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July 19, 2026

How to turn on Wi-Fi on your iPad (and connect at home)

Without Wi-Fi, an iPad feels pretty lonely: no email, no videos, no calls with the family. The good news: you only connect once: after that, your iPad remembers on its own.

The steps

1. Open the Settings app (the grey gear icon).
2. In the left column, tap Wi-Fi.
3. Make sure the Wi-Fi switch is green (on). If not, tap it.
4. In the list, tap the name of your network. It’s the one written on your router’s label (your Videotron or Bell box, for example).
5. Type the password exactly as it appears on the label (watch the capital letters), then tap Join.

When it works, a small checkmark appears next to the network name, and the Wi-Fi icon (a little fan) shows at the top of the screen.

Where is the password?

Nine times out of ten: on a sticker under or behind your router, labelled "Security key", "WPA" or "Wi-Fi password". If someone changed it and you can’t find it, one call to your provider (Videotron, Bell…) fixes it in minutes.

No sticker? An iPhone can lend the password

If an iPhone in the house is already on the Wi-Fi, yours or a visitor’s, it can hand over the password without anyone typing it. Unlock both devices, set them side by side, then tap the network name on the iPad. A “Share Password” window appears on the iPhone: tap it, and the iPad joins. The iPad’s Apple Account email has to be saved in the iPhone’s contacts. Videotron customers can also read the password in the Helix app.

When the iPad won’t connect

1. “Incorrect password” even though you copied the sticker: tap the small (i) to the right of the network name, then Forget This Network, and join again typing slowly. On a router label, a 0 and an O, or a 1 and an l, are easy to mix up.
2. Two networks with almost the same name, one ending in “5G”: they usually both come from your router and most often take the same password. The 5G one is faster close to the router; the other reaches further, into the bedroom or the basement.
3. The iPad joins, then drops off every few minutes: in the same (i) screen, check that Auto-Join is on, and move closer to the router to see whether distance is the cause.
4. Nothing gets through at all: swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Centre. If the plane is orange, Airplane Mode is on; tap it to turn it off, then turn Wi-Fi back on.

When the router itself is at fault, that’s something we look at during an in-home computer help visit.

And if the iPad still refuses to connect, it isn’t you: between an old modem, a "guest" network and a password a relative changed, there’s almost always a small explanation. We’ll come and find it with you, anywhere on the island of Montreal.