Let guests join your network by pointing a camera at a card on the table. Enter the network name and password once, and the code handles the rest.
The password sits inside the pattern in readable form. Anyone who photographs the card has it permanently, and taking the card down does not take it back. That is the argument for putting a guest network on the code rather than the one your register and cameras are on.
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The code holds a short credential string: the network name, the password and the security type, in the format phones have understood for years. It is not a link and it connects to nothing on our side: the phone reads the three values, recognizes them as Wi-Fi credentials and offers a "Join network" prompt. Tapping it hands the password to the operating system exactly as typing it would, which is why the join happens instantly and works with no app installed.
Network Cafe Guest, password Apt;2b-secret, WPA/WPA2, not hidden, and the code holds:
WIFI:T:WPA;S:Cafe Guest;P:Apt\;2b-secret;H:false;;T is the security type, S the network name, P the password and H whether the network is hidden. Notice the backslash before the semicolon in the password: semicolon is the field separator here, so it is escaped for you. A password containing one would otherwise cut the string in half.
The SSID field is compared character for character, so capitalization, spaces and trailing punctuation all matter: "Cafe WiFi" and "Cafe Wifi" are different networks as far as the phone is concerned. Copy it from the router’s admin page rather than from memory. Punctuation in either field is fine: semicolons, colons, commas, quotes and backslashes are escaped for you, so a password like "Apt;2b" encodes correctly.
The security dropdown has one WPA/WPA2 setting, and that is the value to use for any password-protected home or business network. The QR format has never distinguished WPA from WPA2, and phones treat it as the whole WPA family. A router running WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode is normally fine with it too; a WPA3-only network is the one case worth test-scanning on both an iPhone and an Android before you print, because handset support for that combination varies. WEP is obsolete and appears only for old hardware. Choose None for a genuinely open network and leave the password empty. Do not select None and type a password, which produces a code that fails silently.
A hidden network does not broadcast its name, so a phone will not find it by scanning the air for it. Checking "Hidden Network" sets a flag in the code that tells the phone to probe for that exact SSID instead of waiting to see it in the list. Leave it unchecked for a normal network: setting it unnecessarily makes some phones take noticeably longer to connect.
iPhones on iOS 11 and later show the join banner in the stock camera app. Android 10 and later does the same, and Android also offers the reverse under Settings, network, share, which produces a QR code for a network the phone is already on. Older Android handsets may need a scanner app, or the "Add network" screen’s own QR button. Anyone on hardware older than that can still be told the password the usual way; the card is a shortcut, not the only route in.
The password is inside the pattern in readable form. Anyone who can photograph the card — including through a window, or over a customer’s shoulder — has your password permanently, and taking the card down does not take it back. For a business that means the code should carry the guest network, never the one the register, the office computers or the cameras are on. Most routers can run a guest SSID that is isolated from the rest of the LAN; that is the network worth printing. At home, the same logic applies to a code left visible to visitors.
Every printed card stops working the moment the password does, because the old password is encoded in the pattern. There is no way to update a static Wi-Fi code in place: a new password means a new code and a new print run. Two ways to make that rare: pick a guest password you are willing to leave alone for a year, or rotate it on a schedule you plan the reprint around. If your router supports several SSIDs, keeping the guest one stable while rotating the private one gives you both.
A Wi-Fi payload is denser than a short link, so give it room: at least 2.5 cm across for a table card people scan at arm’s length, and more for a sign on a wall, roughly one tenth of the distance it will be read from. Keep the clear margin around the pattern, avoid glossy laminate under downlights, and print the network name and password in text underneath. The text is not a fallback nobody uses; it is what an older phone, a laptop and a guest with a cracked camera all need.
iPhones running iOS 11 or later and Android phones running Android 10 or later connect straight from the camera app. Older Android handsets usually manage it through a scanner app or the "Add network" screen, which has its own QR option.
Anyone who can scan the code can join the network, exactly as if the password were written on the card in words, and a photograph of it lasts forever. For a business, put the code on a guest network that is isolated from the register, office machines and cameras rather than on your main one.
Yes. Check "Hidden Network" so the code tells the phone to probe for that exact name instead of expecting to see it broadcast. Leave it unchecked otherwise, since it can slow the connection down on some handsets.
Use the WPA/WPA2 setting. The QR credential format does not distinguish the WPA generations, and phones treat that value as the whole family. On a router set to WPA3-only, test-scan with both an iPhone and an Android before printing. Mixed WPA2/WPA3 mode is the safer configuration for a public code.
They stop working, and they cannot be updated: the old password is part of the pattern. Plan the reprint into any password rotation, or keep a separate guest SSID whose password you deliberately leave stable.
Yes. Set Encryption to None and leave the password field empty. Do not choose None while a password is filled in, because the code will look right and fail to connect.
No. A Wi-Fi code is a static code: the pattern is rendered in your browser and the network name and password never leave your device. Nothing about it is stored on our servers, and there is no account involved.
About 2.5 cm across for a card read at arm’s length, and larger for a wall sign. A rough rule is one tenth of the scanning distance. Wi-Fi payloads are denser than short links, so err upward and keep a clear margin around the pattern.
No, and the reason is worth knowing: a dynamic code works by encoding a short link that a browser follows to wherever you point it. Wi-Fi credentials are not a link, no browser is involved, and there is nothing for a redirect to serve. Every Wi-Fi code is fixed. If the password may change, either keep a guest password you are willing to leave alone, or print a link to a page that shows the current one.