iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

Hi wobbly_bob

This is the actual situation as it stands:-

For the benefit of anyone who can't wade through all the bickering to find the facts:-

The ios8.x wi-fi problem is a true bug and it is still present in ios8.2. Amongst other things it can manifest itself as poor wi-fi speeds, difficulty in connecting to a WAP, rejection of Wi-Fi passwords and very slow or no hand off in a cluster system or one with multiple WAPs. it can also cause poor airplay performance, no airplay and / or dropped airplay connexions. In some cases it can cause poor wi-fi performance on other equipment on the same wi-fi network as the ios device.

None of the 'fixs' talked about here work although they may seem to as forcing a reconnection will often appear to cure the wi-fi performance for a few minutes or even an hour or so in some circumstances but it the reconnection having a temporary effect not the 'fix'

Despite the naysayers this is a true bug in ios 8 and there are numerous threads and sites complaining about it all over the web. In recent weeks national newspapers have taken up the cause of users who have received huge cellular data bills due to the bug.

Personally I'm extremely disappointed in apple and have now given up and I am awaiting delivery of my new Android phone after having an iphone continuously since the launch or the first one. Why apple spend time messing with smiley faces when they have this sort of problem to deal with I don't know.

<Edited By Host>

No, replacing the router will not fix the issue. I have an iPad 3rd gen that has WIFI issues that started after installing IOS8 no matter where I go. My girlfriend has an iPad mini with no issues. Both of us are on IOS 8.2. If it was the router then both iPads more than likely would be having speed issues. Below is video of what I'm seeing. The same "slowdown" would happen on IOS8-8.1.3 if I just had bluetooth on. It doesn't matter if audio is being streamed over WIFI or if it's being played locally. A router doesn't care if you have bluetooth on and/or are streaming to it so it looks like my issue is inside of the iPad more than likely with the IOS. Also Apple has contacted me to collect logs on my iPad and to answer a form about my environment. It seems like they are more interested on everything outside of the iPad rathre than focus on IOS8 that broke all of our devices.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kisok1spqlisan2/00000.mp4?dl=0

RParker, I hear what you say and thank you for a civilized reply, but:-

At home I use a cluster of four Cisco AP541N wireless access points. I have run this set-up for just over 4 years with zero issues. Wireless N, WPA2 encryption, 20Mhz spacing, latest software etc etc. I have numerous clients, 2x apple tv, an airport express, 2x freesat boxes, a TV, 8 CCTV cameras, 2x airplay speakers,2x windows laptops, 3 x iphones 2x ipads, plus visitors equipment from time to time.

All the iphones and ipads that were updated to ios8 developed the bug. No ios7 products have a problem, no non Apple products have any problem

I use 2 offices, one has a BT home hub 5? wi-fi router, the other has a BT fibre set up and a BT businesses router providing Wi-Fi.

I spend time in friends offices and houses and they have a selection of wi-fi set-ups. In my companies workshop we have 6 or 7 wi-fi routers set up to provide different environments for testing. My iphone 5s running ios8.2 shows the bug symptoms on all of them as does my ipad 3.

Prior to ios 8 I had no wi-fi related problems.

I have found that setting my waps to wireless g only and WPA (not WPA2) will eliminate the password rejection problem but the slow / no hand off, slow speed and airplay problems remain.

If you are correct (and I don't believe this for one minute) and apple have made ios8 only compatible with a handful of wi-fi routers that most people have never come across its still a problem with ios and not the properly certified router.

If iOS8 were the root of the problem than ALL iOS8 devices would have the SAME problem but they do not...

I beg to differ but the statement above is not accurate. The world is full of examples of defective technology affecting a subset of devices but not all. Automobile manufacturers have recently recalled a certain brand of air bag inflators due to an inordinate numbers of failures but not all cars equipped with such inflators have failed. As an engineer with years of experience I have seen instances of the same code yielding varying results under analogous circumstances. Modern software is very complex and slight variations in the devices can and does affect performance. As another poster indicated there are many devices running iOS8 and working well so there is no systemic issue here but there is a subset running iOS8 which are having problems indeed. London_Lad provided a very good summary of the issue a couple of pages back, the likely cause of which has been documented as he said.

You joined this thread rather late and probably have not read my previous posts. In my own case I spent hours with AppleCare Level 2 who remoted in through my PC into my iOS devices. They verified that my Wi-Fi (3 different Cisco APs) and my 4 iOS devices were set properly. As advised, I reset my devices to factory and followed other recommendations but to no avail. AppleCare then authorized a replacement of one of my iPhones. The replacement
came with iOS7 and worked perfectly at the Apple Store and at home just like my MBP, my two Dells and my Toshiba PC (all flawless with the same ISP/router configuration). I then updated the new phone to iOS8 and prior to restoring my apps the new phone developed the same issue as before -- further calls to AppleCare and the case/issue is now in the hands of Engineering/Development. An Engineering tech then contacted me like many others on this thread and collected logs and data for analysis. So yes there is an issue and yes Apple is aware of it. And no it is not the router.

i am experiencing the same. No problems with log-in credentials or holding a connection however my Wi-Fi is very slow IF AirDrop and Bluetooth are turned on, OK with them off. Would you turn them off on your phone and then report here if it made any difference? Thanks.

