Problem WiFi while iPhone 4S is in screen lock

My iphone 5 also disconnects from the WIFI shortly after going into standby. I know it's disconnected because when i check to see what devices are connected to my router using the Airport Utility app it doesnt show it connected. All my other devices are connected though.

I tried the reset network settings and it seemed to work temporarily. I'm not sure what triggered it to return, but it's back to being disconnected.

This needs to be fixed soon! There are people that do have a limited data plan with their cellular provider because they rely on their home wifi.

This needs to be fixed soon! There are people that do have a limited data plan with their cellular provider because they rely on their home wifi.

There is nothing to fix. This is by design.

Turn off cellular data if you don't want it using your data plen.

f3mur wrote:

Same problem here. I've had every iteration of the iPhone since the first gen. I can categorically say that it never used to turn wifi off during sleep.

I can categorically say that every version of iOS back to version 1 has always turned off WiFi when the phone is asleep. If you search the forums you will see comments and complaints about this going back 5 years. I have a 3GS that I haven't upgraded to 6.0 yet, and I can assure you that WiFi on it disconnects 15-30 seconds after it goes to sleep, unless the phone is connected to power. I just tested it yesterday running 5.1.1 for a different thread.

As Tim says, this is by design, because if WiFi remained on the battery would be dead within a few hours.

I'm sorry but your at fault as the wifi doesn't turn off while phone is asleep, I don't have a cell contract I rely on my wifi for my e-mail an iMessages, an I have had every version of the iPhone, the problem is that this turning off is a bug with the software, after my update to ios6 I had it just like everyone else here but I'm just glad all I had to reset my settings, others aren't so lucky, again not a design feature this is a software bug

Believe whatever you want. It won't change reality.

If you think it's wrong, take it to the genius bar at your local Apple Store and see what they have to say about it.

Well, it did in 2007: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1069423?answerId=5062158022#5062158022

And 2008: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2542426?answerId=12090047022#12090047022

And 2009: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2268130?answerId=10753645022#10753645022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1860062?answerId=8780971022#8780971022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2241811?answerId=10621791022#10621791022

And 2011: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3184960?answerId=15644471022#15644471022

These turned up on a really quick search. But it is fact that WiFi has always turned off in sleep mode with every version of iOS. It will periodically check for a message by waking for a second or two, which is how you get your notifications for email. But iOS 6 does that also. I did some extensive testing yesterday to find out.

Same problem with my iphone 4, it also disconnects from the WIFI shortly after going into standby after upgrading to ios 6.

It did the same thing before upgrading. iOS has always shut off WiFi when asleep to save battery. There have been discussions and complaints about this for 5 years in these forums.

You are only partly correct. That if your phone have 3G connection. Back to 5.1.1, the wifi will not go off when screen locked. Also it makes completely no sense that if my phone got disconnected, what's the point of push notification? It's not called PUSH if I have to keep checking my phone!!!!

Issachar1943 wrote:

You are only partly correct. That if your phone have 3G connection. Back to 5.1.1, the wifi will not go off when screen locked. Also it makes completely no sense that if my phone got disconnected, what's the point of push notification? It's not called PUSH if I have to keep checking my phone!!!!

If I'm only partly correct why are there thousands of posts over the past 5 years complaining that WiFi turns off when the screen locks?

I realize that there are people that argue wifi is supposed to switch off when the iPhone screen locks, but in over 4 years of using an iPhone, this is the first time I have actually seen it happen. I became curious when I noticed data usage (albeit small amounts) that were higher than what it would be when I am sleeping. My overnight battery life is also slightly worse. After investigating, I too noticed that when I wake the iPhone up the 3G symbol shows and then the airport bars show up immediately after. Never in 4 years have I seen this at home on my own network. The airport bars would always show when I awoke the screen. I could sync my iPhone in another room from my Mac using iTunes at will, and my Airport Express wireless clients list always showed my iPhone 4S connected. This is whether or not the iPhone was plugged into power or asleep on battery power. Now this week, out of the blue, I can no longer do any of that as my iPhone falls back on 3G. To suggest that this behaviour is normal as a result of the iPhone saving battery while asleep is categorically false. Even all of Apple's advertised battery tests show better battery life on wifi. IMHO this is not normal based solely on my experience. Some are arguing that this is normal and that is fine with me, but this has not been my observation in 4 years as an iPhone user. Oddly though, this only started happening some time in the past week. I have been on iOS 6 since launch and this did not happen to me until now. Resetting network settings and a hard reset have not helped me at all. I won't waste time restoring quite yet, I will just wait for the next iOS update and see what happens.

Just wanted to jump in to the discussion so there's more support for this. I'm having exactly the same issues and definitely makes the phone a bit useless if you're like me and don't get a good cellular signal at home.

i have the same problem. i tried to restore network settings and cancle the mail notifications. i use the gmail app anyhow. i'll see how that goes, but anyway it seems that this are small tricks apple play on you to get you to buy iphone 5. they just released a new firmware so i wonder if that will handle it. otherwise i have a feeling restoring it back to ios5 can't do no harm.

my iPhone 4 with iOS 5.0 DOES NOT disconnect wifi while it goes to sleep mode. I know someone will aruge saying the disconnect has been having all the time from day 1 iphone gen 1. But i am just telling what I see and it is not like that on my iPhone 4 w iOS 5.0. It happens to my new iphones iOS 6.0.

I hope they have a fix in next version of iOS. However, it really needs to have APPLE to admin the issue and they would change.