Problem WiFi while iPhone 4S is in screen lock

In my case, I'm thinking this problem is because of the iPhone hardware. Hopefully this helps someone else.

My wife and I both have an iPhone 5. My phone has this problem, hers doesn't.

I have tried 3 different routers, a different DSL modem, restoring the iPhone and setting up as a new phone, updating the iOS to 6.0.2, and my phone drops Wi-Fi connection after 10 seconds of locking it with it plugged in. I noticed this because iCloud doesn't back up automatically because it's not connecting to Wi-Fi.

My wife's phone backs up fine and stays connected. I can tell they're connected because I have an Airport Extreme and can see the phone disconnect from the Wi-Fi in the airport utility.

This has to be a hardware problem and I'm returning it for a replacement. Any further thoughts?

This "bug" eats up my cellular data plan.

I use my phone alot to listen to talk radio via the wifi. But when I put the phone to sleep and listen to the playing auido stream wifi cuts out and it starts streaming from my cellular data.

Seems like an Intentional bug to me, to use up more of my Data Plan, so that I have to pay for more Data.

It's actually an intentional "feature" to keep your battery from running down in a few hours when the phone is not actively being used, because WiFi uses power continuously, whether sending, receiving, or sitting idle, unlike cellular data that only uses power when actively sending (not even receiving).

No it is not a problem. WiFi automatically disables when in lock screen mode to save battery. It has been this way since the very first iOS 1.

If that is true then they need to make a change to the software so that it only turns off when the Wifi is not active.

If the Wifi is being used it should not turn itself off.

Ah sorry I missed the part about wifi being used. If wifi is doing something then it wont turn off

Actually, it will still turn off 45 seconds after the phone goes to sleep, whether it is doing something or not. I've done tests that demonstrate this, by pinging the phone from a computer on the same network. The pings time out after 30-45 seconds, and responding to a ping every second is certainly "doing something".

They said that wifi was disconnected because in order to save battery life therefore it will only connect when u unlock screen mode

Yea but if I leave the phone unlocked and listen to my streaming audio, the phone locks itself after awhile and then it switches to cellular data.

Yes, but about notifications like whatsapp, facebook or iMessage? If, when the phone is locked, the wifi go off, notifications not arrive

Dear Debora,

This long line strings of communication with all everyone, has given me hope to try and fix the issue. My phone was fine ( iphone 4 with iOS 6) until last week. I have noticed that while screen is locked everything stops and when unlocked all notifications come at one time ( watsapp , imessage, twitter , email etc).

I gave up trying everything, but when i see this string i get hope again.

The only thing I changed recently is some setting in the router.

I will try today to change it back to old settings and check.

No wonder i was suprised how my battery was perfoming well, until i found out that the wifi sleeps automatically.

First i thought maybe it was due to the distance of the router, but even when close to it , it was the same.

I was planning to restore the phone and upgrade to ios 6.1, but from the thread i saw that many have done it but yet the issue still remains.

Hope all of us find a solution soon.

This is really annoying. I have to refresh the phone every 5 minutes to check that i havent missed anything lol

This problem is solved with IOS 6.1, i updated my iphone 5 to latest ios and now i receive all notifications when my phone is locked for long time or is in sleep mode.

Maybe ur right, but for me I just deleted the wifi and add it again and it's fine. It's strange but it's working with iOS6.0

Yea, the update for 6.1 fixed this problem for me.

Now when iam listening to streaming audio the wifi does not cut out and switch to cellular.

Maybe the Lawyers told them they couldnt do that...

First of all, I can guarentee that iphone/ipad has no design for saving battery by disabling wifi on screenlock. I have been using my iphone/ipad without this bug until 5.1.1. After many tries, I have found that the issue comes after syncing with itunes on pc. To fix it:

- turn your wifi "on" and connect to the wifi.

- go to settings>reset> and reset your network settings while wifi is "on"

After reset is complete, do not sync or connect your ipad/iphone with itunes; not even from wifi sync.

I've tried this for many times and it solves my problem. I sync once a week, and every sync brings the issue back.