WiFi says incorrect password

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Level 1

10 points

WiFi says incorrect password

In our house we have 2 pieces of iPhone 6 and an iPad Mini, all purchased about 5 years back. They are now running iOS 12.4.8. Everything was working fine till last month when suddenly 1 iPhone started saying "Incorrect Password" for my wifi. Tried everything suggested but no luck. This iPhone and the iPad is signed in with same apple ID while the remaining iPhone has different id. What happens is this:

iPhone says incorrect password for wifi. I have 5 more devices at home which connect to wifi with same password.
this iPhone connects to any other wifi outside my home.
At home if I switch off my modem+wifi, then turn on personal hotspot on the second iphone, then this problematic iphone connects to hotspot. Then if I switch back my modem and wifi, it happily connects to wifi. (my wifi and hostspot have different passwords and of course different SSIDs)
When my modem and wifi is ON, it says "Incorrect Password" even for my hostpot.
Once it connects to my wifi, it remains connected without any issue. If I power cycle my wifi it automatically connects to it
However, if I power cycle the phone, it again says "Incorrect Password"

Tried all things such as:

Forget network
Rest network
Factory reset phone
Factory reset through iTunes
Changed wifi SSID and Password
Did a full reset of wifi router (D-link DIR-600M)
Tried using a different wifi router
Ensured all settings of wifi as per Apple recommendations (Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support)

Nothing seems to solve th problem, its just driving me nuts. I took the problematic phone to apple store, it connected to their wifi and the store guys simply say "buy new phone, we wont repair it". I took it to my office, there also it connected to wifi without issue.

Please help.

iPhone 6, iOS 12

Posted on Jul 21, 2020 3:39 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

SravanKrA

Community+ 2024

Level 10

411,152 points

Jul 21, 2020 3:59 AM in response to sudhir_joshi

You may use --> Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points ...

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Answer 2

Jul 21, 2020 7:40 AM in response to sudhir_joshi

Privacy Settings

Toggle off Location Services. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and turn it off
Many users find that disabling System Services’ WiFi Networking solves the problem
Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > and toggle off WiFi Networking

Consider more secure wifi configuration.

Change your router’s WiFi to use WPA2-AES (CCMP) with no WPA or TKIP. Updating this setting ensures that your devices always connect in one encryption mode

TKIP is obsolete and not considered secure. Choose WPA2, the latest encryption standard, with AES encryption for optimal security
If your router doesn’t specify TKIP or AES, the WPA2 option probably uses AES

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Answer 3

Jul 21, 2020 10:10 AM in response to sudhir_joshi

Since you said " I took the problematic phone to apple store, it connected to their wifi and the store guys simply say "buy new phone, we wont repair it". I took it to my office, there also it connected to wifi without issue. "

You also said: "Did a full reset of wifi router (D-link DIR-600M)"

Then you said: "Tried using a different wifi router", why?

iPhone is connecting to Apple Wifi and Office WiFi but not connecting to Two routers at your home.

My take aways from your above statements are...

Router configured by a professional works
Router configured by you doesn't

This clearly shows that the issue is only with router configuration at your home. Contact a professional and get the router settings done. Because both at Apple and Office the WiFi configurations are done by professionals. Please take help from them.

Good luck.

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Answer 4

sudhir_joshi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 21, 2020 8:47 PM in response to SravanKrA

Seems you missed few points in my post, reiterating them here:

iPhone says incorrect password for wifi. I have 5 more devices at home which connect to wifi with same password.
this iPhone connects to any other wifi outside my home.
At home if I switch off my modem+wifi, then turn on personal hotspot on the second iphone, then this problematic iphone connects to hotspot. Then if I switch back my modem and wifi, it happily connects to wifi. (my wifi and hostspot have different passwords and of course different SSIDs)
When my modem and wifi is ON, it says "Incorrect Password" even for my hostpot.
Once it connects to my wifi, it remains connected without any issue. If I power cycle my wifi it automatically connects to it
However, if I power cycle the phone, it again says "Incorrect Password"

Needless to say, this setup has been working for 5 years. Now under certain conditions the problematic phone does connect to my wifi. Also, I had double checked router configuration with network guys in office and also the apple recommended settings. For this purpose I even tried replacing wifi router. Weird thing is, other iPhone is same model and has no issues.

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Answer 5

Aug 17, 2020 6:05 AM in response to sudhir_joshi

I have a similar issue, with IOS 12.4.8 on 8 iPads we use for our local HS band.

They connect fine to a wifi router, whether that be my home wifi ( Apple Airport Extreme) or the school's wifi access points.

But, 4 of the 8 iPads refuse to connect to a TracPhone wifi hotspot we use . They connected fine under a previous IOS version, but since 12.4.8 they routinely show " Invalid Password" even though the PW is correct. NOTHING works and you have to reset the network settings and sometimes that might work to resolve the issue. Restoring the iPad also has minimal effect. I really I'd like to roll back the IOS version but Apple prevents that..ugh.

IOS 12.4.8 is as high as this model iPad can go too.

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Answer 6

sudhir_joshi Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 17, 2020 7:57 AM in response to GCBandDad

No solution yet. One of my friends reported couple of days back that he has same problem with 5 devices, including iPhone 6s, 7 and XR as well as some iPads.

This is weird, to say the least. Apple store guys are not even ready to touch the phone as for them iPhone 6 is probably historic model. They advised me to buy new phone !!!!

As mentioned above I found an even weirder way to make it work - first connect to hotspot of another iPhone 6 and then it works, till I power cycle the phone

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Answer 7

sudhir_joshi Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 20, 2020 9:02 PM in response to sudhir_joshi

Well, 2 days back the phone (iPhone 6) started connecting to Wifi on its own !! I havent changed ANYTHING, neither on phone nor on my wifi router but now even if I power off the phone and then power on again, it connects without hassles. Dont know how but this is what I noticed.

I checked with my frined too, he said his 3 phones are working now (though there are 2 which dont). Just wondering if Apple is pushing any invisible udpdates, but my phone is working now.

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Answer 8

Shichimi

Level 4

3,083 points

Aug 20, 2020 9:58 PM in response to sudhir_joshi

Invisible updates are unlikely, and glitches do sometimes clear themselves. What I would suggest for your friends who still suffer this malady is to "Forget this network" and add it again. Even better, do so within BT range of another iDevice connected to that WiFi network and the live phone will pass the WiFi key to the subject phone without chancing a typo.

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