I have a problem that seems to have started in 16.4 but has continued in 16 5. My iPhone 14 pro max disconnects from WiFi once or twice a day and I have to reboot it to get the WiFi back. I have a max ok air and iPad Pro that are on the same WiFi network and they haven’t had this problem
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For your edification: Wi-Fi normally connects to a router, which assigns an IP address using a protocol called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). But it’s possible to also use Wi-Fi to connect a group of devices to each other rather than to the Internet in what is called an ad-hoc network. Ad-hoc networks use IP addresses in the range that starts with 169.254.0.0. Each device in the ad-hoc network creates its own IP address in this range. When you connect a device to a network it will "ask" the router for an IP address using DHCP. If it doesn’t get an IP address assigned within 30 seconds it assumes that it is an ad-hoc network and assigns itself a random address in the range 169.254.x.y.
There is a common failure mode in many routers where the DHCP “daemon” process in the router fails, and it stops assigning IP addresses, so a new device connecting to the network will self-assign. But any device connected to the router that already has an IP address will continue to work. This makes it look like the problem is the phone, because everything else connected still works, but it’s actually the fact that the router is no longer assigning IP addresses. While it can happen to any device using the router the problem is more common with phones that disconnect when they go out of range, and reconnect when you get “home” and thus get a new IP address assigned. Rebooting the router restarts the DHCP daemon and resolves the problem.
The reason it happens with many different routers is that most routers have the same underlying open source operating system. It’s primarily a problem with routers more that a few years old; newer ones from top tier manufacturers rarely have this problem.
My iPhone 11 has been disconnecting from WiFi over the past six months. The issue is at home and work (I cannot re-start the router at my work). We have our router at home scheduled to re-start every Saturday night. I have reached out to Apple who said it is not their problem and that it is my service provider's issue. I have reached out to AT&T and they said it isn't a problem on their end but they told me one thing to do that helped temporarily, and that was telling me to do a restore on my iPhone (it helped for a few days). I now turn my cell off and on to get it to reconnect to the WiFi. I have done the "forget this network". The bigger issue is that I try to get into my password app, it says it cannot connect because I am offline. This is ridiculous. I am tempted to get rid of my iPhone and go to Samsung like my adult kids have. I cannot have my passwords held in limbo because my iPhone keeps dropping connectivity. (Note that I have no issues with my Macbook Air.) Also, I did the latest update to 17.3 and I am still having the issue, and I pay $7.99 a month for AppleCare....which they don't care. (Sorry, I am so over this.)
If anyone tells me something to do and it works, I will gladly be humbled to apologize for my rant.
Well, I spoke too soon. Both my 13 and my wife's are horrible at connecting to the home router. I have done all the troubleshooting steps and nothing has helped. I have a Motorola MT8733. I just tried to log on with the passkey and I couldn't because the iPhone would not connect. Every other non-apple device works great with this router but the Apple products... not a prayer of a reliable connection.
Well, I hit the ultimate disgust with Apple and the iPhone. Yesterday we had severe storms in the area with tornadoes. While sheltering in the basement about 10 feet from the router, the wifi kept dropping out and would force me to turn it off in the settings and then turn it back on to connect. There doesn't appear to be any help from Apple with this. Just for completeness, my router is a Motorola MT8733. I got my laptop and brought it in the basement and that worked just fine. In this case, I now consider this to be a dangerous problem with Spring coming and more tornadoes likely.
Having multiple APs is exacerbating the issue. It’s super annoying that the phone is constantly trying to switch between WiFi APs when the current WiFi speed should be good enough, just stick to it especially during a call! Or maybe the bug is that the phone thinks connection is bad trying to switch between WiFi and cellular (I disabled Wi-Fi assist and it’s still switching because the WiFi just disappears entirely for a second or two) even though it is not.
I’ve already tried most of those things
i don’t see how resetting the WiFi router will help (although I’ve tried that) since other devices connected to that router aren’t having any problems
What troubleshooting have you done to resolve the issue? There are a number of suggestions in this thread. Post back if none of them work, and describe what the results were.
Same issue with my 13-mini. I often have to turn off the WiFi on the phone and then turn it back on. I have made all the listed changes but no luck. It’s only my Apple devices that do this. My phone just did it but my laptop kept working fine on the same modem.
Bumping this, having same issue with iphone 14 plus just got it, old iphone 11 never did this. Phone has to lock/idle for few min or more and then when i start using again the wifi may or may not work. If i toggle wifi on/off it will work but its annoying to do that and not know if i need to or not bc it doesnt always happen.
apple has no idea, talked to their support team and have no answers.. just ridiculous, your company is worth a trillion dollars and u cant get ur flagship product to stay connected to wifi, but sure add 6 more security steps so it takes me 30 minutes to login to this forum. tech is so overcomplicated at this point the people who make it dont even know whats going on or dont care enough to address issues.
I have a Motorola Model MT8733. In the router setup, they make a comment about Apple not supporting some mode. I wonder if that is what is going on. What routers are others using? My phone will disconnect randomly. I have even turned the power saver mode off on the modem so It is always broadcasting with full power.
I do a fresh boot-up to a network with the router on a sailboat when leaving the dock a few times a month. I've never had an issue with my iPhone disconnecting from the network for the last few years until the recent Apple update (17.4.1). Now, I get disconnected approximately every 30 minutes, and it takes a phone reboot to stay connected. This is aggravating because we're in the middle of a race and I lose access to the network!
Yeah, well ...I had a Nokia 1 phone Android for the last 4 years but it didn't have much memory and I thought it was time to upgrade . The rest of my family laughed at my old Nokia ( they all had iphone) but at least it worked . It NEVER lost Wi-Fi and picked up new signals from local Wi-Fi in an instant . I thought , hey I've got to get modern , everybody else has iphones and they have a good reputation for being able to do just about anything . I had always been holding off from this make in the past because you couldn't change batteries yourself and unless accessories were genuine iphone( read expensive!) you had difficulty getting them to work properly. So I bought a used iphone mini 12 off a dealer on ebay , when it arrived it was fabulous and everything worked ok for the first 6 weeks ( the dealer gave a 4 week warranty) . After week 6 though I kept getting wi-fi problems but thought it was me just getting used to Apple stuff after years on my Nokia ...how wrong I was !!! Now the Wi-Fi button is constantly greyed out and will not respond to any of the fixes mentioned here or on any other websites . I never had this problem with my humble Nokia. I even took my iphone to an Apple approved dealer who said it was a common problem and basically 'hard luck but your phone is stuffed ' and would cost twice what I paid for it to repair it .
[Edited by Moderator]
Wow Mr. Finch! Thanks for this info, although it wasn’t intended for me. I still appreciate it! 😊
WiFi instability and lower general phone connectivity since 16.5 on my iPhone 11 pro max :(
WiFi instability and lower general phone connectivity since 16.5 on my iPhone 11 pro max :(
WiFi disconnect problem in 16.5
