Does iOS 9 require an SSID to be broadcasted in order to join a wireless network? On previous versions of iOS I was able to connect to my home wireless network when hiding the broadcast of my SSID.

UPDATE: I just finished speaking with Eric, a senior support representative from Apple. He was able to reproduce the same issue I have been encountering with iOS 9 and being unable to connect to a wireless network when the SSID isn't broadcasted. He indicated he was going to escalate the issue to Engineering, and we should have a reply by Monday. I'll update the thread accordingly...Thanks for all the suggestions & replies.

UPDATE: I just finished speaking with Eric, a senior support representative from Apple. He was able to reproduce the same issue I have been encountering with iOS 9 and being unable to connect to a wireless network when the SSID isn't broadcasted. He indicated he was going to escalate the issue to Engineering, and we should have a reply by Monday. I'll update the thread accordingly...Thanks for all the suggestions & replies.

From Erik @ Apple Support:

"After speaking with you, I started messing around a little with my network and router settings to see what I could do connect to a hidden network with my iPhone. I have a Airport Extreme router, and I restored it to factory settings and set up the network all over again as well as changing the WPA2 password from what it was before. After that was complete, I was successful in connecting to the hidden network with all of my devices including my iPhone 5s with iOS 9.

Not sure this work around will work for you, but just a suggestion. In the meantime, I did send out the engineering request regarding this issue and the engineering team confirmed they received the request."

Therefore, if you Reset your router it should address the issue with the SSID Hidden, and I believe it isn't necessary to change the password. Although, there appears to be an additional issue with MAC Filtering enabled.

I was going to try Erik's suggestion, but as luck would have it my router (Cisco/Linksys E4200 V2) stopped working yesterday. Therefore, I went to best buy and bought a Linksys EA 3500. I installed the new router and it did connect with the SSID Hidden.

After finalizing the configuration of the router I realized that if I enable MAC Filtering (which I have always utilized) I encounter the same message "Could not find the network." The moment I disable MAC Filtering, any device running iOS 9 automatically connects to the network. Therefore, it appears devices running iOS 9 cannot connect to a network if MAC Filtering is enabled.

This latest development was forwarded to Erik at Apple and I will post any updates when received.

From Erik @ Apple Support:

"I have good news. Our engineers took note on many of the issues Customer’ such as yourself were experiencing with the iOS 9 update. As a result, they have worked diligently to put together iOS 9.0.1 to fix many of the issues you may have been experiencing. Please go ahead and update your devices and you should be pleased with the result."

I upgraded both my devices (iPhone 5S & iPad Mini 2) to iOS 9.0.1. Unfortunately, the issue with MAC Filtering being enabled on a network wasn't addressed. I must confess I'm disappointed with Apple. I understand that when a new OS is launched there will be issues. Although, my expectation is that when upgrading to a new OS it should not be less secure.

Lawrence, I disagree. MAC Filtering offers an additional layer of security to any home network. Keeping in mind that no network, home or business will ever be 100% secure. For example, using a strong password, enabling WPA2 (WPA is easily circumvented), changing the IP Address of the network, enabling MAC Filtering, disabling UPnP, disabling the SSID Broadcast, disabling Wi-Fi Protected Setup are just some of the settings that can make a home network safer. Additionally, one can go to various websites (Whatismyip.org & grc.com) to test the security of their home network.

As administrators of home networks it's in our best interest to constantly evaluate our security measures. There are degenerate people whose sole purpose is to prey upon individuals who aren't security conscious. Unfortunately, Apple's latest bug with iOS 9 not being able to connect to a network which has MAC Filtering enabled has made all of us who practice safe habits more susceptible to these criminals.