My iPhone wifi gets disconnected when screen is locked

I have had the same happen to me. Mobile data on when phone unlocks.

One site had a list of fixes to try. One of them was turn any VPN that is being used off. I have tried this and the this ‘fix’ seems to work for me. The VPN I was using is from AVAST.

If you use a VPN disable it. If that works uninstall it reboot phone and reinstall VPN.

This worked for me on Iphone 14 using Avast VPN.

My 13 pro does the same thing being on iOS 16.6. Occured like 2 weeks ago for the first time, so it has nothing to do with the latest OS update obviously. I went through the German support and they told me this was not normal, suggesting to update the iOS through iTunes which I did. No difference. I let the phone forget the network, reset all network data, turned off localization services for the networks, as well as the private WLAN address - nothing worked. I ended up with a reset of the whole phone, treating it as a new phone before installing the backup, as the support recommended. Still no effect.

It has been working flawless for more than 18 months, now it is just killing me. Sometimes Wi-Fi is in after waking the device from the lockscreen, sometimes it is just showing the 5G mobile . Most of the time the Wi-Fi icon is there, goes away directly for the 5G one, then gets turned back on. Everything within 3 seconds.

I have an iPhone 14 pro as well. Same household, same network, exact same wireless settings and iOS: No issues. Also I have no VPN here. If a factory reset does not change anything, I probably have to live with it and wait for the next iOS update. The remote diagnostics the support were all OK.

for me the issue was resolved by doing a hard reset on the iphone (wiping everything off and resetting to the factory defaults). this was a 14 pro

I had the same problem too. I realized that the “auto join” in the Wi-Fi settings was off. I turned it on and never had that problem again

Updating to iOS 17.X fixed it for me. Since I was never on a VPN, the root cause was elsewhere obviously.

Still I can tell that my phone is treated differently by our wireless than the 14 pro my wife is running with same settings and iOS. Even turning on real time prioritization for my device did not help, I always have the slower connection. Might not be Apple related though, to stay fair.

Glad the one issue got fixed. Can definitely live with the status quo…

Message from AVAST to uninstall app. Switch phone off and back on, reinstall app.

Seems to have cured problem

I don’t know if this is a hack to the problem but I get on Internet radio and let it run on background. It will stop WiFi being disconnected when you are using something. Turn the sound off if you need.

At the end of the day I think it is a design flaw.

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities UsSofi22,

You may find the following information helpful:

To turn Cellular Data on or off, go to Settings  > Cellular.

To set options when Cellular Data is on, go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options, then do any of the following:

* Reduce cellular usage: Turn on Low Data Mode, or tap Data Mode, then choose Low Data Mode. This mode pauses automatic updates and background tasks when iPhone isn’t connected to Wi-Fi.

View or change cellular data settings on iPhone - Apple Support

We hope this helps!

Will have to deal with it.

Some people were guessing it would happen with two networks in use, but my phone connects to the main router with 5 GHz only - so much about the theory. Also using different SSIDs for the router and the access point does not change a thing. I had strong hopes for the reset to bring the phone back to normal.

Definitely it is a false statement that the phone always disconnects in “idle” mode to save battery. I can tell by reading the active connections of my router. The Apple support basically says the same. Also there is no such thing as a display error. If you do not see the Wi-Fi icon on your screen, there is no connection established and vice versa.

Nothing more to say or do about it, unless the support finds something new.

were you able to solve this problem? I’ve recently started to have this problem, i even upgraded my phone and the problem’s still there

Care to explain any further, Bob? Is it just Apple's general disregard for potential customer needs / usage (like not being able to stop charging at 80% to go easier on the battery unless otherwise selected), or is there some kind of necessity behind this? I have no reason to use mobile data when I am at home, so why does Apple insist that I do?

That just isn’t true. It didn’t happen on previous iPhones or previous versions of IOS. I know this hasn’t been an issue before because I sometimes turn cellular data off at home and recently is the first time I’ve had the problem (and I’ve owned iPhones since 2010). Some of us don’t have unlimited data plans so cannot use cellular data as if it’s going out of style so we must use Wi-Fi. I don’t understand why I would be forced to use cellular data that I don’t have to run an iPhone in the background. Also, if it’s always been the case why has Apple publicly posted possible “fixes” for an issue that doesn’t exist (none work, but still)?