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In some situations, it can be helpful to know exactly which wireless networks your Mac is connected to and when you last connected.
Here’s how to find a comprehensive list of previously connected Wi-Fi networks on your Mac, including the date and time of the last connection (to another!), If the network is hidden or not, the network SSID number, network SSID broadcast name, and security type for each Wi-Fi network.
This uses the Mac OS X command line, which is a little more advanced, of course, and may not apply to the average Mac user. Nevertheless, the information retrieved can be helpful for a variety of purposes. The data is useful for something simple, such as recovering a forgotten wi-fi network password from a router you don’t remember, for network troubleshooting and diagnostics, or even for data analysis and forensic purposes.
How to view Wi-Fi network connection history on a Mac
Launch the Terminal application located in / Applications / Utilities / (or use the Spotlight and Command + Spacebar keys) and type the following script on one line:
For modern versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X., including MacOS High Sierra, Sierra, El capitan, OS X Yosemite and later, use the following:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences | grep LastConnected -A 7
Previous versions of Mac OS X. Including Mavericks and earlier releases, you can clean up the output and match what is available in modern releases with the following command:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences | sed ‘s | ./ | `pwd` / | g ‘| sed ‘s | .plist || g ‘| grep ‘LastConnected’ -A 7
Press return and you will immediately see a comprehensive list of wireless network connection details.
Here is an example of the output provided by this script that shows three connected networks.
$ defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences | grep LastConnected -A 7LastConnected = “2020-05-29 09:14:48 +0000”; Passpoint = 0; PossibleHiddenNetwork = 0; RoamingProfileType = Single; SPRoaming = 0; SSID =; SSIDString = “HomeWirelessWAN-ng”; SecurityType = “WPA / WPA2 Personal”; – LastConnected = “2020-05-31 01:52:43 +0000”; Passpoint = 0; PossibleHiddenNetwork = 1; RoamingProfileType = Single; SPRoaming = 0; SSID =; SSIDString = “Secret Network 1”; SecurityType = “WPA2 Personal”; – LastConnected = “2020-06-03 08:32:12 +0000”; Passpoint = 0; PossibleHiddenNetwork = 0; RoamingProfileType = One; SPRoaming = 0; SSID =; SSIDString = “Public Network – Parks 1”; SecurityType = “None”;
Keep in mind that if you run this command on a Mac that has joined many wireless routers, you will find a very long list that can be read better if it is redirected to a text file by adding “> ~ / Desktop / connectionlist.txt” to the end of the syntax like this:
read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences by default | grep LastConnected -A 7> ~ / Desktop / connectionlist.txt
If you use this command, a file named connectionlist.txt and the required information will appear on the OS X desktop for current users.
Regular readers may recall in this context that we have shown a few ways to find out which Wi-Fi networks the Mac has joined in the past, but comparing these methods provides far less information, certainly compared to the extensive details available here. You can use the one that best suits your needs.
Do you know another way to keep track of your wi-fi connection history on a Mac? Let us know in the comments!
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