Wifi dropped when iphone locked

Question

Level 1

0 points

Wifi dropped when iphone locked

Hi

So, I ask this question every couple of years, and it's always the same thing.

Basically, in the building where I work, there's no cell coverage at all. In fact it is designed that way, so it's a faraday cage.

Consequently everytime I walked into my building, Wifi becomes the one and only data connection my phone has.

Problem is, iOS9 keeps insisting on dropping the wifi connection when the phone is locked. I can precisely time the drop in the connection after 5 seconds. I can reproduce this 100% of the time. The only way to stop this from happening is to open a radio app and stream music: under these conditions the connection will stay alive.

I'd understand if iOS dropped wifi if I had cellular data, since cell is always more prevalent than wifi.

However dropping wifi when that is the only connection available doesn't make a great sense to me.

At least LET ME CHOOSE if I want to keep wifi alive even if that uses a little more battery.

So, anyone knows of a solution or an app that could keep my connection alive?

It's been 3 years already suffering this!!!

Posted on Oct 9, 2015 1:55 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 9, 2015 2:04 PM in response to yossi00

I don't know of a solution. iOS has always behaved that way to reduce power consumption when running in battery. Wifi only stays constantly active when the device is plugged into a power supply. It's possible that some external battery pack cases (mophie and the like) may trick it into thinking it is plugged in when running off the case battery?

Reply

Answer 2

yossi00 Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2015 2:11 PM in response to Michael Black

I understand the reason but iOS is intelligent enough to detect when wifi is the one and only available connection.

It causes all sort of issues, such as not detect incoming calls using my carrier's wifi calling app.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 9, 2015 6:04 PM in response to yossi00

The Wifi connection will stay active when the phone is locked if it's plugged into a power source. The phone will recognize a charging case such as a mophie as the phone being plugged in. So, if you put one of those cases on the phone and kept it turned on, WiFi should stay active.

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 9, 2015 11:29 PM in response to yossi00

You need a carrier and iPhone that supports Wi-Fi calling.

https://support.apple.com/HT203032

Reply

Answer 5

Feb 14, 2016 9:00 AM in response to yossi00

The ONLY idea(s) that worked for me so far is

1) Swipe up and turn on Airplane mode, then press the wifi icon to leave it on. With this, I use a USB cable to power my iphone 5S from my laptop so the power drain is manageable.

2) Some sort of Alarm clock or Timer App that you run so when the autolock kicks in, the iphone still runs in the background. I tried these apps but still prefer method 1 above.

Anyone else have a better idea(s)? Thank you

Reply