Set Up Your First Captive Portal in 15 Minutes

What You'll Build

By the end you will have a captive portal in your logo and colours, collecting email addresses with the WiFi terms and marketing consent kept separate, and running on your Omada guest SSID. The 15 minutes assumes your controller can already be reached from the internet; if it cannot, start with the Omada setup guide. Running UniFi instead? The dashboard steps are the same and the controller steps are in the UniFi setup guide.

Step 1: Log In and Create a Location

Sign in to the dashboard and open Locations in the sidebar. Click Add Location. Enter the Venue Name and start typing the Address: picking it from the suggestions also finds your Google Place ID, which the review emails use later. The Portal URL Slug fills in from the venue name; change it now if you want something shorter, because it becomes part of the address you paste into Omada. Set Network vendor to TP-Link Omada and add the SSID Name of your guest network.

Step 2: Note Your Portal URL

Your portal address is shown under the slug as `https://www.voqadowifi.com/portal/your-venue-slug`. You can also find it later in Portal Builder, on the Deploy tab, under Portal URL for Omada. Copy it into a note exactly as printed, with no trailing slash and nothing after it. You will paste it into Omada in Step 6.

Step 3: Configure Portal Settings (Colours, Logo, Welcome Text)

Open Portal Builder and choose your new location. The preview on the right updates as you type. On the Brand tab, upload your logo (PNG or SVG, at least 200px wide, a transparent background looks best), set the Primary Color, and write the Welcome Text (for example "Welcome to [Venue name]") and a short Subtext ("Free WiFi: just enter your email to connect"). Keep the subtext short enough that it does not wrap awkwardly on a phone. Your edits are kept as a draft on this device; nothing reaches guests until you click Publish.

Step 4: Set Up the Email Capture Form

Switch to the Form tab. Under Login Methods, guests sign in with Email Capture. Under Required Fields, email and first name are always asked; Last Name, Phone / SMS and Birthday are optional toggles. Leave them off for now: every extra field is one more reason for a guest to give up. Back on the Brand tab, set the Connect Button Text to something that says what happens, such as "Get connected", rather than "Submit".

Step 5: Enable the GDPR Consent Checkbox

On the Form tab, turn on Enable GDPR Mode under GDPR Compliance so the login shows consent checkboxes. Under Marketing Consent, edit the Consent Text so it names your venue ("I agree to receive marketing emails from [Venue name]. I can unsubscribe at any time.") and add your Privacy Policy URL. Auto Marketing Opt-In is off for every venue; leave it that way, because it would opt every guest in without showing a box, which does not meet the GDPR standard for consent. Every VoqadoWiFi login uses the explicit consent form: the WiFi terms and marketing are two boxes, and the marketing box starts unticked. Never merge the two. This is general information, not legal advice.

Step 6: Connect Your Controller URL

In the Omada controller, go to Settings, Authentication, Portal and edit the portal bound to your guest SSID (pick the right site first if you have several). Set the authentication type to External Portal Server and paste the portal URL from Step 2. Add `www.voqadowifi.com` and `voqadowifi.com` to Pre-Authentication Access, or the page will never load on an unauthorised phone; the walled garden page explains each entry. Save.

Back in VoqadoWiFi, open the location and enter the Controller URL, then click Test. With a cloud-based controller there is nothing more to open up. With an OC200, OC300 or software controller, the controller must answer from the internet on HTTPS port 443 with a trusted certificate; a tunnel or reverse proxy handles both. Under Show advanced options you can also save the Omada Site ID and Controller ID (the `omadacId` value in the redirect).

Step 7: Test with Preview Mode

In Portal Builder, open the preview link (it adds `?preview=true` to your portal address) on your phone and walk through the form: the logo renders, both boxes start unticked, and the form submits with only the terms box ticked. When it looks right, click Publish.

Then do the real test: take a phone that has never joined the guest SSID, switch mobile data off, and join. The portal should open on its own, and the phone should be online within a few seconds of submitting. If it is not, Portal Health in the sidebar shows the attempt and, for Omada, the error code.