Although it’s advised to have a complicated password for your Wi-Fi network, sharing it with others can be difficult. Although Apple has always made this simpler for iPhone users, the latest iOS 18 improvements make it easy to view and exchange passwords with others.
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You will be notified to share the password if another iPhone or iPad that is in your contacts tries to join to the Wi-Fi network you are currently using. To connect, just press “Share password,” and they won’t need to know the password itself. It’s quite simple.
However, what if you require the password for another purpose, such as sharing it with someone via an Android phone or logging into a non-Apple TV or device?
We’ll explain how to view the password for your current Wi-Fi network, any networks you’ve connected to in the past, and simpler methods for sharing a password in different scenarios below.
See the top iPhone offers now available and the finest hidden iOS 18 features for more information.
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You can use the first way to see the password for the Wi-Fi network
you are presently connected to or have previously connected to, provided that you are close enough to the router for the network to show up in your settings.
If these conditions are met, select Settings > Wi-Fi, locate the network for which you wish to obtain the password, and then press the details button. The Wi-Fi network password can then be viewed by tapping Password and entering your passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. To save the password to your clipboard, click Copy at the end.
iOS 16 Wi-Fi network settings
As long as you are currently connected to the network or close enough to it to show up under My Networks, you may examine the passwords for any Wi-Fi networks you have ever connected to.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET screenshots
This only applies to Wi-Fi networks that you are now connected to or that are close by, but you can figure out the passwords for any other Wi-Fi network you have ever linked to.
How to retrieve Wi-Fi passwords that are stored
To see all of your iPhone’s stored Wi-Fi passwords, navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi and select the Edit option located in the upper right corner. You’ll see a list of all the Wi-Fi networks you’ve ever connected to, arranged both alphabetically and numerically.
Tap the information symbol and select Password to view a password.
Wi-Fi passwords stored in the iOS settings
The password can either be spoken out to you or copied to your clipboard.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET screenshots
The ability to communicate Wi-Fi passwords via a QR code, which has been built into Android since version 10, was ultimately made possible by Apple. However, it just takes a few taps to complete, and it’s better late than never.
Open the Passwords app (available only on iOS 18).
Press Wi-Fi.
To share the password, tap on the network you wish to share it with.
Select “Show Network QR Code.”
This is helpful if you want to share a password with several people, someone who uses an Android phone, or someone who isn’t on your contact list.
Wi-Fi QR code
Regular passwords are not affected; only Wi-Fi passwords are.
Aguilar Nelson/CNET
Although having this feature in the Passwords app makes sense in theory, we can’t help but ask why the QR code sharing feature isn’t also available in the Wi-Fi settings, where the passwords have always been.