Changing the link on an NFC plate

The question comes up when buying, and above all two years later: when the business moves, when the Google listing changes, when you want to send customers to a booking page rather than to reviews. The answer depends entirely on how the plate was programmed.

Two ways to program a chip, only one that can be undone

Writing the destination straight onto the chip. It is the simplest to manufacture: the chip holds the final URL, the phone reads it and opens it. Changing the destination then means rewriting the chip — so having the plate in hand, an app to do it, and leaving the chip unlocked, which lets anyone else do the same.

Writing an intermediate address. The chip holds an address that belongs to us and never changes. When a phone reads it, our server decides where to send it, based on what you have configured. The chip can then be locked permanently while the destination stays free.

We use the second method. It has a cost — a server that must answer, always — and a benefit that exists no other way: the plate becomes changeable without being touched.

What you can change

• The Google listing, after a move, a change of trading name, or the opening of a second location.
• The kind of destination: from reviews to a booking page, a menu, or a multilink page that gathers everything.
• The label and the look, if the plate points to a page we host.

The change takes effect immediately. The redirect is decided at each scan: nothing is cached on the customer's side, nothing to purge, no delay. One tap with your own phone right after the change is enough to confirm it.

And there is no limit on how many times you change it. That is the fundamental difference from a QR code printed on a shopfront or a flyer: that one freezes the destination on the day it is printed.

What stays fixed for good

The chip's contents. It is write-locked after programming, and that cannot be undone. It is a protection, not a constraint: without that lock, anyone holding a phone near the plate could reprogram it and divert your customers elsewhere. Our guide on locked chips sets out exactly what the lock prevents.

The printed QR code. It is engraved on the support and will not change appearance. But since it points to the same intermediate address as the chip, it follows your destination changes without being reprinted. A QR code already on a flyer or a business card therefore keeps leading to the right place.

The link to your account. Changing the destination is one thing; handing the plate to someone else is another, and belongs to a transfer of ownership.

The case that settles it: moving premises

This is the situation that separates the two programming methods, and it happens to most businesses eventually.

A business changes address. Its Google listing changes with it — often its identifier, not just its content. Every plate on the counter then points to a listing that no longer matches, or that has been merged with another.

With a destination written into the chip, the plates have to be repurchased: they have become wrong. With an intermediate address, you edit one field and the plates already in place follow, including those sitting on a customer's counter or stuck to a window.

The same reasoning applies to a change of ownership, a change of company name, or moving from a Google listing to a multilink page gathering reviews, booking and social networks.

How to do it

Everything happens from your account, never on the plate. Open the product page, enter the new address, save. The field checks along the way that the URL matches the chosen destination type — a button labelled "Google reviews" that led elsewhere would mislead your customer as much as you.

If the plate is not yet activated, it is the activation code that first ties it to your account.

One useful precaution: note the date of your last change. If a customer reports an unexpected destination while you have touched nothing for months, this is not a configuration problem — it is a sign to check who has access to your account.

The questions we get before a purchase

"What if your server goes down?" A fair question, and the price of the method: a plate that goes through an intermediate address depends on that address being available. It is also what makes it changeable. A plate with a hard-written destination depends on nobody — and never changes.

"What if you shut down?" Rare, and entirely legitimate. It deserves to be put to any seller of redirected NFC plates, ourselves included.

"Can I check what the chip contains?" Yes. Any NFC reader app shows the address written on the chip. You will see the intermediate address, not your destination: that is the expected behaviour.

What to ask before buying

Two questions are enough to know which kind of plate you are dealing with.

• "Can the destination be changed without rewriting the chip?" If the answer involves sending the plate back or installing an app, the destination is written in.
• "Is the chip write-locked?" A chip its owner can modify is a chip anyone can modify. The two answers go together: locked and redirected, or open and frozen.

The rest of this technology's drawbacks is covered in our guide on the limits of NFC.