Apple Watch Wifi keeps reverting to private address

Keychain access FTW. Hadn't read the post here about removing SSID from Keychain, but that's what I did:

So this worked for me (multiple APs, Unifi). On a Mac I opened Keychain Access and deleted all instances of the home wifi network (from iCloud, User, and I think System keychains). Then I forgot the home Wifi network from all Mac's, iPhone, Watch, and iPad. I verified there were no more home wifi entries in Keychain on another Mac. Then shut down these devices. After a moment I powered on iPhone and Watch, and jointed the home wifi from iPhone. When i checked the watch a few moments later it was already "connected" to the home wifi. Then start up all the devices and share wifi passphrase from iPhone.

I didn't have to mess with HomePods or Apple TV.

My guess is some kind of corruption on conflict in the home LAN passphrase in Keychain. Hope this helps you.

Apple engineering recommended I change my SSID name. I have been using the same SSID for 10+yr and always kept the same password even when changing routers.

Over the weekend I went through the pain of changing the name and password and resetting all my devices to connect to the new SSID. Maybe it’s something I should have done a while ago.

so far the watch has been connecting on its own without reverting to private. Need a few more days of testing.

If this works, my theory is that my old SSID was saved improperly in my iCloud and causing some sort of weird bug. By moving to a new one, forced a reset of that.

Hi,

I am running into the identical issues:

1) Apple Watch does re-enable "Private Network / MAC" feature automatically after disabling it manually (reproduced).

2) Apple Watch is changing the "Private Network / MAC" when connected to Home-WiFi networks (reproduced).

3) Apple Watch does not reestablish a network connection automatically. When forced by manually connect, then a new MAC will be generated (reproduced).

I am searching for a solution for a long time, but I searched on the network-side (Ubiquiti UniFi Network).

I tested different scenarios and also disabled all advanced features of UniFi to find the root cause. Nothing helps me.

I am using multiple UniFi Access Points which are sending out the same SSIDs to realize roaming / optimal WiFi coverage. I followed Apple's WiFi Best Practices (WiFi Settings).

I also opened a Bugreport about it, send all relevant diagnostic data and logs to Apple (FB11262147).

Reproduced with an Apple Watch Series 7.

Thanks and BR/JO

Changing SSID name for my network has resolved the issue for me. It’s been a few days and watch connects readily to wifi by itself and never toggles on private address by itself anymore.

If you have been reusing the same SSID for years, I would recommend a change, as painful as it is.

I think I may have found a potential "fix." On my Mac, I opened up Keychain Access and searched for my SSID. Then, I deleted the two entries that came up in the results and forgot this Wi-Fi network on my Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch. Following this, I then re-connected to the network on each.

Since doing this a couple of days ago, it appears my Watch now automatically joins the network as expected. My iPhone ran out of battery earlier, and my Watch connected to Wi-Fi without me needing to manually connect. In fact, I only noticed my iPhone died because I got an iMessage notification on my Watch and went to pick up my iPhone to reply. Additionally, the Private Address option has not turned itself back on.

This may be worth a try for those with Mac devices.

We'll have to see if it stays this way, but I've been able to get mine to stay by turning off the private address, go back a screen and turn the wifi off, cover the screen to get the screen to turn off, go back to settings and turn the wifi on .... seems to have fixed the issue so far. I'll let you know if something changes.

I also wanted to share my observations here:

We have multiple Apple Watches in our family which both at home and the business don't keep the private wifi address setting. For me it resets about every 24h, so the watches can't access the wifi.

I also observed the same problem with WPA Enterprise networks. The watch completly loses the username and password.

This is a massive bug that should be fixed after beeing in the wild for now more than a year.

In my opinion the cause is the syncing of the Wifi Passwords from the iPhone to the Watch, where the iPhone simply ignores the settings made in the watch. Of course this is just a guess but I think it's a good one.

Happy new year everybody!

Strangely enough, and knock on wood, but with WatchOS v9.0 (20R361), the problem *seems* to have gone away on my Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS + Cellular). The problem stopped after updating to this WatchOS version. Let's hope the problem stays away.

I too have this issue with a series 3. It has been reset multiple times with no change. It looks like it occurs when the watch connects to another saved network from another. Ie; if watch falls off the WiFi but then reconnects to that same SSID, it will retain the network settings but if the watch moves to another saved SSID for whatever reason, it reverts. In my case I tried to just forget all SSID’s on site except for one, but since the iPhone passes wireless networks to the watch, this is useless as the watch will just add them back.

In regards to my networks that I manage, these watches either use their own MAC address or they are blocked. Anyone who complains to me about it will be sent to Apple for support.

One person did report to me that after they did a full factory reset of their watch the issue went away. So there might be some merit to trying this....

Same here, didn’t want to go through it either, but bit the bullet. I figured also good move to purge any old devices or people I’ve shared the password with in recent years.

I think the watch has issues with it because it relies on shared wifi password from iCloud, there must be something glitching there.

the other thing I changed at the same time is setting the Group Key Rotation Interval to 0.

Have you tried the Keychain method described above? My Watch still reconnects to my home wifi (when iPhone is not available) now weeks later And the Private Address setting stays enabled too! I note that the Watch seems a little laggy in making the connection to wifi network, but it does work!

Note: If you don't have access to Keychain, try forgetting the wifi network from all your Apple devices, reboot all the devices, then connect. I don't guarantee this, but it's the closest you can get without Keychain Access.

Hello Dan,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. It sounds as though you don't want your Apple Watch connecting to your private Wi-Fi; is that correct? You might find some helpful information provided in article, Use private Wi-Fi addresses on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch, that explains why this is occurring.

If you still have questions, speaking with Apple Support may help. You can reach them directly at Get Support.

Best wishes.