--- title: "Wi-Fi QR Code for Guests: How to Make One Safely (2026)" description: "Make a Wi-Fi QR code for guests in minutes. Use a guest network, understand what the code reveals, and keep photos of the printed card out of your camera roll." url: https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/wifi-qr-code-for-guests lang: en published: 2026-10-29 updated: 2026-10-29 author: "VaultForYou Editorial Team" publisher: VaultForYou --- # How to make a Wi-Fi QR code for guests, and keep the photo of it private > A guest scans a square and joins your Wi-Fi without you reading out a password. The same square holds that password in plain text, so treat it like one, and keep the photo of it private. Published 2026-10-29 - Updated 2026-10-29 - By VaultForYou Editorial Team ## Quick answer To make a Wi-Fi QR code, enter the exact network name, pick the security type (WPA2 or WPA3 Personal for most networks), and type the password. Print the code for your guest network, not your main one, since anyone who scans or photographs it gets the password. Keep your photo of the card in a VaultForYou vault so it stays out of Photos and search. - **What the code holds:** Network name, security type, password, and a hidden-network flag. - **Which network to print:** Your router's guest network, with its own password. - **The risk:** Anyone who scans or photographs the code reads the password. - **Where the photo goes:** Move it into a vault, out of the Photos library. A guest should not need you to spell out a 24-character password over dinner. A Wi-Fi QR code solves that: the guest points a camera at a square and the phone offers to join. The same square also holds your password in plain text, so how you make it and where you keep its photo both matter. This guide covers how to make the code correctly, why a guest network matters, and how a vault keeps the photo of your card out of the way. ## What is inside a Wi-Fi QR code? A Wi-Fi QR code stores a short block of text: the network name, the security type, the password, and a flag for hidden networks. Phone cameras recognise that format and offer to join. Nothing is sent to a server, and no app or internet connection is needed to read it, because everything is inside the image. That convenience is the point, and it is also the risk. The password is not hidden. Whoever reads the code gets the password. ## How to make one, step by step 1. **Enter the network name exactly.** Capital letters, spaces and punctuation all count. "Cafe WiFi" and "cafe wifi" are different networks. 2. **Pick the security type.** WPA2 or WPA3 Personal covers most home and office networks. Choose WEP only for very old hardware, and open only for a network with no password. 3. **Type the password.** Check it against your router's label, because one wrong character makes the code fail without an obvious error. 4. **Choose a file format.** Use SVG for anything printed, since it stays sharp at any size. 5. **Test it before you print.** Scan it with two phones. If it does not offer to join, check the name, the security type and the hidden flag. If the network is hidden, set the hidden flag. Without it, the phone looks for a broadcast network with that name, finds nothing and gives up. ## Use a guest network Most routers offer a separate guest network. Put visitors on that one and print its code, not the code for the network your laptop, storage and cameras use. A guest network usually keeps visitor devices apart from each other and from your home network, so a guest's phone cannot browse your shared folders or reach a printer's admin page. You can also change the guest password without reconnecting every device you own. - **Keep two codes.** The guest and main networks should have different passwords. Only the guest code belongs on a wall. - **Change the guest password on a schedule.** A café that changes it every few months only reprints one card. - **Do not post the code online.** A photo of the card on social media publishes the password. ## Printing it so it scans Make the printed symbol at least 2 cm on each side for a table card, and larger for anything read from a distance. As a rough guide, the code should be about one tenth of the scanning distance, so a code read from 2 m needs to be about 20 cm across. Keep the blank margin around the code clear, because designers often crop it and that breaks scanning. Use dark modules on a light background, and avoid glossy or curved surfaces that throw glare into the camera. ## Keep the photo of the card in a vault You will probably photograph the card to keep a copy, and that photo is the password. It is also a phone photo, which can store the place it was taken, so a picture of your front-door Wi-Fi card can show where you live. Keep that photo in a VaultForYou vault instead of your camera roll: - **It stays out of Photos.** Files in a vault are stored separately from the Photos library, so the card does not appear in Photos, search or widgets. - **Only you can open it.** A vault opens with a pattern you draw, and the lock screen shows no vault names, counts or previews. - **You can keep it apart from everyday photos.** A different pattern opens a different vault, and more vaults are a Premium feature. To move the photo, add it to a vault, then delete the original from Photos and empty Recently Deleted. Moving a photo creates a copy, so the original stays on your phone until you delete it. For a guest code you need to share with a friend, send it as an encrypted vault link you can revoke later, rather than as a plain image in a message. Our guide on [removing location from photos on iPhone](/blog/remove-location-from-photos-iphone) covers the other half: stripping location from any photo before it leaves your phone. ## Bottom line A Wi-Fi QR code is the easiest way to let guests join, as long as you treat the square as a password. Give guests a separate network, print only that code, rotate its password, and keep the photo of the card in a vault. ## Wi-Fi QR code FAQ ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I create a Wi-Fi QR code? Use a Wi-Fi QR generator and enter the network name exactly, including capitals and spaces. Choose the security type, type the password, and download the image. Print it at a size that scans from the distance guests will stand, then test it with a phone before you put it on a wall. ### Does a Wi-Fi QR code contain my password? Yes. The code stores the network name, security type and password as readable text. Anyone who scans or photographs it can read the password, so treat the printed card the way you would treat a written password. ### Should guests use my main Wi-Fi network? It is safer to give guests a separate guest network. Guest networks usually keep visitor devices apart from your laptops, storage and cameras, and you can change the guest password without reconnecting every device in the house. ### Why won't my Wi-Fi QR code connect? The usual causes are a network name that does not match exactly, a hidden network without the hidden flag, or the wrong security type. Check each one, then scan the code again. ### Does a Wi-Fi QR code expire? No. The code holds the network details directly, so it works until you change the password or rename the network. ### Where should I keep a photo of the Wi-Fi card? Somewhere private. VaultForYou keeps photos and documents in a vault that is separate from your Photos library and opens only with a pattern you draw, so the card does not show up in Photos, search or widgets. Moving the photo creates a copy, so delete the original from Photos and empty Recently Deleted. ## Keep reading - [How to Remove Location From Photos on iPhone (2026)](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/remove-location-from-photos-iphone): Remove location from photos on iPhone in a few taps: turn off Location in the share sheet, strip it from a photo with Adjust Location and stop Camera saving it. - [How to Hide Photos on iPhone: Hidden Album Guide (2026)](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/hide-photos-on-iphone): Hide photos on iPhone in seconds, find your hidden photos in the Hidden album, and see who can still open them, what syncs to iCloud and when a vault is better. - [Turn Off iCloud Photos Syncing Without Deleting (2026)](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/stop-icloud-photos-syncing): Turn off iCloud Photos syncing on your iPhone, iPad or Mac without losing pictures: which device to switch off, which option to pick and what stays in iCloud. - [iPhone Shared Albums: Who Can See Your Photos (2026)](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/iphone-shared-album-privacy): How iPhone Shared Albums work: who can see your photos, what Public Website does, what happens when you stop sharing or delete, and how to share privately. --- Our guides are written and fact-checked by the VaultForYou team against Apple's own documentation. We make VaultForYou, a private vault app for iPhone. Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/vaultforyou/id0000000000