Wi-Fi not working after iOS 18.6 update on iPhone and iPad

I resolved mine through VPN settings as well. Verizon offers multiple VPN settings and it looks like one of them causes the iPhone to appear to disconnect from WiFi; mine probably reverted to this VPN settings after the update. My phone works with a different VPN as well as no VPN.

To fix, go to Settings>VPN. Then pick your desired VPN and ensure that it connects properly and works.

After going to the Best Buy Geek Squad & another 3rd party retail tec store, my IPad was able to connect to THEIR internet connections. So when I got home I called my internet provider and spent an hour+ on the phone troubleshooting my service and they finally solved it, now everything works fine. Call your internet provider- they should be able to fix it

I had the same issue. While I don’t know it was the update, it happened a few days after. Here are the symptoms and how I fixed it

wifi not working only on my iphone 16 plus. cellular functions ok. wifi with all other non-ios devices OK.

reset the phone, modem, router, network settings, and toggled airplane mode. forgot and reset the wifi network, etc.

the wifi status reports as ok. does not report there is no internet connection. however, the fan shaped wifi signal logo next to the cellular logo is missing and sw update reports no internet connection

i noticed the VPN button toggling back and forth like it was trying to connect and failing

i have Aura installed and the Aura VPN was turned off. Turning Aura VPN on resolved the issue.

Happened to my iPhone 16 Pro and iPad Air 5. My friend’s iPhone (14 Pro Max I think) was also affected.

The iPad mini 6th gen, iPad Air 2 (on iPadOS 15) and all other devices were not affected. Reset Network Settings and router several times to no avail. No VPN is being used.

The solution I and my friend are still having to use is to switch from my 5G wifi to the 2.4GHZ. I just tested the 5G again and it’s still a no- go.

You can let Apple know here ->Feedback - iPhone - Apple and Feedback - iPad - Apple

AnchioOdioApple wrote:

That’s exactly right. Apple needs to step up and provide another upgrade that fixes these internet problems. I haven’t had problems with upgrades until this one. I wonder how much attention Apples even gives to these discussions. Let’s hope.

Apple doesn't pay any attention to these posts. This is a user to user only forum, which with the exceptions of moderators, Apple doesn't participate, nor read for user feedback.

The fact is the majority of people aren't have any issue with WIFI on the latest release of iOS which is now iOS 18.6.2. I have multiple devices on 18.6.2, none of which have no issues. No one I know is having an issue with Wifi and I know many on iOS 18.6.2.

Do you have a VPN on your iPhone? This is one of the biggest reasons some people are having Wifi connectivity issues. VPN's don't provide the security most think they do (in fact, quite the opposite) and often, opening Settings > General > VPN & Device Management and completely remove any VPN Profile you have there, will most likely return your access to Wifi.

I finally got my iPad Air working. At least so far so good. The WiFi is working and no sudden shutdowns so far. Made sure I had a back up in the cloud and then completely wiped it and loaded the back up so far it’s back to normal. Doing the same to my husbands phone now.

My new iPad Air kept dropping the wifi signal which required a network reset to reconnect. Also happened less frequently on iPhone 16. Apple support was no help after an hour of going through the motions. I went into the Comcast router and turned off the wifi 6E channel. Now the devices work properly. Of course the devices are supposedly compatible with 6E, but this is just another fail from the once reliable Apple products.

I had problems with iphone 16 pros and ipad air. The culprit is these devices cannot reliably connect or stay connected to the wifi 6E channel on the comcast router. I turned of the wifi 6E channel at the router and the connection problems went away. Since there are millions of comcast routers out there, a more robust testing of the wifi software should be expected from a company that sells premium priced products that more and more, deliver aggravation and a waste of their customers time.

Thank you for all the input guys.

My iPhone refused to connect to mobile network and also wifi, out of the blue. Nothing was working, and I thought I was hacked.

Luckily reading peoples advice on here, I uninstalled my VPN provider from my phone, and lo-and-behold messages start coming through and I am able to connect to wifi and mobile network.

Without highlighting these issues I would not have thought the VPN was the issue, therefore a big thank you to everyones contributions.

IOS 18.6.2 killed my wifi on only some networks starting 9/22 in the AM, It may be related to the band or tech we are connecting to. Did not happen right away after the phone upgrade, first symptom was iPhones and iPad started connecting and un-connecting every 5 seconds or so. Dell PC was fine on the same WiFi. Think one possibility the Wifi network could have been upgraded changing their technology or fixing some security issue? When I called the Wifi Provider said they were starting to get a lot of calls with the same issue, they are going to get back to me. Switched to Starlink and everything works fine on all devices. Today 9/23 it will no longer connect at all so back to the Starlink. Upgraded my work iPhone 11 pro to 18.7 and it fixed the issue for now. Will wait and see if it stays solid, if so I will upgrade my personal iPhone 14 Pro.

FYI, since the Microsoft PC had connected fine I turned on it's hotspot and connected my iPhone to that and it worked fine. going through the same WiFi after going thru the PC.

No VPN.

I had this problem and after a while I decided to reboot my router then I rebooted my iPhone - twice! It seems to be okay now.

I had to turn off VPN (Proton), and it worked.

Same here. the only thing that helped was to turn off my VPN. Thank tou

DeCypherz wrote:

Updated 2 phones to 18.6.2 both struggle on general WiFi now, taking ages to lock on, if it does. 5g off router is instant, but it’s the backup.. fix the problem please.. I can’t get WiFi calling in in the middle of nowhere!!! PCs ok Firesticks all fast.

Do you have a VPN on this iPhone? if so, remove it, and test again.