How do I make a QR code for my WiFi?

Use a generator with a WiFi code type: enter the network name (SSID), the password, and the security type (usually WPA/WPA2), and it produces a code phones recognize as network credentials. Scanning it prompts the phone to join the network directly — no typing. The code is static: the credentials are encoded in the pattern itself, so there is no account and nothing to expire.

Does a WiFi QR code work on both iPhone and Android?

Yes. iPhones (iOS 11 and later) and Android phones (Android 10 and later natively, earlier via the camera or a scanner app) both recognize the WiFi QR format from the built-in camera. The phone shows a join prompt with the network name; one tap connects. Guests on very old devices can still join manually, so print the network name and password in small text near the code as a fallback.

Is it safe to share WiFi with a QR code?

The code contains exactly what you would otherwise hand out on a chalkboard: network name and password, readable by anyone who scans it. So treat it like the password itself — print it for a guest network, not your main one. The real safety win is using a generator that runs client-side, so your password is never sent to or stored on someone else's server.

Do WiFi QR codes expire?

A WiFi QR code is static — the credentials live in the printed pattern, not on a server — so it cannot expire and needs no subscription. It only stops working if you change the network name or password, in which case you generate and print a new code. If a generator ties your WiFi code to an account or plan, it is adding a middleman the format does not need.

Guides2026-08-10

How to make a WiFi QR code for guests

Reciting a WiFi password to every guest is a chore; taping it to the router is worse. A WiFi QR code turns joining your network into one scan — and unlike the codes sold on subscriptions, it can never expire.

The two-minute version

Pick the network you actually want guests on — ideally a guest network, not your main one.
In a QR generator with a WiFi type, enter the network name (SSID), the password, and the security type — WPA/WPA2 for almost every home and café router.
Generate the code and scan it with your own phone. It should prompt “Join network?” with the right name — not open a website.
Print it with a white margin, put the network name and password in small text underneath as a fallback, and frame it where guests sit.

What the code actually contains

A WiFi QR code is not a link. It encodes a small credentials string — network name, security type, password — in a format phone cameras recognize natively. iPhones and Android phones read it from the built-in camera and offer to join the network in one tap; the password is filled in invisibly, so nobody types, mistypes, or shoulder-surfs it.

Because the credentials are baked into the pattern itself, the code is static: it works with no internet, no account, and no service behind it. There is nothing to renew and nothing to expire. A generator that puts your WiFi code behind a subscription is adding a middleman the format simply does not have.

Privacy check before you generate: your password goes into the form. Use a generator that builds the code client-side, in your browser, so the password never touches someone else’s server — the chalkboard never leaves your café.

Guest network first

The code is exactly as public as the wall you hang it on — anyone who scans it has the password. That is fine, and it is the point; just aim it at the right network. Most routers can broadcast a separate guest network that reaches the internet but not your laptops, printers and cameras. Put the QR code on that, give it a human name (“Cafe Fern Guests”), and you can rotate its password once a season — with a fresh code — without touching your own devices.

When you do change the password, the old printed codes stop working — the pattern cannot be edited. Reprinting is the whole cost, which is why the code and the password caption under it should be one print file, replaced together.

Printing it so it scans

Size by distance: the code’s width should be at least one tenth of the scanning distance. A framed card on the table scanned from 25 cm needs about 2.5 cm; a poster by the door scanned from a metre needs about 10 cm.
Keep the floor: never below 2 × 2 cm. WiFi codes carry more data than a short URL, so the pattern is denser — small and dense is what makes cameras hunt.
Contrast and quiet zone: dark code, light background, white margin around it. If you style the code or drop a logo in the middle, re-test the scan afterwards — styling spends error-correction headroom.
Caption it: “Scan to join · Network: Cafe Fern Guests” plus the password in small type. The caption rescues the one guest per week whose camera will not cooperate.

Where it earns its keep

Cafés and restaurants (one framed card per table, next to the menu code), holiday rentals and guest rooms (top of the welcome sheet), waiting rooms, studios, and offices with a visitor network. If you are printing table cards anyway, generate the menu code and the WiFi code in the same session so the cards match — and laminate both, because a static code is the one thing on the table that will still work next year.