Popular Chinese app for using wifi without a password gets $10M funding

There are times in life when you’re desperate for some wifi. Your data plan runs dry, you visit a foreign country, or the nearest 3G signal is just out of reach.

Wifi is pretty much ubiquitous in most of China’s major cities these days. The problem is that they are either password protected or, even worse, let you connect and then require further input, usually personal information or a username and password that you don’t have. Even at Starbucks, users have to input their phone number to receive a PIN via text message to be able to access the web.

This leads to frustration as you run down the list of nearby hotspots. Furthermore, inputting your phone number or personal info just to be able to download an app or send a message on WeChat makes you vulnerable. It’s a reckless behavior that will lead to spammy texts and even serious security threats.

This is why apps for cracking wi-fi passwords and stealing some free internet have grown quite popular among Chinese users, especially those with high-end phones, according to app store and mobile search startup Wandoujia.

One of the most popular is Wifi Companion (Wifi伴侣), which just received an RMB 60 million (US$9.75 million) series A round of funding from the Chinese Academy of Science’s venture capital arm, Kejiahe National Venture Capital Fund, according to 36kr.

Tech in Asia gave the app a spin to see if it really works as advertised. It opens to a list of nearby wifi hotspots similar to your phone’s default wifi settings screen. Just choose one and tell it to connect using the top-most option, which literally translates to “a key to unlock the connection” (一键解锁连接). A few seconds later, we were connected to a password-protected wifi, with the app clocking solid download speeds.