QR Code (Wi-Fi)
The variant for guests' phones. Apple and Google document joining a network by scanning a QR code, and the Wi-Fi scanner in Android's open-source Settings app reads QR codes only.
Create QR Code (Wi-Fi) ›Used by 700,000+ people
Free Wi-Fi QR code generator.
A Wi-Fi QR code holds your network name, password and security type, so guests join by scanning instead of typing the password. Enter the details to create one.
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How to create a Wi-Fi QR code
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01
Copy the exact network details
Use your guest network, not the staff network. Copy its name (SSID) and password from the router's settings or a connected phone; on an iPhone, the Passwords app shows saved Wi-Fi passwords.
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02
Choose the security type
Pick WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) for any network with a password, WPA2 and WPA3-Personal included; WEP only for a WEP network; no password for an open one. In the generator, also tick Hidden network if the router does not broadcast the name.
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03
Test, then print
Scan the preview with an iPhone and an Android phone that have never joined the network, so the result comes from the code alone. Then download PNG for signs from the office printer.
What a Wi-Fi QR code does
A Wi-Fi QR code is a QR code that carries the login for a wireless network as one line of text. After the prefix WIFI: come the security type, the network name (SSID), the password and, for a hidden network, a flag. Guests scan it with the iPhone or Android camera, confirm, and the phone joins the network. Use it for the guest network of your café, shop, office or hotel.
Where to place a Wi-Fi QR code
A code on the café table tent, beside the shop entrance or on the receipt spares guests from copying a password character by character. The Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA3 specification gives signs, menus and receipts as its examples of how a venue hands out the Wi-Fi password.
In offices, the code belongs at reception and in meeting rooms, for visitors who want to use the Wi-Fi. Hotels can add it to the room information, and at a conference it goes on the signs at the venue.
Long passwords without typing, and the space the code needs
The phone reads network name, password and security type from the code and creates the network profile itself, so nobody spells out a password at the front desk. Because guests never type it, a long random password costs nothing but a few extra modules.
TEC-IT's engine draws the 30-character sample as 25 × 25 modules and a guest login of about 50 characters as 29 × 29. With the quiet zone of 4 modules per side, the sample needs 33 modules square. The downloaded image ends at the outer modules: set the quiet zone in the generator or leave the margin in your layout.
Formats and automation for many networks
PNG, GIF or JPG cover a single sign; a plan adds SVG, a vector file that scales to poster size. Separate networks per meeting room or event need separate codes, and a new guest password means reprinting them all.
For sets of signs, TBarCode Office prints one sign per network: build the WIFI: string in an Excel column, escaping ; , : and \ with a backslash. In Word, bind a QR Code to that column as a mail merge field. Barcode Studio exports a whole CSV list in one run, and TBarCode API serves the current code to a guest portal over HTTP.
Wi-Fi QR code at a glance
- Symbology
- QR Code (ISO/IEC 18004); Data Matrix ECC200 (ISO/IEC 16022)
- Payload
- One line of text, e.g.
WIFI:T:WPA;S:TEC-IT;P:secret;; - Defined by
- ZXing project (de facto format); Wi-Fi Alliance WPA3 Specification § 7, since version 3.0 (2020)
- Fields the generator writes
Tsecurity,Snetwork name (SSID),Ppassword,Hhidden network- Security types
WPA(also WPA2 and WPA3-Personal),WEP,nopass(open)- Escaped characters
\;,:, each with a preceding backslash- Not covered
- Enterprise logins (WPA2-EAP), optional WPA3 fields
- Quiet zone
- 4 modules (QR Code); 1 module (Data Matrix)
- Size of the sample
- 25 × 25 modules (QR Code); 22 × 22 modules (Data Matrix)
What the WIFI: string contains
Each field is a letter, a colon, the value and a semicolon. The ZXing project documented this format; the Wi-Fi Alliance later defined a compatible WIFI URI in its WPA3 specification.
| Field | Content | Generator field |
|---|---|---|
T: | Security type: WPA, WEP or nopass | Security |
S: | Network name (SSID), the only required field | Network name (SSID) |
P: | Password, ignored for nopass | Password |
H: | true when the network does not broadcast its name | Hidden network |
A backslash protects \, ;, , and : inside a value, so a semicolon in a password does not end the field. The network Shop;Floor 2 with the password pass:word,1 becomes WIFI:T:WPA;S:Shop\;Floor 2;P:pass\:word\,1;;.
