Wi-Fi QR codes for cafés

Wi-Fi QR codes for cafés

A Wi-Fi QR code lets a customer join your café’s network by scanning a table card — no staff reading out a password, no typos, no queue at the till for the code. Enter your network name and password below and download a free code to print on table tents and the counter. Your details are encoded entirely in your browser and never uploaded.

In a café, Wi-Fi is part of the product — people stay, order a second coffee, and work. But the friction is the password: long, case-sensitive, and easy to mishear over an espresso machine. A Wi-Fi QR code removes that friction completely. The scan encodes the network name, security type and password, and the phone offers a one-tap “Join”.

Use a guest network, not your main one

Keep the till off the guest network

Put customers on a separate guest network so their devices can never reach your card terminal, office laptop or back-office systems. Most routers let you switch on a guest SSID in a couple of taps.

Where to place the code

  • Table tents — the obvious one; a customer sits down, scans, and they’re online before they’ve opened their laptop.
  • The counter — for the takeaway queue who want to check something quickly.
  • A wall frame near seating — durable, doesn’t get spilled on, easy to spot.

Make your café Wi-Fi code

From network details to a printed card:

  1. 1

    Enter the network name (SSID)

    Exactly as it appears, including capitals — ideally your guest network.

  2. 2

    Choose the security type

    WPA covers WPA/WPA2/WPA3 on virtually every router.

  3. 3

    Type the password

    Special characters are escaped automatically so the code is correct.

  4. 4

    Download and print

    SVG or PDF for sharp table tents — no watermark.

Captive portals can break the one-tap join

Cafés often run a captive portal — the login or terms page that pops up before you get online. A Wi-Fi QR code hands over the password, but it can’t click through a portal, so the customer still lands on that page. If you want a truly one-tap join for the long-session crowd who settle in for hours, drop the portal on the guest network and let the QR code do the whole job.

Yes, entirely — there’s no fee, no account and no watermark printed across the code. It’s open source and built in your browser.

Need the plain tool? Open the Wi-Fi QR code generator.

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