Show HN: Quickly connect to WiFi by scanning text, no typing needed

[ylj]

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!

[jmusall]

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...

[ylj]

Thanks for the suggestion! I initially went with that approach [1], but eventually opted for on-screen QR code scanning. Suggested networks have lower connection priority and don’t always auto-connect. Also, passwords for suggested networks can’t be viewed or shared later, unlike regular WiFi connections. This is inconvenient because I often need to connect my Mac to the same network later.

[1] https://github.com/yilinjuang/wify/commit/7e63f2a9e6759847b4...

[IanCal]

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]

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.

[ylj]

Yes, exactly—the goal is to join a network using printed WiFi credentials when a QR code isn’t provided.

[amenghra]

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]

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).

[kleiba]

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]

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.

[rrix2]

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!

[nashashmi]

Nonsense. We have spent our time on less justifiable things. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43265431

[precommunicator]

https://xkcd.com/1205/

[endofreach]

Spending compute to encode a string just to decode it with more compute, because the whole purpose was to print the decoded string seems... a bit wasteful at best. I don't understand.

Sure, the excuse here might be that the generated QR code can be used to connect other devices as well, but if that was the reason, it would have been mentioned i guess. It seems like the QR code is only generated & displayed to be read from screen... It seems to me– a judgmental moron– almost as if chatgpt came up with this...

Sorry if this sounds harsh, most likely i am wrong and don't get something here. And usually i wouldn't have commented because my comment doesn't bring something positive to the table... But i really so much don't get it here, i had to comment in the hope of being enlightened why this is smart and not the opposite...

But either way: if it solves an issue for you the way you want it to: perfect. Congratulations on finishing an app as you imagined it. That is really great, regardless of opinions like mine.

[ylj]

I understand your point and initially wanted to avoid the overhead of generating and scanning a QR code just to connect to WiFi. The reason for this approach is that the Android API doesn’t allow non-system or non-rooted apps to directly manage WiFi connections. In other words, it’s not possible to create a simple app that directly connects to WiFi with known network name and password.

Generating and scanning a QR code is a workaround to minimize steps—avoiding the need to manually select the network from a long list and type the password.

Android does provide a WiFi suggestion API [1], but it has several limitations and doesn’t behave quite as expected. I initially tried using that, but eventually settled on the QR code solution.

Hope this clarifies things!

[1] https://developer.android.com/develop/connectivity/wifi/wifi...

[wolrah]

I think the intended purpose are cases like hotels where they really should be offering QR codes but instead just display text on the TV. If you control the display device then definitely just use the QR code but the problem this solves is when someone else has made bad choices.

[mvdtnz]

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]

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.

[ylj]

That’s exactly the problem. Android’s API for directly connecting to WiFi is limited—it’s mainly designed for connecting to local or temporary networks, like the setup used by robot vacuums. More details explained here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43384614

[XorNot]

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]

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]

If I’m not mistaken iOS can scan the text directly from the text field though (not a very well known feature).

[ajsnigrutin]

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.

[tootie]

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.

[ylj]

No way! I’m using a Pixel 7 and would love to have that built-in. Could you share a screenshot of how that works on your phone?

[tttym]

Interesting, when do you think it will be avalible for iOS users? WOuld love to see it in acction as I have had simmilar problems with finding SSID in the past.

[killingtime74]

This is already available on Samsung natively. Great project for those who don't have access to that.

[cassepipe]

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

[mvdtnz]

Unlikely to have a WPS button in a hotel room.

[MortyWaves]

Very lucky for WPS to ever work for you. I stopped even trying a long time ago.