17 ms·

Guest WiFi using a QR code

408 points by jgrahamc 4y ago

loueed 4y ago
I made an iOS Shortcut for this so I can ask Siri for the QR code when needed. There's a built in "Generate QR Code" action that can take a text action containing the wifi string. Only issue is hard coding the password in the shortcut.
woevdbz 4y ago
You can also generate the QR code from an Android phone by going to WiFi settings, and tapping the "Share" from the details view of the network in question (assuming the phone is already connected to that network)
phailhaus 4y ago
You can also do this with NFC tags, though I've had mixed success with iPhones.
ComputerCat 4y ago
Such a cute idea! Definitely wouldn't work when my parents come over though
latchkey 4y ago
Call me paranoid, but I've taken to not scanning "public" QR codes any longer [1]. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/07/are-qr-codes-safe/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/07/are-qr-...
- btmiller 4y ago
  There is way too much human interest to that article and way too little substance on the problems. Tl;dr - there’s no security risk unique to QR codes are that aren’t simply present on the Internet at-large.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    Yes, but there are security risks unique to QR code menus at pizza joints that aren't present on pizza joint menus at large. The status quo for restaurant menus is printed text. Also, QR codes obfuscate the request that is being sent.
  - latchkey 4y ago
    The link to the article wasn't intended to be the be-all reason... just a general "something to think about here". There is an inherent security risk... it is trivial, as the OPs article suggests, to print out a QR code, cover an existing public one, and send people to a phishing site. Unless people are being very careful about what sites they are on, they could easily be scammed.
dbg31415 4y ago
https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ Works for Text Messages too! (= I made a QR Code for my contact info in a VCard and set it as the home screen of my phone -- when I go to conventions it makes it really easy to connect with people. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do with QR Codes now. Most of this stuff is 5-10 years old even, but the pandemic really helped educated people to look for QR Codes. Yay, Covid! =P
- bityard 4y ago
  It would not use that one, it sends the network name and password to a server. This was easy to verify with browser dev tools. There are QR code generators that are work entirely client-side, I would trust those much more, or just use a native app.
megraf 4y ago
I've done something similar, but didn't like the static passwords. My guest wifi password is the current date, in YYYY-MM-DD format, it's been a great way to keep my guests (mildly) satisfied. The format changes on occasion
- Brajeshwar 4y ago
  Is this automated or do you need to change every time Guests are expected?
  - megraf 4y ago
    This is automated, with a shell script and DDWRT
- h4waii 4y ago
  So guests who stay overnight have to enter a new password after your script runs at 00:01?
Brajeshwar 4y ago
I started with this quite a long back, way before a separate Guest Wi-Fi was commonplace and we were OK just sharing the Wi-Fi. My ideology with guest at home was to offer Water and Wi-Fi. Guest were happy when Mobile Phone signals were bad (slow) and costly. I've forgotten the tool used but I had a QR-Code for the guest Wi-Fi for a very long time. These days, people don't really care as the Internet speed on their phones are pretty fast enough and the cost is very cheap (India).
- gravitate 4y ago
  I switched to guest networks after I accidentally casted a browsing session to the TV with Chrome and a Chromecast plugged into the TV. Luckily nothing sensitive was shown but it could’ve been embarrassing with other (NSFW) content shown. The guest networks are segmented and use their own VLAN
  - bradstewart 4y ago
    How do guest networks solve this? You switch wifi networks before you want to use Chromecast?
    - aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
      Yes.
bennyp101 4y ago
I do the same thing, I had some little wooden etched boards made up with the ssid and and password on, then on the back is the qrcode for it. Super easy to hand to a visitor that can either scan or type in.
phoronixrly 4y ago
Making an online wifi QR code generator seems like a nifty way to make a good password dictionary. Just saying.
- toyg 4y ago
  The one featured seems fairly legit, I believe it pre-dates the wifi spec.
- btmiller 4y ago
  For Wi-Fi though? Seems relatively low risk to me. Concerns over password security can be mitigated by those that care by using unique, randomly-generates strings per service.
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    People are generally less worried about wifi password quality, so perhaps a DB of the general types of passwords people use would be useful for an attacker? (regardless of the ability to defend oneself -- in any dense population area, the attacker only has to find one person with a poor password)
  - banana_giraffe 4y ago
    The random string I use for my IoT devices' wifi password showed up on haveibeenpwned, so some IoT device cared enough about it to leak it.
  - phoronixrly 4y ago
    Don't know... Having an intruder in your home wifi seems pretty high risk to me. And I don't even live in a country with high chance to get killed upon a visit by your friendly neighbourhood SWAT team...
- jve 4y ago
  Wifi QR code generation is built-in within Android: https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/how-to-scan-wifi-qr-code-on-android-and-iphone/ https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/how-to-scan-wifi-qr-code-o...
kevincox 4y ago
I've done this for years, quite convenient. I also have an NFC tag with the WiFi which works quicker (no need to open a QR scanner and no need to focus on the image for a sec) but I'm not sure if iOS supports it. I've put the tag behind the wifi "frame" so that you can just tap it instead of scanning it. Android also has the option to "share" wifi via a QR code from the WiFi settings menu. It is quick and much easier than reading out the password to someone else.
- dcdc123 4y ago
  iOS lets you share wifi passwords with someone else around you if they are trying to connect. I _think_ it uses your AirDrop privacy settings so for most reasonable people it would only work for people in their contact list.
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    It is a pretty neat feature. The only thing I don't love about it is, there's very little user feedback. The person requesting just goes to the wifi password prompt and hopefully this generates the notification for one of their contacts. Nice when it magically works (you go to wifi, and then someone in the room is like "Hey, dcdc123 wants the wifi password" and you are like "yep," and then it's all sorted), annoying when you are intentionally trying to use it with one particular person. It would be nice if it showed something like "looking for contacts" "found <NAME>" etc etc.
    - dcdc123 4y ago
      My wife and I travel together full time so we connect to a lot of new networks. Sadly the feature is so buggy it is almost useless to us. Probably one in three tries it just hangs the receiver's UI making it so they cannot cancel, enter password, etc. We avoid using it now.
- toyg 4y ago
  What do you need, to produce (or rather program) nfc tags...? I guess they don't have usb ports, lol.
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
That's a great idea! Of course, it has potential security issues; but no more than your standard sign in a store or boardroom.
- willis936 4y ago
  The risk is small if you isolate clients from everything on LAN and limit bandwidth.
nahimn 4y ago
Someoned posted https://wificard.io/ https://wificard.io/ a while ago... pretty neat
- SamuelAdams 4y ago
  Yeah we use this for our AirBnB, print a page and put it in the guest book. Super convenient and clients like it.
- K7PJP 4y ago
  Thanks! This site actually produces attractive output which includes some instructions, as well as the network name and password, something other sites don't offer. It is handy to be able to have the password visible for situations where the QR Code isn't a viable option, like setting up a laptop.
dcdc123 4y ago
I've suggested this to every AirBnB I have stayed in. Sadly I am up to about 75-100 of them and have come across this a grand total of zero times.
- dmosley 4y ago
  This right here. I've done the same. It's absurd the level of password hoops at some places. I appreciate the secure password, but when it's hand written in marker and faded it can be quite frustrating.
- tlrobinson 4y ago
  Idea: make one for each AirBnB you stay in. If you don’t have access to a printer while you’re there email them a PDF.
- jordsta 4y ago
  It might have to be setup by an Airbnb host but the past few places I've stayed at had the ability to press a button inside the Airbnb app to automatically connect to their WiFi. Definitely saves some of the less tech-savvy hosts from having to figure out how to create a WiFi QR Code and print it out
koins 4y ago
Bit of a self-plug I know, but this reminds me of something I had made a while back (https://github.com/kmanc/wifi_qr https://github.com/kmanc/wifi_qr). Nice work! Always fun to see others' take on neat projects
- jgrahamc 4y ago
  Amazing. I literally did this and then decided it was overkill. Almost with the same hardware!
  - koins 4y ago
