Guide · QR cards

Wi-Fi QR Code Card

A Wi-Fi QR code card is a printed card holding a scannable code that joins a guest to your network — no typing a long password on a phone keyboard. Wifivia generates one on a full Letter sheet in about a minute, and you can trim it down to a 5 × 7 inch card.

Updated September 2026 · 4 minute read

How a Wi-Fi QR code actually works

This is the part most people get wrong. A Wi-Fi QR code is not a link. It encodes the credentials themselves, in a plain-text URI format that phones recognise:

WIFI:S:YourNetworkName;T:WPA;P:YourPassword;;

• S: the network name (SSID), exactly as broadcast.
• T: the security type, WPA for modern WPA/WPA2 and WPA3 networks, or nopass for an open network.
• P: the password.
• The trailing double semicolon closes the record. A missing terminator is one reason a home-made code can fail.

Because the payload is just text, the code works offline and indefinitely. iPhone and Android camera apps read it natively and offer a one-tap join; no third-party scanner app is involved.

Card sizes and trimming

Where QR cards work best

• Guest rooms and rentals — a card on the nightstand removes the password question entirely.
• Gyms, salons and clinics — clients scan while seated rather than queueing to ask.
• Waiting rooms — long dwell time, and phones are already in hand.
• Pop-ups and events — print a batch, hand them out, and skip the laminated wall sign entirely.
• Welcome folders — a 4 × 6 card slips in beside the house rules and the checkout time.

Security notes worth stating plainly

• A QR card is a written password. Anyone who can see it can join. Post only an isolated guest network.
• Do not photograph-and-share it in listing images or public posts.
• Rotate the key on a schedule and reprint the cards at the same time.
• Keep staff networks off the card, including printers, tills and file shares.

How to make one

1. Enter the network name

   Type the SSID exactly as the router broadcasts it, including capitalisation.

2. Enter the password

   Wifivia encodes the standard WIFI: format as you type, entirely in your browser.

3. Print at 100 percent

   Leave fit-to-page off so the QR modules keep their intended size and spacing.

4. Trim to card size

   Cut to 5 × 7 in or 4 × 6 in — and keep the white margin around the code.

If the code will not scan

• Glossy paper. Reflections sit between the lens and the code. Switch to matte.
• Printed too small. Below roughly 1.5 inches, phones struggle at any angle.
• Scaled to fit. Shrinking the sheet shrinks the modules and can smear them together.
• Trimmed margin. The white border is part of the code’s specification, not decoration.
• Low ink or toner streaks. A faded code reads as an invalid code.

Frequently asked questions