What is a hidden network

The simple explanation is a Wi-Fi network that is broadcasting without displaying the name of the network. There may.....or may not be......a number of hidden networks around you.

If your Wi-Fi router has a feature to "hide" your network, Apple does not recommend that you use this option, since it may make connections to your network more difficult and unreliable.

See -> See the following Apple articles:

Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points

Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support

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Hidden network

 Set to Disabled

A router can be configured to hide its network name (SSID). Your router might incorrectly use ”closed” to mean hidden, and ”broadcast” to mean not hidden.

Hiding the network name doesn't conceal the network from detection or secure it against unauthorized access. And because of the way that devices search for and connect to Wi-Fi networks, using a hidden network might expose information that can be used to identify you and the hidden networks you use, such as your home network. When connected to a hidden network, your device might show a privacy warning because of this privacy risk.

To secure access to your network, use the appropriate security setting instead.

Trigrr wrote:

What is a hidden network

In short: a mis-named and rather poor idea.

A network that is not broadcasting its network name (SSID) in favor of having all the clients announce all of the hidden network names that client is configured to connect to is confusingly (and incorrectly) known as a "hidden" network. The lack of router network name broadcasts means the client is going to be announcing the known "hidden" network names everywhere the client goes. And the "hidden" network is still visible as a Wi-Fi network, so it's not a "hidden" network by any reasonable definition.

Some reading:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28653/debunking-myths-is-hiding-your-wireless-ssid-really-more-secure/

Microsoft didn't think very much of this mechanism way back in 2007, either:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/tn-archive/bb726942(v=technet.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN#EDAA

If you want to "hide" your Wi-Fi network, pick a generic or joke name. There are lists of common "joke" names available around the 'net. Names such as "FBI surveillance van", or "Lo-Fi", or "Network Disconnected", "Virus test network", or any other names.