All of my devices forget all wifi passwords about once a week

Starting about a month ago, all of my Apple devices (2019 MacBook Pro with macOS 10.15.7, iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 16.4.1, and iPad Pro 2 with iPadOS 15.7.1) forget all wifi passwords. Each time, this happens to all of the devices simultaneously and I have to re-save the passwords on all of the devices again. The devices think they remember the networks, but either forget the password or the passwords are corrupted.


I cannot figure out what is going on or what is causing it. It seems like it might be linked somehow to iCloud or my Apple ID since it happens on all of my devices repeatedly and at the same time. I've found a lot of advice only, but none of it has helped so far.


Has anyone experienced this and know how to fix it? Thank you for the help.

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on May 4, 2023 10:10 PM

Reply
148 replies

Oct 27, 2023 6:17 AM in response to ManJor

I am having this issue also and it started when I added a new iPhone 15 and new Watch Ultra. I started getting prompted to reenter my Wi-Fi password on all my devices after they sleep or on my phone the screen shuts off. I have traced it down to an iCloud key chain issue. I spoke with support and they had me disable the keychain on all my devices and then force a new iCloud keychain creation. I did that.... Issue persists.... So I removed all devices and added them to my account again and forced a new iCloud keychain.... the issue persists. This has been going on since the release of the new iPhone. I am going insane and almost threw my phone. I have watched the entry disappear from the iCloud keychain from the Keychain manager on my Macs. Just poof.


The recommendations are extremely frustrating as I have a very large Apple environment so I have to spend like 8 hrs re-adding all my stuff and calling my CC companies to get my wallet set up again... I need a real solution and fix it asap as I am going mad. I just don't have to add my wifi I have to reenter stuff on other iCloud items.

Oct 27, 2023 9:07 AM in response to malloyca

I meant to try the Carlos solution (previous page) before changing location again but never got round to it. However, when I went back to my London home earlier this week (after four weeks away) my phone, tablet and MacBook all connected to the wifi automatically. Then when I visited my mother the next day (first time in five weeks) they all connected to her wifi too. Do I dare to hope that, in my case at least, the problem is over after nine months?

Oct 27, 2023 4:55 PM in response to Night Ed

My problem started in May of this year after upgrading to iOS 6, and getting the paid iCloud 2TB account. I spent many hours with Apple tech support, who asked me to upload analytics data from my various IOS devices. It was a large project, requiring a fair bit of time. By the end of September, my problem seems to be gone. I also am in a large Apple ecosystem, with three MacBooks (High Sierra x 2 and Ventura x 1), five IOS devices (all now on the latest iOS 16), traveling between seven different sites between two countries. So basically, now in October, my devices are able to remember the Wi-Fi passwords. Hope this problem does not resurface. This is definitely an iCloud keychain issue. Apple tech support appears to need to work on the backend, possibly for each account that has this problem.

Nov 5, 2023 10:49 AM in response to marvomatic

what worked for me was a suggestion from another thread

on every device so affected go into settings -- wifi-- and then - this is the key-

edit the list of networks and delete the network affected. (NOT forget this network - but full delete)

then restart device. then re log into the network with PW/

since doing this the automatic connection seems to work been a week or so

Nov 24, 2023 12:17 AM in response to Entdoc5357-2

Thank you, no it didn’t work but it has helped a little. (To be clear, on every device I deleted / forgot my home wifi, then rebooted, then connected to the wifi, then put in the password).


My 2 MacBooks seem to be more stable, although it’s only been a day so far. However it didn’t work at all on my iPhones and iPads. They are still dropping WiFi and forgetting the passwords. In addition they don’t take the password again without rebooting every time.


Its massively driving up my mobile data usage so I hope Apple jump on to this and get it fixed!!

All of my devices forget all wifi passwords about once a week

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.