    Lol that's awesome EDIT - I had an idea that I'm currently working through that I like but am a little stuck so taking a break before I revisit. TLDR is to use an ATTINY85 to auto-"type" the password in for folks who bring a laptop and can't scan the QR code. I wrote the Python code to generate the .ino script that would actually do the writing, but I'm having a little bit of trouble getting micronucleus to write the script to the ATTINY without an un/re plug. You can see the WIP on my digispark branch in that repo
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      Wouldn’t it be easier/maybe more practical to print the password to the e-ink screen as well? (QR code error correction is usually enough to let you just knock out part of it and put the text right there.)
      - koins 4y ago
        Maybe! The problem I was trying to solve was that a 30 character password randomly generated is a pain to type out by hand haha. That said I think having the text would be a step in the right direction
        ok_dad 4y ago
        Bootstrap it with a shorter password: 1. Have the display show a 5-digit PIN (TOTP or something that changes every minute or few) 2. Let anyone connect to your network, if they go to a browser window it will show the capture portal 3. Enter the 5-digit PIN and press "enter" and the page will show the 30-digit password so the user can copy+paste 4. User pastes password into WiFi screen and logs in Make sure to rate-limit this endpoint to prevent random PIN attacks.
js2 4y ago
Here's what I do in my home: I've had the same easy-to-type WiFi password (it's a name and a four-digit year) since 2005 and I just tell my guests. It's not even a guest network. It's just my network. Free hugs in my house too.
- roozbeh18 4y ago
  :)
- ryanianian 4y ago
  That seems fine until someone's compromised device joins your network, sniffs for open ports, and starts uploading or ransomware-encrypting your NAS.
  - deathanatos 4y ago
    Secure the NAS. I.e., treat the network as an extension of the Internet, that is, assume it's compromised. Since … it basically is, given the crap hardware ISPs foist upon people.
  - js2 4y ago
    My NAS is more likely to melt down into slag in a house fire. I have offsite backups of critical data.
emilfihlman 4y ago
Please do not only offer qr codes. Some people might not have (working) cameras.
- steve918 4y ago
  Or they could just be trying to connect from a laptop! Or a mobile device that doesn't understand how to parse this sort of WIFI connection code. Is this any sort of standard? Do Kindle devices support it?
  - mcculley 4y ago
    https://github.com/zxing/zxing/wiki/Barcode-Contents#wi-fi-network-config-android-ios-11 https://github.com/zxing/zxing/wiki/Barcode-Contents#wi-fi-n...
- hoherd 4y ago
  https://qifi.org https://qifi.org will give you text and a QR code in one printable graphic.
MikeKusold 4y ago
If you want to 3D Print your QR code, this site generates an STL: https://printer.tools/qrcode2stl/ https://printer.tools/qrcode2stl/ If you add the key tag, you can hang it on the wall. Works well with a light-color background, and a dark foreground.
santamex 4y ago
Standard in the AVM FRITZ!Box. https://avm.de/ratgeber/wlan-zugang-teilen-mit-qr-codes-geht-es-ganz-einfach/ https://avm.de/ratgeber/wlan-zugang-teilen-mit-qr-codes-geht... Edit: English: https://en.avm.de/guide/how-to-share-your-wi-fi-access-with-a-qr-code/ https://en.avm.de/guide/how-to-share-your-wi-fi-access-with-...
- peteri 4y ago
  Thanks for that, I have some visitors next week and I knew I'd seen that as a feature somewhere (just couldn't find it in the UI)
dangrossman 4y ago
I print wifi QR codes on wood signs and on cork coasters for Airbnb/VRBO hosts. It's a good little side business. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ligninandlight?section_id=28828952 https://www.etsy.com/shop/ligninandlight?section_id=28828952
- Fnoord 4y ago
  Nice, but I don't like such being forced to be a static PSK. Instead, could also make an e-paper device for this. Perhaps it would work on badgerOS?
  - langsoul-com 4y ago
    Isn't there qr codes that can automatically update their values? That could work. Otherwise just buying those picture viewers and setting a qr image would be easiest.
    - dangrossman 4y ago
      A picture of a QR code will always be the same QR code. There are QR code generators that purport to let you update the value... but they're basically just hosting a link shortener service, giving you a QR code encoding that link, and letting you change where the link redirects to. That wouldn't work with a QR code for wifi, since the QR code does not point to a link, it directly encodes the SSID and password for a wifi network.
      - silentguy 4y ago
        Can the http link not be directed to other protocols like FTP, or WIFI:T:WPA;S:{ssid};P:{password};; in this case? I guess this might have some security implication. And, some clients can block such redirection. I tried with HTML href on my mac. It didn't work. Maybe it'd work on phones.
        Fnoord 4y ago
        The dynamic vs static is also one of the criticisms to NFTs. They're just links to dynamic content in a distributed database. The content itself could change any time, or go down. But it looks like it works (there's a word for this: scam). How would you use a dynamic link like HTTPS URL shortener if you're trying to achieve internet access? You could overcomplicate it with another AP which only works with QR code. A colleague once painted a QR code, kinda cool its possible and it worked, but its no magic. Its just static content. If you want it to be dynamic, e-ink is perfect for this purpose. It doesn't require electricity, only if you change the content. So if it is say a Raspberry Pi Zero, it could be powered off, and only get powered on when required (even the e-ink screen itself could be detached). I know they use captive portals a lot for this purpose but I don't see how say WPA2/3 Enterprise could not work for this.
graton 4y ago
It uses the form of: WIFI:T:WPA;S:{ssid};P:{password};; Can generate these on Linux with the qrencode program. Wikipedia has information on this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91F... Section of the Wikipedia article: Joining a Wi‑Fi network By specifying the SSID, encryption type, password/passphrase, and if the SSID is hidden or not, mobile device users can quickly scan and join networks without having to manually enter the data. Note that this technique is valid for specifying only static SSID passwords (i.e. PSK); dynamic user credentials (i.e. Enterprise/802.1x) cannot be encoded in this manner. The format of the encoded string is: WIFI:S:<SSID>;T:<WPA|WEP|>;P:<password>;H:<true|false|>; Order of fields does not matter. Special characters """ (quotation mark), ";" (semicolon), "," (comma), ":" (colon) and "\" (backslash) should be escaped with a backslash ("\") as in MECARD encoding. For example, if an SSID were "foo;bar\baz", with quotation marks part of the literal SSID name itself, this would be encoded as: WIFI:S:\"foo\;bar\\baz\";;
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- silvestrov 4y ago
  why couldn't they just use normal URL query param escaping? Always reinventing the wheel, badly. WIFI:t=wpa&s=My%20Network&p=secret%20word would have been much better.
  - ircop420 4y ago
    Data is expensive in QR land or your resulting QR code becomes larger in size, requiring more physical space to display. URL encoding has a lot of overhead. Also '\' escaping has preceded the existence of URLs. I'm not sure who is doing the reinventing here.
    - silvestrov 4y ago
      Only encoded characters take up more space and you don't have to escape: quotation mark, semicolon, comma, colon or backslash. So I think the difference is small. QR codes can contain quite a bit more information than what's needed for WIFI name and password.
lostmsu 4y ago
https://www.eff.org/pages/openwirelessorg https://www.eff.org/pages/openwirelessorg
3dprintscanner 4y ago
A QR code by itself is completely unreadable to a human. Can't this have the SSID / password too? All too often you see what should be simple textual data wrapped in this obtuse form which only specific machines can read. Text and a QR code can be read by everyone. See: <https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233 https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233> for context
- mrkramer 4y ago
  >Can't this have the SSID/password too? Already linked by people in this topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91F... >All too often you see what should be simple textual data wrapped in this obtuse form which only specific machines can read. >See: <https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233 https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233> for context This is misuse of QR code; QR codes should be used to encode large data or some other clunky data that is hard for people to process that's why it is easier to look up such data/information with QR code and process/read it digitally. After all you have a camera in your pocket and a preinstalled QR code scanner(at least all new Android phones have). The main use case of QR codes that I see is simply linking you to a website. For example your favorite food brand links you to their website to explore their offering. >Text and a QR code can be read by everyone. Yea I agree with you that both plain text and a QR code should be shared so people can use what suits them the best at that particular moment.
- rntksi 4y ago
  Agreed. Where I used to work, IT started replacing the guest wifi (password changes monthly) with QR code instead of printing out the password on a piece of paper. It's really cumbersome when I want to join on my laptop.
tkuraku 4y ago
I print out a sheet with some text (including the network SSID and password) and a QR code to connect to the guest wifi using libre office writer. It has a built in qr code generator. The QR code text for a wifi password is here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%9.... No need for any special third party tools.
