Often, time is of the essence when you’ve just landed and are travelling through an airport. Whether you’re seeking out local transit information or trying to check what neighbourhood your Airbnb is located in, fumbling around to gain access to the Wi-Fi network can be far from helpful. Enter WiFox, a handy app with a list of known passwords for official networks in airports and lounges all over the world.
Finding an open wireless internet connection while travelling often poses a major challenge for tourists. With that in mind, blogger and computer security engineer Anil Polat created an app that shares a map containing Wi-Fi passwords that travellers can quickly access. A Google MyMaps version of the map can be seen below.
WiFox is updated in real-time, with verified information supplied by other travellers, pilots, industry professionals and reliable sources. Icons on the app list if password information is available, and what network travellers should use. It shows the lounges and terminals where wireless is available, and allows you to copy the password directly into your phone’s settings. Access points with time limits are also shown, with WiFox outlining how to work around this. Travellers can rate password information, letting Anil know if he needs to update something through WiFox. Icons are also colour-coded to show how fresh and reliable the info is. The idea came from a blog post Anil did containing a map and list of Wi-Fi passwords and hotspots.
“WiFox costs $1.99 and is available on iOS and Android, and it comes with a lifetime of password and app updates. There’s currently an online version on my website, Foxnomad.com that’s free as well. I wanted to help travellers get online at the time they’re most vulnerable – when you first arrive at an airport. Free or open networks at airports are often insecure or come with more serious privacy concerns, which I why WiFox shows you the lounge passwords as well as the correct network names for free Wi-Fi, to prevent users from connecting to rogue hotspots,” Anil told Lonely Planet.
Anil also said that a new version of WiFox is just about to be released, one that is faster and covers over 1500 airports worldwide, with password updates multiple times a day. “I can’t share too much just this minute, but it will be a big release with things that I think travellers will find it very helpful!”
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This article was originally published on 29 September 2016 and was updated on 30 October 2019.
