Cafes, guesthouses, offices and any home with regular visitors all share the same small chore: reading out the Wi-Fi password, then spelling it, then reading it again. A Wi-Fi QR code ends that. The guest points a camera at a card on the table and the phone joins the network.
What you need
| Field | What it is | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Network name (SSID) | Exactly what appears in the Wi-Fi list | Case sensitive, and a single wrong character means the phone finds nothing |
| Password | Exactly as typed into a device | Case sensitive; check for a trailing space when you paste |
| Security type | Usually WPA/WPA2 | Pick WPA if you are not sure — it covers WPA, WPA2 and WPA3 |
Copy the SSID from your router admin page or from a device already connected, rather than typing it from memory. The most common failure with Wi-Fi codes is not the code — it is a name that was never quite right.
Choosing the security type
WPA/WPA2 is correct for essentially every router made in the last fifteen years, including WPA3 networks. WEP only applies to genuinely old equipment and should be replaced rather than encoded. No password is for genuinely open networks; the field disappears when you select it.
If your network is hidden — not broadcasting its name — tick the hidden option. Without it, the phone will look for a network it cannot see and give up.
Making the code
Open the Wi-Fi QR generator, fill in the three fields, and download. Your network name and password are processed in your browser and never sent anywhere. Nothing about your network reaches us, which is the only sensible way to handle a password.
If your password is shorter than eight characters the generator will say so. That is not a limitation of the code — it is a note that the password itself is weak.
The security part people skip
A Wi-Fi QR code is not a secure delivery method. It is the password, printed as a picture. Anyone who scans it, photographs it from across the room, or finds the card in the bin has exactly the access that reading it off a sticky note would give them.
That is fine, as long as you treat it that way:
- Put it on a guest network, not your main one. Almost every modern router can run a separate guest Wi-Fi with its own password and no access to your other devices. Your point-of-sale terminal, security cameras, printer and personal laptops should not be on the network you have printed onto a table card.
- Do not post an internal network code in a public area. A code taped to a counter is public by definition.
- Rotate it when it should be rotated. If a card goes missing, if a member of staff leaves, or if you simply have not changed it in a year — new password, new code, replace the cards.
iPhone and Android are not the same
iPhones have read Wi-Fi QR codes from the built-in Camera app since iOS 11, with no extra steps. Android 10 and later usually manage it from the camera or from the Wi-Fi settings screen, but older and budget Android phones sometimes need Google Lens or a scanner app, because not every camera app auto-detects codes.
So test on both if you can. If most of your guests are on older Android hardware, print the password in small text under the code as a fallback — it costs nothing and saves the one guest whose phone will not cooperate.
Where to put the sign
Print it at 3 × 3 cm minimum, and larger if it is going on a wall rather than a table. Put it at eye level for a seated guest, on a surface that is not directly under a downlight — glare is the most common physical reason a code will not read. Matte finishes beat glossy for exactly that reason.
Table tents and acrylic stands both work. Bare paper on a restaurant table lasts about a week, so laminate it or use a stand with a replaceable insert.
When the password changes
Static codes cannot be edited. A new password means generating a new code and replacing every printed copy — so keep a note of where they all are before you print fifty of them.
If you change the password often, consider a small acrylic stand with a paper insert. Reprinting a slip of paper is much easier than peeling stickers off twenty tables.
Common mistakes
- One wrong character in the SSID, so nothing is found
- A trailing space picked up when the password was pasted
- Forgetting to tick hidden, on a hidden network
- Changing the password and leaving the old codes up
- Guest code on the same network as the till system
- The sign placed where the ceiling light reflects off it
Print one, test it at an actual table in daylight and again in the evening, and only then make the rest.
Make a Wi-Fi QR code — your password stays in your browser.