Putting a QR code on a headstone
2 min read
A QR code on a headstone is a small square, usually between one and two inches, fixed to the stone or to its frame. It opens a page about the person buried there.
Two decisions to make before you order anything: who you ask, and what it is made of.
Ask the cemetery first
This is the part families skip, and it is the only part that can cost you money twice.
Cemetery rules are local. In some places anything fixed to the stone is a matter for the family alone. In others, every alteration to a monument needs the approval of the cemetery office, the parish, or the local authority — and that includes something stuck to it. Churchyards tend to be stricter than municipal cemeteries, and rules for a shared plot differ again.
One phone call settles it. Ask specifically whether a small adhesive plaque is permitted on the stone or the surround, and whether anything needs to be in writing.
Where to fix it
Three spots, in order of how well they work.
The base or the plinth. Low, out of the line of sight from a few feet away, and easy to reach with a phone. The most common choice, and the best one.
The frame or the surround. Where there is a kerb, the inside face works well: the code is protected from direct weather and is not on the stone itself, which often settles the permission question too.
The face of the stone. Visible, and more exposed. Usually chosen when the code is engraved rather than stuck, and worth thinking about twice — a headstone is composed, and a square in the wrong place is the thing your eye goes to.
What survives outdoors
Not everything does. A code printed on paper laminate, on a stone that gets afternoon sun, is unreadable in a couple of summers.
What matters is the material, not the design: the code should be printed on or under a UV-stable surface, and the adhesive should be rated for outdoor stone. Ask what happens if it fails — a service that will replace it without argument is telling you it expects to.
Sticker or engraving
Both work. The real difference is that one is reversible.
An engraving is permanent and looks like part of the monument. It also locks you to whatever service is behind the code: if that company disappears, you are left with a square cut into granite that leads nowhere.
A sticker can be lifted off and replaced. On a memorial that is meant to last decades, being able to change your mind is worth more than most families expect.