How to Share Your Wi-Fi Password with a QR Code

How a Wi-Fi QR code works

A Wi-Fi QR code (often written WiFi QR code) holds a short line of text in a standard format that phones recognize. It looks like this: WIFI:T:WPA;S:CafeGuest;P:coffee2026;H:false;; The letters stand for the encryption type (T), the network name (S), the password (P) and whether the network is hidden (H).

When the phone camera sees text in this format, it does not open a web page. It offers to join the network instead. The phone does not need to be online, which is the whole point: a guest without mobile data can still connect.

Because everything sits in the code itself, a Wi-Fi code is static. No server is contacted when someone scans it, so it cannot be changed after printing and it cannot be counted. Every other type on this site is dynamic, and Wi-Fi is the exception for this reason. If you want to know more about the difference, read Dynamic vs static QR codes.

What you need

Finding your network details

The network name is the easy part: it is the name you tap in the Wi-Fi list. Copy it exactly, including capital letters, spaces and punctuation. "Cafe Guest" and "cafe guest" are two different networks to a phone.

If you never changed the password, it is usually printed on a label on the router, often next to the default network name. If you did change it, you can find it in the router's settings page. Recent iPhones can also show the password of a saved network in the Wi-Fi settings after you confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode, and on many Android phones you can see or share a saved network from its Wi-Fi details screen.

For the encryption type, choose WPA / WPA2 / WPA3 unless you know otherwise. That covers almost every home and business network made in the last fifteen years. Choose WEP only for very old equipment, and No password only for an open network.

How to create a Wi-Fi QR code

1. Open the generator and choose Wi-Fi.
2. Enter the network name exactly as it appears in the Wi-Fi list.
3. Enter the password and choose the encryption type. Tick Hidden network only if your network does not appear in the list.
4. Give the code a name, such as "Guest Wi-Fi, reception", and choose colors, a frame and your logo. A frame with "Scan to join our Wi-Fi" tells people what the code is for.
5. Sign in with Google or your email and download the code as PNG, JPG or SVG. We check that the finished design scans before the download starts.
6. Scan the code with your own phone and join the network to make sure it works.

Your password stays in your browser

The Wi-Fi code is built in your browser. The network name, encryption type and hidden setting are saved with the code in your account so you can find it later, but the password is not sent to our servers and is not stored. It is only written into the image you download.

This has one practical effect: when you download the same code again from My QR Codes, you are asked to enter the password again. Keep the password somewhere safe, such as your password manager, rather than relying on the code.

Special characters are handled for you. If your network name or password contains a semicolon, colon, comma, quote or backslash, the generator writes it in the escaped form the Wi-Fi format expects, so the phone reads the exact password.

How guests scan it

On most recent iPhones, guests open the Camera app and point it at the code. A Wi-Fi notice appears, and tapping it offers to join the network. In recent Android versions the camera app or Google Lens reads the code in the same way and offers to connect. On many Android phones there is also a QR icon on the Wi-Fi settings screen that opens a scanner for exactly this purpose.

Guests do not need an extra app, and they do not see a web page. If someone has an older phone that does not offer to join, print the network name and password in small text under the code as a fallback.

Keep your main network private

Anyone who scans the code can join the network, and anyone who has a photo of it can read the password from it. Treat a printed Wi-Fi code like a printed password. A few habits keep that safe:

• Use a guest network. Most routers can run a separate network for visitors that reaches the internet but not your computers, printers or cameras. Put that one in the code.
• Do not print the code for the network your office or home devices use.
• Use a long password. Nobody has to type it, so length costs nothing.
• Change the guest password from time to time, for example every few months or after a busy season, and print new codes when you do.
• Place the code where your guests are, such as a reception desk or a table card, rather than in a shop window facing the street.

What to print next to the code

A Wi-Fi code on its own looks like any other QR code, and some guests will not guess what it does. A few words around it make it clear and help people whose phones do not offer to join:

• A heading such as "Free Wi-Fi" or "Scan to join our Wi-Fi".
• The network name in plain text, so guests can find it in their Wi-Fi list.
• The password in plain text, if you are happy for anyone who sees the card to read it. On a guest network that is usually fine.
• A short note on any limits, such as "Guest network, no streaming" or "Available until 10 pm".
• Your logo or the name of the place, so the card matches the rest of your print.

When the password changes

A Wi-Fi code cannot be updated after printing, because the password is part of the pattern. When you change the password, edit the code in My QR Codes, enter the new password, download it again and replace the printed copies. The old code will stop working the moment the old password does.

Deleting a Wi-Fi code from your account does not disable printed copies. They contain the network details directly and will keep working until you change the password on the router.

No scan statistics for Wi-Fi codes

Because phones connect without contacting any service, Wi-Fi codes have no scan statistics and no first-scan email. If you want to know how many guests use your table cards, pair the Wi-Fi code with a dynamic one, for example a menu, a review link or a list of links with your house rules and local tips. Those are counted. See how to track QR code scans.

Where Wi-Fi codes work well

• Cafés and restaurants: a small code on each table card or next to the till.
• Hotels and holiday rentals: on the welcome card in every room, next to the house rules.
• Offices and meeting rooms: on the wall by the door, pointing to the visitor network.
• Homes: on the fridge or in the guest room, so friends and family can connect without asking.
• Events: at the registration desk, where people are standing still for a moment anyway.

If the code does not connect

• Check the network name letter by letter, including spaces and capital letters.
• Check the encryption type. A WPA network saved as No password will not connect.
• Make sure the phone is within range of the network. The code only provides the details; the signal still has to reach the phone.
• If the network is hidden, tick Hidden network, or better, make it visible.
• Make sure the printed code is large enough, at least 2 cm (0.8 in) wide, with a light background and empty space around it.

Questions