A QR ticket is a square of black and white that a phone camera reads in under a second. Behind it sits a single question the door needs answered: is this ticket real, and has it been used? This guide explains what the code actually contains, what happens in the second after it is scanned, why it beats paper and PDF-only tickets, and how to run a door on nothing more than the phones your team already carry.
What is inside the code
Not the buyer's details. The QR carries a unique ticket code that points at the order on the server. Scanning it asks the server for that ticket's current state; the answer, not the code, decides whether the person comes in. That is why a QR ticket cannot be forged by copying the pattern, and why the same picture on two phones can only get one person through the door.
What happens in the second after the scan
- Green: the ticket is valid for this event and this date and has not been used. It is marked admitted on the spot and the running count goes up by one.
- Amber: already scanned. The steward sees when, and can decide what to do with a plausible story.
- Red: not valid here. Cancelled, refunded, a different event, or a day ticket on the wrong day.
Each result has its own sound, so a steward keeps their eyes on the queue rather than the screen. On tickts the scan is also logged: which ticket, which phone, what result, what time. The log is what settles the "I definitely wasn't scanned in" conversation afterwards.
Why it beats paper and PDF-only tickets
- Nothing to print or post. The ticket lands in the confirmation email as a PDF and, on tickts, as an Add to Apple Wallet and Add to Google Wallet button on the ticket page. The wallet pass and the PDF carry the same code; either scans.
- A live count. Every green scan updates the attendance figure on every phone at the door, so you know when you are close to capacity without a clicker.
- Duplicates are caught automatically. A code is voided the moment it is admitted. A screenshot forwarded to a friend scans amber.
- Transfers and resale stay honest. When a fan transfers a ticket on tickts, a brand new code is minted for the new holder and the old one dies, so a ticket sold on and then "accidentally" kept cannot be used twice. Resale works the same way, at face value or below.
- Changes reach the ticket. Move the doors time or the venue after people have added the pass to their phone and the pass updates within minutes, with a lock-screen notification, because the change is pushed rather than waiting for them to open it.
Running the door
What you need
Phones. On tickts your own login opens the scanner on any phone with a camera, the tickts Scanner app is on the App Store, and you invite door staff from the Team page by email. Each steward gets a link that opens the scanner without your password and without a tickts account. The free plan includes two door-staff seats, Growth five, Pro unlimited. Nothing to hire, nothing to return on Monday.
Three modes
- Entry admits and spends the ticket. This is the default.
- Exit records someone leaving, for venues that let people back in.
- Verify checks a ticket without spending it, for a spot check at a staircase or a zone gate.
Go offline on purpose
Before you head to a venue with patchy signal, open the scanner while you still have data, pick the event and wait for the offline-ready badge. The phone now holds every ticket for today and tomorrow and keeps scanning, and refusing repeats, with no connection at all. Scans sync back when signal returns. The one thing offline cannot see is another offline phone: if two are both offline at the same moment, each can admit the same ticket once, and the duplicate only shows in the log when they sync. Keep one phone online where you can.
Day tickets and passes at multi-day events
A dated day ticket admits on its own day and through the night until 6am, so a Friday ticket cannot walk in on Saturday, while a genuine 1am arrival still gets in. A weekend pass admits once per day.
The questions you will get on the night
- "My phone is dead." Print the door list before you leave. It lists every attendee for the date with their ticket code and status, and it shows live which of them have been scanned. Tick them in by name.
- "I can't find the email." A fan can recover their own tickets at tickts.co.uk/find-my-tickets with the email they booked with and a six-digit code, without your help.
- "It's a screenshot from my mate." If the original holder has already come in, the screenshot scans amber and the log shows the earlier admission. If they have not, the screenshot is the ticket, and the mate is the one who will be turned away later.
- "I bought two, where is the second?" Each ticket in an order has its own QR. The confirmation email attaches all of them, and the ticket page lists them.
After the event
The scan log tells you how many came, when the rush was, and how each steward's gate performed. On tickts, the Team page groups scans by member with a total, the last scan time and the average rate, which is how you find out that the side door was the bottleneck. Combined with sales data it gives you the number paper never could: how many of the people who paid actually turned up.
