Share a Wi-Fi password from an Android phone to a Mac

Android shares a saved Wi-Fi network as a QR code, and Apple's instructions for joining Wi-Fi on a Mac have no step for scanning one: you pick the network and type the password. So the job is to get the password from the phone's screen into that box. Either read it from the phone and type it, or copy the password on the phone and paste it on the Mac with a shared clipboard. Apple's one-tap password sharing is for Apple devices signed in to Apple Accounts, so an Android phone cannot offer it to a Mac.

How does Android share a Wi-Fi network?

With a QR code that another phone scans. Google's Wi-Fi help for Android gives the steps, noting that some of them need Android 12 or later:

1. Open the phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Network & internet, then Internet.
3. Tap your Wi-Fi network, then Share.
4. "Your device will give you a QR code. To join the same network, have your friend scan the code with another device."

Google's Pixel version of the page adds a step, "If needed, verify your identity on your device", and a second route from Quick Settings: swipe down, tap Internet, then tap Share Wi-Fi at the bottom left.

On a Samsung Galaxy or another maker's phone the menu names differ. Look for the network you are connected to in the Wi-Fi settings and a share or QR code button beside it. If you cannot find it, check the maker's support page rather than guessing.

Google's pages describe only the QR code. Some share screens print the password as text under the code and some do not, so look at yours. If the text is there, this guide gets shorter: read it, or select and copy it.

Why can the Mac not scan the code?

Because joining Wi-Fi on a Mac is designed around typing. Apple's guide Connect your Mac to the internet using Wi-Fi says to click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar, choose the network, and "if requested, enter the password for the network, then click Join". Its "Before you begin" advice is to "have the password for the Wi-Fi network you want to join handy". There is no mention of a QR code or a camera.

The Mac does have a way to receive a Wi-Fi password without typing, but not from Android. Apple's page How to share your Wi-Fi password from your iPhone or iPad lists the conditions: both devices on current iOS, iPadOS, or macOS, "each person is signed into their respective Apple Account", and each has the other's Apple Account email or phone number saved in Contacts. The sharing device is an iPhone or iPad. An Android phone has no part in that.

What are my options?

Reading it

Open the share screen on the phone. If the password is printed under the QR code, type it on the Mac. If only the code is shown, the password is still wherever you first got it: the sticker on the router, the person who runs the network, or your own password manager if you saved it there. Google's own Wi-Fi help does not describe a way to reveal a saved password as text on the phone, so we cannot give you one.

Copying it across

A shared clipboard turns a 20-character password into a paste. Copy it on the phone, then click into the Mac's password field and press Command-V.

KDE Connect is free, and its download page lists a stable macOS release. Its wiki explains that because Android 10 and later restrict clipboard access, you send the phone's clipboard by hand, with a "Send Clipboard" button in its notification or, on Android 14 or later, a quick settings tile. Copy, tap the tile, paste on the Mac.

The Relay syncs the clipboard both ways, so a password copied on the phone can be pasted on the Mac. That is the only part of this task The Relay does. It has no Wi-Fi sharing feature, does not read the phone's saved networks, and does not join the Mac to anything. Its clipboard sync carries text, images, and links, and the clipboard travels directly between your phone and your Mac over your local network, not through The Relay's servers. It costs $19.99, paid once, from the download page.

There is a catch that applies to both tools, and it is a real one. A shared clipboard needs the phone and the Mac to be on the same network, or within Bluetooth range. If the Mac is not yet on any Wi-Fi, that is the network you are trying to join. The Relay uses Bluetooth as a fallback when Wi-Fi is not available, so try it before the Mac has joined; KDE Connect's wiki describes connecting over the same network. If neither works in that moment, type the password. It takes a minute.

Are you sure this is the problem you have?

Two neighbouring questions get mixed up with this one.

• You want the Mac on the phone's internet, not on a Wi-Fi network the phone knows. That is the phone's hotspot, which the Mac joins like any Wi-Fi network with the hotspot password from the phone's hotspot settings. See connecting a Mac to an Android hotspot.
• You want the Mac to join without a password at all, the way an iPhone offers its hotspot to a Mac. There is no Instant Hotspot for Android and a Mac. See Instant Hotspot for Android and Mac.

Should I paste a password through a clipboard?

A shared clipboard carries whatever you copy to the second device. For a Wi-Fi password that is the point, and the risk is small, but keep three habits: lock both devices, prefer a tool that keeps the clipboard between your own devices rather than in a cloud account, and copy something harmless afterwards so the password is not sitting on both clipboards for the rest of the day. For passwords you use every week, a password manager that runs on both devices is the better home. No tool can promise an outcome here.

Questions people ask

Can a Mac scan a Wi-Fi QR code from an Android phone?

Apple's Mac Wi-Fi guide describes choosing a network and typing its password, and nothing about scanning a code. A phone can scan the code; a Mac expects the text.

Does Apple's Wi-Fi password sharing work with an Android phone?

No. Apple's page requires both devices to be signed in to Apple Accounts and saved in each other's Contacts, with an iPhone or iPad doing the sharing.

Can I see a saved Wi-Fi password on my Android phone?

Google's Wi-Fi help describes sharing a network as a QR code and does not describe showing the password as text. Some phones print it under the code; check your own share screen.

Does The Relay share Wi-Fi passwords?

Not as a feature. It syncs the clipboard, so a password you copy on the phone can be pasted on the Mac, and that is all it does for this task.