WWC — Wi-Fi With Camera

WWC is a free and open source desktop app for scanning Wi-Fi QR codes with your webcam.

I built this because I personally wanted a simple desktop tool that works like a phone: show a Wi-Fi QR code to the camera, read the network details, and connect without typing a long password by hand.

WWC currently supports Linux and Windows. macOS support is planned for the future, but it is not available yet.

Screenshots

Main Window

Features

• Scan Wi-Fi QR codes with a live camera preview
• Decode QR codes using ZXing
• Show SSID, security type, and password
• Handle escaped characters in Wi-Fi QR codes
• Copy the detected password
• Connect on Linux through NetworkManager's nmcli
• Connect on Windows through netsh wlan
• Work locally without an account, cloud service, or telemetry

Supported Platforms

Platform	Status	Notes
Linux	Supported	Uses nmcli, so NetworkManager is required for automatic connection.
Windows	Supported	Uses netsh wlan for automatic connection.
macOS	Planned	Not supported in this release.

Download

Download the latest build from the project's GitHub Releases page:

https://github.com/adhikaribibek231/wifi-with-camera/releases

For v0.1.0:

• Linux users should download WWC-linux.AppImage.
• Windows users should download WWC-windows.zip.

Install on Linux

1. Download WWC-linux.AppImage from the release page.

2. Open a terminal in the folder where you downloaded it.

3. Make it executable:

   chmod +x WWC-linux.AppImage

4. Run it:

   ./WWC-linux.AppImage

5. If your desktop asks for camera permission, allow it.

The AppImage is portable and does not require system-wide installation.

Some Linux distributions may require camera permissions or proper /dev/video* access.

For automatic Wi-Fi connection on Linux, nmcli must be installed and your system must use NetworkManager. If automatic connection fails, WWC can still show the Wi-Fi details so you can copy the password manually.

Install on Windows

WWC is currently distributed as a portable application on Windows.

1. Download WWC-windows.zip from the release page.
2. Extract the ZIP file.
3. Open the extracted folder.
4. Run WWC.exe.
5. If Windows shows a security warning, only continue if the file came from the official WWC release page.

Do not run WWC.exe from inside the ZIP file. Extract it first.

How to Use WWC

1. Open WWC.
2. Choose the camera you want to use, if more than one camera is available.
3. Hold a Wi-Fi QR code in front of the camera.
4. Wait for WWC to detect and parse the QR code.
5. Review the detected network name, security type, and password.
6. Use Show password if you need to view the password.
7. Use Copy password if you want to paste it somewhere else.
8. Click Connect if you want WWC to try connecting automatically.

WWC supports standard Wi-Fi QR codes like:

WIFI:T:WPA;S:MyNetwork;P:MyPassword;;

Open networks are also supported when the QR code uses nopass.

WWC currently focuses on standard Wi-Fi QR formats commonly generated by routers and phones.

Privacy

WWC is designed to work locally.

• QR scanning happens on your computer.
• Wi-Fi credentials are parsed on your computer.
• WWC does not require an account.
• WWC does not send your Wi-Fi password to a server.
• WWC does not include telemetry.

Wi-Fi QR codes can contain plain-text passwords, so only scan QR codes you trust.

Release Notes

WWC v0.1.0

Initial public release of WWC — Wi-Fi With Camera.

WWC v0.1.0 is an early public release. Some desktop environments, camera setups, or network configurations may behave differently across systems.

Included in this release:

• Wi-Fi QR scanning
• ZXing-based QR decoding
• Linux and Windows support
• PySide6 desktop GUI
• Live camera preview
• QR parsing with escaped character handling
• Linux nmcli integration
• Windows netsh wlan integration

Linux:

Download WWC-linux.AppImage, make it executable, and run it.

Windows:

Download and extract WWC-windows.zip, then run WWC.exe.

Run from Source

For development, WWC uses Python 3.12 and uv.

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/adhikaribibek231/wifi-with-camera.git
cd wifi-with-camera

Install dependencies:

uv sync

Run the desktop app:

uv run wwc-gui

Run the CLI flow:

uv run wwc

Run tests:

uv run pytest

Run linting and type checks:

uv run ruff check .
uv run mypy

Project Goals

WWC aims to stay:

• simple to use
• offline-first
• privacy-friendly
• free and open source
• focused on Wi-Fi QR scanning and desktop connection

Future Plans

• macOS support
• Improved installers
• More connection status details
• Better camera compatibility
• More user-facing documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. You can help by opening issues, testing releases on different Linux and Windows systems, improving documentation, or submitting pull requests.

Useful commands before opening a pull request:

uv run ruff check .
uv run mypy
uv run pytest

License

WWC is free and open source software licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for the full license text.

Author

Built by Bibek Adhikari.