Wormhole Guide
Create a code, put it somewhere real, and give visitors a clear path from their normal camera to a location-confirmed reveal.
Quick start
- Choose a place with address search, your current location, or the map pin.
- Choose Venue/P7 unless the experience needs a broader neighborhood cell or a carefully tested outdoor Tight/P8 cell.
- Add a short Text reveal or an HTTPS Link and an optional wrong-location hint.
- Review the exact rectangle, active window, unlock limit, and billing source. Publish, verify the image, then download the PNG.
The two-scan flow
Classic codes are compatible with an ordinary phone camera. The first camera scan opens wormhole.taynik.net/scan. The visitor taps Start scanner, allows precise location and camera access, then points at the same carrier again. The second scan reads the protected layer and checks its location.
On one phone, the scanner cannot point at a code displayed on that same screen. Use the in-page “Reveal on this phone” option when available, or put the carrier on a second screen to test the full camera flow.
Location cells are rectangles
Wormhole uses geohash cells, not circular radii. Width shrinks with latitude; the creator and demo show the bounds and latitude-adjusted dimensions for the chosen place. Browser “accuracy” is a separate uncertainty radius around the reported position.
- P5 · District
- about 4.9 km × 4.9 km at the equator
- P6 · Neighborhood
- about 1.2 km × 0.61 km at the equator
- P7 · Venue
- about 153 m × 153 m at the equator
- P8 · Tight
- about 38 m × 19 m at the equator
A genuine-device boundary tolerance may consider an adjacent cell, but that extension is capped at 25 m. It is boundary smoothing—not an advertised unlock radius.
Content and code formats
Creation supports Text and HTTPS Link reveals. Classic is the default carrier and opens from a normal camera before the second scan. Spatial codes require the Wormhole scanner from the start. Existing legacy codes remain readable, but new countdown or teaser variants are not offered.
Classic content is limited to 140 UTF-8 bytes. Links are shown as explicit “Open domain” buttons after unlock. Wormhole never auto-redirects or prefetches an arbitrary destination.
Privacy boundaries
Content is sent to Taynik during creation. Decryption happens in the visitor’s browser. For protected codes, the server receives the reported coordinates and accuracy to decide whether to release a per-code secret; the plaintext and ciphertext are not sent by the unlock request. Scan attempts may be counted for creator activity.
GPS can be spoofed. Do not use Wormhole as high-stakes proof of identity, safety, attendance, or legal presence.
GPS and camera troubleshooting
- Allow precise location, not approximate location. Move near a window or outdoors and retry if the uncertainty radius stays above 100 m.
- Allow camera access in the browser’s site settings, then reload the scanner if permission was previously denied.
- Hold still, fill most of the viewfinder, avoid glare, and keep the full code—including its quiet margin—in frame.
- A coarse first GPS fix may improve. Keep the scanner open; it watches for a better fix and can retry without a page reload.
Printing guidance
- Use the downloaded PNG at its original aspect ratio. Do not crop the white quiet zone.
- Print with strong dark-on-light contrast on a flat, matte surface. Avoid glossy lamination and folds across the carrier.
- Test the finished print with current iOS and Android camera flows at the real location before guests arrive.
- For the complete test, scan the physical print with the normal Camera app, open the scanner, then scan it again.