How does a Wi-Fi QR code work?

It encodes a special text string in the form WIFI:T:WPA;S:SSID;P:password;; that Android and iOS cameras recognise. When scanned, the phone offers to join that exact network with the embedded credentials, so nobody has to type the password.

Is my Wi-Fi password sent anywhere?

No. The QR code is built entirely in your browser using a self-contained encoder. Your SSID and password never leave your device and are not transmitted to any server.

Which security type should I choose?

Choose WPA for almost all modern networks (it covers WPA, WPA2 and WPA3). Use WEP only for very old routers, and Open for networks with no password at all.

Why is my SSID or password not scanning correctly?

Special characters such as a semicolon, comma, colon, backslash or double-quote must be escaped in the Wi-Fi string. This tool escapes them automatically, so the encoded payload matches your real credentials exactly.

What is a hidden network and should I tick the box?

A hidden network does not broadcast its SSID, so phones cannot find it by browsing. If your router hides the SSID, tick the box so the QR tells the phone to connect anyway; otherwise leave it unticked.

QR Code Generator (Wi-Fi)

A Wi-Fi QR code turns your network name and password into a single scannable square. Anyone with a modern phone can point their camera at it and tap to connect — no spelling out long passwords, no typos, no shouting the Wi-Fi key across a busy cafe. This free generator builds the code entirely in your browser, so the credentials you type are never uploaded anywhere.

How it works

Phones recognise a specific plain-text format that gets embedded in the QR symbol:

WIFI:T:WPA;S:MyCafe-WiFi;P:welcome123;H:false;;

The fields are:

T: the authentication type — WPA (covers WPA/WPA2/WPA3), WEP, or nopass for open networks.
S: the SSID (network name).
P: the password (omitted for open networks).
H: true if the network is hidden, otherwise omitted.

Any of the characters backslash, semicolon, comma, colon or double-quote inside the SSID or password are prefixed with a backslash so they don’t break the structure — this tool escapes them for you. The resulting string is then encoded as a real QR Code symbol: the bytes are wrapped with Reed-Solomon error-correction codewords over the Galois field GF(256), laid out in the module matrix with the finder, timing and alignment patterns, and the best of eight data masks is chosen by penalty score, exactly as ISO/IEC 18004 specifies.

Tips and notes

Use error-correction level M (the default here) for printed signs — it tolerates roughly 15% damage or dirt while still scanning.
Keep a quiet zone (white border) around the code when you print it; the generated SVG already includes one.
Test the printed code with both an Android and an iPhone before putting it out for guests.
For a guest network, consider a separate SSID so you never need to share your main password. The QR makes a dedicated guest network effortless to share.