If a guest comes to your home for any period of time, chances are they will ask you for the Wi-Fi password, and you will either try to remember what it is or read out a long, intense combination of numbers, letters, and symbols.
Can you buy a printed password? Of course, you could buy a Wi-Fi password sign or write that information on a sticky note and have a place you can quickly point guests to in a pinch, but that’s not nearly as convenient. Getting your friends and family connected becomes awkward when your password is long or incorporates hard-to-read symbols, such as O versus 0.
Note: If you regularly have guests you are unfamiliar with or large groups coming over, it would be an excellent idea to set up a guest or temporary Wi-Fi network—many routers still allow this. That’s far more secure than just giving the key to your password to people who walk through the door.
However, both Google and Apple let you quickly and safely share your Wi-Fi password with the people you trust. Here’s how to do it.
Share your Wi-Fi password on Android.
The easiest way to do this with an Android phone is to create a QR code that others can scan to get on your network automatically. For Androids, you can:
Open the ‘Settings’ application, select ‘Network and Internet,’ and then ‘Wi-Fi.’ Press the settings cog at the side of your network. Underneath, you will see the ‘Share’ option. Tap on it and proceed with the authentication. The screen should display a QR code along with the name of the Wi-Fi network and its password.
Because Android is such a big, sprawling mess of skins, versions, and whatnot, this journey to your Wi-Fi settings might look a bit different for you. For example, it’s a little different on a Samsung device.
Go to Settings > Connection settings > Wi-Fi.
Then tap on the settings.
Tap the QR Code in the bottom left. The Samsung QR code does not include a written password.
If their phone is relatively new, it will automatically connect to cable internet. This also works for people trying to connect to your Wi-Fi with an iPhone.
If a person can’t scan the code for whatever reason, you can have them add it manually using a password.
Share your Wi-Fi password on iOS.
With iOS 11, Apple allows users to share their passwords with other iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. It requires both of you to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on. By default, the switches are in the Control Center, which you can access by swiping down from the top-right corner of a phone with Face ID; otherwise, swipe up from the bottom. You must also be connected to the network they’re trying to connect to. Suppose both should be connected to the fiber internet.
Ask them to go to Settings > Wi-Fi; then ask them to tap on your network.
You should get a pop-up on your device asking if you want to share your password. Tapping the Share Password button should go ahead and start getting them online.
If you don’t see a prompt, it’s because Apple requires the person requesting your password to have your Apple ID email saved in their Contacts app and vice versa. So, if you’re having problems, you can go into Settings, tap your name at the top. Ensure that your listed email addresses are added to each other’s contact cards.
At that point, it will likely be more accessible to show them the password and have them type it in. If you don’t know it or you’re running iOS 13 or later, you can recover the password by going to Settings* → *Wi-Fi*, tapping the blue *i* button next to your connected network, and then tapping the password field again. Once you do that, you’ll be taken to a screen showing your password or since you’ve successfully authenticated.
This makes it simple: you can highlight it all, copy-paste it into a message. Text your friend if you are trying to share your Wi-Fi password with them. Most prefer to show them the screen and have them type it in so that the password isn’t going through SMS or some other messaging service, but feel free to do whatever you’re comfortable with.
Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to easily share your password with someone using an Android device. If you want to share your password with someone else, you’ll need to follow the manual steps described above.
