WiFi QR Code Generator

Turn a network name and password into a scan-to-connect QR code. Reserved characters are escaped correctly, and nothing about your network is uploaded.

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🔒 Private by design: your text is processed locally in your browser and never uploaded to any server.

Written and maintained by Last updated

Reading a password aloud, letter by letter

A good Wi-Fi password is long, mixed case and full of symbols, which makes it excellent security and miserable to communicate. Everyone has stood in a kitchen spelling one out while a guest types it wrong three times, and everyone has watched somebody give up and lower the password to something guessable so it can be shared.

A scan to connect code removes the whole exchange. The guest points a camera at it and their phone offers to join. There is no typing, no dictating, and no reason to compromise the password to make it shareable.

The code is a credential rather than a link. It contains the network details themselves, so nothing is fetched, no internet connection is needed on either device, and there is no service that has to stay online for it to keep working.

Making a code

  1. Type your network name on the first line of the box.
  2. Type the password on the second line.
  3. Choose the Security type. WPA covers almost everything.
  4. Tick the hidden network box only if your network does not broadcast its name.
  5. Set an Error correction level and an Image size in pixels.
  6. Generate and download the PNG.

Why the name and password go on separate lines

This looks like an odd interface until you consider the alternative.

The input here is one free text area. Putting both values into it requires a separator, and the obvious candidates all fail. A comma is reserved as a field delimiter in the underlying credential format, so a password containing one would make the split ambiguous. A colon and a semicolon are reserved for the same reason. A space is legal in both a network name and a password.

A newline is the one character that cannot appear in either field, which makes splitting on lines unambiguous by construction. Hence the first line and second line arrangement.

Escaping is where hand made codes fail

The credential format uses four characters as structural separators: the backslash, the semicolon, the comma and the colon. If any of them appears in your network name or password, it has to be escaped with a backslash, otherwise the scanner reads it as the end of a field and gets a truncated password.

This is the single most common reason a Wi-Fi code generated by hand, or by a careless tool, produces a code that scans and then fails to connect. The symptom is confusing, because the scan clearly worked.

Every one of the four is escaped here before the string is assembled, which means a password full of punctuation works exactly as well as a simple one. That is important, since a strong password is precisely the case where this tool is most useful.

Two things the code deliberately leaves out

An open network gets no password field at all rather than an empty one. A network that is not hidden gets no hidden flag rather than one saying false.

Both are deliberate, and both match what real generators produce and what real scanners expect. An empty password field on an open network is at best redundant and at worst confusing to a scanner, and stating that a network is not hidden is information nobody needs, since not hidden is the default assumption.

Where to put the code

Printed, in the place people ask from. A card by the door in a holiday rental, a sign at a cafe counter, a laminated card in a meeting room, a sticker on the underside of the router itself.

For anything printed, raise the error correction level. A code on a wall picks up damage and dirt over months, and the higher levels tolerate a substantially larger proportion of the code being unreadable before the whole thing fails.

For a code around arbitrary text or a link instead of a network, QR Code Generator covers that, and QR Code Reader decodes a code you have been given, which is also how you verify one of these before printing it. For a linear code rather than a square one, Barcode Generator handles the retail formats.

If you are setting up the network as well as sharing it, Password Generator produces a strong passphrase, and this tool makes it painless to give out afterwards. The rest are on the generators hub.

See it in action

Screenshot of the WiFi QR Code Generator tool with the sample input “SysFenix-Guest join-me-offline”, Security type set to WPA, WPA2 or WPA3, most home and office networks, Network is hidden and does not broadcast its name set to off
WiFi QR Code Generator mid-process: the sample input “SysFenix-Guest join-me-offline”, Security type set to WPA, WPA2 or WPA3, most home and office networks, Network is hidden and does not broadcast its name set to off.
Screenshot of the WiFi QR Code Generator result screen showing wifi-qr-code.png ready to download (5 KB)
The finished result: wifi-qr-code.png ready to download (5 KB). The download link is a local blob URL — the file never leaves your device.

Frequently asked questions

How do I enter the network name and password?

The network name on the first line and the password on the second line of the text box. That two line format exists because the input here is a single free text area, and a password can contain any character including commas, which are reserved in the underlying format. Neither a network name nor a password can contain a newline, so splitting on lines is the one unambiguous way to separate them.

What does the code actually contain?

A short string in the standard Wi-Fi credential format, naming the security type, the network name, the password and whether the network is hidden. Phone camera apps and QR readers recognise that format and offer to join the network. It is a credential, not a link, so scanning it does not open a web page and it works with no internet connection on either device.

How are special characters in my password handled?

Four characters are reserved as field separators in the format, namely the backslash, semicolon, comma and colon, and each is escaped with a backslash before being written into the code. That is the convention every real generator and every real scanner follows, so a password containing any of them still works. Getting this wrong is the usual reason a hand made Wi-Fi code fails to connect.

Which security type should I choose?

WPA for essentially every modern network, which is why it is the default. The same token covers WPA2 and WPA3, since the format does not distinguish between the generations. WEP applies only to genuinely old equipment. Choose the open network option for a network with no password, in which case the password field is omitted from the code entirely rather than written as empty.

What does the hidden network checkbox do?

It adds a flag telling the scanning device that the network does not broadcast its name, so the device knows to look for it rather than expecting to find it in a scan. The flag is only added when the box is ticked. A non hidden network omits it entirely rather than stating it as false, which matches what real generators produce and what scanners expect.

How much error correction does a Wi-Fi code need?

A higher one for anything printed and left in the world. A code taped to a wall in a cafe or a guest room accumulates scuffs, fingerprints and glare, and a higher level survives more damage before becoming unreadable. Medium is the default and is fine for a code on a screen. Higher levels make the code denser for the same amount of data.

Is my network name and password sent anywhere?

No. The credential string is assembled and the image is drawn entirely in your browser tab, so your password never leaves the device. That is not a minor detail for this particular tool, since typing your Wi-Fi password into a website and trusting it not to keep a copy is exactly the situation people should be wary of.

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