Make a Wi-Fi QR code in the browser without sending the password to a generator

Reading a 12-character mixed-case password across a café is a bad hospitality product. A Wi-Fi QR encodes the network name, password, and security type. Phones scan it and offer to join. Upload generators are convenient. They also see the password.

Wi-Fi QR on Tool Hub assembles the WIFI: payload and draws the PNG in your browser. The string stays in the tab. We do not need the password on a server to draw squares.

When Wi-Fi QR is the right tool

Use this page for a guest network, a home SSID you will print and frame, or a pop-up stall. Typical jobs: a rental flat; a classroom router you control; a shop counter.

This is not the generic QR code generator. A raw password pasted into a URL QR is the wrong format. Phones will not join the network. The WIFI: payload has reserved characters (\, ;, ,, :, ") that must be escaped. The Wi-Fi page does that. This is not a vCard. Contacts belong on vCard QR.

I print a Wi-Fi code where guests stand. I do not tape it to a street-facing window. Anyone who photographs the printout can join.

What “in the browser” means

The tab builds the payload, escapes the fields, and renders the QR locally. Download is a PNG. Load the page, go offline, type a throwaway SSID. If the PNG still appears, the password did not need our server. First visit still loads the page HTML.

How I make a Wi-Fi QR here

1. Open https://tools.sw-commercial.com/wifi-qr-generator.
2. Enter SSID, security type (WPA/WPA2/WPA3, WEP, or open), and password. Mark hidden SSID if the network is not broadcast.
3. If the password contains punctuation, still type it. The page should escape it. Then scan the download with your own phone before you print 50 cards.
4. Download a PNG large enough to print. I aim for at least 2 cm on the shortest side, with quiet space around the modules. Keep PNG, not JPEG.
5. Place the print where you mean people to connect. Change the password if the paper walks out the door.

No account. No watermark.

Failure cases I hit while using it

Open networks with a password field filled anyway. Pick the matching security type.

A hidden SSID that phones still cannot find because the checkbox was wrong. Test with the same phone model your guests use. iOS and Android cameras both speak WIFI: but people still type the SSID wrong when they fall back to manual.

Printing too small on a busy wood-grain background. Contrast matters. Black on white.

Editing the PNG in a heavy compressor until modules blur. Regenerate at the size you need.

When not to use this page

Do not encode a password you would not write on a sticky note in that room. A QR is a sticky note with better typography.

Do not use an upload generator “just to preview” the real password, then generate locally. The preview was the leak.

Do not put the code on a public poster if the network is your private LAN with file shares. The code is not a firewall.

Related jobs on the same hub

QR code generator for a https link. vCard QR for a contact card. SW Toolbox can build a QR from selected text, still on the device — still the wrong box for WIFI: escaping.

Live at tools.sw-commercial.com/wifi-qr-generator.

A worked example

A guest network named Flat-Guest with a password that includes a semicolon. I use the Wi-Fi QR page, not the generic QR page. I type the password including the semicolon. I download the PNG, scan it with my own iPhone and an Android from a drawer. Both join. Then I print one copy for the kitchen drawer, not the street.

If a guest’s phone offers a search instead of Join, the payload was treated as a URL. That means I used the wrong generator. I go back to the Wi-Fi page. I change the guest password when the paper goes missing. The QR is not a rotating token. It is a picture of the current secret.

FAQ

Why not the generic QR page? WIFI: needs escaping for punctuation in the password. A URL QR will not join the network. Where should I print it? Where guests stand, not on a street window. Does generating upload the password? No. Scan your own download before you print a stack.