iPhone 12 Pro fails to reconnect to my home WiFi without a full wifi reset

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iPhone 12 Pro fails to reconnect to my home WiFi without a full wifi reset

I have an iPhone 12 Pro (currently at iOS 16.5) that will not reconnect to my home network without a network reset.

If I am connected to my home network and leave the house my phone will not reconnect to my home network. I've had this problem for quite some time (at least starting with iOS 16). Here's the steps it takes to recreate:

Connect to my home network's WiFi. Everything works fine. The network is set up to "Auto Join."
I leave the house to run an errand or travel.
Upon returning home my iPhone will NOT reconnect to the home network.
I have tried various troubleshooting procedures such as "Forget this network" in settings, turning off WiFi (and turning it back on), putting the phone into "Airplane mode" and changing the settings for my home network (e.g. turning off "Private WiFi Address" or the "Limit IP Address Tracking" features). I've even tried restarting the phone.
The only thing that works is using the "Reset Network Settings" and rebooting the phone. But even this will not cure the issue. If I reset the Network Settings and then leave home I have the same issue.

This is incredibly frustrating for using a $1,800 phone. I can't even do the basics without resetting the network and then I lose all of the other networks (e.g. hotel WiFi or my son's WiFi network).

FYI, my home network uses " Linksys MX8500 Atlas Max 6E Wi-Fi Mesh System" with three nodes. It's running the latest firmware from LinkSys. I do use fixed IP addresses for some of my gadgets (e.g. desktop computers) but not for my iPhone. NOTE: When I'm trying to connect to the WiFi I'm never more than a few feet from the nearest node. The 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands are set to use "WPA2 Personal" and the 6Ghz band uses "WPA3 Personal" WiFi security profiles.

Any thoughts on what's going on here?

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Jun 10, 2023 10:35 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ManJor

Community Specialist

Jun 11, 2023 3:17 PM in response to SalesGeek

Hi SalesGeek,

Based on Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support and the iPhone 12 Pro - Technical Specifications, your iPhone is compatible with both the WPA3 Personal and WPA2 Personal (AES) security settings, but Apple discourages using mixed modes.

You might try giving all three nodes the same security settings, make sure you're using a single name for all bands.

Network name (SSID)

Set to a single, unique name (case-sensitive) for all bands

The Wi-Fi network name, or SSID (service set identifier), is the name your network uses to advertise its presence to other devices. It's also the name that nearby users see on their device's list of available networks.

Use a name that's unique to your network, and make sure that all routers on your network use the same name for every band they support.

* Don't use common names or default names such as linksys, netgear, dlink, wireless, or 2wire.

* Don't give your 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 6GHz bands different names. All bands should have the same name.

If you don't follow this guidance, devices might not connect reliably to your network, to all routers on your network, or to all available bands of your routers. And devices that join your network are more likely to encounter other networks that have the same name, and then automatically try to connect to them.

Kindest Regards.

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Answer 2

SalesGeek Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 11, 2023 9:05 PM in response to ManJor

I should have included that last bit of detail on my router(s). All three bands (2.4Ghz,5Ghz,6Ghz) have the same name. But they didn't have the same security settings. The 2.4Gz and 5GHz bands were using the same security setting (WPA2 Personal) while the 6Ghz band was using WPA3 Personal. The LinkSys mesh system I'm using only provides two choices for the 6Ghz band: WPA3 Personal and "Enhanced Open Only."

I reset all three channels to use WPA3 Personal and rebooted the node closest to the majority of our devices (A Roku device, an LG Smart TV, a MacBook Pro, a Windows 11 Laptop, three iPhones, two iPads, my Hue network controller, a network controller for most of our downstairs lighting and -- I'm not kidding -- our cat's fancy connected litter box).

While I had to reconnect the WiFi on the laptops and other Apple devices they all came online without much fuss.

However, the Roku simply would not connect via WiFi despite resettng its network settings and reconfiguring its wireless settings. I gave up and borrowed an ethernet connection that was going to be used for an older Blu Ray player and it now seems to be working fine with a wired connection. I'll work on the Roku wireless connection later when I'm free to reboot all the devices (three mesh nodes and a cable modem) that provide my household network. For now, this is Roku's problem...

I think your suggestion is the likely solution but I'll know tomorrow after I run a few errands and see if my phone will reconnect when I return.

Thanks for your help and especially for the links to the Apple technical pages.

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Answer 3

SalesGeek Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 12, 2023 8:24 PM in response to ManJor

I'm beginning to think this is a bug -- possibly iPhone 12 Pro specific. To recap, I've set all three bands on my router to have the same name and the same security mechanism (WPA3 Personal). This change did NOT solve the orginal issue with my iPhone failing to reconnect to my home network after leaving the house. It did cause a whole different set of problems...for instance none of the Alexa devices I have support WPA3 Personal. And my Roku Ultra (model 4802) has the same problem and failed to connect using the new settings. Roku makes it difficult to find a detailed spec sheet for their hardware and the only thing I can easily find is that my Roku only supports 802.11AC. It's not documented anywhere I can find but trial and error leads me to believe it only supports the WPA2 Personal security spec.

In order to try a workaround I enabled the "Guest Network" feature on my router. The LinkSys software doesn't provide a way to specify what security mechanism is used. With some trial and error I believe it's broadcasting on the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands using WPA2 Personal. If I set my Alexa devices and the Roku to use the guest network they all regained network access.

And setting my iPhone to the guest network works OK but still does not reliably connect to the network after being out of range for some time.

Worse, unless I set all the devices to use the same network I lose connectivity between any device that supports WiFi 6/WPA3 Personal and those devices that only support 802.11ac (5Ghz band) using WPA2 Personal. So all my WiFi 6 devices (e.g. my laptop and my wife's MacBook Pro) can't "see" the devices on the guest network. This is a huge PITA since my Plex server is hosted on a desktop system that's part of the original household network.

Finally, to reiterate: this setup worked fine under iOS 15.x and in the earlier builds of iOS 16. I can't pinpoint the exact build where this popped up but definitely appeared when I upgraded to iOS 16.5.

I will take this phone to the local Apple store at some point but for now I am a caregiver for a stroke patient who is unable to drive. This puts a hard limit on the free time available for such a trip.

Again, thanks! And FWIW I've had worse connectivity problems with Windows 11 that required surgery on the registry (oh how I hate the Windows registry) plus a voodoo script that does virtually the same thing as resetting the network on iOS.

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iPhone 12 Pro fails to reconnect to my home WiFi without a full wifi reset

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