How certificate QR verification works
A QR code on a certificate is only as good as what it opens. Here is what happens between the camera and the tick, what the checks can and can’t tell you, and how to print a code that scans first time.
Anyone can print a QR code on a certificate. What makes it worth scanning is where it leads: a record held by the issuer that confirms the certificate is real, says who it belongs to and shows whether it is still valid. That record is the verification. The QR code is just the fastest way to reach it.
1. What is inside the code
A certificate QR code holds a web address, nothing more. On a Certale certificate it is the address of that certificate’s story page on certale.com, ending in its certificate code. No personal details are stored in the code itself, so a photo of the QR code reveals nothing that the page doesn’t.
The same certificate code is printed under the QR code, for anyone holding the paper without a phone to hand. Codes are eight characters, digits and capital letters, with I, L, O and U left out so nobody has to guess between a 1 and an I, or a 0 and an O.
2. What happens when someone scans it
- The camera reads the addressAny modern phone camera recognises a QR code. No app to install, no account to create.
- The story page opensIt shows the certificate, the recipient, who issued it and when, and its status.
- The checks runBefore a verified tick appears, the record is checked against what the issuer issued.
- The result is shownA tick for a valid certificate, or a clear warning if it has been revoked or has expired.
Typing the code at certale.com/verify, or opening the certificate’s link, runs exactly the same checks. Scanning and verifying are free, for anyone, on every plan.
3. The checks behind the tick
- Signed by the issuer. Every certificate is issued from the organisation’s own account, and the result names that organisation. Nobody else can issue in its name.
- Unchanged since issue. The name, award, date and code are compared with the original record. If anything was edited, even one letter, the check fails.
- Not revoked, not expired. Issuers can withdraw a certificate, and some certificates have an expiry date. Either way, the page shows a warning instead of a tick, wherever it is opened.
“The QR code is the door. The issuer’s record is what makes it worth opening.”
4. What verification can’t tell you
A verified result confirms that this certificate was issued, as shown, by the organisation it names. It doesn’t tell you how demanding the course was, or whether the issuer is accredited by anyone else. For that, look at the issuer itself. On Certale, organisations on the Business plan can earn a verified-issuer badge by confirming they control their email domain, which tells you the account really belongs to the school or company it names.
5. Privacy for the person on the certificate
Verification shouldn’t mean exposure. Recipients choose who can open their story page: Private (only people who have the code, which is printed on the certificate), Shareable by link, or Public. Whatever they choose, anyone holding the paper can still check it, which is the point. Certificates issued to under-18s are never public and never listed in search engines.
6. Print a code that scans first time
- Size. A common rule of thumb is at least 2 cm (about 0.8 inches) square on paper. Bigger is safer if people will scan a framed certificate from a distance.
- Quiet zone. Leave a clear margin around the code, free of borders and decoration. The QR standard asks for four modules (the small squares) on every side.
- Contrast. Dark code on a light background. Avoid printing it over patterns, photographs or metallic foil.
- Placement. A lower corner keeps it close at hand without competing with the recipient’s name. In Certale you can place it in any corner or at the bottom centre, in three sizes.
- Test the print. Scan a printed proof with two different phones before you print the whole batch.
For the rest of the details that make a certificate trustworthy, see what makes a certificate look official. And for the hiring side of the story, why verified certificates matter to employers.
The Certale team
Certale, by PPT-Design LtdWe design Certale’s 1,000+ certificate templates and build the app that issues and verifies them. In the Journal we share what we have learned about recognising people well: the wording, the design and the practical side of getting certificates into the right hands.