- wahern 4y ago
  There's also the LaTeX qrcode package, bundled with distributions like TeX Live. Minimal working example reduced from my own template: \newcommand*{\SSID}[0]{NETWORK} \newcommand*{\PASS}[0]{PASSWORD} \documentclass{letter} \usepackage{qrcode} \begin{document} \begin{center} \LARGE{``\SSID'' WiFi QR code} \qrcode[height=5cm]{WIFI:S:\SSID;T:WPA;P:\PASS;H:false;} \end{center} \end{document}
Schinken_ 4y ago
I did a set of 3D printed QR codes with integrated NFC stickers used as drink coasters for a friend and myself. They're pretty neat and always a talking point.
humanwhosits 4y ago
I'd love a CLI version that just produces an image or pdf file
david-ch 4y ago
[dead]
UIUC_06 4y ago
I've done techie things just because they were fun & cool, so this isn't a criticism. However, having a phone number not your own (or indeed, any number of less than 7 digits) that you can memorize and tell your guests works just as well. Change it as soon as they leave, bada bing, bada boom, done.
- ircop420 4y ago
  Well, firstly you have to have a password of >=8 chars for WPA. Secondly, having such a short non-complex password is going to easily be crackable with a deauth and 3-way handshake capture attack. Would easily crack on a 5 year old laptop in minutes even w/o GPU.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - UIUC_06 4y ago
    wow, these hackers sure are clever & patient: they're hanging around outside your house, just waiting for you to have a guest, so they can use your limited-BW guest network where you can log everything they do. OK, go ahead and set up a QR code. Who said you can't?
kazinator 4y ago
Why does the QR code encode whether the access point is hidden or not? It has the SSID.
wingspan 4y ago
Nice! I put together a single file offline HTML version [1] with a demo [2] using only a CDN-hosted QR library. [1] https://gist.github.com/ianobermiller/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742d97fe1f82d https://gist.github.com/ianobermiller/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742... [2] https://bl.ocks.org/ianobermiller/raw/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742d97fe1f82d https://bl.ocks.org/ianobermiller/raw/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742...
vel0city 4y ago
I had a lot of WiFi QR codes around the house and in the office. People seemed to often just ask for the WiFi password instead of bothering to figure out how to scan the QR code. Maybe things are different post-COVID where QR-code menus became the norm for a while, but in the past people seemed to not really care or understand QR codes.
Fnoord 4y ago
I tell guests its a long, complex password (it is, and it is on a separate VLAN where all my IoT resides, too). I then ask them to hand over their device so I can enter the password. There's a trust thing going on there, but this is deliberate as the trust goes both ways (my internet connection). If they don't trust me to fill in my password on their device (they may of course watch me do it), I wouldn't want them on my network. That never happened but I don't run a bnb.
- usr1106 4y ago
  Using WiFi hotspots is very much history in Finland. Nearly everyone has unlimited 4G at least and most populated places have coverage. Using a laptop in a café might still be a use case if you don't want to run your phone hot and drain the battery. We enjoy the cheapest data rates in Europe and certainly cheaper than in the US. Which is kind of weird because in general price level is everything else but low.
- no_circuit 4y ago
  What is the purpose of typing in the password for them? It's not keeping it a secret. Usually the OS lets you see it. For example on macOS they can just search for it Keychain Access, and even though they may not be able to get to it on iOS, the built-in WiFi sharing will bring that password to their Mac for viewing there. IMO it is just easier to display it on a computer screen in a large-sized text and let them type it in themselves, e.g., the 1Password large type show option. Seeing separate VLAN being mentioned makes me think you are also have the ability to run a temporary additional WiFi network when guests are over as well. That could just use a rotating password with a memorable word scheme to make it easier to type.
  - Fnoord 4y ago
    Yes I am aware of that they can read the password (if not in memory). These friends are not very technical, and the purpose is that I use their device to fill in the complex password. It would take much longer if I were to spell it out, and its likely they would make typos. By handing me their device, its a sense of trust doing so. In return, I give internet access.
archi42 4y ago
Even more handy when you're using enterprise auth and just add a user for each guest (that's were I'm eventually going, but first the self hosted stuff gets SSO). A made-up word also works well and even thwarts a dictionary attack (which is a real issue).
_def 4y ago
I have a qr code on my wall, with the guest wifi password written below the code and an nfc tag sticked on the back. I think so far most people just typed it
dotBen 4y ago
Sure a QR code is cool, but it's pointless for getting laptops onto a network and for the most part isn't that the main usecase for needing to get onto someone's 3rd party wifi (eg at an office, airBnB, etc?). My phone has existing connectivity most of the time and it's rare that I need to connect it to wifi. Or that wifi would be preferable over my own 5G (or LTE) data connection. Not hating, this is neat, but it seems low value. Certainly printing _only_ a QR code feels sub-optmial as it doesn't cover the laptop usecase.
- jimmaswell 4y ago
  I find service often poor inside buildings even with a new phone and using Verizon towers, so I always connect to WiFi if it's present.
- samatman 4y ago
  Hadn't even occurred to me since my phone will hand any WiFi it's connected to off to my computer.
  - joeframbach 4y ago
    What's your workflow for this?
    - samatman 4y ago
      Step one: use an iPhone and Mac. Basically, no step two. Putting a password into a WiFi network is an at-most-once thing.
mherdeg 4y ago
josefresco 4y ago
This is super cool and would be awesome for situations where your guests are familiar with QR codes. But from my experience the process would go something like this: Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: No password needed! We have a cool QR code you can scan that will auto-join you! Visitor: Oh cool, how do I use a QR code? Do I need an app? Me: Nope, just point your camera at it. Visitor: Like .. .take a picture of it? And then what, do I... Me: No just point your camera at it. Visitor: Ok let me try it ... oh cool it's prompting me to join your wifi network? what do I do now Me: Yes Yes, just proceed, that's what it's for. Visitor: That's soo cool, thanks. Vs Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: ShinyTortoise78
- brewdad 4y ago
  I agree with scenario one but also think you went too simplistic on the second scenario. Even with a simple wifi password like you suggested, you still need to specify the uppercase letters and plenty of people might have trouble spelling tortoise correctly on the first try. Nevermind the fact that my friends group tends to be about 50% passwords of the type you used and the other 50% of them use a randomly generated one from a pw generator or add enough random capitalization of things like family member names to make it awkward. More often than not, I end up handing them my device to type it themselves. The QR code seems a much simpler solution once people know how to use them. Thanks to things like electronic menus at restaurants due to Covid more folks than you might realize actually do know what to do. If grandma can learn how to use a QR code to access the high school band concert program online (true story), then anyone can. Teach a man to fish.
  - citizenkeen 4y ago
    It's fourwordsalluppercase, one word, all lower case. Obviously.
    - scatters 4y ago
      https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-it-would-be-really-annoying-to-give-out-over-the-phone https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-it-woul...
eimrine 4y ago
This weekend I went to my dacha neighbor to ask a wifi password. All I had is a laptop with half-tuned Debian (do not use no smartphones). He gave me that QR and I could not read it because QR is not text. He is not a technician and I did not want to persist in my ask, so the situation ended up with no internets for me :( Please stop using human-unreadable protocols if opposite is possible.
- volume 4y ago
  > Please stop using human-unreadable protocols if opposite is possible how about use both
- usr1106 4y ago
  Of course using Debian you can decode that QR (don't remember how from the top of my head, but I remember decoding my EU COVID-19 certificate. Well, unless you don't even have a digital camera with some data path to your Debian.
- ircop420 4y ago
  If you have an integrated webcam there's a nifty package called 'zbar-tools' in debian repos that has a utilty named 'zbarcam' that identifies barcodes from your webcam and outputs them to standard output. Too little too late, I know, but nifty to have in the future.
  - ris58h 4y ago
    So just install a program to read qr? Oh wait, I don't have internet.
noobermin 4y ago
