How to Connect a Phone to Wi-Fi
If you want to use your phone at home, on a coffee shop, at a friend’s house, or in a public place like an airport or hotel, then it’s important to be able to connect to wifi. Your mobile device can do a lot more when it’s connected to wifi than just make and receive phone calls. It can also send and receive emails, download files, stream music, play video games, and do a bunch of other things that require an internet connection.
You can connect your smartphone to a wifi network by tapping on the Wi-Fi icon, which is usually blue, on the top of your phone’s home screen or on the lock screen. This will turn your phone’s Wi-Fi on, and it’ll begin scanning for wireless networks nearby. If it finds one, then your device will ask you to enter the password to join that network.
Once you’ve entered the password, your device will automatically connect to that network, and it will also save that information so that you can access it later. This is helpful if you’re going to be using your smartphone at a public place, such as a cafe or a library, because it will mean you don’t have to remember the password every time you want to connect.
Your Android device can also find saved wifi passwords that it has already stored, if you’re willing to search through its settings. This isn’t quite as easy to do on stock Android, but it’s not impossible either if you’re running a skin such as Samsung’s “One UI” or Google’s Android “Nexus.”
Finding saved wifi passwords that have been stored in your phone’s settings is a relatively simple process. In fact, it’s more straightforward than finding plain text passwords for saved wifi networks that you haven’t used in the past, which is what Apple has done on iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.
If your phone or tablet has an Android skin, such as Samsung’s One UI or Google’s Android “Nexus,” then you may have to be a little patient. Even with these skins, though, the process is fairly quick and intuitive, and it’s not impossible to get a plain text password for your saved wifi networks.
The first step is to scan for nearby wifi networks, which you can do by tapping the Wi-Fi icon at the top of your phone’s screen. This will begin scanning for available wifi networks, and once it catches a few, it’ll display them under the Network section of the Settings menu.
Tap on any of these networks to join them, and the password will appear as a question mark or green arrow. When you’ve successfully joined a network, it will show as “Connected” under the network name.
You can use the Wi-Fi icon to connect your phone or tablet to other wireless devices, such as a smart TV or other computer in your home. This can be a great way to share a connection with other devices in your home, and it’s easier than having to remember the password for each device.