How to change your wifi password

A wifi password is one of the few things in a house that everybody uses and nobody thinks about until something forces the issue. A lodger moves out. A neighbour was given it years ago in a moment of goodwill. The card it was written on has gone behind the sideboard. Changing it takes about ten minutes on almost every network in the country, and the part that catches people out is never the changing. It is knowing which of the two passwords on the box you are supposed to be touching, and what quietly falls off the network the moment you press save.

Two passwords, and most people change the wrong one

Your router has two, and they do completely different jobs. The first is the one your phone asks for when it joins the network. Depending on who made the box it is called the wifi password, the wireless key, the network key or the passphrase, and it is the one written on the label with the network name next to it.

The second is the admin password. That one opens the router's own settings page, which is where the first one is changed. It has nothing to do with joining the network and everything to do with being allowed to reconfigure it. People who set out to change their wifi password and end up locked out of their own router have almost always changed this one by mistake.

How do I change my wifi password?

Open the router's settings, find the wireless section, type a new password and save. The only real variation between providers is how you get to that settings page in the first place.

• Through the provider's app. Most networks now hand you an app that does this in three taps, and it is the easiest route by a distance. Look for wifi settings, network name or password.
• Through a browser. On a device already connected to the wifi, type the router's address into the address bar. It is printed on the same label as everything else, and is usually something like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Log in with the admin details, then find the wireless or wifi section.
• Save, then reconnect. The router will drop every device while it applies the change, including the one you are using. Give it a minute before assuming it has gone wrong.

Two things while you are in there. Leave the network name alone unless you have a reason to change it: rename it and every device treats the network as brand new rather than as one it already knows. And if the settings page offers you a choice of security type, WPA2 or WPA3 is the one you want.

What actually stops working when you change it?

Everything, briefly, and a handful of things for considerably longer than that. Phones, tablets and laptops are trivial because a person is holding them and can retype the new one on the spot.

The devices that cause the trouble are the ones with no screen and no keyboard. Printers, smart plugs, video doorbells, cameras, thermostats, robot vacuums and older televisions all joined the network once, possibly years ago, and each has its own small ritual for being told the new password. If your heating or a care alarm runs over wifi, find out how it reconnects before you change anything rather than after. The National Cyber Security Centre's guidance on smart devices is a sensible place to start on which of them matter.

Do I need to change the password on the sticker at all?

Less often than you would think, and this is where the honest answer has changed. The old advice assumed the password on the label was the same on every box of that model, which made it a genuinely weak secret. That is no longer allowed on new kit sold here.

Part 1 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 came into force on 29 April 2024, and it bans universal default passwords and easily guessable ones on consumer connectable products supplied in the UK. A unique password per device, printed on its own label, meets that bar. So on a reasonably recent router the sticker password is not the soft spot it used to be, and the real risk is losing the label.

There are still good reasons to change it. It has been given out to people who no longer come round. You inherited the router with the flat and have no idea who else has it. It is short enough to read from across the room. Any of those, and a new one is worth the disruption.

Picking one you will not have to look up every time

A wifi password gets typed by visitors, read aloud across a kitchen and thumbed into a television remote one letter at a time. Make it unguessable but awkward and it ends up written on a card by the front door, which rather undoes the work.

The NCSC's three random words advice suits this better than most places it gets applied. Three unrelated words run together give you something long, easy to say down a hallway and hard to guess, as long as the words are not your street, your dog or your children. Avoid anything that identifies the house, and avoid reusing a password that already protects an account with money behind it.

When a new password fixes nothing

People reach for a new password when the internet is slow, on the theory that somebody must be leeching off it. Sometimes they are right. Far more often the connection is slow for reasons that have nothing to do with who knows the key, and locking the whole house out for an afternoon buys you nothing.

The test is quick. Plug a computer straight into the router with a cable and run a speed test. A good result there means the line is healthy and the trouble is inside the house, which is a wifi coverage problem rather than a password one. Our guide on whether it is your wifi or your line sets out how to test in the order a provider will accept, and whether a booster is worth buying covers what to do about a room the signal never reaches.

A poor wired result is a different conversation entirely, and no password changes it. If the connection arriving at your property is the problem, the question becomes what else has been built on your street. Our availability checker is where to find that out, and if you would rather put your own box on the end of the line first, can you use your own router covers where that stands.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my wifi password if I have never changed it?

It is printed on a label on the router itself, usually underneath or on the back, and it is the one called the wireless key, network key or wifi password rather than the admin or settings password. If the label has worn off, most providers show the same details in their app or in your online account, and a few will read it out over the phone once they have checked who you are.

Will changing my wifi password log everyone out?

Yes, every device on the network, all at once. Phones and laptops take seconds to put right because someone is holding them. The awkward ones are the devices with no screen: printers, smart plugs, doorbells, cameras, thermostats and anything else that joined the network once and has not been touched since.

Should I change the password on the router sticker at all?

On a router supplied in the UK in the last couple of years, that sticker password is unique to your box rather than shared across a model, so leaving it alone is a reasonable choice and losing the label is the bigger risk. Change it if it has been handed round, if you inherited the router with a house or a flat, or if it is short enough to read across a room.

Is the wifi password the same as the router password?

No, and mixing them up is the single most common reason people get stuck. The wifi password lets a device join the network. The admin password lets you into the router settings page, where the wifi password is changed. Some routers ship with both printed on the same label, which does not help.

Will a new wifi password make my broadband faster?

Not on its own. It removes anyone who should not be using the connection, which frees up capacity if there genuinely were freeloaders, but it does nothing to the speed arriving at your property. If everything is slow including a device plugged straight into the router, the problem is the line rather than who knows the password.