Wifi syncs between iPad and iPhone, want it to stop

I have searched high and low for an answer, but all I'm finding are when people can't connect to wifi - which is not my problem.


My Wifi between my iPhone and my iPad seem to be linked. If I connect to a network via my iPad, my iPhone will connect itself automatically within seconds. If I try to "forget" the network in my iPhone, it resets the wifi network on my iPad to the point that I have to reenter the passwords to reconnect.


Basically if I'm at work, I want my iPad on the work wifi, but I don't want my iPhone on the work wifi. But I can't seem to get the two to work independently of one another.


I'm thinking it might be related to iTunes Wifi sync, but I can't seem to turn that off?


Any ideas? Thank you for your help.


iPhone: 5S, iOS 9.3.2, 16mb, Virgin Mobile

iPad: Air 2, iOS 9.3.2, 64mb, Wifi only

Posted on Jun 20, 2016 5:51 AM

Reply
6 replies

Jun 20, 2016 7:37 AM in response to purpledragonfly74

What am I missing? FWIW I don't consider your experience normal behavior. To be sure I decided to do a test. I am at home and my iPad and iPhone are on the same network and using the same iCloud account. I forgot the network on my iPhone and it reverted to LTE. However my iPad remained logged in with no issues, essentially what you want.


First try a Forced Restart. Hold down the Home and Wake/Sleep buttons at the same time for about 15 seconds until the Apple logo appears. You will not lose anything.


The reset your network settings on both devices. Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Note that this will forget all previously entered Wi-Fi passwords.

Then rejoin the work network on your iPad but not on your iPhone.

Jun 20, 2016 7:43 AM in response to elcpu

It's been like this at least since iOS 9 and El-Cap were released, possibly earlier (I'm old and my memory doesn't work as well as it used to). WiFi settings are synced between all iOS and OS X devices signed into the same iCloud account. Join a network on one, and all other devices will get the settings synchronized to it automagically. Delete it, and it will be deleted from all. Perhaps you're just seeing a delay in synchronization.

Jun 20, 2016 8:07 AM in response to KiltedTim

Tim, I cannot explain the difference (I am old also).


I tried it again, forgot my home network on my iPhone and the iPad (wifi only, not on phone's hotspot, but using same iCloud account) is still connected to the home wifi 20 minutes later. I just did a speedtest with it, all ok. Maybe it takes longer to sync so I will leave it as-is for a bit. However I would be surprised if it disconnected. I have a dual band router and I used to run both devices on the 2.4 band to get longer range. Some months back I forgot the 2.4 network on my iPhone and started using the 5 GHz band so I could use OOKLA and test speeds on each. I did not disconnect from the 2.4 on my iPhone, I forgot it so it would not connect automatically, and the iPad remains connected to the 2.4 even after months.


Out of curiosity, would you test yours?

Feb 21, 2017 7:33 AM in response to purpledragonfly74

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem and also found it frustrating. i discovered that one of my devices had the keychain on and even though the other didn't it still seemed to synch. Turning keychain off on both devices has resolved the issue. This is a bug to me as it should only synch when both devices have this switched on.

R

iphone6s iOS10.2.1

iPad Air 2 iOS 10.2.1

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Wifi syncs between iPad and iPhone, want it to stop

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