Guest Wi-Fi QR — Input checklist

Worked example

Use a guest network, copy the exact SSID, match the security type to the router, and remember the printed code reveals the password.

A Wi-Fi QR carries the network name, the security type and the password in plain text, so the checklist is about getting those three values exactly right and choosing a network that is safe to share. Chatcument builds a string in the standard form WIFI:T:WPA;S:Guest;P:example-only;; and will not create a code until the network name is filled in.

Picture a cafe owner who wants guests to join without asking staff. She sets up a separate guest network on the router, so a customer who joins cannot reach the till or the printers, and uses that one rather than the staff network. A QR code is readable by anyone who sees it, so the password on it should open nothing you mind sharing.

Copy the SSID from the router page and not from memory. Case matters, spaces at the end are invisible and count, and look-alikes such as capital I, lowercase l and the digit 1 are easy to mix up. Dual-band routers often show one name for both 2.4 and 5 GHz; if yours shows two, pick the one guests should use, or make both the same.

Check the security type the router really uses. Modern routers use WPA2 or WPA3 and the tool lists it as WPA / WPA2; WEP is old and weak and appears only for legacy gear; Open network leaves the password out entirely. Selecting Open for a password-protected network, or the reverse, is the classic mistake, and the phone then asks for a password you never printed. A WPA password is 8 to 63 characters, which the router itself enforces.

Tick Hidden network only if the router truly hides its name, because that adds a flag to the code. Leave it off otherwise, since a visible network marked hidden can confuse some phones.

Guest network; example-only password

WIFI:T:WPA;S:Guest;P:example-only;;

The password is stored readably inside the code; use a guest network and treat the printed code as public.