Activate&Track
A shared QR code is the same on every item. Give each unit its own.
Activate&Track gives every physical unit its own identity, prints the labels and groups units into tracking projects. Spotting copied or misused codes from scan patterns is a separate part called Protect, and it's coming. This page says what works today and what doesn't. What a scan actually tells you
Switched on account by account.
One identity per unit
each physical unit gets its own serial, so it can be told apart from the rest of the line.
Labels you can print
download PDF, SVG, CSV or JSON files. A reprint keeps the same unit identity.
Protect is coming
it will watch how codes are opened, for a person to review. It will never say an item is fake.
No GTIN yet? GS1 UK issues GTINs in the UK, with the barcodes that carry them. Your own GTINs are recognised by retailers and marketplaces worldwide, and they're what the GS1 Digital Link on a passport is built from.
One code on every item can't tell you anything
A code printed on a thousand items is the same thousand times. Someone can photograph it and print it on a thousand copies, and the code can't tell the difference. Researchers who build QR protection say it themselves: by itself a QR code offers no protection at all against copying.
Genuine stock sold in the wrong market is a different problem. It's real product, so a look-alike check passes it. Only the pattern of where and how often a code is opened can show something is off.
What's live today
Four things work now, for approved accounts. Your passport keeps working whatever happens here, because issuing or printing unit identities never changes what the public sees.
- IdentitiesA separate identity for each unitEach physical unit gets its own serial. Where you hold a GTIN, it's built into a GS1 Digital Link with the GTIN as AI 01 and the serial as AI 21. Import the serials you already use or generate new ones.
- LabelsLabels you can printDownload label files as PDF, SVG, CSV or JSON. A reprint keeps the same unit identity, and the reason and what happened to the old copy are kept. Downloading a label doesn't record that it was printed or applied.
- ProjectsFour tracking setupsGroup up to 100 units in a campaign, a retailer allocation, a production batch or a distribution route. A retailer or market here is what you intended, not proof of a sale or where a unit is.
- HistoryUnit history and reviewsAn authorised person can record what they checked on a physical unit, then dismiss, reopen, correct or record a concern on a review. Every change is kept.
One real label file
This is a row from the label file for a test unit on a test model, not a customer product. The printed address is the unit's own link, built from the GTIN and the unit serial.
Label printing today means downloading the file and printing it yourself. Ordering finished printed labels from us is coming.
Coming: Protect, watching the pattern
Protect is the part that watches how codes are opened. It's coming and isn't live yet. We'll show each part as live on this page once it's working for customers.
- ComingScan collectionIt will record that a product code or unit code was opened. No fingerprinting, no IP or device records, country only. It must never slow or break a passport page.
- ComingUnusual volume and country mixIt will flag a code opened far more than its usual pattern, or in places it usually isn't, compared with the same weekday over recent weeks.
- ComingSame-product and intended-market checksIt will compare one unit with other units of the same product, and activity with the market you said a batch was for.
- ComingA review screenIt will show flagged codes with the evidence behind them. You decide whether it looks like a copy, a printing mistake or something else, and mark it reviewed.
What a scan can't tell you
Protect will give evidence for a person to weigh. Here's what it can't do.
- A scan doesn't prove an item is genuine. A matching unit record means the code is in your list. It doesn't authenticate the thing it's stuck to.
- A copy that nobody scans will leave no signal at all, and no alerts won't mean no abuse.
- It will count requests to the server. It won't count people, sales or physical items.
- Country will come from the network and can be wrong or missing. It isn't proof of where an item is.
- It won't switch off a passport or block a unit on its own. A person decides.
- It makes no legal call about parallel imports or diversion.
- It will need history to compare against. Our current trial settings use about six weeks of comparable data, and a code that's rarely opened may stay at not enough data for longer.
How to start
Textile products with a GTIN come first. Batteries and products without a GTIN aren't covered yet.
- Step onePublish a passportThat gives the product its identity. Already live? You're past this step.
- Step twoIssue unit identitiesImport your serials or generate new ones, then download the labels.
- Step threeGroup themPut units into a campaign, retailer allocation, production batch or distribution route.
What we won't claim
Activate&Track gives each unit its own identity and a label. It doesn't make a product genuine and it doesn't make you compliant with any regulation. Protect, when it ships, will watch for patterns and won't change that.
Open Activate&Track
Activate&Track is switched on account by account. Tell us the product and the problem and we'll tell you honestly whether it fits. No passport yet? Publish one product first and come back with it.
Open Activate&Track