Forgot Your Wi-Fi Password? How to Find It on Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, or the Router

Setting up a new phone, helping a guest get online, or connecting a smart TV or printer — and the box wants the Wi-Fi password you set years ago and never wrote down. The good news is you almost never have to "recover" or reset anything. If any device in your home is already connected to that network — a laptop, a phone, a tablet — the password is stored on it in plain text, and you can read it out in under a minute. This guide covers every common device, plus what to do in the harder case where nothing is connected at all.

Two quick ground rules first. You don't need a paid app or a website to do this — everything you need is already built into your own devices and your router, so skip any "Wi-Fi password finder" or "recovery" download (more on why below). And only do this for a network you own or manage; these steps are for getting back into your own Wi-Fi, not someone else's.

First: which password do you actually need?

A lot of confusion here comes from mixing up two different passwords. The Wi-Fi network password (also called the network key, security key, or WPA/WPA2 password) is the one your phone, laptop, or TV types in to join the wireless network — that's almost certainly the one you're after. The router admin password is a separate one that logs you into the router's own settings page to change how it works. They are not the same, even though both are often printed on the same sticker.

Most of the time you just want the network password so a new device can get online. You only need the router admin password in the last-resort case at the bottom, where no device is connected and you have to log into the router itself. Knowing which one you're looking for saves a lot of going in circles.

The shortcut: read it off a device that's already connected

Here's the part most people don't realize: every device that has ever joined your Wi-Fi keeps the password saved, and each one can show it back to you. So you rarely need to reset the router or call the internet company — you just need to look on something that's already online. Pick whichever device you have handy from the sections below; they all get you the same network password.

On a Windows PC

If the PC is currently connected to the network, the quickest route that works the same on Windows 10 and 11 is the old Network Connections panel: press the Windows key + R, type ncpa.cpl, and press Enter. Right-click your Wi-Fi adapter, choose Status, click Wireless Properties, open the Security tab, and tick the box marked "Show characters." The Wi-Fi password appears in the Network security key field. (The same thing lives under Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > More network adapter options, then Network and Sharing Center — but the ncpa.cpl shortcut skips the menu-hunting.)

There's also a command that works for any network the PC has saved, not just the one it's on right now — handy if you're trying to look up a different network. Open the Start menu, type cmd, and open Command Prompt. Type netsh wlan show profiles to list every Wi-Fi network the computer remembers. Then type netsh wlan show profile name="YourNetworkName" key=clear (put the exact network name in the quotes) and press Enter — the password is on the "Key Content" line under Security settings. If that line comes up blank, close Command Prompt and reopen it as administrator (right-click, "Run as administrator"), then run the command again.

On a Mac

The simplest way on a recent Mac: open System Settings > Wi-Fi, find the network under the list of nearby or known networks, click the "Details…" or "…" button next to it, and choose "Copy Password" — then paste it somewhere you can read it. On macOS Sequoia there's also a dedicated Passwords app: open it, unlock with Touch ID or your login password, click the Wi-Fi section, pick the network, and the password is right there (it can even make a QR code for it).

The method that works on every version of macOS is Keychain Access. Press Command + Space to open Spotlight, type "Keychain Access," and open it. Search for your network name (the SSID) in the top-right search box, double-click the matching entry, tick "Show password," and enter your Mac's login/admin password when prompted — the Wi-Fi password appears in plain text.

On an iPhone or iPad

On an iPhone running a current version of iOS, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the small blue ⓘ (info) button next to your network name. Tap the "Password" field, authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode, and the password is revealed — tap "Copy" to grab it. (On iOS 18 and later you can also open the Passwords app, unlock it, and tap Wi-Fi to see the network and its password.)

If the reason you need it is to get another device online, you often don't even have to read the password out. When a second Apple device you're signed into on the same iCloud account tries to join, an "Enter Password" prompt on your unlocked iPhone will offer to Share Password automatically. And to get a non-Apple device on — an Android phone, a friend's laptop — open the Passwords app, tap Wi-Fi, tap the network, and choose "Show Network QR Code"; anyone can scan it with their camera to join without typing anything.

On an Android phone

Android has shown saved Wi-Fi passwords for several versions now, usually as a QR code. Open Settings > Network & internet > Internet (on a Samsung Galaxy it's Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi), tap the connected network — or the gear icon next to it — and look for a "Share" or QR-code button near the top. Confirm your PIN, pattern, or fingerprint, and you'll get a QR code another phone can scan to join. On most phones the password is also printed in plain text right underneath the code, so you can read it or type it into a TV or printer.

To look up a network you're not currently connected to, tap "Saved networks" (Samsung: the "Manage networks" or three-dot menu) on the same Wi-Fi screen, pick the network from the list, and use the same Share/QR option there.

If no device is connected at all — go to the router

If every device is locked out and there's nothing online to read the password from, the router itself is where the answer lives. Start with the sticker: most routers and internet-company gateways have a label on the bottom or back showing the default network name and a "Wireless Key," "Wi-Fi Password," or "WPA key." If nobody ever changed the password from the factory default, that sticker is your answer. (If someone did change it, the sticker won't match — move on to the next step.)

To see or change the current password, log into the router's settings page. Find the router's address first: on a connected Windows PC open Command Prompt and type ipconfig, then read the "Default Gateway" line (commonly 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1); on a phone it's listed as "Gateway" or "Router" in the Wi-Fi network's details. Type that address into a web browser, sign in with the router admin password (a different password — often on the same sticker, labeled "admin" or "router password"), and open the Wireless or Wi-Fi section to view or set the network key. If your internet came from a company like Spectrum, AT&T, Xfinity, or Cox, their phone app usually lets you see and change the Wi-Fi password without any of this.

The true last resort is a factory reset: press and hold the small recessed Reset button on the router for about 15 to 30 seconds while it's powered on. That erases every custom setting and returns the router to the defaults printed on the sticker — which means the network name and password revert too, and every device in your home has to reconnect from scratch. Only do this if nothing else works, and be ready to set the network up again afterward.

Skip the "Wi-Fi password finder" apps

Search for this and you'll see apps and sites promising to "find," "recover," or "hack" any Wi-Fi password. Avoid them. For a network you're not already connected to, there is no legitimate app that can reveal the password — the ones claiming otherwise are typically loaded with ads, spyware, or outright scams. Everything you actually need is the built-in steps above; a real Wi-Fi password only comes off a device that already knows it, or off the router you control.

One security note while you're in there: if you suspect the password leaked — you gave it out widely, or you're seeing unfamiliar devices on the network — this is a good moment to change it in the router's Wireless settings and reconnect your own gear with the new one. And to save yourself this hunt next time, write the network name and password down somewhere safe, or store them in your phone or computer's built-in password manager.

How we can help

The honest version: you almost never need to pay anyone or install anything to get your Wi-Fi password back — if one device in the house is still online, it can show you the password in under a minute, and even the worst case is just logging into the router or reading its sticker. No "finder" app required.

Where we come in is the messier version of this: a gateway from the internet company that won't let you into its settings, a router whose admin password was also lost, a network that needs to be reset and set up cleanly again so every device reconnects, or a home that keeps losing devices and needs the Wi-Fi sorted out properly. We help people across Southern California and the Coachella Valley get back online and keep their home network working — and because we don't sell you internet service, the advice is independent.