How to Share a Wi-Fi Password (iPhone, Mac, Android & QR Code)

Reading a 20-character Wi-Fi password off the back of a router while a guest types it wrong three times is one of modern life's small miseries. The good news: on most devices you never have to. Your phone and laptop already store the password and can hand it over with a tap or a QR code.

Share Wi-Fi from an iPhone or iPad

If both devices are Apple and the other person is in your Contacts, sharing is automatic:

1. Make sure your iPhone is unlocked and connected to the network.
2. Have the other person open Settings and tap the network name so the password prompt appears.
3. Hold your iPhone near theirs. A "Share Password" card slides up. Tap Share Password.

No typing, and the password is never displayed. If the card does not appear, check that both devices have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on and that your Apple ID email is saved in their Contacts.

Show the password on a Mac

A Mac can reveal a saved Wi-Fi password directly from the Keychain:

1. Open System Settings, Wi-Fi, then click Details next to your network.
2. Scroll down and click Show Password. Authenticate with Touch ID or your login password.

This is the fastest way to retrieve a forgotten network password you set months ago. If you want to understand where macOS keeps these, see how the macOS Keychain works.

Share Wi-Fi from Android

Android builds the QR code for you:

1. Open Settings, Network and internet, Internet.
2. Tap your current network, then tap Share. Confirm with your PIN or fingerprint.
3. A QR code appears. Anyone can point their camera at it to join instantly.

Make a QR code for guests

A printed QR code taped inside a kitchen cupboard is the friendliest option for an Airbnb, an office, or a guest room. Any free "Wi-Fi QR code generator" will turn your network name and password into a scannable code. Scanning it joins the network without ever showing the characters, so guests get online and the password stays off their phones.

The part people get wrong: do not text it

The convenient-but-risky move is pasting the password into a group chat or an email. That password now lives forever in someone else's message history, screenshots, and cloud backup. For your home network that is usually a minor risk; for anything sensitive it is a real one.

If you do need to send credentials as text, use a method that expires. A shared note in a password manager, or a one-time secure link, means the secret is not sitting permanently in a chat log. Passlock keeps your network and account passwords in the native macOS Keychain and lets you copy them only when you actually need them, rather than scattering them across conversations.

A quick safety check for guest access

If you have guests on your network often, set up a guest network in your router settings. It gives visitors internet access without putting them on the same network as your computers, printers, and smart-home devices. Then sharing the guest password freely costs you nothing.

The summary: let your devices do the sharing. Tap-to-share between Apple devices, a QR code for everyone else, and a guest network for anyone you do not fully trust. You will almost never need to read those characters aloud again.