I am freaking tired of QR codes. I recently moved to another country (SG) and QR codes are literally used for almost everything now, essentially requiring a phone (and good lighting and a clean camera) to do almost anything. At least once a week I have to idle around waiting for a link to load in order to pay a vendor because scanning a qr-code under a glossy plastic standee is taking too long to read. I love how developers are all so lovingly inconsistent. On one hand they swear up and down that binary formats are shite and now human-readable formats are the new thing (or at least that was the story a few years back with various markup languages and json) but now, for those stupid fucking idiot users opaque formats that require a functioning camera line of sight clear to a piece of paper are now IN. Minimized urls are too passe, I suppose? And it's great too, because scammers and hackers are now dropping QR codes on the ground or leaflets, or placing stickers on the QR codes that dot the landscape (like on public info posters or ads put up in HDBs) so poor folks who have learned that the QR code is how you do things now just load up the QR codes without asking. Again, opaque formats are NOT good for many reasons, ease of hacking/social engineering is one reason obvious reason! Of course you can put a sticker on poster on a url but it's easy to recognize the difference between mysite.com/about and something else vs qr code 1 and qr code 2.
- cowtools 4y ago
  What if instead of QR, it was a special human-readable text format that was optimized for image recognition? Like a special font or something.
  - itake 4y ago
    I suspect that the cameras on low-end phones would struggle with OCR text in suboptimal conditions (low-light or damaged text). QR codes have redundancy, which makes them resilient in a variety of conditions that plaintext isn't. Also, you can 'hide' ugly tracking urls in QR codes (e.g. a short-link that lets you count number of scans or update the redirect location).
    - lolcat_cowsay 4y ago
joeframbach 4y ago
I once had an idea to generate "hidden" qr codes in art and photos. Initially I wanted to take a photo of a giraffe and replace one of its spots with a QR code, and hang it in my living room for guests to scan. It turned into this (broken) website: https://www.qraffe.com/ https://www.qraffe.com/. I don't have a lot of time right now to fix it. The pdf rendering is broken. If anyone likes this idea and wants to help with a PR, I'll be mighty appreciative. https://github.com/joeframbach/qraffe https://github.com/joeframbach/qraffe
- glogla 4y ago
  This is so cool!
- tetha 4y ago
  Hmm, after tinkering around a bit, I think according to https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 , the mask element in the giraffe SVGs is not supported in the PDF converter. It is just dropped, leafing the qraffe rather qr-less. But I sadly know neither svg enough to think up an alternative approach, or a JS/TS dev enough to see if there are other libraries.
  - joeframbach 4y ago
    That is likely the issue. The alternative is to use Lambda to render pdfs on the server side, but I wanted to keep this fully on the client side as a static site (to avoid any trust issues with sending your wifi credentials to strangers). I may have to pay up real $$ if I want to do this "right".
    - pluijzer 4y ago
      Didn't look at your code but I had good results with using dom-to-pdf with converting quite complex svg's to pdf's cliënt site. Though I remember it needed a trivial fix to render pdf's larger than the current viewport. You might want to take a look.
andrewshadura 4y ago
qifi.org
jeffbee 4y ago
I'm guessing nobody remembers "warchalking".
beckingz 4y ago
I do this and it's great. Everyone enjoys scanning it and doesn't have to fiddle with the credential entry.
- sdfhdhjdw3 4y ago
  > Everyone enjoys scanning it What kind of backwards country do you live in where people _enjoy_ scanning QR codes?
JadoJodo 4y ago
This is cool, and I have done this in the past, but it's worth keeping something in mind: Make sure the QR code is NOT visible from outside via the windows in your house.
ream88 4y ago
Build something like this on my own, renders 4 QR codes when printing it out on your printer: https://wifi.mariouher.com/ https://wifi.mariouher.com/
Jamie9912 4y ago
Funny I was just at Bletchley park and one of the exhibits mentions you JGC for contacting Gordon Brown in 2009 about Alan Turing's pardon :)
deathanatos 4y ago
Now if only Comcast modems could scan these, I could use this to set the WiFi password (/s), since it forgets every time it is reset (…less /s). … too bad I'm with a different monopoly ISP now. Their Wifi just drops you if you are on the 5 GHz bands and transmit anywhere remotely near full throttle. So you have to stay on the 2.4 GHz and weep.
- zaptrem 4y ago
  Why not buy your own router or access point? Spectrum even let us buy our own modem.
umvi 4y ago
"Which when scanned with the default camera app on iOS or Android will pop up something similar to this. With one click you're connected to the network." I have never had an Android phone with the ability to scan QR codes with the "default camera app". The closest I've gotten is taking a picture of the QR code and then going into my pictures and using "Google Lens" to scan the picture for QR codes. Usually I end up downloading a dedicated QR scanner app from the app store, which I have zero confidence will be able to auto-connect me to someone's WiFi.
- jonathantf2 4y ago
  Both my Pixel phone and Samsung tablet pick up URLs and SSIDs from the QR code using the stock camera app.
  - umvi 4y ago
    My last phone, LG Nexus 5X, couldn't do this. My current phone, Unihertz Jelly 2, also can't do this. Guess I have to buy the "premium" brand Androids for this feature.
    - jonathantf2 4y ago
      The Nexus 5X is nearly 7 years old at this point and from a quick Google the Unihertz is advertising the fact that it runs Android 10 (released in 2019) so it's probably to do with the out of date software.
    - toast0 4y ago
      You're not missing out. My moto g power (2020) can sometimes manage the feature, but only sometimes. Sometimes it just won't scan with the regular camera and you've got to open a dedicated qr scanner... So you're really better off starting with the dedicated qr scanner... except I have a button on the home screen for the camera and have to dig for the dedicated app.
      - jonah 4y ago
kayodelycaon 4y ago
I solved this by having a framed piece of paper on my wall: GUEST WIFI SSID: AAA Guest Password: squirrels2 I should add a QR code to it. :)
shujito 4y ago
Anyone using zxing bar code generator [1]? it has a Wifi option. [1] https://zxing.appspot.com/generator https://zxing.appspot.com/generator
davidpfarrell 4y ago
A golang project I follow (and use) that generates wifi QR codes from the command line: https://github.com/reugn/wifiqr https://github.com/reugn/wifiqr
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jonah 4y ago
Yup, we've been doing this in our office for guests for quite a while. Works great!
egberts1 4y ago
WARNING: Dad Joke Admin: Make up a password, make sure your password has at least 8 characters and have capitalize letters. Blonde: Ok, my password is “MickeyMinniePlutoGoofyDonaldHueyDeweyLouie“
prmoustache 4y ago
Who asks for wifi in 2022? Everybody has a mobile data plan these days.
- Schinken_ 4y ago
  Welcome to Germany where your mobile plan is expensive and Limited. Also: Traffic limits suck
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- justasitsounds 4y ago
  My house is in a mobile phone blackspot - no reception on any network. I tell every guest if they want to receive or make calls they have to join my wifi and enable wifi calling.
slaymaker1907 4y ago
Has anyone gotten bluetooth connections via QR code working? I really miss the time when you could listen to a friend's music in the car just by letting them plug into the aux port.
mishftw 4y ago
I've been doing this ever since I discovered my OnePlus 5T years ago generated a QR code to share WiFi details. It's more of a cool factor with friends but still pretty convenient. Folks in my age group almost intuitively know how to point a camera / get the results.
AtNightWeCode 4y ago
Nice. The camera app on Windows can scan the code. But the link does not work. Rickrolling was more fun when there was no ads btw.
langsoul-com 4y ago
I like the idea in the comments, set the WiFi password an NFC tag.
tiffanyh 4y ago
For those unaware, this is jgrahamc blog. He’s the CTO of Cloudflare and super active on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jgrahamc https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jgrahamc
- jgrahamc 4y ago
  That's true. Although my blog's random wanderings are somewhat different from my work life.
nuker 4y ago
And then it gets into Facebook and Twitter accidentally shared by your guests
somishere 4y ago
Can confirm this method works surprising well in practice! Most people just get it. I used it with great success to connect people to a WLAN while at sea (and without phone reception / internet to allow googling "what is qr"). That said, it is worth including the password below the QR just in case someone's camera is old or playing up (this happened). I also added an NFC sticker for the tech woke.
mertysn 4y ago
I used https://wificard.io/ https://wificard.io/ and put the QR in my living room. It also has the option to include text for people who would like to manually connect. My friends love it.
sorz 4y ago
Does it work for WPA3-Personal network?
rsync 4y ago
I've started deploying purpose-specific APs that I simply plug and unplug as I see fit. So, for instance, if I want to use tor, I have an actual tor ap that is normally powered off. I plug in the PoE connection and a bit later I have an SSID that is Tor only. I also have a "guest users" AP that has no password at all. Plug it in when needed. Unplug when people leave. Shrug. I use the Ubiquiti frisbee APs that are PoE. Sometimes I insert a "slug"[1] between the switch and the AP which strictly enforces their purpose - like hard locking them to a VPN. [1] https://john.kozubik.com/pub/NetworkSlug/tip.html https://john.kozubik.com/pub/NetworkSlug/tip.html
Viccro 4y ago
The cross stitch community has been doing this for years! 10/10 craft idea.

