How to See Saved Wi-Fi Passwords on Mac

Your Mac remembers every Wi-Fi password it has ever joined — the coffee shop from 2021 included. When a guest asks for your network key and nobody remembers it, you can pull it back out in under a minute. Three routes, from easiest to most powerful, all working on macOS Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia.

Fastest: straight from Wi-Fi settings

1. Open System Settings → Wi-Fi.
2. Scroll down and click Advanced… — this lists every network your Mac knows.
3. Click the ⋯ button next to the network and choose Copy Password.
4. Authenticate with Touch ID or your account password. The key is now on your clipboard — paste it into Notes or a message to see it.

For the network you're currently on, you don't even need Advanced: its own Details… pane offers the same thing. On macOS 15 Sequoia there's an even nicer view — the new Passwords app has a dedicated Wi-Fi section in the sidebar that shows every saved network with a click-to-reveal password field.

See it spelled out: Keychain Access

If you want to read the password rather than copy it blind, use the keychain directly:

1. Open Keychain Access from Applications → Utilities (on Sonoma and later, macOS may prompt you toward the Passwords app — click Open Keychain Access anyway, or launch it via Spotlight).
2. Search for the network name (the SSID).
3. Double-click the entry of kind AirPort network password.
4. Tick Show password and authenticate with an administrator name and password.

The password appears in plain text. This route also works for networks saved long ago under old macOS versions — the keychain carries them forward through upgrades and migrations.

Terminal, for the command-line inclined

# Print the stored password for a network (replace the name)
security find-generic-password -wa "Network Name"

macOS pops a permission dialog — enter an admin username and password and click Allow, and the key prints in Terminal. This is read-only: it changes nothing, so there's nothing to undo. It's the handy route when you're already in a shell or helping someone over screen sharing. Mind the quoting — an SSID with spaces or an apostrophe needs to stay inside the quotes exactly as broadcast, capitalization included.

Why you might not need any of this

If the guest's device is an iPhone, iPad, or Mac signed into iCloud with a contact of yours, just have them select the network — your Mac will offer to share the password automatically, no reveal required. And a note on what you can't do: your Mac only stores keys for networks it has actually joined. If it was never on that network, there's no password to find — check the router's label or admin page instead.

Why every route demands a password

You'll notice all three methods stop and ask for administrator credentials. That's the keychain doing its job: Wi-Fi keys are stored encrypted, and revealing one is treated the same as revealing any saved login. Two useful consequences follow. First, a standard (non-admin) account can't extract Wi-Fi passwords from the machine — handy to know if you manage a family Mac or a shared computer. Second, because the keychain syncs through iCloud Keychain, a password saved on your iPhone is usually already on your Mac and vice versa, so whichever device is in your hand can do the reveal.

While you're in the Advanced list, it's a good moment for hygiene: that list of remembered networks grows forever, and your Mac will happily auto-join anything on it. Use the same ⋯ menu to remove hotel and airport networks you'll never trust again.