Smart redirects — send QR scans where they need to go.

Smart redirects are one of those features that sound simple but are surprisingly powerful in the right hands. The idea: a single QR code can resolve to different destinations based on context — the user's device, the time of day, or the location.

Here's what that looks like in practice, and how three different customers are using it.

Photo: Aleksandar Pasaric on Pexels

How it works

When a user scans a QR, the resolver evaluates a list of conditions in order. The first condition that matches wins, and the user is redirected to that destination. If no conditions match, the default destination is used.

Conditions can be:

• Device (mobile, desktop, tablet)
• Time of day (specific hours, days of week)
• Location (country-level)
• Combination of any of the above

A typical configuration might look like:

qr: maplediner-spring-2026
default: https://maplediner.com/menu
 
redirects:
  - if: device == "mobile" AND time >= "11:00 AM" AND time <= "2:00 PM"
    to: https://maplediner.com/lunch-menu
  - if: device == "mobile"
    to: https://maplediner.com/menu/mobile
  - if: country == "JP"
    to: https://maplediner.com/menu?lang=ja

Three real examples

Example 1: Time-based menus

A pizza restaurant uses smart redirects to show different content based on the time:

• Before 11am: Brunch menu
• 11am - 2pm: Lunch menu
• 2pm - 5pm: Snack menu (just appetizers and drinks)
• After 5pm: Dinner menu

One QR, four menus. Customers don't have to wonder "is breakfast over?" — they just scan and get the appropriate menu for that time of day.

Example 2: Mobile vs desktop

A tradeshow exhibitor uses smart redirects for different audiences:

• Mobile scans: Mobile-optimized lead capture form
• Desktop scans: Full product catalog (for engineers/buyers researching at their desk)

This sounds obvious in retrospect, but most QR setups serve the same destination regardless of device. The mobile experience suffers from desktop-first design, and the desktop experience suffers from mobile-first design.

"Smart redirects let you stop apologizing for designing for the wrong screen."

Example 3: Geographic localization

A travel guide company uses smart redirects to serve language-localized content:

• Scans from Japan: Japanese-language travel guide
• Scans from Germany: German-language guide
• Scans from anywhere else: English

Same QR. Three (or thirty) languages. The QR doesn't change. The content adapts.

The gotchas

Three things to watch for.

1. Test all your redirects before going live

The "first match wins" logic is unforgiving. If you have a condition that's too broad early in the list, it'll catch traffic intended for a more specific later condition.

Common mistake:

- if: device == "mobile"     # catches ALL mobile traffic
  to: https://example.com/mobile
 
- if: device == "mobile" AND time == "evening"  # never fires!
  to: https://example.com/mobile-evening

Fix: order conditions from most specific to least specific.

2. Don't redirect based on user identity

Smart redirects work on contextual signals — not user identity. We don't track users across QRs. If you want personalization based on who the user is, you need to authenticate them on the destination page.

This is intentional. Cross-QR user tracking would compromise the privacy guarantees we make.

3. Time zones get weird

If a QR has time-based redirects and the user is in a different time zone than where you set up the QR, what happens?

Default behavior: we use the user's local time. So a "lunch menu" rule that fires from 11am-2pm fires at 11am Tokyo time for Tokyo users, 11am EST for New York users, etc.

This is usually what you want, but check it on edge cases. A "happy hour" rule that fires at 5pm for a US restaurant probably shouldn't fire for a customer scanning during their afternoon flight in Japan.

Should you use smart redirects?

If you have 1-2 destinations, no. Plain dynamic QRs are simpler.

If you have 3+ destinations and you can describe the rules clearly ("show X to mobile users, Y to desktop users"), yes. Smart redirects beat manual QR juggling.

If your rules are complex enough that you find yourself drawing flowcharts to explain them, slow down. Complex routing rules are usually a sign you should rethink the experience.

For most users, smart redirects start with a single rule (mobile vs desktop) and grow from there. That's a reasonable progression.