How To View Wi-Fi Password After it Has Been Connected

Your Android phone or tablet can recall the dozens of Wi-Fi networks you’ve connected to since you first started using it. Your Android device remembers every Wi-Fi password you enter, whether it’s for a network at home, school, work, the gym, a coffee shop, a relative’s apartment, or even from a friend’s phone.

The problem arises, however, if you ever need to view the password for one of the networks to which you have previously gained access.

It’s possible that you and a friend both want to use the same wireless hotspot and that you’ll want to save it so that both of you can connect multiple devices to it. You might think that your Android phone or tablet will display the password in plain text if you look at the saved Wi-Fi network in settings if you are unable to obtain the password from the original source.

The Wi-Fi network’s plain text password can be retrieved from the device’s settings, though this is not immediately obvious. Even less so than on stock Android on, say, a Google Pixel model, if you’re using an Android skin on your phone or tablet, like Samsung’s Galaxy line. However, Apple has recently made it easier to locate saved Wi-Fi passwords on iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. Finding them is fairly straightforward on Android.

Let’s get right to your directions:

Unmodified Android 10–13
Samsung Galaxy devices running Android 10 through Android 13
Non-Rooted Android Devices Running Versions 6-9
Rooted Devices Running Android 4.4.4 Or Higher

Method 1: Stock Android 10 to Android 13

Stock versions of Android 10, 11, 12, and 13 make it simplest to view saved Wi-Fi network passwords in plain text. There’s no need to root your device, and you don’t even need a third-party app.

Google’s Pixel devices are compatible with Android 10 and later, with Android 13 support available on the Pixel 4 and later.

Even though Google’s Android One program is defunct, phone makers like LG, Nokia, Motorola, and Xiaomi that produced Android One handsets are still obligated to support those devices with software updates for at least two years after they were first released. The Nokia X10 and X20 have Android 13, but the next batch of phones won’t get past Android 12 until 2021 at the earliest.

If you’re using an Android phone with a nearly stock Android experience, the steps below will be nearly identical. It could also work with other models if their connection menus aren’t specifically designed.

Simple Methods:

Launch the Internet or Wi-Fi settings menu.
Select a network from “Saved networks” or use the active connection.
Select “Share” then select the desired network.
If your device requires authentication, please enter your credentials.
Look below the QR code for the plain text passphrase.

Comprehensive Guide:

To begin, open the “Wi-Fi” section of your device’s Settings menu. You can use one of these approaches to locate it on your phone, depending on its hardware and operating system:

Just type “wifi” into the settings search bar and select “Wi-Fi” from the list.
Tell Google Assistant to “open Wi-Fi settings.”
Select Wi-Fi from the Quick Settings by holding down the icon for it.
To access Internet, navigate to Settings > Network & Internet > Internet.
To enable Wi-Fi, navigate to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi.
Access the Wi-Fi settings (Android 11 only).

If you need the password for your current Wi-Fi or Internet network, you can access it by tapping the network name at the top of the page where you manage those settings (left image below).

If you don’t see it, look for “Saved networks” (middle screenshot below) and click it. Select the desired Wi-Fi network from the list of saved networks displayed on your mobile device (right screenshot below). This list displays the SSID (service set identifier), also known as the network name.

Once you’ve confirmed the network’s identity, click the “Share” button. If you’ve enabled security, you’ll be prompted to scan a fingerprint, scan your face, enter a PIN, or enter a password. The network password is displayed in plain text below the QR code that stores the credentials for the network.

Scanning the QR code with an Android phone or tablet, iOS device, or iPad will also establish a direct connection to the access point.

Method 2: Android 10 to Android 13 on Samsung Galaxy Devices

One UI is Samsung’s custom skin atop the Android operating system; the most recent version, 5.1 for Android 13, was released in January 2023. So many features don’t work the same way as on a Google Pixel, and that includes retrieving saved Wi-Fi network passwords in plain text.

One UI 2 and later make viewing Wi-Fi passwords a little more involved than it is on stock Android, but it’s still not difficult. Samsung prevents you from retrieving the plain text passwords for any of your previously saved Wi-Fi networks, so you can only use the one you’re currently connected to.

Simple Methods:

Choose “Connections” from the “Settings” menu.
Go to the “Wi-Fi” submenu by pressing the button.
Use the hub of the existing system.
Choose “QR code.”
Select “Save as image” to add it to your saved images.
To use Google Lens or Google Photos, just launch them.
To use Google Lens, either open the image in the app or click the Lens button in Google Photos.
If necessary, extend the crop outside of the QR code’s borders.
The output displays the password in plain text.

Comprehensive Guide:

To begin, open the “Wi-Fi” section of your device’s Settings menu. If you want to:

Suggest to Bixby that he “open Wi-Fi settings.”
If you have Google Assistant installed, you can ask it to “open Wi-Fi settings.”
Select Wi-Fi from the Quick Settings by holding down the icon for it.
Just type “wifi” into the settings search bar and select “Wi-Fi” from the list. To get to the Wi-Fi settings, tap “Wi-Fi” in the Connections menu if it doesn’t bring up the submenu immediately.
To enable Wi-Fi, navigate to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi.

