Do you have a wireless network at home but you don’t remember the password? Are you traveling and need to access a wireless network but don’t know the password? If so, this article is for you! We will show you how to see hidden wifi passwords on your iPhone. This is a very handy trick to have up your sleeve!
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When you connect to a wireless network, like at your house or while traveling, your iPhone typically prompts you for the password. It helps if you can remember the password so that you don’t have to enter it each time. However, sometimes this doesn’t work as expected and instead of capturing the password from the prompt, it simply hides it! You then need to enter the password manually each time you want to use the network.
In order for us to show how to see hidden wifi passwords on iPhone, we first need to understand why this happens and what causes it. Essentially there are two scenarios: The first scenario is that one of the other devices on your Wi-Fi network was configured incorrectly (or didn’t come with a default password). The second scenario is that you’re using an unsecured network (such as public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or airport). We’ll explain each of these scenarios in more detail below:
Scenario 1 – your iPhone WiFi password is hidden due to another device incorrectly configured on the network
If you have other devices on your home network and one them was not correctly configured, then this can cause your iPhone’s name to disappear. And while it may appear that your WiFi password automatically disappears too, the truth is that it never actually existed! In this case, the other devices on the network collectively configure themselves to be invisible. You see a similar behavior if you only connect through mobile data instead of connecting directly with wifi.
Scenario 2 – your iPhone WiFi password is hidden because the network is unsecured
If you’re in an area with public Wi-Fi, this means that anyone can access it without a password. As such, there’s no requirement to show a password so this is one reason why it may be hidden. However, not showing the password doesn’t mean you’ll be automatically connected to the internet! You need to explicitly connect using whatever mechanism your phone provides (for example, by opening Safari and going to any web page).
Now that we’ve covered the basics of why this occurs, let’s look at how to see hidden wifi passwords on iPhone. There are actually several different ways: We will cover these methods below:
Method 1 – retrieve the password from your iPhone’s Settings
Method 2 – view the wireless network on your list of known networks and then click “Forget This Network” to delete it from being saved. Reconnect and disable Wi-Fi Networking when prompted. Then wait for a new prompt that shows the password when reconnecting.
Method 3 – reset your network settings in order to see a hidden wifi password (however, this may wipe out any customizations you’ve made so be sure to backup your phone first)
Let’s go through each of these methods one by one so you can figure out which is best suited for you! Before starting though, don’t forget that if you need technical assistance fixing any Wi-Fi password problems, you can always reach out to us by leaving a comment in the comments section. We’ll be happy to help!
Method 1 – retrieve the password from your iPhone’s Settings (this is free and easy)
We recommend trying this method first since it’s free, easy and fast! To start, open your phone’s Settings app and then expand the “Wi-Fi” section. Then select the network that you want to check for a password.
It’s not always possible to see the password in the settings, but if you don’t the next method should work for you.
Method 2 – view the wireless network on your list of known networks and then click “Forget This Network” to delete it from being saved (this is free, a bit more difficult and may take some time)
This method can be a bit more difficult and takes a little longer. To start, head over to the main page of your phone’s “Settings” app and then tap on “Wi-Fi”. If you don’t see an option called “Network Name”, that means that no other devices are connected to that Wi-Fi network. This is good because that means you shouldn’t lose any data, but it also means you can’t see the password!
Luckily, your phone stores a list of all the networks it’s ever connected to in its “Settings” app. So if you do need to reset this information then tap on “Known Networks”. Here you’ll find all the Wi-Fi networks that your iPhone knows about, including those from other devices on the same home network. If there is more than one device on your home network (like computers or tablets), look for where it says “Other Device”. If someone else configured their device incorrectly, this could cause your iPhone to not show its own WiFi password. Therefore if there are multiple devices, try to connect to your iPhone (e.g., by clicking on “Other Device” and entering the password that appears on your iPhone)
If there are no other devices, then go ahead and click on the network you want and then tap “Forget This Network”. Now you’ll need to completely disconnect from your Wi-Fi. If it asks you whether or not you want to keep the password, say no! You won’t be able to see it now since we’re intentionally removing this Wi-Fi connection from being saved. After doing so, wait a few seconds for the phone to stop connecting and reconnect again. Once this is done, a new prompt should appear which shows the password when reconnecting. Make sure that the password is correct, then go ahead and enter it in to connect.
Method 3 – reset your network settings in order to see a hidden wifi password (this may take a while and could wipe out any customizations you’ve made)
If neither of the other two methods worked for you, this one will allow you to see a hidden WiFi password on your iPhone. However, it may also wipe out any customizations that you have made. So please proceed with caution! To start, head over to the main page of your phone’s “Settings” app and then tap on “General” followed by “Reset”. From here, click on the option that says: “Reset Network Settings”. This will delete all your phone’s shared preferences, so you’ll need to re-enter any info such as your Wi-Fi password.
After resetting the network settings it will prompt a box with “Reset Network Settings” followed by a list of confirmations – click on both of these and wait for it to finish resetting! After doing so, you should be able to see the hidden WiFi password when connecting. If not though, then move onto the next method since it has been known to work in some cases where other methods didn’t!
Method 4 – use an app that is specifically designed for this purpose (this is free but may not work at all times)
If none of the above methods worked for you or were even effective, don’t worry! You can always use one of the many apps that are specifically designed to see hidden WiFi passwords. One such example is called “WiFi Password Show”.
To begin, you’ll need to download and install this app from the App Store before continuing (it’s free and easy to do!). Now open up the app on your device and then tap on “Start Scanning” in order to get started. From here, it will scan for all nearby vulnerabilities and show any networks that have a password set. All you need to do now is select your Wi-Fi network from the list of results, enter your password when prompted, and then connect using it again.
Hopefully, all of these methods were helpful for helping you see a hidden WiFi password on your iPhone. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions in the section below and I’ll get back to you shortly! Thanks for reading, it’s appreciated.