408 points by jgrahamc 4y ago

I made an iOS Shortcut for this so I can ask Siri for the QR code when needed. There's a built in "Generate QR Code" action that can take a text action containing the wifi string. Only issue is hard coding the password in the shortcut.

woevdbz 4y ago

You can also generate the QR code from an Android phone by going to WiFi settings, and tapping the "Share" from the details view of the network in question (assuming the phone is already connected to that network)

phailhaus 4y ago

You can also do this with NFC tags, though I've had mixed success with iPhones.

ComputerCat 4y ago

Such a cute idea! Definitely wouldn't work when my parents come over though

latchkey 4y ago

Call me paranoid, but I've taken to not scanning "public" QR codes any longer [1]. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/07/are-qr-codes-safe/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/07/are-qr-...

btmiller 4y ago
There is way too much human interest to that article and way too little substance on the problems. Tl;dr - there’s no security risk unique to QR codes are that aren’t simply present on the Internet at-large.
- kube-system 4y ago
  Yes, but there are security risks unique to QR code menus at pizza joints that aren't present on pizza joint menus at large. The status quo for restaurant menus is printed text. Also, QR codes obfuscate the request that is being sent.
- latchkey 4y ago
  The link to the article wasn't intended to be the be-all reason... just a general "something to think about here". There is an inherent security risk... it is trivial, as the OPs article suggests, to print out a QR code, cover an existing public one, and send people to a phishing site. Unless people are being very careful about what sites they are on, they could easily be scammed.

dbg31415 4y ago

https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ Works for Text Messages too! (= I made a QR Code for my contact info in a VCard and set it as the home screen of my phone -- when I go to conventions it makes it really easy to connect with people. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do with QR Codes now. Most of this stuff is 5-10 years old even, but the pandemic really helped educated people to look for QR Codes. Yay, Covid! =P

bityard 4y ago
It would not use that one, it sends the network name and password to a server. This was easy to verify with browser dev tools. There are QR code generators that are work entirely client-side, I would trust those much more, or just use a native app.

megraf 4y ago

I've done something similar, but didn't like the static passwords. My guest wifi password is the current date, in YYYY-MM-DD format, it's been a great way to keep my guests (mildly) satisfied. The format changes on occasion

Brajeshwar 4y ago
Is this automated or do you need to change every time Guests are expected?
- megraf 4y ago
  This is automated, with a shell script and DDWRT
h4waii 4y ago
So guests who stay overnight have to enter a new password after your script runs at 00:01?

Brajeshwar 4y ago

I started with this quite a long back, way before a separate Guest Wi-Fi was commonplace and we were OK just sharing the Wi-Fi. My ideology with guest at home was to offer Water and Wi-Fi. Guest were happy when Mobile Phone signals were bad (slow) and costly. I've forgotten the tool used but I had a QR-Code for the guest Wi-Fi for a very long time. These days, people don't really care as the Internet speed on their phones are pretty fast enough and the cost is very cheap (India).

gravitate 4y ago
I switched to guest networks after I accidentally casted a browsing session to the TV with Chrome and a Chromecast plugged into the TV. Luckily nothing sensitive was shown but it could’ve been embarrassing with other (NSFW) content shown. The guest networks are segmented and use their own VLAN
- bradstewart 4y ago
  How do guest networks solve this? You switch wifi networks before you want to use Chromecast?
  - aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
    Yes.

bennyp101 4y ago

I do the same thing, I had some little wooden etched boards made up with the ssid and and password on, then on the back is the qrcode for it. Super easy to hand to a visitor that can either scan or type in.

phoronixrly 4y ago

Making an online wifi QR code generator seems like a nifty way to make a good password dictionary. Just saying.

toyg 4y ago
The one featured seems fairly legit, I believe it pre-dates the wifi spec.
btmiller 4y ago
For Wi-Fi though? Seems relatively low risk to me. Concerns over password security can be mitigated by those that care by using unique, randomly-generates strings per service.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  People are generally less worried about wifi password quality, so perhaps a DB of the general types of passwords people use would be useful for an attacker? (regardless of the ability to defend oneself -- in any dense population area, the attacker only has to find one person with a poor password)
- banana_giraffe 4y ago
  The random string I use for my IoT devices' wifi password showed up on haveibeenpwned, so some IoT device cared enough about it to leak it.
- phoronixrly 4y ago
  Don't know... Having an intruder in your home wifi seems pretty high risk to me. And I don't even live in a country with high chance to get killed upon a visit by your friendly neighbourhood SWAT team...
jve 4y ago
Wifi QR code generation is built-in within Android: https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/how-to-scan-wifi-qr-code-on-android-and-iphone/ https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/how-to-scan-wifi-qr-code-o...

kevincox 4y ago

I've done this for years, quite convenient. I also have an NFC tag with the WiFi which works quicker (no need to open a QR scanner and no need to focus on the image for a sec) but I'm not sure if iOS supports it. I've put the tag behind the wifi "frame" so that you can just tap it instead of scanning it. Android also has the option to "share" wifi via a QR code from the WiFi settings menu. It is quick and much easier than reading out the password to someone else.

dcdc123 4y ago
iOS lets you share wifi passwords with someone else around you if they are trying to connect. I _think_ it uses your AirDrop privacy settings so for most reasonable people it would only work for people in their contact list.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  It is a pretty neat feature. The only thing I don't love about it is, there's very little user feedback. The person requesting just goes to the wifi password prompt and hopefully this generates the notification for one of their contacts. Nice when it magically works (you go to wifi, and then someone in the room is like "Hey, dcdc123 wants the wifi password" and you are like "yep," and then it's all sorted), annoying when you are intentionally trying to use it with one particular person. It would be nice if it showed something like "looking for contacts" "found <NAME>" etc etc.
  - dcdc123 4y ago
    My wife and I travel together full time so we connect to a lot of new networks. Sadly the feature is so buggy it is almost useless to us. Probably one in three tries it just hangs the receiver's UI making it so they cannot cancel, enter password, etc. We avoid using it now.
toyg 4y ago
What do you need, to produce (or rather program) nfc tags...? I guess they don't have usb ports, lol.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

That's a great idea! Of course, it has potential security issues; but no more than your standard sign in a store or boardroom.

willis936 4y ago
The risk is small if you isolate clients from everything on LAN and limit bandwidth.

nahimn 4y ago

Someoned posted https://wificard.io/ https://wificard.io/ a while ago... pretty neat

SamuelAdams 4y ago
Yeah we use this for our AirBnB, print a page and put it in the guest book. Super convenient and clients like it.
K7PJP 4y ago
Thanks! This site actually produces attractive output which includes some instructions, as well as the network name and password, something other sites don't offer. It is handy to be able to have the password visible for situations where the QR Code isn't a viable option, like setting up a laptop.

dcdc123 4y ago

I've suggested this to every AirBnB I have stayed in. Sadly I am up to about 75-100 of them and have come across this a grand total of zero times.

dmosley 4y ago
This right here. I've done the same. It's absurd the level of password hoops at some places. I appreciate the secure password, but when it's hand written in marker and faded it can be quite frustrating.
tlrobinson 4y ago
Idea: make one for each AirBnB you stay in. If you don’t have access to a printer while you’re there email them a PDF.
jordsta 4y ago
It might have to be setup by an Airbnb host but the past few places I've stayed at had the ability to press a button inside the Airbnb app to automatically connect to their WiFi. Definitely saves some of the less tech-savvy hosts from having to figure out how to create a WiFi QR Code and print it out

koins 4y ago

Bit of a self-plug I know, but this reminds me of something I had made a while back (https://github.com/kmanc/wifi_qr https://github.com/kmanc/wifi_qr). Nice work! Always fun to see others' take on neat projects

jgrahamc 4y ago
Amazing. I literally did this and then decided it was overkill. Almost with the same hardware!
- koins 4y ago
  Lol that's awesome EDIT - I had an idea that I'm currently working through that I like but am a little stuck so taking a break before I revisit. TLDR is to use an ATTINY85 to auto-"type" the password in for folks who bring a laptop and can't scan the QR code. I wrote the Python code to generate the .ino script that would actually do the writing, but I'm having a little bit of trouble getting micronucleus to write the script to the ATTINY without an un/re plug. You can see the WIP on my digispark branch in that repo
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Wouldn’t it be easier/maybe more practical to print the password to the e-ink screen as well? (QR code error correction is usually enough to let you just knock out part of it and put the text right there.)
    - koins 4y ago
      Maybe! The problem I was trying to solve was that a 30 character password randomly generated is a pain to type out by hand haha. That said I think having the text would be a step in the right direction
      - ok_dad 4y ago
        Bootstrap it with a shorter password: 1. Have the display show a 5-digit PIN (TOTP or something that changes every minute or few) 2. Let anyone connect to your network, if they go to a browser window it will show the capture portal 3. Enter the 5-digit PIN and press "enter" and the page will show the 30-digit password so the user can copy+paste 4. User pastes password into WiFi screen and logs in Make sure to rate-limit this endpoint to prevent random PIN attacks.

