iPhone connected to Wi-Fi but no internet

nezamazing wrote:

iPhone connected to wifi but no internet connection. How to resolve?

If you have a VPN on your iPhone, whether used or not, get rid of it completely.

Settings > General > VPN & Device Management - remove the VPN profile if you have one. Then remove any VPN associated app, then restart your iPhone.

There are many, many possible causes, and not enough information to make an informed response.

There are common causes that are easy to fix - things like VPNs and Apple's Private Relay - just turn them off (at least to test if this is the issue).

Then there are less-common causes - network (mis)configuration, firewalls, content filters, incorrect DNS or IP address settings... A myriad of things that will take troubleshooting to determine and resolve.

What's missing from your post is any detail that helps narrow down the choices.

For example, is it just one specific WiFi network? or all?

Are other devices able to connect to this WiFi network without a problem?

Just clarifying those two points will go a long way towards pinpointing the issue, or at least determined where next to look.

Digging deeper, is it all network traffic? or just web browsing? does email work? what about iCloud Storage/Files? App Store? Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, etc.)?

Camelot wrote:

> If you have a VPN on your iPhone, whether used or not, get rid of it completely

I don't think this is a wise statement.

Yes, VPNs are often misused and misunderstood, with people conflating 'VPN' with 'security', but to blindly state that all VPNs should be removed is not entirely appropriate.

There are legitimate uses of VPNs. As written, there is no indication either way as to whether the user has a actual use/need for a VPN.

The mindset that "all VPNs are bad and must be removed" will cause problems for the subset of users who have legitimate needs for a VPN.

Far better to first determine IF the user has a VPN installed, and their reasons for having such. THEN you can determine if it's needed and/or should be removed.

You can disagree with me, which is fine. But daily on this forum we see people having Wifi connection issues, which are more often than not caused by VPNs on their phones. Of course there are situations where having a VPN is required, like by an employer or school. But more often than not people buy into the hype that using a VPN on their iPhone makes them safer. It doesn't make most users safer. In fact quite the opposite as most what we call, coffee shop VPN's sell user data to anyone willing to pay for it. And in particular, for at least last year or so, Apple has made it harder to use a VPN (which isn't required by an employer or school - which is completely different) on iPhone.

You might want to read this thoughtful User Tip from Lawrence Finch --> https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250008854

You are welcome to disagree with me. But I will continue to advise the majority of users to stop using a VPN on their iPhone.

As it relates to the author of this thread, we don't know if they have a VPN on their iPhone. On my part, it was a suggestion that they might. What they do with my advice is up to them. But if they do have one and they remove it and it solves their connectivity issues, then my advice would have been beneficial.

> If you have a VPN on your iPhone, whether used or not, get rid of it completely

I don't think this is a wise statement.

Yes, VPNs are often misused and misunderstood, with people conflating 'VPN' with 'security', but to blindly state that all VPNs should be removed is not entirely appropriate.

There are legitimate uses of VPNs. As written, there is no indication either way as to whether the user has a actual use/need for a VPN.

The mindset that "all VPNs are bad and must be removed" will cause problems for the subset of users who have legitimate needs for a VPN.

Far better to first determine IF the user has a VPN installed, and their reasons for having such. THEN you can determine if it's needed and/or should be removed.

The only true "legitimate" use for a VPN is to access resources on a secure private network.

Using a VPN to access content on the Internet does nothing to protect ones privacy or secure ones data.

Using a VPN to bypass regional restrictions on content is a violation of the license for the content in question and almost certainly illegal.

Using a VPN to bypass restrictions on access placed by a government is illegal.

Using a VPN to bypass restrictions on access placed by the owner of the network you're connected to is a violation of policy and may get you banned from the network, or if it's your employer, terminated.

> As it relates to the author of this thread, we don't know if they have a VPN on their iPhone

And that is precisely my point.

You don't know if the user HAS a VPN installed.

IF they have a VPN installed, you don't know if that is required for their school/work/whatever, or if they installed it themselves because they read some reddit post that said they should.

You make a dangerous assumption that they misguidedly installed a VPN. If they follow your advice and the VPN was legitimate/required, you have now disrupted their workflow, and you're incapable of helping them get back to productivity (because you know nothing about the VPN endpoint, credentials, etc.), so now they have to contact their respective IT department for help.

I absolutely concur that most VPN clients installs we encounter here are worthless, at best, and actively counter to user security expectations, at worst, but I maintain that blindly telling people to remove any and all VPN is an inherently bad idea. At least ASK the user if they have a VPN and if it's required for their school/work/business/whatever before advising its removal.

Camelot wrote:

> As it relates to the author of this thread, we don't know if they have a VPN on their iPhone

And that is precisely my point.

You don't know if the user HAS a VPN installed.

IF they have a VPN installed, you don't know if that is required for their school/work/whatever, or if they installed it themselves because they read some reddit post that said they should.

You make a dangerous assumption that they misguidedly installed a VPN. If they follow your advice and the VPN was legitimate/required, you have now disrupted their workflow, and you're incapable of helping them get back to productivity (because you know nothing about the VPN endpoint, credentials, etc.), so now they have to contact their respective IT department for help.

I absolutely concur that most VPN clients installs we encounter here are worthless, at best, and actively counter to user security expectations, at worst, but I maintain that blindly telling people to remove any and all VPN is an inherently bad idea. At least ASK the user if they have a VPN and if it's required for their school/work/business/whatever before advising its removal.

I made no assumption. I merely suggested that if they have a VPN to get rid of it. You're the one making assumptions about my intent. My intent was simple and genuine. I honestly don't know why you keep belaboring this with me? Especially since the Author of this thread has not responded once since the original post on February 25th, 10 days ago.

You are of course welcome to write back, but I'm done with this discussion and I won't be responding to you further on this.