Apple Watch Wifi keeps reverting to private address

Man, I don’t wanna go through that. I wonder if clearing the SSSID from my saved networks would work well enough.

Hopefully they look into this and develop a fix on their end of things, seeing as how none of my other devices have this issue.

Hmm. If I had a guess, I’d bet it was the key rotation that did the trick. If 0 = no key rotation occurs, that could point to the Watch issue being that it is storing old key info and then failing to connect after a rotation. So by eliminating the rotation, the Watch always has the current key.

Downside being, that’s giving up a layer of security on the SSID.

Try it out and report back. I’m not too worried about wifi security given my location in a single family home.

but my rotation period was only 1hr. The watch wifi connection usually persisted for a day before losing it.

Clearing saved networks from devices does not work. I have done network settings resets on all apple devices and re-entered passwords and no help. I think your network info is still stored (possibly corrupted) somewhere in your iCloud.

Day 2 and Watch is still connecting reliably to wifi and not reverting to private network.

• The "Automatic authentication" option of the Watch's Wi-Fi Network keeps reverting to ON.
• This thread is closest I could find to the topic of Wi-Fi Network Settings keep reverting / not staying as configured.
• Watch 8, OS 9.1.
• Private address and auto connect settings both work/being saved as intended.
• The "automatically authenticate" setting is not saved. Switching it OFF, going back, opening settings again -> it's always ON again.
• The Setting is there for Wi-Fis with captive portals.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/bcgblv/join_some_wifi_networks_with_captive_portal_login/

Just to bring this current, still not fixed. My wife and I both have series 7 watches. Switch off private address, a few days or weeks later, it’s back on. Possibly after an update. Agree this should be an easy fix.

I have exact same Use Case and exact same problem. Apple Watch 6 Edition.

Unbelievably, this is still an issue 12 months later. Really annoying. Going to ditch the Apple Watch if this isn't sorted soon. Life is just to short to keep hitting the same issue time & time again.

Its way past time time that Apple prioritised QR over Emojis.

So the reason I didn't answer is, that I also deleted the according keychain items when I wrote the last blog post. Today I sadly noticed that my watch again doesn't connect to the home wifi. So the bug returned...

So at least for me the workaround does not work.

Also this should not be called a fix, just a workaround.

Not everyone has a Mac or can borrow one and problems with the device should be able to resolved on the same device. Otherwise it's a bug with an existing workaround. Also most people shouldn't play around in the keychain app cause you can delete a lot of important keys if you don't know what you are doing!

So Apple PLEASE fix this!

Not to worry. Ive had no regression in more than a month. Apple Watch still connected to Wi-Fi when iPhone isn’t available. And no issues with Private Address setting either.

If the problem comes back for you,

it’s possible the SSID/pwd is still replicating in Keychain….

It appears that iOS 16.3 and watchOS 9.3 may have finally resolved this issue! I have gone several days now without the random disconnects, Auto Join not working and reverting to private addressing. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself! 🤞(iPhone 11 Pro Max and Watch Series 7)

I, too, am having this issue. Series 6 running watchOS 8.4 for me. Not sure what's going on.

Same problem here. Apple Watch keeps switching back to private address. I can't believe this does not get fixed.

"Q: What is an Apple community specialist?

A: They're Apple employees who reply to threads which have gone unanswered for 24 hours, or ones involving a threat to customers' physical safety."

Update: So far I haven’t received any response from Apple.

Update on the communication with the Apple Support: Even after 6 weeks no reaction whatsoever from Apple.