In short
Almost every failed scan is one of five things, and four of them you can fix in about ten seconds: get closer, change the light, straighten up, and make sure you are looking at the item at its real printed size.
The fifth is not your fault at all — the owner may have switched the item off.
On this page
The ten-second check
Before diagnosing anything, try these four adjustments in order. In practice they resolve the large majority of failed scans, and they cost you almost nothing.
- Get closer. The artwork should fill most of your screen. Standing back is by far the most common cause.
- Change the light. Move so that no bright reflection sits on the surface, and so the item is not in deep shadow.
- Straighten up. Hold the phone roughly parallel to the surface rather than at a slant.
- Hold still for two seconds. The App is sampling continuously; give it a steady view rather than sweeping across.
Working out which problem you have
If the quick check did not work, the way the failure behaves tells you what is actually wrong.
How to hold the phone
Scanning a Mark is not like photographing a printed code, where you aim at a small target. The pattern is spread across the whole picture, so you are trying to give the camera a clean, full, evenly lit view of the entire artwork.
What the App is telling you
If you get a message rather than silence, the Mark was read successfully. What follows is a decision the platform made, and each message means something specific.
| What you see | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Not currently available | The owner switched the item off, or it passed its end date | Nothing from your side. Contact the owner if you expected content. |
| Nothing here yet | The Mark was read, but its owner has not set up its content yet | Nothing from your side. See This item is no longer available |
| An event page opens | The Mark belongs to an event, so the event opens first, with the content inside it | Nothing is wrong. See Scanning an event Mark |
| You are outside the area | The item only opens inside a defined location | Check location permission, and see Why it says you are outside the area |
| A password is requested | The owner protected this item | Ask whoever gave you the item for the password |
| Face ID or fingerprint is requested | The item is tied to your identity on this device | Confirm on your device; nothing is sent anywhere |
| This has already been used | The item had a limited number of opens | Contact the owner — they can issue another |
| Nothing at all happens | The pattern is not being recovered | This page, from the top |
If you are the owner of the Mark
When your own Marks fail in the field, the cause is usually production rather than the platform. Check these in order.
- Run the zoom test yourself.If the file reads at 200% on screen but not at its printed size, it was downscaled after generation. This is the most common single cause.
- Compare the file in use against the file you downloaded.Re-exports, "save for web" passes, and layout placements at anything other than 100% all damage the pattern.
- Check the item is still active.Confirm it has not hit an expiry date or a scan limit, and that protection settings are not silently blocking people you expected to reach.
- Regenerate at the true display size.Set the size the Mark is actually shown at, rebuild, redistribute, and proof physically before a run. See Regenerating a Linxy Mark.
Things people commonly get wrong
When to ask for help, and what to include
If you have worked through this page and it still will not read, the person who gave you the item is usually the fastest route, since they can check whether it is switched on. If you contact support, these details make it solvable in one exchange rather than five.
- What the item is, and where you encountered it
- Whether the App showed a message or did nothing at all
- Whether it reads when you zoom in on a screen
- Your phone model and roughly how far away you were holding it
- The lighting — daylight, office light, spotlight, dim