You have your Wi-Fi password saved on your smartphone, but how can you see your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone when you need it?
The iPhone stores your Wi-Fi password in your iCloud Keychain, a securely encrypted database. Any of these passwords can be accessed directly from your iPhone, except your Wi-Fi password. You can access the password if you own a Mac or by accessing your Wi-Fi router’s admin panel.
Apple’s Keychain is a highly-encrypted database that holds all of your passwords, including Wi-Fi passwords. It’s strange, then, that you can access all of these passwords from your iPhone’s Settings app, except your saved Wi-Fi passwords.
But fear not; there are other ways to get to your Wi-Fi password. Some may require some additional tools, though. Let’s see what you can do.
Why You Can’t Just See Your Wi-Fi Password On An iPhone
The Apple Keychain is a secure, encrypted database that stores all of your passwords across all Apple devices that you own. This includes passwords for websites, apps, and even Wi-Fi networks you’ve joined.
The primary purpose of the Apple Keychain is to act as a password manager that will store and automatically enter your password when you’re logging into websites or apps. Since Wi-Fi networks are saved, it’s hardly ever necessary to log in again.
Even when you’re switching between Apple devices, the connection information will be synced through your iCloud account.
That’s the first reason why Apple figured it would not be necessary to see your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone. The second is security. If someone gets access to your website passwords, most should be protected with two-factor authentication, or at least send you a notification if someone logged in, so potential damage is negligible.
On the other hand, Wi-Fi passwords are riskier since people who can access your Wi-Fi can theoretically access tons of personal information, and you won’t usually get a notification that someone is connected to your Wi-Fi. This increases the risks should your Wi-Fi password leak.
How To See Your Wi-Fi Password On Your iPhone
The easiest way to see your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone can only be done when you are actually connected to the Wi-Fi. This requires you to log into your Wi-Fi router’s admin panel and see the password there. It’s easier than it seems; simply follow these steps:
- On your iPhone, open Settings, then go to Wi-Fi.
- Next to your Wi-Fi connection, tap on the Information button (lowercase “I” in a circle).
- Scroll down to the area labeled “IPV4 ADDRESS.”
- You should see the word “Router” with its IP address next to it. Tap and hold on the IP address, then select Copy.
- Now open your web browser of choice on your iPhone (Safari, the default web browser, will do just fine).
- Tap and hold in the address bar, then select “Paste” or “Paste & Go” to go to the router’s admin panel.
- The admin panel should require you to log in. Most routers set their default username and password both to “admin,” so unless the person who set up your Wi-Fi changed this, that’s what your login details should be. Just enter the word “admin” for both the username and password.
- Once you’ve logged in, the interface should differ slightly from router to router. But there should be a “Wi-Fi” or “Wireless LAN” option in the menu. Select that.
- Now there should be an indicator of the Wi-Fi’s SSID, with an area for the password located directly beneath it. The password should be hidden, but there is usually a tickbox to “show password.”
- You can also choose to reset your Wi-Fi password from this screen if you prefer.
That is the easiest way by far to see your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone. All other methods require either additional hardware or software. We will now examine those options too.
Send Your Wi-Fi Password To Your Mac And View It There
As we’ve already mentioned, your Apple Keychain is synced across all your Apple devices using iCloud. This means that any Apple device that’s logged in with your Apple ID will have access to your passwords. Unfortunately, your Wi-Fi password will only be visible on any macOS device.
If you have a Mac, it’s effortless to check your Wi-Fi password, even if the Mac was never connected to that particular Wi-Fi. The first step is to ensure that all of your passwords are syncing over iCloud. This should first be checked on your iPhone:
- Go to Settings
- Tap on the Apple ID / iCloud part (the one named after your profile name, with your profile picture, right at the top of your Settings)
- Now tap on iCloud in the menu that appears
- Tap on Keychain
- Ensure that the iCloud Keychain option is set to “On.”
Once everything is set on your iPhone, it’s time to go to your Mac and check that your Keychain is syncing:
- Go to System Preferences on your Mac
- Select “Apple ID” in the top right of this screen
- Select “iCloud” on the left
- Ensure that the “Keychain” option is ticked.
Now that you’re sure that your passwords are all syncing between your iPhone and your Mac, it’s time to see your Wi-Fi Password on macOS:
- Open the Launchpad
- In the Search bar located at the top of the screen, type in “Keychain Access.”
- In the Keychain Access app, type the name of your Wi-Fi connection into the search bar. You should see the Wi-Fi SSID pop up in the search results
- You can right-click on the connection and select “Copy password to clipboard,” allowing you to paste it into another program
- If you want to give it to someone, simply double-click the Wi-Fi connection in the Keychain Access app, then tick the box that says “Show password.”
- You may have to enter your Mac’s passcode in order to reveal the password.
Third-Party Software To See Your Wi-Fi Password On iPhone
Many third-party software apps can help you to see your Wi-Fi password on your iPhone. None of the “legal” ones can do it directly on your iPhone; to do that, you will have to jailbreak your phone and void the warranty in the process. For the legal options, you will need either a Mac or a Windows PC.
It’s also worth mentioning that these programs are generally not free, regardless of how much they claim that they are. One such option is Tenorshare 4uKey, which makes bold claims that it’s free, but once you install the program on your PC, it’s severely limited, to the extent of being almost unusable until you pay for it.
However, once you’ve paid and activated the software, it’s as simple as plugging in your iPhone and entering your passcode a few times. You will have full access to each and every password stored in your Apple Keychain, visible on your computer screen, from where you can even export all of them to a spreadsheet.
What If You Simply Want To Connect A Friend To Your Wi-Fi?
Apple makes it ridiculously easy to share your Wi-Fi password with a friend, if they are also using iPhone, without the need actually to see your password. It’s as simple as three steps:
- Ensure that your iPhone is unlocked and connected to the Wi-Fi that your friend wants to connect to, that Bluetooth is enabled on both devices, and that the devices are near each other.
- On your friend’s phone, try to connect to the Wi-Fi.
- On your phone, go to Settings -> Wi-Fi and tap on the Wi-Fi connection you want to share, then select “Share Password.”