From the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the gear icon next to the SSID (service set identifier) of the wireless network to which you are currently connected.

After that, go to the very end of the network details page and click the “QR code” link. The main difference between One UI and vanilla Android is that you can only get a QR code for the network you’re currently connected to. Another major distinction is that the network password will not be displayed in plain text. It won’t help to ask Bixby for it either.

Click “Save as image” on the QR code page to save it to your computer.

Use Google Lens to then scan the image you just saved. There are many ways to accomplish this:

If you have Google Photos installed, open it, pick your image, and click the “Lens” button.
Select the image you want to use by tapping the camera icon on the Google app’s widget (if installed) on your home screen. To choose the image (shown below), you may first need to tap the gallery icon in the upper-right corner.
To use the saved image, launch the Google app (if you have it installed) and click the camera icon next to the search bar. Before you can choose the image, you may first need to tap the gallery icon in the upper-right corner.
Launch Google Lens (if you have it) and choose the image to analyze. Before you can choose the image, you may first need to tap the gallery icon in the upper-right corner.

If this is your first time using Google Lens for photos, you’ll be prompted to grant the app access to your gallery. When prompted, select “Allow access,” and then “Allow” again.

Google Lens will begin scanning the image, but it may end up concentrating on the area immediately surrounding the QR code rather than the code itself. If that’s the case, you’ll need to manually adjust the crop so that it no longer stops at the edges of the QR code.

After a successful scan, the network credentials (username and password) will be displayed in plain text below the image.

Method 3: Android 6 to Android 9 on Non-Rooted Devices

While the aforementioned can generate QR codes with Wi-Fi credentials embedded, most phones and tablets running stock or skinned Android 9 and earlier cannot. Apps exist to generate QR codes for Wi-Fi hotspots, but they require the password, which is useless if you don’t already know it.

To access the file containing your saved Wi-Fi credentials on Android 9 and earlier, you will need to root your device (see Method 4 below). A QR code for a wireless network’s password can be scanned with the Google Lens app or the Lens feature in Google Photos if you’ve received one from another device.

Simple Methods for Using Google Lens:

To use Google Lens, launch it from your device’s app drawer or tap the Lens icon in the main Google app or the Google app’s widget.
Choose the photo from your device’s gallery or tap “Search with camera.”
Simply aim the camera at the QR code, and take a picture.
If necessary, extend the crop outside of the QR code’s borders.
Get the plain text password by pulling up the results.

A Few Easy Google Photos Steps:

Fire up the Google Photos program.
Go ahead and pick a picture from your library.
Select “Lens” and then the image.
If necessary, extend the crop outside of the QR code’s borders.
Get the plain text password by pulling up the results.

Comprehensive Guide:

Google Lens (left screenshot below) or Google Photos (right screenshot below) must be opened first. Google Lens can be accessed in a few different ways: from the app’s home screen widget, from within the Google app, or by opening the app itself and tapping the Lens icon.

The next step is to open your photo album and find the QR code image. If the QR code is printed out or displayed on another device, you can also scan it by selecting “Search with your camera” in the Google Lens app and then pointing your camera at the code. After an image has loaded in Google Photos, click the “Lens” button.

After a successful QR code scan, the card’s display will reveal the user name and password for the associated network.

Method 4: Android 4.4 to Android 9 on Rooted Devices

A root app is required to access saved Wi-Fi network passwords on devices running Android versions prior to Android 9.0 Pie. If you already have TWRP installed and used it to install Magisk for root, you should be good to go.

WiFi Password Viewer by Alexandros Schillings was the only app we could get to work across all of our devices, though there are a number of them in the Play Store that make similar claims.

WiFi Key Recovery (Root Required) on the Play Store.

WiFi Key Recovery, upon first launch, will request Superuser privileges. If you select “Grant” from the prompt, you’ll be taken to a list of all the Wi-Fi networks to which you’ve granted access. Underneath each entry is a password.

Your list could be quite long if you have connected to many different Wi-Fi networks while using your Android device. In that case, click the “Search” button in the upper right corner to look for a specific Wi-Fi network.

There are several options available if you need to transfer one of these passwords to another gadget. To get started, tap any list item to open a context menu. It’s possible to either:

If you want to send the network’s password to another device quickly, you can simply tap “Copy password” to copy it to your clipboard.
Select your preferred texting app from the list that appears after tapping “Share,” then send the password.
To have the app create a QR code with the network information, just tap the “QR” button. To automatically join the Wi-Fi network, all the other device needs to do is open its camera or QR code scanner, point it at the code, and then tap the pop-up prompt.

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Joseph Hillary

I’m a passionate individual with a diverse range of interests encompassing reading, writing, blogging, technology, and games. 📚✍️🌐🎮 With a penchant for exploration and a constant hunger for knowledge, I immerse myself in these fields to continuously expand my horizons and hone my skills.