Add device: Use a QR code to add a device to this network

Ever wondered about this option in Android's WiFi settings? It's not your typical QR code sharing, rather a protocol called DDP or Wi-Fi Easy Connect™

Secret

• 1 min read

I have always wondered what this option in Android's WiFi settings was for, because in contrast to the normal ways of sharing a network it doesnt show a QR code with the connection info, rather it opens up a scanner.

I couldn't find any real info about it except for 2 other people asking the same question, so I eventually looked through the WiFi settings source code and found many references to "QR" and "DPP". Googling "DPP" then led me to my answer.

The Protocol behind this option is called Wi-Fi Easy Connect™, also known as Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP) or Easy Connect.

Some links to information about this protocol:

https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-easy-connect

https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-easy-connect

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/api-reference/network/esp_dpp.html

Thats it. This isn't a real blog post, rather me putting out the information for other people who are trying to find out what this option is. So here I am making the link between this option's text and the protocol behind it.