LinkedIn's own QR code lives inside the app and disappears when somebody is not holding a phone with LinkedIn installed. This makes one from your profile address, so it works with any camera and prints properly on a badge, a CV or a card.
LinkedIn already has a code. Here is what it cannot do.
LinkedIn has a built-in code. Open the app, tap the search bar, and the QR icon on the right opens both your code and a scanner for somebody else's. You will find it under LinkedIn app, search bar, QR icon. For meeting somebody in person it is the faster option, and this page is not trying to replace it. It runs out in four places.
- It is an app feature. Somebody scanning it with a plain camera gets sent to a LinkedIn page rather than straight into a connection request, and somebody without the app gets a login wall.
- You cannot get a vector file out of it. It is a screenshot, which is fine on a phone screen and visibly rough at business card size.
- There is nothing to design. No colour, no logo, no quiet zone control, so it never matches printed material.
- It is not on desktop, so the file you want for a CV is the one you cannot easily get.
Which LinkedIn link to encode, measured
Characters become modules, and modules decide how small the code can be printed and still read. These are the same link, in the forms LinkedIn actually hands out, each one encoded and decoded when this page was built.
| Link form | Characters | Version | Modules | Print at least |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom profile URLhttps://linkedin.com/in/janedoeClaim it in Settings, Edit public profile and URL. This is the shortest form and the one to print. | 31 | 3 | 37 | 14.8 mm |
| Default profile URLhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe-8a72b4196What LinkedIn assigns before you customise it. The random suffix is pure cost in a printed code. | 46 | 4 | 41 | 16.4 mm |
| Profile URL with trackinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe-8a72b4196/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_iosWhat the share sheet copies. Fine in a message, wasteful in a symbol. | 86 | 6 | 49 | 19.6 mm |
| Company pagehttps://linkedin.com/company/example-coFor a stand or a job advert, where the destination is the company rather than a person. | 39 | 3 | 37 | 14.8 mm |
Claiming a custom URL is the single highest-value thing you can do before printing a LinkedIn code. The default address carries a random suffix that exists only to make the URL unique, and every one of those characters becomes modules in the symbol.
The share sheet is the trap. It appends campaign parameters describing how you shared the link, which are meaningless once the address is a printed square, and they push a badge-sized code past what a camera can resolve at conversational distance.
Where a LinkedIn code actually goes
- Conference badges and lanyards
- The code is read at arm's length by someone already holding their phone. Print at the measured minimum or larger, and keep it away from the badge edge where the lanyard clip covers a corner.
- A printed CV
- Put it near your contact details, sized for a desk read rather than a distance read. Use the SVG so it stays sharp when the recruiter prints your PDF again at a different scale.
- Business cards
- The tightest space of the three, which is exactly why the custom URL matters. A card is also where a vCard code is often the better answer, because it saves a contact without needing an account.
Three ways these go wrong
- Screenshotting the in-app code for print
- A phone screenshot is a raster image at screen resolution. Printed at card size it has soft module edges, which is one of the two most common reasons a printed code fails.
- Printing the default URL
- It works, it is just bigger than it needs to be. Claim the custom URL first, then generate, and the same code reads from further away at the same printed size.
- Assuming a scan opens the app
- It opens whatever the phone's browser does with a linkedin.com address, which for a logged-out stranger is a sign-in prompt. That is the platform's behaviour, not the code's.
The download here stays locked until a decoder has read the finished code back, so the first of those cannot happen to a file you get from this page. For a code whose destination might need to change after printing, the dynamic generator keeps the printed symbol and moves the target.
Codes for the other platforms
Same engine, different link anatomy on each one. The social media hub covers what applies to all of them: the screenshot problem, the codes that only scan inside their own app, and why one code beats six.
Messaging and communities
Where a code opens a chat or gets somebody into a server. Watch the invite expiry on Discord.
- WhatsApp33 modules, from 13.2 mmOpen a chat with your number, with the plus and the dialling zero fixed for you.Make a WhatsApp code
- Telegram33 modules, from 13.2 mmEncode a t.me username, group or channel, with the invite-link revocation trap explained.Make a Telegram code
- Discord37 modules, from 14.8 mmEncode a server invite, with the default expiry setting that kills printed codes explained first.Make a Discord code
- Reddit37 modules, from 14.8 mmSubreddit, profile and post links measured, including the title slug you can safely delete.Make a Reddit code
Video
Long identifiers on both, so the short link form is the difference between a code you can print and one you cannot.
Photo and visual
Two of these ship a code a phone camera cannot read, and one retired theirs entirely.
- Instagram37 modules, from 14.8 mmA profile, reel or post as a printable vector code, rather than the screenshot the app gives you.Make a Instagram code
- Snapchat37 modules, from 14.8 mmAny camera can read this, unlike a Snapcode, which only scans inside the Snapchat app.Make a Snapchat code
- Pinterest37 modules, from 14.8 mmPincodes are gone, so this is the way to a board from print. Profile, board and pin links measured.Make a Pinterest code
Profiles and feeds
Where claiming a username or picking the right domain shrinks the printed code the most.
Music
Spotify Codes only scan inside Spotify, which is the whole reason this page exists.
LinkedIn QR code questions
How do I make a QR code for my LinkedIn profile?
Copy your profile address from a browser, paste it into the generator on this page, and download the SVG. Claim your custom URL in Settings first if you have not: it shortens the address, which makes the code less dense and readable at a smaller printed size.
Where is the QR code in the LinkedIn app?
Open the app, tap the search bar, and select the QR icon at the right of it. That screen shows your code and a scanner for other people's. It is app-only and phone-only, so it is the right tool for meeting somebody in person and the wrong one for anything you intend to print.
Can I print the LinkedIn app's own QR code?
You can, but it is a screenshot, so it is a raster image at phone resolution with no vector version available. At business card size the module edges go soft, which is what makes a printed code unreliable. Generating from your profile URL gives you an SVG that stays sharp at any size.
Does a LinkedIn QR code expire?
A code made here does not: it is static, and it holds your profile address in the pattern. It stops working only if you change your custom URL, because then the address it points at no longer exists. Change the URL after printing and the code is dead, which is worth knowing before ordering five hundred cards.
Should the code point at my profile or my company page?
Your profile for a badge, a CV or a card, because the person scanning wants you. A company page for a stand, a job advert or packaging, where the reader wants the organisation. Both are ordinary LinkedIn URLs, so the process is identical.
QRMakery builds this code on your own device. The link you paste and the file you download never reach a server.
More for social profiles
Twelve platforms, each with the link form that prints smallest and the mistake that kills its codes.
- Social media QR codesPick a platform: twelve pages, each with the link form that prints smallest and the mistake that breaks it.
- Instagram QR codeA profile, reel or post as a printable vector code, rather than the screenshot the app gives you.
- Snapchat QR codeAny camera can read this, unlike a Snapcode, which only scans inside the Snapchat app.
Guides worth reading
All guides- Comparisons
Static vs Dynamic QR Codes
What the redirect actually buys you, measured on real encoded codes, and which payloads are worse off for it.
16 min read - Printing
QR Code Sticker Size: The Circle Costs You 30%
The usable square inside a round sticker is 70% of its diameter. Measured minimum sizes for real links, against every common sticker size.
8 min read - Reference
Offline QR Code Generators for Every Device
What each platform already ships, the measured cost of each payload type, and how to check an offline claim yourself.
26 min read
