All saved Wifi networks from iPhone showing up in Mac Pro Network Preferences

Question

Level 2

421 points

All saved Wifi networks from iPhone showing up in Mac Pro Network Preferences

Network Preferences > Wi-Fi > Advanced > Preferred Networks (Remember networks this computer has joined is checked)

However, this is a Mac Pro that I've only owned a few months and recently updated to Yosemite... it's never connected to any of those networks except for my one office Wi-Fi. This list is showing every single Wi-Fi network I've ever used from my iPhone and iPod going back to 2009!

Why is my Mac Pro showing all networks that only my iPhone has joined?

How did old Wi-Fi networks from my iPhone get into the "Preferred Networks" list of my desktop Mac? Bluetooth, iTunes sync, iCloud, Keychain, etc?

Is this a feature or a bug? If it's a bug, I'll use my Apple Developer account to report it. If it's a feature, please explain the mechanism that saved the networks from the iPhone over to my Mac Pro in the first place and how do I use/control it? i.e., if I delete these "remembered" networks from Network Preferences on the Mac Pro, will the same saved networks also be removed from my iPhone? Ironically, these "remembered" networks cannot even be viewed from the iPhone Settings.

Mac Pro (Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 3.33 GHz 6-Core with 32 GB RAM

Posted on Dec 30, 2014 3:51 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,215 points

Jul 26, 2017 9:44 AM in response to sparky67

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem or a suggestion for change. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem/suggested change solved sooner.

Feedback

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Answer 2

randv

Level 1

8 points

Jul 25, 2017 7:04 AM in response to sparky67

this makes no sense if you have an imac... you dont travel with imac so likely to have couple of (in most cases one) home networks.... to suddenly see all the public wifi networks show up is not a good thing... it automatically connects to other networks too...

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

56,789 points

Jul 26, 2017 5:33 AM in response to randv

randv wrote:

this makes no sense if you have an imac... you dont travel with imac so likely to have couple of (in most cases one) home networks.... to suddenly see all the public wifi networks show up is not a good thing... it automatically connects to other networks too...

Either do not share your keychain via iCloud between your Mac and your iPhone

-OR-

Drag the perferred WiFi networks to the top of the list, so they are always found first

System Preferences -> Network -> WiFi -> Advanced -> WiFi

Then select and drag your preferred networks to the top of the list. The Mac and iPhone scan the list in the order shown, and will select the first one found.

Feel free to clean up the list on the Mac, and your cleaned up list will be propagated to the iPhone, improving your iPhone's WiFi connection speeds as well.

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Answer 4

sparky67 Author

Level 2

421 points

Jul 26, 2017 8:56 AM in response to BobHarris

BobHarris wrote:

randv wrote:

this makes no sense if you have an imac... you dont travel with imac so likely to have couple of (in most cases one) home networks.... to suddenly see all the public wifi networks show up is not a good thing... it automatically connects to other networks too...

....

Drag the perferred WiFi networks to the top of the list, so they are always found first

System Preferences -> Network -> WiFi -> Advanced -> WiFi

Then select and drag your preferred networks to the top of the list. The Mac and iPhone scan the list in the order shown, and will select the first one found.

I can confirm that this does not work. Even if this idea/workaround worked, it would need constant maintenance as new Wifi networks are added to the list via iPhone. The list is also ridiculously long... every restaurant, shop, store, etc. ever visited in the last 4+ years... I really don't need to see that ever, and on my iOS mobile devices, I don't.

My preferred home Wifi router is at the very top and my least preferred home Wifi is at the very bottom. Despite my desire to always connect to the first router on the list, My desktop Mac Pro sometimes skips it and connects to my other Wifi router that is farther away in another building.

As far as my iPhone goes, I want it connecting to either one of my two Wifi routers depending on which Wifi is closer at that time. That works, and I want to keep it working.

Apple really needs to fix this. Lumping Wifi networks in with the iCloud Keychain seems a bit sloppy, especially when your NON-mobile devices are forced to this same list of Wifi networks. At the very least, the advanced Network settings on the NON-mobile Mac should have a way to manually define a SINGLE Wifi network, and never attempt connection to any others; no different than manually assigning an IP address and ignoring DHCP, without having to turn off DHCP on the router.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Dec 30, 2014 7:14 PM in response to sparky67

Why is my Mac Pro showing all networks that only my iPhone has joined?

Because both are signed into iCloud Keychain with the same Apple ID.

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Answer 6

sparky67 Author

Level 2

421 points

Dec 30, 2014 9:22 PM in response to Linc Davis

Because both are signed into iCloud Keychain with the same Apple ID.

Yes, thank-you for confirming my suspicions. However...

- Can you tell me exactly where this feature is documented with detail?

- How it can be controlled or disabled for this device? I don't see this in my iCloud or Keychain options, and since my Mac Pro will not be traveling, it's really pointless to have all these various remote Wi-Fi networks listed (pointless for me, although I can see it as a handy tool for multiple iOS devices and/or a MacBook).

- Most importantly, if I delete them from my Mac Pro, will they also get removed from iCloud? I want them to remain in iCloud and on my iPhone.

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Dec 31, 2014 5:14 AM in response to sparky67

Can you tell me exactly where this feature is documented with detail?

No.

How it can be controlled or disabled for this device?

By disabling iCloud Keychain.

Most importantly, if I delete them from my Mac Pro, will they also get removed from iCloud?

Yes.

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