Apple stores wireless keys in the keychain, and whether you can read one back depends on which device you ask. A Mac will show you any network it has ever joined. An iPhone will show you the network you are on, but only since iOS 16. Older iPhones will hand the password to another Apple device without ever displaying it.
- Mac
- Keychain Access. Any network the Mac has joined, going back years.
- iPhone, iOS 16+
- Settings, tap the network, authenticate with Face ID.
- iPhone, older
- Cannot display it. Share it device-to-device instead.
- Needed
- Your Mac login password, or Face ID on the phone.
On a Mac
Keychain Access is the password store behind everything macOS remembers, wireless keys included.
- Press Command and Space, type Keychain Access, press Return.
- Select System in the left sidebar, then Passwords along the top.
- Type the network name into the search box.
- Double-click the entry. It will be listed as an AirPort network password.
- Tick Show password and enter your Mac login password when prompted.
On macOS Sequoia and later the app is called Passwords and Wi-Fi entries live under their own heading, but the flow is the same.
If you would rather not click through, one line in Terminal does it:
security find-generic-password -ga "YOUR NETWORK NAME"It asks for your login password, then prints the key on the line beginning password:.
Asked for a keychain password you do not recognise?
The System keychain wants your Mac account password, not your Apple ID. If the Mac is managed by an employer the entry may be locked to an administrator account you do not hold.
On an iPhone or iPad
From iOS 16 onwards the key is visible in Settings, which it never was before:
- Open Settings and tap Wi-Fi.
- Tap the ⓘ button beside the network you are connected to.
- Tap the hidden Password field.
- Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. The key appears, with a Copy option.
This only works for the network the phone is currently on, or one it has saved. It cannot show a network the phone has never joined.
Older iPhones, and getting a device online without seeing the key
Before iOS 16 there is no supported way to display a stored key. There is, however, a way to get another device connected without anyone reading it out.
Put the two devices near each other, both unlocked, with Bluetooth on and each signed in to iCloud with the other’s Apple ID in their contacts. On the new device, tap the network. A prompt appears on the one that already knows it offering to Share Password. Tap it, and the key transfers without ever being displayed.
The same works from a Mac to an iPhone and back again. It is the cleanest option when the person who needs the network should not necessarily keep the password.
If iCloud Keychain is on, check the other device
Wireless keys sync across devices signed in to the same Apple ID with iCloud Keychain enabled. A key your iPhone cannot display may well be sitting readable in Keychain Access on your Mac, having arrived there by sync. That is often the quickest answer when an older phone is the only device on the network.
When Apple has nothing stored
If none of your devices has joined the network, there is no key to recover from them. It has to come from the router — the label on the underside, or the admin pages.
The admin pages need the router’s own password, which is a different thing from the wireless key and a common source of confusion. Our main guide works through every route in order, and we hold documented admin defaults for 460 manufacturers including NETGEAR, TP-Link and ASUS.
