Is there a way to stop sharing wi-fi among apple devices?

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Level 1

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Is there a way to stop sharing wi-fi among apple devices?

I have a Mac at home along with an iPad and iPhone which all share the same keychain. I am not willing to setup separate Apple ID's or stop sharing keychains -- this is very useful and saves me time.

However, for some reason the Apple devices share wifi connection settings with NO WAY to disable it.

This is hugely annoying as I don't need wifi on my mac since it wired to the internet. I have my wifi devices on a different subnet for security reasons. As soon as I forget that wifi network on my mac, it forgets it on my apple devices, and I can no longer access the internet on them. I re-enable the on the wifi devices and then it re-enables it on my mac, putting me on the same insecure subnet.

Even if I wasn't using a different subnet, it's still an issue because I don't want my mac to access the local network via wifi when I have a 10 gbe wired ethernet connection.

Apple needs to add an option to NOT share wifi connections in settings, it isn't a hard thing to do.

Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023)

Posted on Aug 12, 2023 8:29 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

273,057 points

Aug 12, 2023 10:31 AM in response to JenniferG71

No, I don't think you stop Wi-Fi credentials from being shared via keychain. If you don't want your Mac mini to connect to available Wi-Fi then turn Wi_Fi off altogether. Alternatively you could see if you're able to turn off the option to automatically join said network, though that again may propagate via keychain. See Change Wi-Fi settings on Mac - Apple Support.

Share your thoughts via Feedback - macOS - Apple.

tt2

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Answer 2

JenniferG71 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 12, 2023 10:36 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks. I'm trying that right now. I set it up on my mac to NOT auto join. I even rebooted and it didn't auto-rejoin. I checked my phone and it says "auto join". I'll try restarting the phone as well to see what happens.

I have to keep Wi-fi on -- but with no wifi networks joined -- b/c the Apple devices use its own propriety network protocol vi wifi to communicate between mac and phone, e.g. for air drop. I air drop photos etc to my mac , I even copy and paste between my mac and iphone :) Air drop works when the mac isn't connected to any networks at all.

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

53,531 points

Aug 12, 2023 6:07 PM in response to JenniferG71

Create a different Location for your Mac, and in that location you can delete the WiFi interface.

Monterey or older

System Preferences -> Network -> Location -> Edit Locations -> [+]

Ventura and newer

System Settings -> Network -> ...v (button lower right side) -> Locations -> Edit Locations -> [+]

Once you have a new Location, you can set your location via the Apple menu bar icon -> Location

You can then edit System Preferences -> Network (or System Settings -> Network) for that Location and delete the WiFi interface.

System Preferences -> Network -> Select WiFi -> Click the [-] button at the bottom of the column

System Settings -> Network -> Control-Click on WiFi -> Select "Delete Service"

Once you set your Network Location that remains your Network Location across reboots. Your other devices should not be using your Mac's new unique Network Location.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

273,057 points

Aug 12, 2023 11:31 AM in response to JenniferG71

MrHoffman has a good point. You might try Change the order of the network services your Mac uses - Apple Support to ensure that Ethernet has greater priority than Wi-Fi.

tt2

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Answer 5

Aug 12, 2023 10:39 AM in response to JenniferG71

Seems maybe your subnet routing costs are wrong?

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Is there a way to stop sharing wi-fi among apple devices?

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