When guests come over, it’s common courtesy to share your Wi-Fi password — and your iPhone offers plenty of tricks up its sleeve to make it easy.
You don’t need to go through your photo library to look up the picture you took of the bottom of your router, then read the long string of numbers and letters. Instead, you can show them a convenient QR code to connect them instantly. Or, if they’re in your contacts, you can share the password with a single button tap. For your Android and Windows friends, you can look up any saved Wi-Fi password from either Settings, or, well … Passwords.
Here’s how. Keep reading below or watch our quick video.
The 3 fastest ways to share a Wi-Fi password on iPhone
It’s a good idea to stay on Wi-Fi as much as possible. It can help keep your cellular bill low (if you don’t have an unlimited plan). Plus, images, videos, webpages and all kinds of content will (typically) load faster over Wi-Fi than cellular.
Not to mention, Wi-Fi is much easier on your iPhone’s battery. A bad cell signal means your phone must run its internal cellular modem at maximum power, which drains your battery.
So if you want to be a gracious host when you have people over, you should share your Wi-Fi password. Here are the fastest and easiest ways to do so.
Table of contents: Share a Wi-Fi password on iPhone
- Bring up a QR code from the Passwords app
- Share a Wi-Fi password from one iPhone to another
- Look up the Wi-Fi password from Settings or in Passwords
- More iPhone pro tips
Bring up a QR code from the Passwords app
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
A fancy new way to share a Wi-Fi password via QR code arrived in iOS 18 and Apple’s new Passwords app. (You can install iOS 18 now by going to Settings > General > Software Update if you don’t already have it.)
To share a Wi-Fi password via QR, open the Passwords app. (You can find it in the Utilities folder of the App Library.) Then, tap on the Wi-Fi category. The network you’re currently connected to will show up highlighted in blue at the very top of the list. (If you want to look up a different Wi-Fi network, you can search for it.)
Next, tap on the network name and tap Show Network QR Code. Anyone else with an iPhone can simply point their Camera at it (or use Visual Intelligence). They should see a yellow tag that says Join Network — once they tap that, and they will see a pop-up. Then they just tap Join and their iPhone will connect automatically.
Pro tip: You can take a screenshot of this QR code and even print it out for your guests for convenient access.
Share a Wi-Fi password from one iPhone to another
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If a friend who’s eager to connect to your Wi-Fi opens Settings > Wi-Fi and gets to the password prompt, there’s another easy way you can share the password with them. On your device, you may see a screen pop up from the bottom that says, “Do you want to share the Wi-Fi password?” Just tap Share Password and it’ll auto-fill on their device. (If you don’t want to, tap anywhere else on-screen, or tap the × in the upper right.)
For this feature to work…
- Both Apple devices need to be unlocked, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, without a Personal Hotspot active.
- You need to be mutual contacts saved in each other’s phones, with the phone number or email address used for your Apple Accounts.
- Both devices need to be nearby.
When it works, it feels like magic.
Look up the Wi-Fi password from Settings or in Passwords
If you want to share a Wi-Fi password with someone on Android, a Windows laptop or some other odd device, you can look up the password. Just open Settings > Wi-Fi, tap on the ⓘ next to a known network, then tap the Password field. It’ll authenticate with Face ID (or Touch ID), then show the password. You can copy it from there to text to someone, read it out loud or show them.
You also can look up any known Wi-Fi password in the Passwords app. Just open the app, then tap on the Wi-Fi panel to see the passwords of Wi-Fi networks you previously connected to. Tap on the name of the desired Wi-Fi network. Then you find yourself with two choices. You can either tap Password to reveal the password, then tap Copy Password to add it to your clipboard and share. Or you can tap Show Network QR Code, then let your friend scan the code to join the Wi-Fi network.
