Make Joining Your Wi-Fi Network as Easy as Scanning a QR Code

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Whether you have guests who want to get on your home Wi-Fi network, customers who need to join your business network, or attendees who want to use your conference network, it’s always fussy to share the network name and password. If an iPhone user has your Apple ID email address in Contacts, their device should automatically prompt you to share your Wi-Fi password, but that won’t work in many situations.

Here’s another option: a QR (Quick Response, if you’re curious) code that, once scanned, lets the person join your network without knowing its name or password. Once you’ve created this QR code, you can print it on a card to share, post it on a bulletin board, or make a custom sign. QR codes are no longer the curiosity they once were, with usage skyrocketing since the pandemic. One estimate suggests that over 83 million US adult smartphone users will scan a QR code in 2022.

Follow these steps to create your custom Wi-Fi network QR code:

  1. Visit QRCode Monkey and click the WIFI tab at the top. (Other sites, like QR Code Generator and Flowcode, will also work but may require a paid account.)
  2. Enter the name of your network—also known as the SSID—in the Wireless SSID field.
  3. If your network has a password, enter it in the Password field, click Encryption, and choose WPA/WPA2. (If  your network still relies on the old and completely insecure WEP, choose that instead—and plan to upgrade to a new base station with WPA support soon!)
  4. If you’re sharing access to a guest network that has no password, leave the password field blank and Encryption set to No Encryption.
  5. To change your QR code’s foreground and background colors from black and white, click Set Colors, click a color square, and click on the desired color in the color picker. (You can also enter color hex values.) If you plan to upload a logo, make sure the color works well with your logo.
  6. If you have a logo that you want to include, click Add Logo Image and upload your logo. You may want to resize the white space around the logo to position the logo nicely in the middle of the QR code. If the logo’s background doesn’t match your background color, you may wish to select Remove Background Behind Logo.
  7. For a snazzier look, click Customize Design and choose among the various options for Body Shape (the overall pattern), Eye Frame Shape (the corner frames), and Eye Ball Shape (the shape inside the corner frames).
  8. Click the Create QR Code button on the right to preview your custom design. Repeat Steps 5 through 8 until the QR code looks the way you want.
  9. Adjust the Quality slider if desired—the default of 1000-by-1000 pixels is generally fine.
  10. Click the Download PNG button to get the actual file. You can also click the SVG, PDF, or EPS buttons to download those less common formats.

That’s it! Once you’ve downloaded the QR code image file to your Mac, you can print it on its own, add it to other print designs, or even put it on your website. There’s probably a size that is too small for cameras to resolve accurately, but that’s easy to test using your iPhone or iPad.

From then on, anyone can access your Wi-Fi network by pointing the camera app on their phone at your QR code—they’ll be grateful for the easy access, and you’ll no longer have to supply them with the network information. It’s a win-win!

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

iOS 15 Allows Rearranging and Deletion of Home Screen Pages

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Back in iOS 14, Apple added the App Library, which collects all the apps on your iPhone. With everything available in the App Library, iOS 14 was also able to provide the option of hiding Home screen pages, a boon for those of us with too many disorganized pages. In iOS 15, Apple has taken the next step. You can still hide Home screen pages, but if you never want to see them again, you can delete them (apps remain in the App Library). Or, if they’re not in the order you want, you can rearrange them. Touch and hold any empty spot on the Home screen to enter jiggle mode. Tap the dots above the Dock that indicate which Home screen page you’re on. In the Edit Pages screen, you can now tap the – button next to a hidden page to delete it ➊. If you want to delete a visible page, first hide it by tapping its checkmark underneath ➋. Or, to rearrange Home screen pages, drag a thumbnail to a new location ➌. Tap Done or press the Home button when you’re finished.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Where to Check macOS, iOS/iPadOS, and iCloud Storage Status

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There’s little more frustrating than running out of space, which always seems to happen at just the wrong time. Luckily, Apple makes it easy to check any time, before it becomes a problem. On the Mac, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu and click Storage. On an iPhone or iPad, navigate to Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage. For iCloud, you can look in either System Preferences > Apple ID on the Mac or in Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Manage Storage on an iPhone or iPad. Once you know how much space is consumed by what, you can more easily clear unnecessary data.

(Featured image by iStock.com/alphaspirit)

In iOS 15, You Can Now Open an App from the Lock Screen

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Most of the time, when you unlock your iPhone or iPad, you want to launch an app. In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you no longer have to unlock the device, find the app on a Home screen page, and tap it. Instead, you can open an app directly from the Lock screen, assuming Settings > Face/Touch ID & Passcode > Today View and Search is turned on. Just swipe down from the middle of the Lock screen ➊ to access the Search screen, which lists apps from Siri Suggestions ➋. You can tap one of those to open it, or you can use the Search field to find an app by name and tap the search result ➌.

(Featured image by iStock.com/ipopba)

Does Your Magic Mouse Need More Juice? Here’s How to Check

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It’s unfortunate that the most recent iteration of the Magic Mouse has its Lightning charging port on the bottom, making it impossible to use while charging, unlike the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, which work fine when plugged in. To check if your Magic Mouse needs charging before it starts to nag (and starts acting a little funky), look in one of these spots. If your menu bar is displaying the Bluetooth icon, click it, and the charge level should show up. Or click the Control Center icon on the menu bar and click Bluetooth. You can also look in System Preferences, in either the Bluetooth preference pane or the Mouse preference pane. In our experience, the Bluetooth menu is the easiest, but Control Center and the Mouse preference pane are the most reliable—sometimes the charge level doesn’t appear in the menu.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Alex Sholom)