Why won't my iOS and iPadOS devices connect to Raspberry Pi

If your iPhone is not detecting a Wi-Fi network, one possible reason could be that the iPhone’s MAC address is restricted by the router. This can happen if your device’s MAC address has been included in a blacklist or excluded from a whitelist for the specific SSID (WiFi Network Name) that is relaying the 5GHz Wi-Fi network. MAC address filtering is a security feature used by some routers to control which devices can access a network based on their unique MAC addresses. If the router has this feature enabled, it could block your iPhone from connecting to the 5GHz band.

To resolve this, you can contact the ISP that installed the router to check and adjust the settings, ensuring that your iPhone’s MAC address is not blocked or excluded from the network.

• Your IT team can whitelist both the device’s permanent MAC address and the fixed Private Wi-Fi MAC address.
• If a Private Wi-Fi Address is enabled, iOS might rotate or reset the MAC under certain conditions, causing re-authentication failures.

If your IT system allows

1. Multiple MAC addresses per user, they can whitelist both to ensure connectivity even if the Private Wi-Fi Address is toggled on/off.
2. One MAC per user, you should disable Private Wi-Fi Address to use your real MAC consistently. (Some enterprise networks force Private Wi-Fi Address on, so check if that’s happening.)

Possible Fixes:

1. Disable Private Wi-Fi Address:
   1. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi, tap on your work network, and turn off Private Wi-Fi Address.
   2. Since you’ve whitelisted a specific MAC address, make sure the phone is using the correct one.
2. Turn Off Wi-Fi Assist:
   1. Go to Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Assist and toggle it off.
   2. Sometimes, this setting can interfere with connecting to hidden networks.
3. Ensure iPhone Saves the Network Properly:
   1. After manually entering the SSID and password, make sure Auto-Join is enabled.
   2. If the issue persists, try Reset Network Settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings).
4. Ask IT to Consider Broadcasting the SSID: Hidden SSIDs do not add security and often cause connection instability. If possible, ask IT to broadcast the SSID but keep it secured via MAC filtering.

Raspberry PI is not an Apple Product. Contact them for help with their product. Fundamentally, there would like need to be an app provided by the manufacturer for there to be any way to connect them to an iOS based device.