Create a TouchPoint wizard, Creating a Linxy Mark, Mark settings, Batches and bulk creation, My Mark will not scan, and My Linxy items.