QR codes for guest Wi-Fi that survive the next password
The Wi-Fi code on the counter is the most scanned code in the building and the only one you cannot repair once it breaks. A code in the WIFI: format carries the network name and the password in the pixels. The day the password changes, every printed card is dead until it is reprinted. Here the code opens a page with the current password, and the card on the counter stays exactly as it is.
The setup, end to end
- Under "Points to", choose Wi-Fi and type the network name and the password. The code gets a short link like every other code here.
- Print it once: on the counter, on the table, in the receipt footer.
- When the password changes, change it in the account. Every printed card shows the new one from the next scan, and the scans are counted.
What the tagged link looks like
https://example.com/wifi?s=Cafenea Central&p=espresso-2026&utm_source=counter-card&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=guest-wifiAppended when the code is scanned rather than printed into the image, so the tags stay editable after the artwork is on paper. GA4 has no default channel rule for "qr", so these scans report as Unassigned. Add a custom channel group matching medium = qr to give it a name in your reports.
Show me how5 steps
Step 1 of 5
Open Channel groups
In GA4, click “Admin” (the gear, bottom left). Under “Data display”, open “Channel groups”. You need the Editor role or above.
Step 2 of 5
Create a group
Click “Create new channel group” and name it, for example “Channels with QR”. Your first custom group starts as a copy of GA4's default group. A standard property holds two custom groups, so if you already have two, add the channel to one of them instead.
Step 3 of 5
Add a QR channel
Click “Add new channel” and name it “QR code”. Click “Add condition group”, choose “Medium” and “exactly matches”, type qr, then click “Save channel”.
Step 4 of 5
Move it to the top, then save
A new channel lands at the bottom, and GA4 files a session under the first channel that matches. Click “Reorder”, drag “QR code” to the top, click “Apply”, then “Save group”.
Step 5 of 5
Read it in your reports
Open “Reports”, then “Acquisition”, then “Traffic acquisition”. In the table's dimension menu, pick your group. GA4 may list it as “Session custom channel group” rather than by its name. The group applies to past data too.
What goes wrong here
The password changes and the cards do not. A WIFI: payload cannot be repointed by anyone, ours included: it is the one code type that breaks the promise this product is built on, which is why it is not offered. A card that carries the current password is the version of a Wi-Fi code that can be fixed from a phone in thirty seconds.
What it costs
- Live codes
- 3 free, unlimited on Pro
- Scans
- Never capped, any plan
- History
- 7 days free
- Expiry
- None, including after you stop paying
On a counter card
Read from arm's length by somebody holding a coffee, so small is fine and matt stock matters more than size. The card is also the most reprinted thing in the venue when it goes wrong, which is the whole argument for a code that does not.
A common starting point is a code about a tenth as wide as the distance it will be read from. Print one at that size, scan it with the oldest phone you can find, and adjust. No table can answer this for your paper and your lighting.
Show me how to size it5 steps
Step 1 of 5
Find the scanning distance
Stand where somebody will stand to scan it, and measure to where the code will be. A table tent or a business card is read from arm's length, a window poster from the pavement, a car from the pavement or the car behind.
Step 2 of 5
Make it about a tenth of that distance
A common starting point is a code about a tenth as wide as the distance it is read from. From forty centimetres that is about four, from three metres about thirty. Keep a clear white margin around it.
Step 3 of 5
Download the file that fits the size
For a flyer, a card or a table tent, the PNG is enough. For a poster or a car, take the SVG or the PDF, which stay sharp at any size. On a Free account the code's page offers the PNG; SVG, PDF and EPS come with Pro.
Step 4 of 5
Print one proof
Print a single copy at that size, on the paper or vinyl the run will use. Matt stock scans better than gloss, and a fold or a foil finish across the code can stop it scanning.
Step 5 of 5
Scan it from the real distance, then print the run
Stand at the distance from step 1 and scan the proof with the oldest phone you can find, in the light it will hang in. If it hesitates, make the code larger and print another proof. When it scans at once, print the run.
What you give up
Auto-join. A WIFI: code offers the phone the network in one tap. Here the guest copies the password and pastes it in Settings, two taps more, and it needs mobile data until the phone is on the network. That is the price of a card that does not die. If your password never changes and one-tap joining is the whole point, a classic Wi-Fi code is the right choice, and this page says so rather than sell you ours for a thing it does not do.
What it accepts
- Network name: up to 32 characters.
- Password: 8 to 63 characters, printable ASCII only, no accents, as WPA requires.
- Open network, no password: supported, and the card says so instead of showing one.
No card. Nothing you print here stops working.