Wifi is diconnected while my iPhone is locked

It seems like your iPhone 13 Pro Max disconnects from Wi-Fi whenever it's locked, particularly after a period of inactivity, which has been a recurring issue since the release of iOS 17 a few months ago. Despite trying commonly known troubleshooting methods, the problem persists.

This could potentially be due to the type of Wi-Fi network you're connecting to. If it's a hotel Wi-Fi or a network that requires a login with a user ID and password, the disconnection might be intentional. Such networks are often configured to disconnect devices when they're idle for an extended period or when the device is locked to conserve bandwidth or enforce re-authentication for security reasons.

Exploring whether this issue is specific to networks requiring a login or following up on any specific configurations on these networks might shed light on the disconnection problem you're experiencing. If it's indeed a network-specific behavior, adjusting settings or reaching out to the network administrators might help resolve this issue.

Use captive Wi-Fi networks on your iPhone or iPad

As others have said, this is not new, nor is anything wrong with your iPhone. When locked, iPhone will disconnect from Wifi. It is purposely built to do that and it has always been this way.

If you want Wifi to remain active, the phone needs to be plugged into power and then when locked it will stay connected.

This is normal, it has always been that way, not just since iOS 17. This is done to conserve battery power. If you want your phone to stay connected to WiFi when the phone locks, plug it into a charger.

nNeo16 wrote:

Stop saying nonsene myth over and over again.

What the point of disconnecting Wifi when phone locked?, how you get notifs?, or you mean all users have cellular network?

OK. Then I'll say it. When you lock your iPhone screen, Wifi disconnects. If you don't want Wifi to disconnect, plug your phone in before locking your screen. It's not MYTH. Nor nonsense. It's how iPhone is designed. The only exclusion would be is Wifi will remain engaged if you are streaming music and want to lock your screen while music is streaming. Otherwise, if you are not using the phone and just lock the screen, Wifi disengages. And that is exactly how Apple designed it to work.

Why don't you contact Apple Support directly? They will not give you the answer that you want to hear, but it will be correct, and it will confirm what you have already been told but refuse to accept. Good luck.

Support

Bob Timmons wrote:

Why don't you contact Apple Support directly? They will not give you the answer that you want to hear, but it will be correct, and it will confirm what you have already been told but refuse to accept. Good luck.

Support

But you know when Apple Support tells this user, their iPhone is doing what all iPhones do and have done since the dawn of iPhone, they won't come back and let us know we were indeed correct, which indeed we are.

If you're not receiving notifications or messages when not connected to WiFi, you have either shut off cellular data for those apps, shut off cellular data entirely, or have a problem with your cellular data.

This is the way iPhones have behaved since June of 2007 with the very first iPhone. If the device is not connected to a power source, the WiFi radio will power off when the phone is in standby and not actively using the WiFi data connection.

Can you elaborate on "this wifi disconnection happens only with certain wifi".

You can make up things if you want, but the real fact remains that Wi-Fi is disconnected when the phone locks.

We are done here. Please try another support forum if you are hoping to hear a different answer.

That’s a simple way to dismiss you misunderstanding the issue. You can be correct (and are correct) about the WiFi turning off when locked since the original iPhone but an issue can also be happening with how that process is handled currently. Just because a process worked before doesn’t mean something (like updates) can’t cause that process to encounter errors in the future. If you know about technology that should be a pretty basic concept.

If three sentences is prattling on you must be used to twitter not technical forums. Asking for an explanation of what I am “prattling on about” while saying I lack comprehension skills is ironic.

I clearly acknowledged that you were correct about the normal operations but was simply stating that you seem to misunderstanding the users issue.

If you look at other users having this issue it seems that it’s taking longer than normal to reconnect to WiFi after locking as well as having to reload the page you were or the entire application.

I very clearly said that normal processes can encounter issues due to changes being made, it’s just software, if it was perfect then updates wouldn’t be needed.

So please tell me, what did you say that I wasn’t able to comprehend?

Im having the same issue.. if the screen is locked, wifi disconnects and i am not getting any notifications at all. So if i am watching TV and just leave my phone screen locked, i dont get notified when someone sends a chat..

Hi guys. Im new to ios and I just got an iphone 15 pro max and I am experiencing this issue. Based on the previous comments, this is a normal behavior since before? You mean, if I connect my iPhone to the wifi then lock the screen and put it aside (connected to the wifi still) while I watch TV, i won't know if someone sends me a chat not until I unlock my screen? I had this earlier and did not notice that my mom has been sending me a lot of important chat that I was not notified. Im not trying to argue here but isn't this a very important functionality?