How to share your wi-fi password in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra

We recently had a bunch of kids come over to the house for my daughter's birthday party. And being teenagers, they didn't come alone. They brought two things:

  1. Something in their pocket: An iPhone.
  2. A question in their mind: What's your wi-fi password?

Do You Want to Know a Secret?

Thanks to a new feature in iOS 11, it's easy to share the password to your home wi-fi network with your friends without revealing it or having to type it into every guest's device.

This shortcut to wi-fi connectivity can be used with an iOS device (iPhone, Pad, iPod) running iOS 11, as well as a Mac running macOS High Sierra.

Allow us to demonstrate using an iPhone and wi-fi network and a friend's iPod Touch. Here are three simple steps [Note: If your friend is already in your contacts and already has Bluetooth enabled, you just can skip to Step 3!].

Step 1: Add your friend to your Contacts app

  1. On your iPhone, tap Contacts.
  2. Tap the Add button.
  3. Enter contact data for your friend and tap Done.

Step 2: Turn on Bluetooth on both your iPhone and your friend's iPod Touch

  1. Tap Settings.
  2. Tap Bluetooth.
  3. Tap the Bluetooth switch to turn it on.

Step 3: With your device nearby, have your friend join your wi-fi network

  1. On the iPod Touch, tap Settings.
  2. Tap Wi-Fi.
  3. Tap the name of the wi-fi network.

  1. When your friend taps the name of your network, a password box will be displayed the iPod Touch and a card will appear on your iPhone. Tap Share Password and the wi-fi connection will occur on your friend's iPod Touch without he or she having to lift a finger.

Tap Share Password from your iPhone

  1. When the connection is complete on the iPod Touch, you'll be notified on your iPhone. Tap Done.

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If it's not working for you, let us know in the comments below.

Mike Matthews

Mike Matthews is a writer at iMore.com. He has used Apple products all the way back to the Apple II+. He appreciates no longer having to launch apps by loading them from a cassette tape recorder.