Apple has made a small change to iOS 16, but an important tweak to make life easier in certain situations, by having it so the Wi-Fi password of the network you’re currently using can now be viewed on your device.
Rather than having the saved password for the current network blanked out in the Wi-Fi section under Settings, so there’s no way of knowing what it is if you don’t commit it to memory, the actual password text can now be seen (providing you first authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID, or a passcode).
That being the case, you can tell a house guest the password to tap in, or copy the password and send it across to the person’s device. This was spotted by MacRumors (opens in new tab), and the capability is in the developer preview of iOS 16.
While those with iOS hardware can already share Wi-Fi passwords seamlessly with anyone trying to hook up to the same network, providing the visitor is also using an iPhone (or an iPad or Mac), if the visitor has an Android device, or a Windows laptop, for example, that isn’t possible.
It’s in these situations where it’ll be very handy to see what the Wi-Fi password actually is – rather than having to go retrieve it from that bit of plastic you pull out the back of your router, or from the dog-eared business card your broadband provider sent that shows your default router login details, which is stuffed in a drawer somewhere.
Analysis: A useful change, and about time, too
This is a small tweak, but a sensible enough one to save you a bit of time in the aforementioned kind of situations. Indeed, you might wonder why it has taken Apple so long to bolt on what can’t be a difficult feature to implement, let’s face it.
Showing the stored password for the current Wi-Fi network could also be useful for visitors on iOS devices, too, as sometimes the ability to automatically share the password with them can fail to function correctly – and at least you now have a quick and easy backup route if any hiccups are encountered for iPhone or iPad-toting guests.
The new ability will arrive with iOS 16 later in the year, and the mobile OS is not far off public beta testing now – that is scheduled to happen in July.
While we’re talking about easy Wi-Fi password sharing, there’s a cool trick those on Android phones can use to their advantage which you may not know about – and it pertains to QR codes. Should you want to know more, we explain the ins-and-outs right here.