How can I forget a wifi network on a single device?

Question

How can I forget a wifi network on a single device?

I'm using an Airport extreme router - it exposes both a 2.4 GHZ network and a 5GHZ network.

I need both as some of my devices support 802.11ac, and some only support 802.11n.

The thing is, since all the wifi networks are shared between all devices (iPhones, iPads, iMac, Macbook, Apple TV 4th & 3rd gen.. (yes, I have allot of devices)) - the 5GHZ capable devices often connect to the 2.4GHZ network.

On the Mac, I can set the order of preferred networks, which works most of the times, and is good enough.

I can't seem to find a similar solution for the iOS devices - no way to set the preferred network, and no way to remove a network from just one device.

Any ideas?

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Samsung U28D590

Posted on Nov 10, 2015 8:10 AM

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Answer 1

Bob Timmons

Level 10

187,220 points

Nov 10, 2015 9:42 AM in response to Moshe Gottlieb

Ah, you did not mention the shared keychain in your original post. There are upsides and downsides to a shared keychain. If you want to use a shared keychain, then you will not be able to do what you ask.

Starting all over and renaming the networks might work. I have not tried it.

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Answer 2

Bob Timmons

Level 10

187,220 points

Nov 10, 2015 9:28 AM in response to Moshe Gottlieb

I can't seem to find a similar solution for the iOS devices - no way to set the preferred network, and no way to remove a network from just one device

Last question first. On an iPhone or iPad......

Tap Settings on the Home Screen

Tap WiFi

Tap on the blue "i" just to the right of the name of the network

Tap Forget This Network

That will delete the current connection information on the device that you are using, so you can set up another new connection.

Connect to the network that you want to join again, and the iPhone / iPad will remember that network and connect again when that network is in range.

Now, if you are saying that you want to be able to tell wireless devices whether to connect to the 2.4 GHz or GHz network, then you will need to enable the option in AirPort Utility on your Mac to assign a different name to each band on your AirPort Extreme router.

Then, "point" each device at the network that you want it to use.

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Answer 3

Nov 10, 2015 9:33 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for the answer, however - it's not what I'm looking for.

The 5 GHZ and 2.4 GHZ networks already have different names, and if I forget a network on one of the devices, the rest of the devices forget it as well because of the shared keychain.

I don't want to loose the shared keychain - it's great for so many things.

I just want the 5GHZ capable devices to prefer the faster connection.

That's what I meant in "remove from just one device".

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