Time for another wifi "i fixed my own stuff" success story roundup!

Carlcats:

Scottyboy99 wrote:

Well said. I have found iOS 8 to behave inconsistently over wifi with quite a few routers. And buying a new one, even the latest and greatest, is no guarantee of success. It's like playing Russian roulette. Many users can ill afford to spend and spend on routers just in the hope of hitting the sweet spot. Even people with apple routers have had problems. Apple changed the wifi interaction between iOS 7 and ios 8. It didn't need fiddling with but they still saw fit to implement change. I'm not an apple basher either, I want to enjoy their products but iOS 8 just broke too many things. My wifi works ok but not as well as iOS 7 but this added to a number of other well documented glitches has made me very disillusioned with them. I know they love to add new stuff but when it takes precedence over glitches it's frustrating.

Scottyboy99 is right. Apple changed a lot of things in WIFI with IOS8 so that's why people's routers/APs were working with 7 but not 100% properly with 8. It was the apple device that changed when the problems started so it must be the apple device that is the problem. Saying it's 100% the router/AP is like me saying the road has more potholes once I got new tires. It's accurate to say that the new tires I got are stiffer and I can feel the road more. You focus on what changed, not everything around it.

It's not the routers/APs fault that the device's OS changed because the router/AP's firmware is the same and worked fine before. That would explain why people where having issues when IOS 8 was rolled out. Both the router/AP and device were tested and certified to work but when a firmware upgrade is done on an Apple device tests are not ran again by 3rd parties to make sure it's comptable. A new router/AP MIGHT fix SOME people's problems but it's not a guarantee. It also doesn't fix the problem of what to do when you're at locations like hotels and coffee shops where the router/AP is beyond your control.

If you look at the WIFI Alliance they have a list of devices that they test. If you look at Apple devices they do not test each IOS version of IOS so it's possible that older devices with IOS8 might not pass the WIFI Alliance's testing.

I'm not saying a router/AP is to blame but with some of our issues it is not the router/AP as it was working fine with IOS7 AND we have other Apple devices using the same router/AP that work fine. That would lead us to believe it's not the router but something in our individual Apple device but not our others.

amishmm wrote:

Csound1 wrote:

If the router is not to blame than what is (bearing in mind that the majority of user have no problem) what other factor(s) could it be?

Thats because they may not have come across incompatible router. Since no. of incompatible router must be low and hence majority people do not have issue.

Test 1) Old Router + iPhone = not working properly - either router is bad or iPhone is bad

Test 2) Old Router + Android / Laptop = working - router not bad

Test 3) New Router + iPhone = working - iPhone wifi chip is not bad

Conclusion - iPhone is incompatible with old router.

That is of no use unless information is kept in order to identify what is a 'bad' router and what is not a bad router, can you tell me which router to use, yes or no

After upgrading both my iPad Air and iPhone 6 to iOS 8.3, wifi problem came back, My router is a timecapsule 4th gen.

This time the problem was anyway solved deleting existing wifi connections and create new ones. This solved my problem while restarting all devices and even resettng them didn't work. Hope this will help someone.

Antonio

• In my case with a iPad mini with NO cellular and a Billion 7401GVP R3 router the WiFi issue is still not resolved!
• I can connect a Windows PC, a Samsung Galaxy TAB, a Samsung phone, an Asus eeePc, a MacBook pro and iPhone to the above router and establish a secure WPA2-PSK connection to wifi with 100% uptime.
• BUT when I try to connect the iPad it falls over every time until I did the following to recover for a sort period of time.

STEPS TAKEN

Re-boot ipad. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until a red slider appears, then drag the slider. Then press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears. page 128 iPad user manual.

Then force power down if the above gives you trouble.

Hold down both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button. Ten seconds or more. Hold until the Apple logo appears.

more details on re-booting: http://ipad.about.com/od/iPad_Guide/ss/How-To-Reboot-Your-iPad-Power-Off.htm

Restore to factory settings by loading the latest version of ios that your machine will support:

Do a full backup of your device. Twice is best -- cloud and computer.

Then use iTunes to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to factory settings and the latest version of iOS. Connect using ipad cable to USB.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Put your iOS device into recovery mode, then restore it using iTunes by holding down power and Home button until iTunes device logo and cable appears instead of Apple on iPad screen.:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263

ROUTER
rename and reset password to alpha characters only.

Last resort was to edit the router name to simplify it with no numerics (alpha only) all lowercase and also create a simple alpha (lowercase no numbers) password for WPA2-PSK

End Result?