js2 4y ago

Here's what I do in my home: I've had the same easy-to-type WiFi password (it's a name and a four-digit year) since 2005 and I just tell my guests. It's not even a guest network. It's just my network. Free hugs in my house too.

roozbeh18 4y ago
:)
ryanianian 4y ago
That seems fine until someone's compromised device joins your network, sniffs for open ports, and starts uploading or ransomware-encrypting your NAS.
- deathanatos 4y ago
  Secure the NAS. I.e., treat the network as an extension of the Internet, that is, assume it's compromised. Since … it basically is, given the crap hardware ISPs foist upon people.
- js2 4y ago
  My NAS is more likely to melt down into slag in a house fire. I have offsite backups of critical data.

emilfihlman 4y ago

Please do not only offer qr codes. Some people might not have (working) cameras.

steve918 4y ago
Or they could just be trying to connect from a laptop! Or a mobile device that doesn't understand how to parse this sort of WIFI connection code. Is this any sort of standard? Do Kindle devices support it?
- mcculley 4y ago
  https://github.com/zxing/zxing/wiki/Barcode-Contents#wi-fi-network-config-android-ios-11 https://github.com/zxing/zxing/wiki/Barcode-Contents#wi-fi-n...
hoherd 4y ago
https://qifi.org https://qifi.org will give you text and a QR code in one printable graphic.

MikeKusold 4y ago

If you want to 3D Print your QR code, this site generates an STL: https://printer.tools/qrcode2stl/ https://printer.tools/qrcode2stl/ If you add the key tag, you can hang it on the wall. Works well with a light-color background, and a dark foreground.

santamex 4y ago

Standard in the AVM FRITZ!Box. https://avm.de/ratgeber/wlan-zugang-teilen-mit-qr-codes-geht-es-ganz-einfach/ https://avm.de/ratgeber/wlan-zugang-teilen-mit-qr-codes-geht... Edit: English: https://en.avm.de/guide/how-to-share-your-wi-fi-access-with-a-qr-code/ https://en.avm.de/guide/how-to-share-your-wi-fi-access-with-...

peteri 4y ago
Thanks for that, I have some visitors next week and I knew I'd seen that as a feature somewhere (just couldn't find it in the UI)

dangrossman 4y ago

I print wifi QR codes on wood signs and on cork coasters for Airbnb/VRBO hosts. It's a good little side business. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ligninandlight?section_id=28828952 https://www.etsy.com/shop/ligninandlight?section_id=28828952

Fnoord 4y ago
Nice, but I don't like such being forced to be a static PSK. Instead, could also make an e-paper device for this. Perhaps it would work on badgerOS?
- langsoul-com 4y ago
  Isn't there qr codes that can automatically update their values? That could work. Otherwise just buying those picture viewers and setting a qr image would be easiest.
  - dangrossman 4y ago
    A picture of a QR code will always be the same QR code. There are QR code generators that purport to let you update the value... but they're basically just hosting a link shortener service, giving you a QR code encoding that link, and letting you change where the link redirects to. That wouldn't work with a QR code for wifi, since the QR code does not point to a link, it directly encodes the SSID and password for a wifi network.
    - silentguy 4y ago
      Can the http link not be directed to other protocols like FTP, or WIFI:T:WPA;S:{ssid};P:{password};; in this case? I guess this might have some security implication. And, some clients can block such redirection. I tried with HTML href on my mac. It didn't work. Maybe it'd work on phones.
      - Fnoord 4y ago
        The dynamic vs static is also one of the criticisms to NFTs. They're just links to dynamic content in a distributed database. The content itself could change any time, or go down. But it looks like it works (there's a word for this: scam). How would you use a dynamic link like HTTPS URL shortener if you're trying to achieve internet access? You could overcomplicate it with another AP which only works with QR code. A colleague once painted a QR code, kinda cool its possible and it worked, but its no magic. Its just static content. If you want it to be dynamic, e-ink is perfect for this purpose. It doesn't require electricity, only if you change the content. So if it is say a Raspberry Pi Zero, it could be powered off, and only get powered on when required (even the e-ink screen itself could be detached). I know they use captive portals a lot for this purpose but I don't see how say WPA2/3 Enterprise could not work for this.

graton 4y ago

It uses the form of: WIFI:T:WPA;S:{ssid};P:{password};; Can generate these on Linux with the qrencode program. Wikipedia has information on this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91F... Section of the Wikipedia article: Joining a Wi‑Fi network By specifying the SSID, encryption type, password/passphrase, and if the SSID is hidden or not, mobile device users can quickly scan and join networks without having to manually enter the data. Note that this technique is valid for specifying only static SSID passwords (i.e. PSK); dynamic user credentials (i.e. Enterprise/802.1x) cannot be encoded in this manner. The format of the encoded string is: WIFI:S:<SSID>;T:<WPA|WEP|>;P:<password>;H:<true|false|>; Order of fields does not matter. Special characters """ (quotation mark), ";" (semicolon), "," (comma), ":" (colon) and "\" (backslash) should be escaped with a backslash ("\") as in MECARD encoding. For example, if an SSID were "foo;bar\baz", with quotation marks part of the literal SSID name itself, this would be encoded as: WIFI:S:\"foo\;bar\\baz\";;

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
silvestrov 4y ago
why couldn't they just use normal URL query param escaping? Always reinventing the wheel, badly. WIFI:t=wpa&s=My%20Network&p=secret%20word would have been much better.
- ircop420 4y ago
  Data is expensive in QR land or your resulting QR code becomes larger in size, requiring more physical space to display. URL encoding has a lot of overhead. Also '\' escaping has preceded the existence of URLs. I'm not sure who is doing the reinventing here.
  - silvestrov 4y ago
    Only encoded characters take up more space and you don't have to escape: quotation mark, semicolon, comma, colon or backslash. So I think the difference is small. QR codes can contain quite a bit more information than what's needed for WIFI name and password.

lostmsu 4y ago

https://www.eff.org/pages/openwirelessorg https://www.eff.org/pages/openwirelessorg

3dprintscanner 4y ago

A QR code by itself is completely unreadable to a human. Can't this have the SSID / password too? All too often you see what should be simple textual data wrapped in this obtuse form which only specific machines can read. Text and a QR code can be read by everyone. See: <https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233 https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233> for context

mrkramer 4y ago
>Can't this have the SSID/password too? Already linked by people in this topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91F... >All too often you see what should be simple textual data wrapped in this obtuse form which only specific machines can read. >See: <https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233 https://twitter.com/adambowie/status/1521078234057695233> for context This is misuse of QR code; QR codes should be used to encode large data or some other clunky data that is hard for people to process that's why it is easier to look up such data/information with QR code and process/read it digitally. After all you have a camera in your pocket and a preinstalled QR code scanner(at least all new Android phones have). The main use case of QR codes that I see is simply linking you to a website. For example your favorite food brand links you to their website to explore their offering. >Text and a QR code can be read by everyone. Yea I agree with you that both plain text and a QR code should be shared so people can use what suits them the best at that particular moment.
rntksi 4y ago
Agreed. Where I used to work, IT started replacing the guest wifi (password changes monthly) with QR code instead of printing out the password on a piece of paper. It's really cumbersome when I want to join on my laptop.

tkuraku 4y ago

I print out a sheet with some text (including the network SSID and password) and a QR code to connect to the guest wifi using libre office writer. It has a built in qr code generator. The QR code text for a wifi password is here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%91Fi_network https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Joining_a_Wi%E2%80%9.... No need for any special third party tools.

