[HN Gopher] Show HN: Quickly connect to WiFi by scanning text, n...
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Show HN: Quickly connect to WiFi by scanning text, no typing needed
I travel and work remotely a lot. Every new place--hotels, cafes,
coworking spaces--means dealing with a new WiFi network. Sometimes
there's a QR code, which is convenient, but usually, it's a hassle:
manually finding the right SSID (especially frustrating when hotels
have one SSID per room), then typing long, error-prone passwords.
To simplify this, I made a small Android app called Wify. It uses
your phone's camera to capture WiFi details (network name and
password) from printed text, then generates a QR code right on your
screen. You can instantly connect using Google Circle to Search or
Google Lens. You can also import an image from your gallery instead
of using the camera. Currently, it's Android-only since I daily-
drive a Pixel 7, and WiFi APIs differ significantly between Android
and iOS. Play Store link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yilinjuang...
I'd appreciate your feedback or suggestions!
Author : ylj
Score : 25 points
Date : 2025-03-16 13:58 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| kleiba wrote:
| While this is def neat, it shows signs of a classical computer
| scientist fallacy: "There's a recurring problem I occasionally
| run into, and each time it takes me about 3 minutes to solve it.
| No more! Instead, I'm going to spend a few weeks programming an
| app that solves the problem for me!"
| tcoff91 wrote:
| The thing is though that it takes 1 person a few weeks and then
| could save many more people time.
|
| Also if you are already familiar with Android this app should
| take hours not weeks.
| precommunicator wrote:
| https://xkcd.com/1205/
| rrix2 wrote:
| it's too bad they didn't release it so a few hundred or
| thousand people benefit from it and save a few minutes each!
| IanCal wrote:
| I do like people building things, but isn't this what the share
| network button is in android? It creates a qr code with ssid and
| password, and when scanned with lens it gives you a "join"
| button.
|
| Edit - ah is the point taking a photo of credentials and joining
| from that?
| nyx wrote:
| Yeah, from the demo video, it looks like this OCRs a photo of
| text and turns it into one of those QR codes. Then you can use
| Google Lens against the QR code onscreen to get the "join"
| button.
| XorNot wrote:
| What driving me nuts is that we still don't have a widely
| deployed standard for this though.
|
| Work gave me an iPhone recently and I was shocked the wifi
| initial connection screen had no option to scan a QR code. It
| took Android way too long to get this as well.
|
| But on top of that, even when the option is there it's so limited
| - i.e. it gets presented as "must be a wifi QR code" without the
| option to just fill a text box from a plain text one (although on
| reflection I'm now wondering why that's not just a global UX
| option on phones).
| coder543 wrote:
| On iPhone, WiFi QR codes work just fine. You just open the
| camera app, and point the phone at the QR code. They're
| automatically detected and scanned, the same as any other
| normal QR code. (No, you can't open the camera app during
| initial setup... but, it's not for a lack of the standard or
| the feature.)
| frizlab wrote:
| If I'm not mistaken iOS can scan the text directly from the
| text field though (not a very well known feature).
| coder543 wrote:
| Also true. Tap on any text field. In the menu where the
| "paste" option lives, there is also a Scan Text option. I've
| used that for a number of things over the years.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| With 5g less and less people use random wifi hotspots, and for
| home locations, phone manufacturers assume that it's easier for
| the user to just type in the password than to generate qr codes
| for their new phone every few years.
| lxgr wrote:
| It's still very common for guests to connect to the host's
| Wi-Fi, as not nearly everybody has unlimited data, and not
| every home has good 5G coverage.
|
| QR codes are a convenient way to make that happen.
| cassepipe wrote:
| Meanwhile there is still a WPS option on my old 2016 phone and
| half the routers n my country have one.
|
| There's also a nmcli connection modify option for the linux
| laptop.
|
| Lucky me
| MortyWaves wrote:
| Very lucky for WPS to ever work for you. I stopped even trying
| a long time ago.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| Unlikely to have a WPS button in a hotel room.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| Surely Android exposes an API to connect to the network?
| Screenshotting a QR code then googling it feels kind of janky. I
| have devices like robot vacuums that use a local wifi connection
| to set themselves up, implying that such an API must exist? I
| don't do mobile development so maybe I'm off base.
| netsharc wrote:
| Yeah, I agree it feels janky.
|
| They could probably use this API:
| https://developer.android.com/develop/connectivity/wifi/wifi...
| or
| https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Set...
| to skip the step with Google Lens. Showing the QR-Code is still
| an interesting functionaliy, for the use case if they had a
| second phone they wanted to connect that doesn't have this app.
| tootie wrote:
| I have a Pixel 8a and there is a built-in feature like this
| already. If you connect to a protected wifi it give the option to
| use the camera to read the password off a sign.
| jmusall wrote:
| That's a nice idea. I wish stuff like this was builtin. Small
| suggestion: API level 29 (Android 10) introduced
| WifiNetworkSuggestion[1], which allows an app to prompt the user
| to add WiFi credentials to the system. The suggestion has to be
| sent as an extra in an ACTION_WIFI_ADD_NETWORKS intent[2] (which
| was added in API 30 for some reason, not sure right now what
| happens in between).
|
| [1]
| https://developer.android.com/develop/connectivity/wifi/wifi...
|
| [2]
| https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Set...
| amenghra wrote:
| For anyone interested, the wifi QR code format is described here:
| https://www.wi-fi.org/system/files/WPA3%20Specification%20v3...
|
| These QR codes usually work with your device's default camera app
| -- point at QR code and get prompted to join the network.
| nkrisc wrote:
| I created a few stickers with my guest network WiFi details QR
| code to put on my fridge and around the house for when I have
| guests. I also recommend writing the SSID and password on it
| for those times the QR code won't work with someone's device
| (usually my mom's ancient Android phone).
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