Readers accept any field order and skip fields they do not know. The generator writes none of the optional WPA3 fields, such as R: for transition disable, and no login fields for enterprise networks.
What the code reveals, and how to limit it
- The password is readable. It sits in the code as plain text, so anyone who scans or photographs the sign can read it.
- Share a guest network only. New Zealand's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recommends a separate network for customers, with its own name and a password you can share.
- Keep guests on the internet side. The same guidance says the guest network should reach the internet only, not your business devices; this can keep a visitor's infected phone out of your systems.
- Use WPA2 or later. The NCSC asks for WPA2 or newer; the Wi-Fi Alliance leaves WEP out of the WIFI URI and forbids it on WPA3-Personal networks.
- Keep printed codes in view. A sticker pasted over yours could send guests to a look-alike network, so place signs where staff see them.
Before you print: test the sign, add the login and a date
- Scan a printed copy from where guests will stand, with a phone that has never joined the network.
- Print the network name and password as text next to the code for devices that cannot scan it.
- Note the date of the last password change on the sign, so outdated copies stand out.
Mistakes that stop phones from joining
- Network name typed from memory. The phone looks for exactly the name in the code and does not find Guest-wifi when the router broadcasts Guest-WiFi. Copy the name from the router or a connected phone.
- Wrong security type. The phone saves the network with the type from the code, and a WEP profile cannot log in to a WPA2 network. Choose WPA for every WPA2 or WPA3-Personal network.
- Hand-built string without backslashes. An unescaped semicolon ends the password early, and the phone tries a truncated password. Enter the values in the generator form, which adds the backslashes.
Wi-Fi QR code or another QR code type
QR Code ›
A plain QR Code carries text or a web address, such as your Wi-Fi terms of use; it does not add a network to the phone.
vCard QR code ›
A vCard QR code saves a contact, not a network. A reception sign that offers both needs two codes.
Event QR code ›
An event QR code holds a calendar entry: print it on the conference invitation, the Wi-Fi code at the venue.
QR Code or Data Matrix for Wi-Fi
Both variants encode the same WIFI: string from the same form; only the symbol differs.
Data Matrix (Wi-Fi)
Writes the same string into a Data Matrix ECC200 symbol: 22 × 22 modules for the sample, with a quiet zone of 1 module, which suits small labels. Use it only with a scanner you have tested with Data Matrix; for guests' phones, choose the QR Code variant.
Create Data Matrix (Wi-Fi) ›Frequently asked questions
Learn more about Wi-Fi QR code.
Can anyone see the Wi-Fi password in the QR code?
Yes: the password follows
P: as plain text, so any reader app that displays the decoded text reveals it. An iPhone that joined also lists it later in the Passwords app. Put only the login of a separate guest network into a code you display.
Does a Wi-Fi QR code work on iPhone and Android?
Yes. Apple's iPhone User Guide describes a network QR code that friends scan to join, and Google's Android help has the phone show a QR code that another device scans. Android's open-source Settings app builds that code in the same
WIFI: format this generator uses.
Do Wi-Fi QR codes work with WPA3?
Yes for WPA3-Personal: choose WPA. In the Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA3 specification,
T:WPA stands for any password-based network; a phone with WPA3 support may then connect with WPA3, one without it with WPA2. The generator writes no optional WPA3 fields such as transition disable, so test networks that accept WPA3 only.
Does a Wi-Fi QR code expire?
No. It contains the login itself, not a web address, so it works without any online service. It stops working when you change the password, rename the network or switch its security type; then create a new code and replace every printed copy.
Do I need a separate code for each access point?
No: the phone stores the login per network name (SSID) and uses it with any access point of that network. One code therefore covers the whole building if all access points broadcast the same name and use the same password. Separate networks, such as one per event, need separate codes.
Can I create a Wi-Fi QR code for a hidden network?
Yes: tick Hidden network in the generator and the code carries
H:true, the flag that tells the phone the network does not broadcast its name. Without the flag, phones may not find the network at all. Android asks for the same setting when you add a hidden network by hand.
Can the network name contain spaces, umlauts or special characters?
Yes. Spaces inside the name stay as they are, and the generator puts a backslash before ; , : and \ so these characters cannot break the string. In the QR Code, letters such as é or ü are written as UTF-8, which smartphone reader apps try to detect automatically. Test such a code on an iPhone and an Android phone before printing.
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