What a Wi-Fi QR code contains
A Wi-Fi QR code is plain text in the format documented by the ZXing project (opens in a new tab): WIFI:T:WPA;S:CafeGuest;P:espresso42;;. T is the security type (WPA covers WPA2 and WPA3, WEP is old, nopass means open), S is the network name, P is the password and H:true marks a hidden network. Special characters inside a name or password (\ ; , " :) are written with a backslash in front. This page undoes that escaping, so you see the exact name and password your phone would use.
That is why a Wi-Fi QR is effectively a password written in a square. Anyone who can photograph the sign can read it. When a café or host gives you one, nothing here is secret from you; this tool just shows what your phone already knows, so you can type it on a laptop, a TV or a games console that has no camera.
How to read one here
Take a screenshot of the code, or a photo of the printed sign, and drop it on this page, choose it with the button, or paste it. A sharp, straight photo with the whole code in view and a little white space around it works best. Very large photos are tried at a few sizes automatically. With a camera, choose Use camera and hold the code steady; the camera turns off as soon as it finds a code.
If the code isn't a Wi-Fi code (a website, a menu, a payment code), the page shows its text without turning it into a link. Check where a link goes before you open it: printed QR stickers are sometimes swapped by scammers.
Codes from routers and other apps
Router stickers, Android's Share screen and most Wi-Fi QR generators use the same WIFI: format, so this page reads all of them. Some write it slightly differently: WPA2 or WPA3 instead of WPA, the fields in another order, or no closing semicolons. Those are read the same way, and the type exactly as written in the code is shown next to the security line. A few older generators wrap a hex-looking password in quotes; the quotes are shown as part of the password, because that is what a phone would try to use. If a phone connects but this page shows something odd, trust the router's own settings page.
Turn it into a printable card
Found the right network? Press Make a printable card from this. The details move to the Wi-Fi QR card generator inside this browser tab (never in the address bar) and are deleted the moment the generator reads them. Pick a design from the templates, then print a table tent or an A6 card.