How to Make a WiFi QR Code (Free, No App)

A WiFi QR code lets someone join your network by pointing their camera at it. No reading a 20-character password off a sticky note, no spelling it out across a room. Both iPhone and Android have supported this in the built-in camera for years, so your guests do not need to install anything.

Here is how to make one, and one important warning about where you make it.

Before you start: never put your WiFi password on someone else's server

A WiFi QR code contains your network password in plain text. That is how it works — the code is the credentials.

So the tool you use matters more than usual. If a generator sends your input to its server to render the image, you have just handed your WiFi password to a company you have never heard of, and it may sit in their logs indefinitely.

Use a generator that runs entirely in your browser. You can verify this: open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and watch while you type. If nothing is sent, nothing was sent.

What you will need

Your network name, spelled exactly as it appears when you connect. It is case-sensitive.
Your password, also case-sensitive.
Your security type — almost certainly WPA/WPA2. Only pick WEP if your router is genuinely ancient, and if it is, replace it.

Steps

Open the WiFi QR code generator.
Type your network name into the SSID field, exactly as it appears in your device's WiFi list.
Enter your password.
Leave the encryption set to WPA/WPA2 unless you know otherwise.
If your network does not broadcast its name, tick the hidden network option. Skip this if you are not sure — most networks are not hidden.
Download as SVG if you are printing it, or PNG for a screen.

Test it before you print it

Scan the code with a phone that is not already on the network. A phone that is already connected will appear to work no matter what, which makes it useless as a test. Turn WiFi off and on again on a second device, or ask someone else to try.

This one step catches nearly every mistake, and it costs ten seconds.

Printing tips

Print it at at least 2 x 2 cm (about 1 inch). Smaller than that and cheap phone cameras struggle, especially in the dim lighting of the average cafe or guest room.

Keep the quiet zone — the empty margin around the pattern. Do not crop to the edge of the black squares and do not put a border tight against it. Scanners need that whitespace to find the code.

Keep strong contrast. Dark pattern on a light background is the safe choice. Light-on-dark fails on many scanners, and low-contrast color pairs fail on most.

Frequently asked

Does it work on iPhone and Android? Yes, in the built-in camera app on both, with no extra software.

Can I change the password later? Not in the code. A WiFi QR code is static — the password is baked into the pattern. Change the password and you print a new code. This is also why it keeps working forever as long as the password does. More on that in do QR codes expire?

Is it safe to put on the wall of my cafe? Anyone who can see it can join your network — exactly like a password written on a chalkboard. For a guest network that is fine. Do not do it for the network your point-of-sale system is on.

Which generator should I use? We are biased, but the reasoning is in our roundup of QR code generators — check whether the one you pick runs in the browser.