How to View Saved Wi-Fi Passwords on Mac

“Hello, what is the wifi password?“

It’s a question you may have asked several times in your home. You may have forgotten the Wi-Fi password as people usually aren’t too bothered about it since the Wi-Fi is already registered on our phone, PC or Mac. To find it, you can go the normal way to regain it from the router settings, but I have an even better solution.

Saved Wi-Fi passwords can also be viewed on Mac. There are several ways to find Wi-Fi passwords on Mac, iCloud Keychain and macOS terminal. The first is available only when you know the exact Wi-Fi name.

In this article, we will talk about these two ways to find saved Wi-Fi passwords on Mac. They are not as simple as you might think. Let’s start by following the steps below.

View Saved Wi-Fi Passwords from Keychain

Wait, what exactly is a Keychain? Mac Keychain is a useful tool that comes built into macOS. It saves all local password with network name and works like a password manager that works both offline and online. Keychain has iCloud support which syncs login data saved from Safari browser between Apple devices.

The keychain also lets you add secure notes, certified and other sensitive information. But we are not here to talk about them. Let’s see how to extract saved Wi-Fi passwords from it. Go through the steps below.

Stage 1: Open Spotlight Search using the search menu in the upper-right corner or use the Command + Space keyboard shortcut.

Step 2: Type Keychain Access in it and hit the return button. Alternatively, you can go to Launchpad > Other folder > Keychain Access to open the app.

Stage 3: Select system from the keychain menu in the left sidebar.

Step 4: Now go to bottom menu bar and select passwords from category section.

Step 5: On the right, you will see all the Wi-Fi system settings saved on the device.

Step 6: Double-click the Wi-Fi name to open the dialog.

Step 7: Select Show Password at the bottom and it will ask you to authenticate the device using fingerprint or password.

Step 8: When accessing system information, it will ask you to authenticate yourself with username and password.

Step 9: If you’re not sure about your username, go to the top left corner and tap the little Apple logo.

Step 10: Here, you will see your username in the menu. Use it and add a password in Keychain. Request! The system will show you the current password.

You can also tap on the little key icon and this will open the password help menu. You can use the suggested password and hit save changes. It will save the password of the Wi-Fi network. You cannot change passwords if another administrator is controlling the Wi-Fi network.

Use macOS Terminal

Terminal is a built-in application that lets you control the Mac using command prompts. The method mentioned below is suitable for those who don’t want to go through the multiple steps above and want a direct solution. There is only one catch here. You need to know the full name of the Wi-Fi network to highlight the password in Terminal.

Stage 1: Open Terminal using Spotlight Search (Command + Space keyboard shortcut) or by going to Launchpad > More > Terminal.

Step 2: Type the following command

security find-generic-password -ga WIFI NAME | grep “password:”

Replace WIFI NAME with the full name of your network whose password you want.

Stage 3: Hit the return button and it will ask you to authenticate using username and password.

Step 4: Add the information and press ok. It will show you the Wi-Fi Password for that particular network.

Do you like using Terminal to find out other details about your Mac? Read our roundup of the 11 best Terminal command tricks for macOS.

Closing Thoughts

If you invest in a good password manager, you can easily avoid the scenario mentioned above. It can save the login information of each Wi-Fi network in a password manager and retrieve the information as needed with a single authentication.

As for the Apple ecosystem, I recommend switching to iCloud Keychain, which is a solid product for Apple users, and it is expected to receive a major overhaul in the iOS 14 update. For alternatives, I recommend choosing Enpass, 1Password, LastPass or Dashlane. They are all cross-platform solutions, meaning you can access them on any platform, including Android and Windows.

Get Wi-Fi Passwords on Mac

As you can see from the guide above, getting a saved Wi-Fi password on Mac is pretty easy. For casual users I would recommend going with Keychain. Power users can use a Terminal path to find things.

Next: iCloud Keychain has sync issues? Read the post below to find the solution to the problem.