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Comment by readingnews | Hacker News Reader

At first I was like "OMG, this is going to be awesome, this person has a QR generator which will magically connect me to the WiFi with my password embedded in the QR somehow. I am going to have to read the source... This is gonna be great... but then, disappointment. It is just a card with my password in plain text. Why the heck would I ever print this out?

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  a QR generator which will magically connect me to the WiFi with my password embedded in the QR somehow.

This is indeed what it does, but it also includes the plaintext password in case you want to connect a device that doesn't have a camera, like a PC. There's an open issue for adding a "hide password" option. You could also just cut off or scribble out the password on the print out.

This is for public encrypted guest WiFi networks, to make guests lives more comfortable... you can scan this with your phone to automatically connect without needing to type the password which can come handy if the password is at least somewhat secure.

Usually it's printed in the same places where you would actually print your plaintext Wi-Fi password, if you're already doing that, for example in restaurants (e.g. QR code inside a menu card that's only given to actual customers), offices (QR code inside meeting room for actual guests), airbnbs (QR code on a fridge inside your house), hotels (QR code inside the room with a router))

I’m guessing the whole point behind the “standard” is to allow quick and easy access to protected networks. It’s an alternative / compliment to verbally telling someone the passphrase, or having it printed in clear text on a paper.

Think of hotels / offices with guest networks. I use it for my wifi, my home network is not secretive enough to not let friends / family join it when at my place.

Wifi passwords aren’t supposed to be secure. Really they’re only to keep people off the network that you want to keep, well, off the network. The current method of connecting someone to wifi is usually just telling them the password. If the guest has a computer on the network (or a mac signed into the same apple ID as an apple device on the network), it’s trivial to figure out a network password that was entered for you.

If you’re wanting a _really_ secure network, WPA2 isn’t the way to go. You’d want to credential every user using 802.1X or WPA2 Enterprise.

It depends on the qr-code scanner you have on your phone. The one on my android shows a button 'connect to this network'.

In regards to security, you are completely correct. But this is to be used in cases where one would put a paper with the password on the wall, think of coffee shops. Saves some typing. Or you can put a card on your coffee table to help out your house guests.

Because it is now trivially to let other people connect to your wifi.

Suppose you have a long password for your WiFi and want an easier way for friends to connect to your network without having to type a complex password.

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