--- title: "How to add a password to a QR code" description: "To put a password on a QR code, add a Password step to the code's workflow: anyone who scans sees a password prompt and only reaches your page with the right password. Free on every Linkbreakers plan, works on codes already printed, with the real limits." canonical: "https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/how-to-add-a-password-to-my-qr-code" last-updated: 2026-10-30 --- # How to add a password to a QR code > To put a password on a QR code, add a Password step to the code's workflow: anyone who scans sees a password prompt and only reaches your page with the right password. Free on every Linkbreakers plan, works on codes already printed, with the real limits. ## Short answer To put a password on a QR code, the code has to be dynamic: it opens a short link that a server controls, and the server asks for the password before sending the person on. In Linkbreakers, open the QR code's link, click **+** on the connector between the scan and the destination, choose **Password**, type the password and click **Insert Password Step**. From the next scan on, people see a password prompt and only reach your page, file or contact card if they type the exact password. It works on every plan, including Free, and on QR codes you have already printed, because the image never changes. Two things a password does not do: it is one shared password per step, not a login per person, and it does not encrypt the destination. Anyone who gets the destination's own address after unlocking can open it directly. ## Step-by-step 1. Go to [Links](https://app.linkbreakers.com/workspace/dashboard/links) and open the QR code you want to protect. Its workflow opens: the scan on one side, the destination on the other, joined by a connector. 2. Hover or click the connector between the scan and the destination, then click its **+** button (**Add step**). The step list opens; type "password" in **Search workflow steps** if you do not see it. 3. Choose **Password** ("Require visitors to enter a password before continuing to the next step"). 4. Fill in the step: - **Title** (optional): the heading on the prompt. Left empty, visitors see "Enter Password". - **Description** (optional): a paragraph above the field, such as where to find the password. - **Password** (required): what visitors must type. 5. Click **Insert Password Step**. The step is saved at once: there is nothing to publish and nothing to reprint. 6. Scan the code with your phone to check it: you should see the prompt, then your destination after the right password. You can also ask the Assistant to do it for you. :::try-ai-prompt {"prompt":"Add a password gate before the redirect with the password 'VIP2026' and the title 'Members Only'.","description":"Try adding password protection to a workflow with a single prompt."}::: To change or remove the password later, click the Password step in the workflow, edit it or delete it. The change applies to the next scan. ## What the person who scans sees - A page in your [page theme](https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/whats-a-page-theme) with your title (or "Enter Password"), your description, a field marked "Enter your password" and a **Continue** button. - With the right password, they go straight on to the next step: your website, a file, a form, a contact card. - With a wrong password, the page says "incorrect password" and they can try again. Nothing is locked. - On the Free plan the page has a small "Powered by Linkbreakers" footer. Light, Pro and Enterprise pages have none. - They are asked again on every new scan. Linkbreakers does not remember that someone already unlocked the code. ## How it works The password is checked on the Linkbreakers server, not in the browser. The page the visitor loads contains your title and description but not the password, and it does not contain the destination either: the next step is only sent after the server has accepted the password. So reading the page's source, or the QR code's short link, does not reveal what is behind it. The match is exact. Capital letters count, and so do spaces: Linkbreakers trims spaces from the start and end of the password when you save it, but not from what the visitor types, so " vip2026" with a leading space is refused. Because the password is a step in the workflow, you can place it anywhere, not only at the start. Some examples: - **After a form**: collect name and email first, then ask for the password. - **On one branch only**: a time or day condition can send weekday scans straight through and ask for a password at weekends, or a country condition can protect the code only outside your country. - **In front of a file**: put the password before an [Open media step](https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/how-to-share-media-from-a-qr-code) to gate a PDF or a video. Each successful unlock is recorded as a step in the visitor's journey, and it can trigger a [webhook](https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/how-do-webhooks-work-in-linkbreakers): an Interaction trigger fires with the action `PASSWORD_VERIFY`. Wrong attempts are not recorded. ## Limits and caveats - **One password per step, shared by everyone.** You cannot give each person their own password, see who used it, or revoke one person. If one person shares it, everyone has it; change it in the step. - **No lockout after wrong attempts.** The visitor pages are not rate limited per IP address, because a whole venue often scans from one address. A short password like "1234" can be guessed; use a long one, at least 12 characters, if what is behind it matters. - **The destination is not encrypted.** Once unlocked, a redirect sends the visitor to your page's real address, and that address works without the password. Protect the page itself (a login, an unlisted page, a password on the PDF file) if it must never be opened without the code. - **Workspace members can read it.** Anyone who can edit the link in your workspace can open the step and see the password. - **Asked on every scan.** There is no "remember me" period. ## When a password is the wrong tool - **You need to know who got in.** Use a [lead capture form](https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/how-to-add-a-lead-capture-form-to-a-qr-code) instead, or before the password: every visitor then has a name and email in **Visitors**. - **Each person needs their own access.** That is a login, which belongs on your own site, not in a QR code. - **The content is truly confidential.** A shared password on a code that may be photographed and forwarded is a gate, not a safe. Use a system with accounts. - **You only want the code to work at certain times.** A time-of-day or day-of-week condition can send scans outside those hours to a message page, without making everyone type something. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I put a password on a QR code I already printed? Yes, if it is a Linkbreakers QR code. The printed image points to a short link, and the password lives in that link's workflow, so the next scan asks for it. A static QR code (one that holds your website's address directly) cannot have a password: nothing stands between the scan and the page. Move it to a dynamic code and reprint once. ### Is password protection free? Yes. The Password step is available on every Linkbreakers plan, including Free. Free pages show a "Powered by Linkbreakers" footer; paid plans remove it. ### Can each person have a different password? No. A Password step has one password. To tell people apart, ask for their details in a form before or after it. ### What happens when someone types the wrong password? The page says "incorrect password" and lets them try again, as many times as they like. Nothing is locked and the attempt is not recorded. ### Do people have to type the password every time? Yes. Every scan starts the workflow again, so the prompt shows each time. ### Can I add a password with the API? Yes. A Password step is a workflow step like any other, created with the [Linkbreakers API](https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/how-to-use-the-linkbreakers-api) or the Assistant, with a title, a description and the password. ## Sources - Linkbreakers Password step, visitor page and verification, checked in the product on 2026-10-28. - QR TIGER help center, "How do I add a password to my QR code" (password on Advanced plans and up, dynamic codes only): https://qrtiger.helpscoutdocs.com/article/120-how-do-i-add-a-password-to-my-qr-code - QRCodeChimp support, "Can I password-protect my QR codes?" (password with an optional session timeout): https://help.qrcodechimp.com/article/367-can-i-password-protect-my-qr-codes ## Last reviewed 2026-10-28 by Laurent Schaffner.