How to Find a Wi-Fi Password on an iPhone

Ths article explains how you can find your Wi-Fi password in iOS 16 or share it with others from iPhones running iOS 11-15. It also provides options for finding an iPhone password on your Mac.

How to Find a Wi-Fi Password on your iPhone in iOS 16 and Later

To find the password on an iPhone with iOS 16, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings on your phone.

2. Tap Wi-Fi.

3. Tap the network you're using.

4. Tap Password. You'll need to authenticate yourself via Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode.

   

How to Share Wi-Fi Password on iOS 11 through iOS 15

You may not be able to look up your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone, but there's an easy way to share the password with a friend. As long as you're both running iOS 11 and up (this works on Macs running macOS High Sierra (10.13) or higher, too), sharing a Wi-Fi password is a matter of just a few steps.

To use this feature, there are a few requirements you need to meet:

• Both devices need to be running iOS 11 or later.
• Your friend's Apple ID must be in your Contacts app.
• Bluetooth must be enabled on both your device and your friend's device.

With those requirements met, here's what you need to do:

1. Hold your iPhone near your friend's iPhone (or iPad). The devices need to be in close physical proximity to use this feature.

2. Using their iPhone, your friend should try to connect to the Wi-Fi network whose password you want to share.

3. The Share Your Wi-Fi window pops up from the bottom of your iPhone screen. Tap Share Password.

4. Your Wi-Fi password will be sent from your iPhone to your friend's device and their iPhone will connect to your Wi-Fi network.

5. On your iPhone, tap Done.

How to Find the Wi-Fi Password for Your Personal Hotspot

You have additional options if you use Personal Hotspot.

Personal Hotspot is a feature of the iOS that lets you share your iPhone's cellular data connection with other nearby devices over Wi-Fi. In that case, other people near you who want to get online via your iPhone just need your Personal Hotspot password to connect to Wi-Fi.

When you use Personal Hotspot, your iPhone functions like the Wi-Fi router in your home. In that case, finding your Personal Hotspot password is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Tap Settings on your iPhone.

2. Tap Personal Hotspot.

3. Look at the Wi-Fi Password menu. This is the password to your Personal Hotspot. Give that to people who want to connect to your iPhone over Wi-Fi.

   

How to See a Wi-Fi Password Using iCloud Keychain on a Mac

You may not know it, but your iPhone is packed full of saved passwords that you use for websites, apps, and Wi-Fi networks. These passwords are saved in the Keychain, a program stores your login information and helps you by auto-filling them into login forms.

If you have a Mac, you can view Wi-Fi passwords using iCloud Keychain. iCloud Keychain is similar to Keychain, except that it stores your usernames in your iCloud account, rather than on your Mac or iPhone. Login info stored in iCloud can be synced to your iCloud-compatible devices. That means that a Wi-Fi password saved on your iPhone can be viewed on a Mac. Here's how:

1. First, start by making sure iCloud Keychain is enabled on your iPhone. Tap the Settings app to open it.

2. Tap your name at the top of the Settings screen.

3. Tap iCloud.

4. Tap Keychain.

5. Move the iCloud Keychain slider to on/green.

   If this wasn't already enabled, it may take some time for your Keychain info to upload to iCloud. The more usernames and passwords you have the longer the sync takes.

6. Next, on your Mac, to go the Apple menu in the top right corner and then select System Preferences.

7. Click iCloud (in macOS Catalina (10.15), click Apple ID first).

   Remember, you must be logged into the same iCloud account on the iPhone and the Mac for this to work.

8. Click the checkbox next to Keychain. This enables iCloud Keychain and will sync the password from the iPhone to the Mac. This may take a minute or two.

9. Next, open the Keychain Access program on your Mac. The easiest way to do this is to open the Spotlight search tool by clicking Command+Space bar. Type Keychain Access and then click the Return key.

10. In the Search box, type the name of the Wi-Fi network whose password you want to view.

11. In the search results, double-click the Wi-Fi network.

12. Click the checkbox next to Show password.

13. In the window that pops up, enter the password that you use to log onto your Mac.

14. The Wi-Fi network password appears in the Show password field.

How to Look Up Your Wi-Fi Password in Router Settings

Another way to use your iPhone to find a Wi-Fi password is by going straight to the source: your Wi-Fi router. This isn't quite the same as finding the Wi-Fi password on your iPhone, but it gets you the information you need.

In this case, you're going right to the source—the Wi-Fi router—to get the password. All Wi-Fi routers let you log into them to check and change settings like the password. Here's what to do:

1. Make sure your iPhone is connected to the Wi-Fi network whose password you want to find.

2. Tap Settings.

3. Tap Wi-Fi.

4. Tap the i icon next to the Wi-Fi network name.

5. Find the Router field and write down the number listed there (this is the router's IP address). It is probably something like 192.168.0.1, but could be something else.

   You can also tap and hold the IP address to copy it.

6. In your iPhone's web browser, go to the IP address from the last step.

7. You'll be asked to log into your router. To connect to a router as an administrator, you'll need the username and password you created when you set up the router. Hopefully, you wrote this down somewhere. It's also possible that you didn't change the default username and password (but you definitely should have!). In that case, it could be something as simple as admin/admin.

   Do some Googling for "default password for [your Wi-fi router model]" if you need guidance.

8. Once you've logged into your router, each Wi-Fi router will have a slightly different set of steps for finding the Wi-Fi password, but look for settings or the name of the Wi-Fi network and you'll be on the right track.

Where Is the Password on My iPhone, Anyway?

You can't look up a Wi-Fi network password directly on your iPhone unless your iPhone is jailbroken and running apps that specifically let you do that. That's because Apple doesn't include the option all the way through iOS 15, even if you have the password saved in your Keychain.

The good news is that iOS 16 does include the ability to access the password for the Wi-Fi network you're currently connected to. There are also some other options for looking up passwords on your iPhone.