How to make a Wi-Fi QR code
- Replace the example network name with yours, exactly as your phone lists it: capitals, spaces and emoji all count.
- Pick the security type and type the password. For an open network choose None, and the password field goes away.
- Tick Hidden network only if your router doesn’t broadcast the name; phones then look for it even when it isn’t on their list.
- Check the line under the preview says Scans reliably, then download a PNG for a screen or a PDF at the size you’ll print.
The code holds a short piece of text in the format phones understand, for example WIFI:T:WPA;S:Meadow Café Guest;P:change-me-please;;. The ZXing project documents this format, and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s WPA3 specification defines the same WIFI: URI. If your password contains \, ;, ,, " or :, the page puts a backslash in front of it, which is what readers expect.
Which phones join from the code
- iPhone and iPad: the Camera app has read QR codes since iOS 11, including Wi-Fi codes: a banner offers to join the network.
- Android: Android 10 added Wi-Fi QR codes to the Wi-Fi settings: a network can be shared as a code that iPhones and other Android phones scan to join, and Add network has a QR scanner (Android Central). On current phones the camera or Google Lens recognizes Wi-Fi codes too (Android Help).
- Older phones need a scanner app. Print the network name and password in small type under the code for them, and for laptops.
Use a guest network
Anyone who photographs the card can read the password, and a static code can’t be switched off. Most routers offer a guest network: a separate name and password that reaches the internet but not your own devices. Put that one on the card, and change it if the card ever ends up somewhere you didn’t intend, then print a fresh code.
Where to put the card
Print it at least 3 cm (about 1.2 in) wide for a table card and larger for a wall sign read from across a room: about a tenth of the reading distance. A frame that says what the code does, such as “Join our Wi-Fi”, tells people what they get before they scan, which a bare square doesn’t. To check a printed card, scan it with the QR code scanner, which shows the network name and password it reads.