Wifi keeps dropping out after a period of time 30 mins or so and you need to Reset the network (Settings/General/Reset) and relogin to WiFi.

iCloud fails as well after a period time so the connection to the iCloud username and password as well as the WiFi are linked together with this issue of dropout.

Very unsatisfactory and unstable behaviour that needs to be rectified by Apple. It all worked fine before iOS 8.3.

Hello All,

After upgrading my iPad 4 to the latest iOS version 8.3, I was seeing wifi issues. Tried pretty much all the troubleshooting steps that I came across here in the forum and also online but nothing helped. However few days back I disabled Bluetooth & restarted my iPad after that. To my surprise the wifi issues that I have been seeing disappeared :-).

If you guys are seeing wifi issues, try this option & see if that works.

Summarizing this entire thing...

The issue appears to be with 5ghz band. Seems to be related to this MAC address randomization that Apple added for security. This IS an issue and MUST be addressed by APPLE.

Solutions in the meantime.

1. Go to a slower connection and change your router to a 2.4ghz and realize non of the benefits of the technology of today.

2. Change your DNS to a Google, OpenDNS or other service.

3. Got to settings and shut off location services all together

4. Go to settings, privacy, location services, system settings, shut off WiFi Networking

What I did that seemed to work the best.

Changed router DNS to OpenDNS on router.

Go to Setting - Shut off Wi-Fi networking, frequent locations, share my location, popular near me, diagnostic and usage, location based iAds, Location based Alerts

Then I went in and reset network settings on phone (When you do this your phone will restart.)

This method has helped for the time being.

mmurray47 wrote:

Time for another wifi "i fixed my own stuff" success story roundup!

Carlcats:

Thanks for the roundup, it seems that many posters stopped complaining and did something useful instead. They are the ones without the problem.

This may help others also - my most recent compilation of user's who have posted (here) how they've fixed their issues. Been away for awhile so I may have missed a few:

kokobear90

Apr 23, 2015 12:14 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to E-2043

Tryed out a lot of the fix but had to do complete restore to fix my wifi problem.

http://ipadhelp.com/ipad-help-tips-tricks/ipad-air-wifi-connection-problems-solu tions/

janesca54

Apr 25, 2015 12:13 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to Csound1

my problem is resolved with out doing a restore. I did further research and decided to try it. Did a reset of the network settings on the ipad, shut it down, rebooted my wifi router, restarted the ipad and then reconnected it to the wifi network. Three days later and no more dropped wifi.

grandmaster666satan

May 15, 2015 12:28 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to baldy1983

SInce I had the factory reset done, it's been as good as new with no WiFi-issues or slow connections neither at home or on the mobile connection (that I'm using now.)

amishmm

May 1, 2015 2:31 AM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to E-2043

Finally I gave up and bought a new router. And my WiFi issue is resolved.

nhcowboy

Mar 10, 2015 3:40 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to Riddick187

"THanks for this advice, I tried it (re: DNS settings) and it does seem to make a noticeable difference so far."

Maija59

Mar 1, 2015 6:31 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to sethugunja

"I have had this problem too, this has sucked up my time for the whole day with resets, reboots changing settings everywhere I can access - then finally I simply turned on my airplane mode and "WIFI" started!!"

Tbirdvet

Jan 16, 2015 5:13 AM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to elcpu

"The other day I bought a new TP-Link AC router and no more dropped WiFi."

americangirl_chelsea (to E-2043) 3 weeks ago (Show more)

"Happy to report that since updating (sic: my phone) that I got my 6 nearly 5 days ago, my wifi has been super. No dropping or being sluggish"

navigaremondo

Feb 13, 2015 8:00 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to E-2043

"I finally caved in and bought a new router, a TENDA 300 Mbps, model W309R+. My wifi hasn't dropped since, neither on my Macbook nor my iPad 3."

Lodds

Feb 17, 2015 1:10 AM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to E-2043

"I have posted in the early days of this post - I have recently installed a Meraki AP and I no longer have the issue of disconnecting."

jimmy1264

Feb 16, 2015 1:27 PM

Re: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

in response to E-2043

"I changed my Lan IP's to be a 10.X network and everything came up and so far the iPad has been working."

Agree with wobbly_bob on this. My solution (one of those 15) to this was having to buy a new router which was compatible with iOS 8.2+ This was not an ideal solution and I had to spend money to fix an issue that should not be there in the first instance. The router I had previously was not old (was the standard router you get with SKY BROADBAND).

I know of two other people in my street who have the same router/ISP and were experiencing the same problems with their 'apple' network'. Have advised them to get the same router I had to buy (ASUS DSL-N55U). None of which bought so far. One of said neighbors phoned their ISP and they told him that they don't recommend using another router on their network instead of the standard issue one. I can understand why they said this. It's rubbish that people who are not savvy enough to install their own router have to suffer this ongoing Apple issue.

Anyway I hope me mentioning the name of the router I found to work will help people out there.