At times your friends may require to you to release your Wi-Fi password to them and due to the close relationship you have with them disappointing may not be pleasing to you, and your Wi-Fi password should be part of your secret which you might not want to disclose to someone anyhow.
In case your friend and well-wisher keeps on coming your way and for the essence of using or sharing your Wi-Fi connection, this may require you to set it up in way that you will not disclose your password to anyone (Setting a home network). I know you might be imagining on how to do this, but don’t bother as we will treat some ways of sharing your Wi-Fi without necessarily giving out your password.
Read Also: How to Turn Old or New Router into a Wireless Repeater
How to Share Wi-Fi Without Giving Away Your Password to other Devices
1. WPS Automatic Connection
For you to stop disclosing your Wi-Fi password to someone else, there is a Wi-Fi feature known as WPS which stand for Wi-Fi Protected Setup. This feature was actually developed around 2017 and the essence of it, is for you to be able to connect your home router to some device which doesn’t grant any access to display your Wi-Fi repeaters, Printers and Internet devices.
But a good news to you is that this feature known as WPS is also supported by Android and Windows Computers. Using WPS is not tedious, is just like tapping on just two buttons. Below is how to go about its settings for most devices.
How to use WPS Automatic Connection method
For you to connect your Android device with Wi-Fi using WPS feature, just follow this procedure below:
- Go to Setting > Network and Internet > Wi-Fi
- Proceed by Scrolling down and search for Wi-Fi preference option and tap on Advance, in same interface look for “Wi-Fi Push Button” and simply tap on it.
- Next, go to your Wi-Fi router, and press the WPS button (which is usually located on the back side).
- Immediately you press both button concurrently your Android smartphone will definitely connect to the required Wi-Fi network without necessarily disclosing your password to the third-party.
Note: Most WPS-capable router has the ability to connect making use of 8-digit PIN, to find this out simply look at the clear sticker which is attached to the back side of your Wi-Fi router, in case you possibly find any 8-digit PIN, you may equally use that as your Wi-Fi password.
Pros WPS Automatic Connection
- This require you just pressing on two buttons and you will get your device connected to the Wi-Fi network automatically.
Cons WPS Automatic Connection
- You may not possibly run and press on the two button on the router, immediately someone else make a request to be able to access your Wi-Fi network.
Due to the 8 digits normally possess by WPS, it is as easy anything for some attackers and crackers to manipulate them and get access to the password. But in case you are not making use of the WPS, it is therefore advisable to disable them by simply going to your router settings.
It is of note that WPS work effectively on both home router and this is supported by Wi-Fi client device. Just as we have mentioned before, it supported by Android and Windows Computers but most Apple device like MacBook and iPhone doesn’t support this feature.
Check Out: How to Find Wi-Fi Passwords in iPhone,
2. Connect to Wi-Fi using Scan a QR or NFC tags
Whenever you scroll the website, you will definitely find out that there is a lot of website offering the service of QR codes for Wi-Fi passwords. This feature is available to Android users to be able to share Wi-Fi password from one device to another but if you are on a web platform simply go to QR Stuff and proceed by selecting “Wi-Fi Login” from the left menu, then enter in your SSID (network name), password and encryption type. Immediately you acquire the QR code from the web platform simply print it out and stick it to anywhere near your Wi-Fi router. If you want to also create NFC Tag that will connect your Android Smartphone Guest users simply make use of this platform WiFiKeyShare.
How to connect to QR code
For this feature to be use to connect your network the guest user need to have QR code scanner app already installed in their smartphone but if it not presents in their phone but they are using an iPhone the default camera app can also serve as an alternative for latest version of iOS 11 or higher. Now to connect to your network the guest has to scan QR code using the above mentioned app and immediately it will get connected to the Wi-Fi network.
Pros of QR code
Unlike QR code that involves app installation to use the feature, but with phone place over NFC Tag connection will be establish immediately to the Wi-Fi network.
Cons of QR code
Most smartphone doesn’t have the feature of NFC present in them. The feature will be quite understood if the guests are all tech geeks or else the feature QR codes and NFC tags will just be like a mere joke to them because they will hardly understand the principle on the functionality.
3. Making Use of the router guest mode
The feature called “Guest Mode” is usually implemented in almost all home router, instead of your pals connecting to your Wi-Fi network directly, you can simply ask them connect to the guest network which normally have a different password from your normal Wi-Fi network. In this instance you can create strong password for your personal use and easy password for the guest user of your network or even make an open source for your guest to access it so easily.
Procedure on How to setup Guest mode.
For you to set up the Guest Mode simply follow the below procedures
- Firstly, log in to your router admin page by entering the router’s IP address in the address bar of the web browser you are using. Usually it is in the format like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.
- Then proceed to log in to your network
- After you might have logged in simply search for Guest Network (usually under Wireless settings) and enable it.
- Continue by entering a new Network Name (SSID) and setup a new simple password like 246810 or qwertyui etc.
- Finally click Save for the settings to take immediate effects.
Pros of router guest mode
With this you don’t need to reveal your normal Wi-Fi password, if you guest frequently access your network. Also in the guest network, the guest has limited access or no access to the shared files on the network connection. You will be provided feature on how to limit the Bandwidth and also schedule the usage of the guest network by most router.
Cons of router guest mode
Normally the guest mode is not usually secure, so it vulnerable to attack.
4. Creating a Wi-Fi hotspot to form your Device.
For those of us who are Windows users you can turn your Windows computer into a Hotspot and also share your network and in turn make use of your Android device as a Wi-Fi repeater.
Normally you can create a Wi-Fi Hotspot from your Android smartphone and this mostly involve you using data. Also we should note sharing Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi is impossible but with the use of a third-party app known as Netshare creating Wi-Fi hotspot from a Wi-Fi hotspot is made possible and no rooting is needed for this to work.
Pros of Wi-Fi hotspot
- Sharing Wi-Fi connection with the device right in your hand is made possible
Cons of Wi-Fi hotspot
There is a restriction to the hour in which the guest may want to stay to enjoy the network.
Summary: Share Wi-Fi Without Giving Password
Having read through the post you have discover that there are couple of ways to share Wi-Fi network without necessarily giving out your password to the guest user and in the course of this post we mention some methods like Guest Network, WPS, making use of QR code or NFC, creating Wi-Fi hotspot.
In case if nothing worked out, you can simply type in the code to their device because must device doesn’t give you the feature to access connected Wi-Fi password but in the case of iOS if you are connected with device like iPhone or iPad to MacBook linking your apple account to the same device you can possibly see the Wi-Fi password of the connected network but also without MacBook you cannot access the password of this connected network.