What you need before you start
Nothing technical, and no app: everything below happens in your browser.
- Your WiFi network name, also called the SSID. It is case-sensitive, so copy it exactly.
- Your WiFi password. Passwords with spaces, quotes, colons or semicolons are fine, the generator escapes them correctly.
- The security type. Nearly every modern router uses WPA/WPA2, which is the default here.
- Two minutes, and something to display the code on: a phone screen, a printout or a small sign.
Step 1: create the code
Open the WiFi QR code generator and type your network name, then your password. Leave the security type on WPA/WPA2-Personal unless you have checked your router settings and know it uses something else.
The code is built as you type and never leaves your browser. There is no account, no upload and no watermark. Download the PNG for everyday use, or the SVG if you plan to enlarge it for a poster.
Step 2: put the code where guests can reach it
The best place is wherever someone already stops: the counter, the table, the hallway, the inside of the front door, the fridge. Guests read a code where the question occurs to them.
If the code will sit in a public place, print a sign rather than taping a loose printout to the wall. The sign maker templates keep the code large and the layout clean, and they include A4, A5 and 4 × 6 inch sizes.
Step 3: what your guest actually does
No app is needed on a modern phone. The flow is the same on both platforms:
- iPhone: open the Camera app, point it at the code, then tap the notification that appears.
- Android: open the Camera app, or use the WiFi scanner in quick settings, then tap to join.
Step 4: share a guest network, not your main one
A WiFi QR code holds your password in a readable form. Anyone who can photograph the code can read those credentials, so give visitors a network of their own.
Most routers can run a guest network in a couple of clicks. Give it a different password, keep your own devices off it, and change that password whenever you want to cut access for everyone at once.
If it does not work
Nine times out of ten the cause is a typo in the network name, the wrong security type, or a code printed too small. Our troubleshooting walkthrough takes you through each possibility in order, and the QR tester will show you exactly what a code you already have actually contains.
Put this into practice
Create your code in the generator, then turn it into a printable sign in a couple of clicks. Free, no account and no watermark.