How to easily share WiFi passwords

This story has been updated. It was originally published on June 17, 2019.

When a friend asks for your WiFi password, how long is your explanation? Saying “Oh, it’s a mess of letters and numbers taped to the router behind the refrigerator in the rental unit upstairs” doesn’t make things easy for them. There are better ways to share your WiFi.

First: create a guest network

Ideally, you don’t want to give people access to your main WiFi network. This will give their laptop or phone access to all the devices in your home, which means they—or any malware installed on their system—can compromise sensitive data on your personal devices. Instead, you should create a separate guest network that will allow them to access the internet but keep them separate from the other devices in your home.

[Related: Device won’t connect to WiFi? Here’s what to do first.]

I recommend giving your guest network an easy-to-remember name and at least a somewhat easy-to-remember password. Note that simpler passwords are inherently less secure, but for this specific use case, I’d argue the popular “four random words” method is secure enough—you can use a password generator like Correct Horse Battery Staple to make one for you. That way, you can easily remember the password, and your grandma will have no problem typing it in when she visits.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, and in many cases, you can avoid having your guests type in a password at all.

For Android phones and iPhones: create a QR code

Instead of watching your friends hunt and peck on their phone keyboards, you can let them scan a QR code, which will instantly connect their phone to your network. There are plenty of tools out there that’ll create one of these codes, but I like QiFi.org. It’s incredibly straightforward: just type in your network’s name, select the encryption type (check your router’s administration page if you aren’t sure), then type the network’s password in the “Key” box. Click the Generate button, then choose Print or Export for a copy you can stick just about anywhere. QiFi does the heavy lifting offline, too, so you won’t have to worry about giving a random website your WiFi information.

Android has already incorporated this feature, so you won’t have to rely on third parties to generate a QR code. To share your WiFi details with your guests, unlock your phone and open the Quick Settings menu (swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen). There, tap Internet, followed by the cog icon right next to your WiFi network, and then Share. Your phone will ask you to verify your identity with a biometric or a passcode, and once you provide it, it’ll generate a QR code with your home network’s info.

[Related: QR codes are a smart way to share data. Here’s how to make your own.]

For iPhones and Macs: use Apple’s built-in WiFi sharing

If you or anyone else in your home has an iPhone, iPad, or Mac connected to the network, you might be able to get by with even less work—at least if you’ve done some work beforehand. Specifically, both people need to have the email address associated with their Apple ID saved in the other person’s contacts, and you need to be signed into iCloud. For WiFi sharing to work, both devices also need to have WiFi and Bluetooth on, and personal hotspot off.