The fastest way: Keychain Access

Your Mac stores every WiFi password you have ever connected to in a built-in app called Keychain Access. You can retrieve any saved password in about 30 seconds without restarting anything or changing your router settings.

Open Keychain Access by pressing Command + Space, typing "keychain", and pressing Enter. In the window that opens, search for the name of your WiFi network in the top-right search box. When you find it, double-click the entry. A new window will open showing the network name and other details.

At the bottom of that window, check the box next to "Show password". Your Mac will ask you to enter your user account password — the one you use to log into your Mac itself, not your WiFi password. Type it in and click "Allow". Your WiFi password will now appear in plain text in that same box.

Key Takeaways

  • Keychain Access stores every WiFi password your Mac has ever connected to, and you can view any of them by searching for the network name and entering your Mac login password.
  • If you cannot find the network in Keychain Access, your Mac has never connected to it before, or the entry was deleted.
  • System Settings shows which network you are currently connected to but does not display the password itself.
  • Resetting your router to factory settings will erase the password from your Mac's memory and require you to enter it fresh the next time you connect.

What to do if the network does not appear in Keychain

If you search for your WiFi network name in Keychain Access and nothing comes up, your Mac has never successfully connected to that network before. This happens when you are trying to find a password for a network at someone else's house, a network you recently deleted from your saved list, or a network your Mac forgot after a system update.

In these cases, you will need to get the password from the person who set up the network or from the router itself. If it is your own router, you can reset it to factory settings and set up a new password, or you can log into the router's admin panel using the default username and password printed on the device.

Finding the password through your router

If you own the router, you can see the WiFi password by logging into the router's settings page directly. Open a web browser and type 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 into the address bar. Your router's login page should appear.

Enter the username and password printed on a sticker on the back or bottom of your router. These are the router's admin credentials, not your WiFi password. Once you are logged in, look for a section called "Wireless", "WiFi", "Network", or "Security" — the exact name varies by router brand. The WiFi password, sometimes called the "passphrase" or "pre-shared key", will be displayed there in plain text.

If you have changed the router's admin password since you set it up and cannot remember it, you will need to reset the router to factory settings. This erases all your settings and WiFi password, so you will have to set up a new one from scratch.

Why your Mac stores passwords this way

Keychain is a password manager built into macOS. It stores not just WiFi passwords but also passwords for websites, email accounts, and apps. When you connect to a WiFi network and enter the password, your Mac asks if you want to save it — if you click "Save", it goes into Keychain.

The reason your Mac requires your login password to show a saved WiFi password is security. If anyone could sit down at your Mac and when ready see every password stored on it, someone could steal your WiFi password, email password, or banking password in seconds. Requiring your login password means that even if your Mac is left unlocked, a stranger cannot easily access these stored secrets.

Viewing passwords for networks you are currently connected to

If you are already connected to a WiFi network and want to see its password without opening Keychain, you can check System Settings. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, select "System Settings", then click "WiFi" in the sidebar.

System Settings will show you the name of the network you are connected to and some basic information, but it does not display the password itself. To see the actual password, you still need to open Keychain Access and follow the steps above.

What happens when you forget to save a password

When you connect to a WiFi network for the first time, your Mac asks "Would you like to save the password for this network?" If you click "Not Now" or close the dialog, your Mac will not store the password. The next time you want to connect, you will have to enter it again.

If this happens, you cannot retrieve the password from Keychain because it was never saved there. Your only option is to get the password from the network owner or from the router itself using the steps above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I see WiFi passwords for networks I am not currently connected to?

Yes. Keychain Access stores passwords for every network your Mac has ever connected to, whether you are currently connected or not. Search for the network name in Keychain, double-click it, check "Show password", and enter your Mac login password.

What if I see the network in Keychain but the password box is empty?

This usually means the entry is corrupted or was not saved properly. Try deleting the entry from Keychain and connecting to the network again, then save the password when prompted. If the problem persists, the network may require a special login page instead of a straightforward password.

Is it safe to write down or share a WiFi password I find in Keychain?

Yes, a WiFi password is not secret in the same way a banking password is. Sharing it with guests or family members is normal. However, do not share it with people you do not trust, because they could use your internet connection or access devices on your home network.

Will resetting my Mac delete all the passwords in Keychain?

A factory reset will erase Keychain. If you back up your Mac before resetting it, you can restore Keychain from the backup afterward. If you do not back up, all stored passwords will be lost and you will have to re-enter them the next time you connect to each network.

Can I export all my WiFi passwords from Keychain at once?

Keychain does not have a built-in export feature for WiFi passwords. You can view and copy them one at a time using Keychain Access, but there is no way to read them all as a list or file.