Link / URL to connect to WiFi

I have a group of friends coming over to my place and I have a new Internet connection.

One of the things I often wondered that rather than handing them the ID and the password to connect to the home WiFi (through my router) if it was possible to send them a link/URL that they could just tap on their phones or tablets and the connection would be established then that would really be cool.

Alternatively, if the link provided could automatically select the required SSID and pre-populate with the password and all the user needs to do is tap on the JOIN (if Apple) or CONNECT (if Android) button then that would also be magic.

Please let me know if any of you guys think this is possible.

new thread started with a different idea as advised

5 Answers

Late answer, but iOS has had a built-in QR reader in the native Camera app since iOS 11 (released about 2 months after you asked this question.) It supports the same Wi-Fi QR codes as all the Android apps based on the ZXing library. So it's about as universal a solution as you're going to get, given the challenge of standardizing anything in Android.

You can generate these codes using an online service, or using the QR generator of your choice and feeding it this text:

WIFI:S:My_SSID;T:WPA;P:key goes here;H:false; ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | | | | +-- hidden SSID (true/false) | | | +-- WPA key | | +-- encryption type | +-- ESSID +-- code type 

Escape any special characters (", ', ;, ,, or \) with a backslash.

There was an attempt for a universal wifi url, I do not know if it did/will make it through an official RFC.,.

I would say the biggest hurdle is finding something to translate whatever you sent. This seems like a good idea but any solution likely requires a (third-party?) app on each guests' phone.

The closest I could find was WiFi Connection Manager by roamingsoft which allows networks to be added via QR codes. So you would have your guests install that app, scan your code and lastly connect.

This solution is inelegant but honestly nothing else jumped out at me unless perhaps you want to write something yourself.

Unfortunately, there's no one single standard guaranteed to be supported on all mobile and desktop/laptop OSes, and the hassles of dealing with even the easiest solutions on each platform are generally greater than the hassle of selecting a network and typing in a password. So by trying to make things easier, you'll just be making it more complex.

For iOS or macOS, you could send them a link to a .mobileconfig "provisioning profile". You can create them with the Apple Configurator 2 app and then post it to a (hopefully secure) web server of your choice. But the hassle of getting iOS or macOS to download and install an unsigned provisioning profile may be more hassle than selecting a network and entering a password.

For Android, you could print out a QRCode using the WIFI: schema defined by the zxing ("Zebra Crossing") open source project. I believe many Android-derived smartphone OSes have support for this built into their camera apps now. This can be pretty sweet when it works, but if it doesn't work for one of your guests, they may have to download and install a camera app or barcode scanner app that supports it.

There are probably similar solutions for Windows and for some desktop/laptop Linux distros.

add a guest account to your wifi user name guest, password guest, and send them a text message that they will keep in their phone . this guest account is usually a good setting to protect your own network your phone computer and gadgets connect to your personnel WIFI. now this is your friends they are not going beyond their guest account..