wahern 4y ago
There's also the LaTeX qrcode package, bundled with distributions like TeX Live. Minimal working example reduced from my own template: \newcommand*{\SSID}[0]{NETWORK} \newcommand*{\PASS}[0]{PASSWORD} \documentclass{letter} \usepackage{qrcode} \begin{document} \begin{center} \LARGE{``\SSID'' WiFi QR code} \qrcode[height=5cm]{WIFI:S:\SSID;T:WPA;P:\PASS;H:false;} \end{center} \end{document}

Schinken_ 4y ago

I did a set of 3D printed QR codes with integrated NFC stickers used as drink coasters for a friend and myself. They're pretty neat and always a talking point.

humanwhosits 4y ago

I'd love a CLI version that just produces an image or pdf file

david-ch 4y ago

[dead]

UIUC_06 4y ago

I've done techie things just because they were fun & cool, so this isn't a criticism. However, having a phone number not your own (or indeed, any number of less than 7 digits) that you can memorize and tell your guests works just as well. Change it as soon as they leave, bada bing, bada boom, done.

ircop420 4y ago
Well, firstly you have to have a password of >=8 chars for WPA. Secondly, having such a short non-complex password is going to easily be crackable with a deauth and 3-way handshake capture attack. Would easily crack on a 5 year old laptop in minutes even w/o GPU.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- UIUC_06 4y ago
  wow, these hackers sure are clever & patient: they're hanging around outside your house, just waiting for you to have a guest, so they can use your limited-BW guest network where you can log everything they do. OK, go ahead and set up a QR code. Who said you can't?

kazinator 4y ago

Why does the QR code encode whether the access point is hidden or not? It has the SSID.

wingspan 4y ago

Nice! I put together a single file offline HTML version [1] with a demo [2] using only a CDN-hosted QR library. [1] https://gist.github.com/ianobermiller/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742d97fe1f82d https://gist.github.com/ianobermiller/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742... [2] https://bl.ocks.org/ianobermiller/raw/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742d97fe1f82d https://bl.ocks.org/ianobermiller/raw/9f17f1022bc75c2228d742...

vel0city 4y ago

I had a lot of WiFi QR codes around the house and in the office. People seemed to often just ask for the WiFi password instead of bothering to figure out how to scan the QR code. Maybe things are different post-COVID where QR-code menus became the norm for a while, but in the past people seemed to not really care or understand QR codes.

Fnoord 4y ago

I tell guests its a long, complex password (it is, and it is on a separate VLAN where all my IoT resides, too). I then ask them to hand over their device so I can enter the password. There's a trust thing going on there, but this is deliberate as the trust goes both ways (my internet connection). If they don't trust me to fill in my password on their device (they may of course watch me do it), I wouldn't want them on my network. That never happened but I don't run a bnb.

usr1106 4y ago
Using WiFi hotspots is very much history in Finland. Nearly everyone has unlimited 4G at least and most populated places have coverage. Using a laptop in a café might still be a use case if you don't want to run your phone hot and drain the battery. We enjoy the cheapest data rates in Europe and certainly cheaper than in the US. Which is kind of weird because in general price level is everything else but low.
no_circuit 4y ago
What is the purpose of typing in the password for them? It's not keeping it a secret. Usually the OS lets you see it. For example on macOS they can just search for it Keychain Access, and even though they may not be able to get to it on iOS, the built-in WiFi sharing will bring that password to their Mac for viewing there. IMO it is just easier to display it on a computer screen in a large-sized text and let them type it in themselves, e.g., the 1Password large type show option. Seeing separate VLAN being mentioned makes me think you are also have the ability to run a temporary additional WiFi network when guests are over as well. That could just use a rotating password with a memorable word scheme to make it easier to type.
- Fnoord 4y ago
  Yes I am aware of that they can read the password (if not in memory). These friends are not very technical, and the purpose is that I use their device to fill in the complex password. It would take much longer if I were to spell it out, and its likely they would make typos. By handing me their device, its a sense of trust doing so. In return, I give internet access.

archi42 4y ago

Even more handy when you're using enterprise auth and just add a user for each guest (that's were I'm eventually going, but first the self hosted stuff gets SSO). A made-up word also works well and even thwarts a dictionary attack (which is a real issue).

_def 4y ago

I have a qr code on my wall, with the guest wifi password written below the code and an nfc tag sticked on the back. I think so far most people just typed it

dotBen 4y ago

Sure a QR code is cool, but it's pointless for getting laptops onto a network and for the most part isn't that the main usecase for needing to get onto someone's 3rd party wifi (eg at an office, airBnB, etc?). My phone has existing connectivity most of the time and it's rare that I need to connect it to wifi. Or that wifi would be preferable over my own 5G (or LTE) data connection. Not hating, this is neat, but it seems low value. Certainly printing _only_ a QR code feels sub-optmial as it doesn't cover the laptop usecase.

jimmaswell 4y ago
I find service often poor inside buildings even with a new phone and using Verizon towers, so I always connect to WiFi if it's present.
samatman 4y ago
Hadn't even occurred to me since my phone will hand any WiFi it's connected to off to my computer.
- joeframbach 4y ago
  What's your workflow for this?
  - samatman 4y ago
    Step one: use an iPhone and Mac. Basically, no step two. Putting a password into a WiFi network is an at-most-once thing.

mherdeg 4y ago

josefresco 4y ago

This is super cool and would be awesome for situations where your guests are familiar with QR codes. But from my experience the process would go something like this: Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: No password needed! We have a cool QR code you can scan that will auto-join you! Visitor: Oh cool, how do I use a QR code? Do I need an app? Me: Nope, just point your camera at it. Visitor: Like .. .take a picture of it? And then what, do I... Me: No just point your camera at it. Visitor: Ok let me try it ... oh cool it's prompting me to join your wifi network? what do I do now Me: Yes Yes, just proceed, that's what it's for. Visitor: That's soo cool, thanks. Vs Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: ShinyTortoise78

brewdad 4y ago
I agree with scenario one but also think you went too simplistic on the second scenario. Even with a simple wifi password like you suggested, you still need to specify the uppercase letters and plenty of people might have trouble spelling tortoise correctly on the first try. Nevermind the fact that my friends group tends to be about 50% passwords of the type you used and the other 50% of them use a randomly generated one from a pw generator or add enough random capitalization of things like family member names to make it awkward. More often than not, I end up handing them my device to type it themselves. The QR code seems a much simpler solution once people know how to use them. Thanks to things like electronic menus at restaurants due to Covid more folks than you might realize actually do know what to do. If grandma can learn how to use a QR code to access the high school band concert program online (true story), then anyone can. Teach a man to fish.
- citizenkeen 4y ago
  It's fourwordsalluppercase, one word, all lower case. Obviously.
  - scatters 4y ago
    https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-it-would-be-really-annoying-to-give-out-over-the-phone https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-it-woul...

eimrine 4y ago

This weekend I went to my dacha neighbor to ask a wifi password. All I had is a laptop with half-tuned Debian (do not use no smartphones). He gave me that QR and I could not read it because QR is not text. He is not a technician and I did not want to persist in my ask, so the situation ended up with no internets for me :( Please stop using human-unreadable protocols if opposite is possible.

volume 4y ago
> Please stop using human-unreadable protocols if opposite is possible how about use both
usr1106 4y ago
Of course using Debian you can decode that QR (don't remember how from the top of my head, but I remember decoding my EU COVID-19 certificate. Well, unless you don't even have a digital camera with some data path to your Debian.
ircop420 4y ago
If you have an integrated webcam there's a nifty package called 'zbar-tools' in debian repos that has a utilty named 'zbarcam' that identifies barcodes from your webcam and outputs them to standard output. Too little too late, I know, but nifty to have in the future.
- ris58h 4y ago
  So just install a program to read qr? Oh wait, I don't have internet.

noobermin 4y ago

I am freaking tired of QR codes. I recently moved to another country (SG) and QR codes are literally used for almost everything now, essentially requiring a phone (and good lighting and a clean camera) to do almost anything. At least once a week I have to idle around waiting for a link to load in order to pay a vendor because scanning a qr-code under a glossy plastic standee is taking too long to read. I love how developers are all so lovingly inconsistent. On one hand they swear up and down that binary formats are shite and now human-readable formats are the new thing (or at least that was the story a few years back with various markup languages and json) but now, for those stupid fucking idiot users opaque formats that require a functioning camera line of sight clear to a piece of paper are now IN. Minimized urls are too passe, I suppose? And it's great too, because scammers and hackers are now dropping QR codes on the ground or leaflets, or placing stickers on the QR codes that dot the landscape (like on public info posters or ads put up in HDBs) so poor folks who have learned that the QR code is how you do things now just load up the QR codes without asking. Again, opaque formats are NOT good for many reasons, ease of hacking/social engineering is one reason obvious reason! Of course you can put a sticker on poster on a url but it's easy to recognize the difference between mysite.com/about and something else vs qr code 1 and qr code 2.

