WiFi not connecting after iOS 18 update

As promised, I’m back to report on my visit to the Apple Store regarding the WiFi issues I’ve been experiencing since the iOS 18 update.

The staff at the store pinpointed the issue to incompatible certificates and VPN profiles that were blocking WiFi traffic.

A NordVPN certificate was causing interference, even when the VPN was not active.

Their recommendation was to delete the problematic certificate, reinstall NordVPN, and adjust settings to trust all WiFi networks.

After following these steps, my WiFi connection was instantly restored.

For those who are facing similar connectivity problems, checking for outdated certificates or conflicting VPN profiles could be the key to solving your issue.

Additional information. I followed @charlesf's suggestion. It worked for a couple of days but then the problem reocurred. I contacted my VPN service provider (NordVPN) and they told me to do the following:

Set the NordVPN DNS server addresses (only if using Wi-Fi):

• Open the Settings app;
• Tap on Wi-Fi. If it's switched off, turn it on;
• Pick a Wi-Fi network and tap on the blue “i” icon;
• Tap Configure DNS and select Manual;
• Tap Add Server and add these DNS addresses:
• 
  
• 103.86.96.100
• 103.86.99.100

As soon as I added these two additional DNS addresses it fixed my problem. So , anyone who has NordVPN installed on their iOS device, feel free to follow this or the other troubleshooting steps suggested by NordVPN on their website. Please see link below:

How to fix your NordVPN iOS connection

Same issue here as well. What didn't work for me: 1. adding the IP addresses 2. tried the "Private Wi-Fi Address" and "Limit IP Address Tracking"

What worked in my case: I went to "VPN & Device Management" and deleted all irrelevant VPN. As soon as I deleted the VPN, I immediately got reconnected to the wifi.

To restore WIFI connectivity after updating to 18.1, go into settings / general / VPN & Device Management & turn off whichever VPN service you are using & you should be able to connect. With the VPN I'm using (VPN Unlimited) , I just turned it back on & it automatically updated the certificates & resumed normal operations

Tonight when out to dinner, iPhone would NOT connect to any browser. When I got home, and was looking around more, decided to quit my vpn, again. I use proton vpn, turned it off, & connecting again. I think it is an 18.0.1 bug, and it is really frustrating. So if the fix works, it may only be temporary.

Updated my iPhone 16 to ios 18.2. Left my wife's at 18.1.1

Started getting the spinning wait symbol and the no Internet Connection on my iphone (Mail, AppStore and others) after the update...tracked it down to SurfShark messing things up...it's on both our phones but her phone still works. I paused SurfShark VPN on my phone (i chose 2 hours on the selection) and everything seems to be fine now.

I had the same problem. Turned out to be an issue with SurfShark VPN. After some time with their support center I removed the app and reinstalled it from the app store. All is working fine now.

After updating to iOS 18, I encountered the same issue, but it was only affecting my device. Notably, other devices, including Apple devices running earlier iOS versions, were still working fine. However, I was able to resolve the issue by changing the wireless security settings to WPA2-PSK AES in the router, which restored functionality.

the issue to incompatible certificates and VPN profiles that were blocking WiFi traffic.

A NordVPN certificate was causing interference, even when the VPN was not active.

Their recommendation was to delete the problematic certificate, reinstall NordVPN, and adjust settings to trust all WiFi networks.

After following these steps, my WiFi connection was instantly restored.

For those who are facing similar connectivity problems, checking for outdated certificates or conflicting VPN profiles could be the key to solving your issue.

I was having the same issues and I turned off "Private Wi-Fi Address" and "Limit IP Address Tracking" under the connected wifi details. That seems to fix the issue

Hii everyone this also happened to me. So I did all the forget your network and restart plus airplane mode, it didn’t work.

Someone wrote here about switching OFF private address and limiting your IP address tracking to OFF mode. I did that and my WiFi worked then after like 5 mins or so I turned it ON again just to see if it will remain connected and IT DID. I hope this will work out for you.

Today I updated my iphone 13 pro max to the new ios 18. Was not able to connect to wifi after the update. Extremely annoying. So I searched online stumbled to this forum. Tried every method did not work for me. So the only thing that worked was do a network reset and modem router restart at the same time. My iphone is connected to the home wifi. Thanks hope it helps someone.

That worked do me as well. As soon as I deleted my avast VPN, I immediately got connected to my WiFi

I had the same problem. I removed my VPN profile ( I have Nordvpn), reinstalled a new profile and the problem disappeared. Hope that helps someone.

With the 18.2 update I found that it was Bit Defender Mobile Security that was screwing with my wifi. Deleting the app fixed the problem and I was able to re-connect to wifi. Will wait a bit to re-install.