cowtools 4y ago
What if instead of QR, it was a special human-readable text format that was optimized for image recognition? Like a special font or something.
- itake 4y ago
  I suspect that the cameras on low-end phones would struggle with OCR text in suboptimal conditions (low-light or damaged text). QR codes have redundancy, which makes them resilient in a variety of conditions that plaintext isn't. Also, you can 'hide' ugly tracking urls in QR codes (e.g. a short-link that lets you count number of scans or update the redirect location).
  - lolcat_cowsay 4y ago

joeframbach 4y ago

I once had an idea to generate "hidden" qr codes in art and photos. Initially I wanted to take a photo of a giraffe and replace one of its spots with a QR code, and hang it in my living room for guests to scan. It turned into this (broken) website: https://www.qraffe.com/ https://www.qraffe.com/. I don't have a lot of time right now to fix it. The pdf rendering is broken. If anyone likes this idea and wants to help with a PR, I'll be mighty appreciative. https://github.com/joeframbach/qraffe https://github.com/joeframbach/qraffe

glogla 4y ago
This is so cool!
tetha 4y ago
Hmm, after tinkering around a bit, I think according to https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 , the mask element in the giraffe SVGs is not supported in the PDF converter. It is just dropped, leafing the qraffe rather qr-less. But I sadly know neither svg enough to think up an alternative approach, or a JS/TS dev enough to see if there are other libraries.
- joeframbach 4y ago
  That is likely the issue. The alternative is to use Lambda to render pdfs on the server side, but I wanted to keep this fully on the client side as a static site (to avoid any trust issues with sending your wifi credentials to strangers). I may have to pay up real $$ if I want to do this "right".
  - pluijzer 4y ago
    Didn't look at your code but I had good results with using dom-to-pdf with converting quite complex svg's to pdf's cliënt site. Though I remember it needed a trivial fix to render pdf's larger than the current viewport. You might want to take a look.

andrewshadura 4y ago

qifi.org

jeffbee 4y ago

I'm guessing nobody remembers "warchalking".

beckingz 4y ago

I do this and it's great. Everyone enjoys scanning it and doesn't have to fiddle with the credential entry.

sdfhdhjdw3 4y ago
> Everyone enjoys scanning it What kind of backwards country do you live in where people _enjoy_ scanning QR codes?

JadoJodo 4y ago

This is cool, and I have done this in the past, but it's worth keeping something in mind: Make sure the QR code is NOT visible from outside via the windows in your house.

ream88 4y ago

Build something like this on my own, renders 4 QR codes when printing it out on your printer: https://wifi.mariouher.com/ https://wifi.mariouher.com/

Jamie9912 4y ago

Funny I was just at Bletchley park and one of the exhibits mentions you JGC for contacting Gordon Brown in 2009 about Alan Turing's pardon :)

deathanatos 4y ago

Now if only Comcast modems could scan these, I could use this to set the WiFi password (/s), since it forgets every time it is reset (…less /s). … too bad I'm with a different monopoly ISP now. Their Wifi just drops you if you are on the 5 GHz bands and transmit anywhere remotely near full throttle. So you have to stay on the 2.4 GHz and weep.

zaptrem 4y ago
Why not buy your own router or access point? Spectrum even let us buy our own modem.

umvi 4y ago

"Which when scanned with the default camera app on iOS or Android will pop up something similar to this. With one click you're connected to the network." I have never had an Android phone with the ability to scan QR codes with the "default camera app". The closest I've gotten is taking a picture of the QR code and then going into my pictures and using "Google Lens" to scan the picture for QR codes. Usually I end up downloading a dedicated QR scanner app from the app store, which I have zero confidence will be able to auto-connect me to someone's WiFi.

jonathantf2 4y ago
Both my Pixel phone and Samsung tablet pick up URLs and SSIDs from the QR code using the stock camera app.
- umvi 4y ago
  My last phone, LG Nexus 5X, couldn't do this. My current phone, Unihertz Jelly 2, also can't do this. Guess I have to buy the "premium" brand Androids for this feature.
  - jonathantf2 4y ago
    The Nexus 5X is nearly 7 years old at this point and from a quick Google the Unihertz is advertising the fact that it runs Android 10 (released in 2019) so it's probably to do with the out of date software.
  - toast0 4y ago
    You're not missing out. My moto g power (2020) can sometimes manage the feature, but only sometimes. Sometimes it just won't scan with the regular camera and you've got to open a dedicated qr scanner... So you're really better off starting with the dedicated qr scanner... except I have a button on the home screen for the camera and have to dig for the dedicated app.
    - jonah 4y ago

kayodelycaon 4y ago

I solved this by having a framed piece of paper on my wall: GUEST WIFI SSID: AAA Guest Password: squirrels2 I should add a QR code to it. :)

shujito 4y ago

Anyone using zxing bar code generator [1]? it has a Wifi option. [1] https://zxing.appspot.com/generator https://zxing.appspot.com/generator

davidpfarrell 4y ago

A golang project I follow (and use) that generates wifi QR codes from the command line: https://github.com/reugn/wifiqr https://github.com/reugn/wifiqr

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jonah 4y ago

Yup, we've been doing this in our office for guests for quite a while. Works great!

egberts1 4y ago

WARNING: Dad Joke Admin: Make up a password, make sure your password has at least 8 characters and have capitalize letters. Blonde: Ok, my password is “MickeyMinniePlutoGoofyDonaldHueyDeweyLouie“

prmoustache 4y ago

Who asks for wifi in 2022? Everybody has a mobile data plan these days.

Schinken_ 4y ago
Welcome to Germany where your mobile plan is expensive and Limited. Also: Traffic limits suck
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
justasitsounds 4y ago
My house is in a mobile phone blackspot - no reception on any network. I tell every guest if they want to receive or make calls they have to join my wifi and enable wifi calling.

slaymaker1907 4y ago

Has anyone gotten bluetooth connections via QR code working? I really miss the time when you could listen to a friend's music in the car just by letting them plug into the aux port.

mishftw 4y ago

I've been doing this ever since I discovered my OnePlus 5T years ago generated a QR code to share WiFi details. It's more of a cool factor with friends but still pretty convenient. Folks in my age group almost intuitively know how to point a camera / get the results.

AtNightWeCode 4y ago

Nice. The camera app on Windows can scan the code. But the link does not work. Rickrolling was more fun when there was no ads btw.

langsoul-com 4y ago

I like the idea in the comments, set the WiFi password an NFC tag.

tiffanyh 4y ago

For those unaware, this is jgrahamc blog. He’s the CTO of Cloudflare and super active on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jgrahamc https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jgrahamc

jgrahamc 4y ago
That's true. Although my blog's random wanderings are somewhat different from my work life.

nuker 4y ago

And then it gets into Facebook and Twitter accidentally shared by your guests

somishere 4y ago

Can confirm this method works surprising well in practice! Most people just get it. I used it with great success to connect people to a WLAN while at sea (and without phone reception / internet to allow googling "what is qr"). That said, it is worth including the password below the QR just in case someone's camera is old or playing up (this happened). I also added an NFC sticker for the tech woke.

mertysn 4y ago

I used https://wificard.io/ https://wificard.io/ and put the QR in my living room. It also has the option to include text for people who would like to manually connect. My friends love it.

sorz 4y ago

Does it work for WPA3-Personal network?

rsync 4y ago

I've started deploying purpose-specific APs that I simply plug and unplug as I see fit. So, for instance, if I want to use tor, I have an actual tor ap that is normally powered off. I plug in the PoE connection and a bit later I have an SSID that is Tor only. I also have a "guest users" AP that has no password at all. Plug it in when needed. Unplug when people leave. Shrug. I use the Ubiquiti frisbee APs that are PoE. Sometimes I insert a "slug"[1] between the switch and the AP which strictly enforces their purpose - like hard locking them to a VPN. [1] https://john.kozubik.com/pub/NetworkSlug/tip.html https://john.kozubik.com/pub/NetworkSlug/tip.html

Viccro 4y ago

The cross stitch community has been doing this for years! 10/10 craft idea.