kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Wifi drops when phone is locked after 10.3.3 update

Wifi drops when phone is locked or goes to idle and reconnect when screen is on.

This happens after the last ios update.

Model :iphone 5.

iPhone 5, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Jul 31, 2017 4:32 AM

263 replies

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 9:07 AM in response to spdang

I have reset my device. First i connect to itunes. Did a local back up. Then restore phone as new(itunes will download a 1.7GB 10.3.3 Os file). After install it will restart. Left it on for 30 minutes . wifi connection was stable. Backed up my data then start the trouble again.

As a last resort i will delete all apps and then redo everything from beginning. I have around 25 apps installed. Will update the results.

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 9:27 AM in response to Michael Black

Leave the theories as it is. Just do the ping test on your phone with just wifi(turn off mobile data obviously) after screen locked. I bet your wifi wont drop.

Besides this is a very old documentation(From ios3). Like i mentioned iOs7 or before requires special apps to keep wifi on all the time. Apps like "constant wifi" was used back then. With new features like background app refresh thats not the case anymore.

Again please do a ping test to your iphone from another device after locked. And see for yourself. I must be living in some parallel universe if your connection is dropped too.. I tested on my friends mobile and it is stable. No drops whatsoever.

Sep 5, 2017 9:36 AM in response to kollamraku

I know mine drops wifi - I'm not surprised it does (all my devices other than beta are 10.3.3).

And that documentation is NOT old. It was updated March 27th of this very year. It is current developers documentation for iOS 10.

Clearly you know all and see all, so I will not add more. This is not "theory" this is simple fact of how iOS works, and how iOS has always worked.

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 10:06 AM in response to Michael Black

Just do the ping test like i suggested and see for yourself.(if you are running on ios10 or later). Seriously I write what i just did. Wifi is not dropping like my affected phone. My phone hardly keep wifi on for 20 seconds. A normal iphone i dont know for how long but it definitely not gonna drop wifi and disconnect from router after 20 seconds. Say what you want. If your phone wifi is dropping after 20 seconds its not a feature. period. No sane programmer will code like that.

"UIRequiresPersistentWiFi " the app is consider inactive when screen is locked.

Clearly mentioned wifi hardware goes to sleep only after 30 min after no app is requested that key.

It still gives a 30 min timer window.

The app is considered inactive, and although it may function on some levels, it(app) has no Wi-Fi connection.

Means the app wifi socket is closed not speaking about iphone wifi hardware. Hardware goes to idle only after 30 minutes.

No point arguing . I am watching what i explained with my naked eyes.

Going to hard reset and try my luck again.. Look like thats the only solution.

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 10:31 AM in response to kollamraku

To sum it up. Issue Wifi dropping

Symptom:

Screen lock wifi disconnect from from router. When screen unlock greyed out wifi symbol then no wifi symbol after 5-6 seconds wifi back. If cellular connection is active when screen unlock greyed out wifi symbol then 3G/LTE after 5-6 seconds stable wifi symbol.

People with similar issues if found a solution please post.

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 10:48 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Once your system shows request time out check your connection list on router or try to ping your whatzapp(turn off your mobile data) . You will still get the notification and your iphone is still shown on router client list. Thats not the case with us. Once locked wifi is disconnected completely. No more push notification. completely disconnect from router. Even after the unlock it takes 5-6 seconds to show the wifi symbol. Hope you get our issue clearly now.

Sep 5, 2017 10:56 AM in response to kollamraku

Interesting. None of my devices every disappear from my router connection map, even when the device is not connected to WiFi. This sounds more like a router problem.

UPDATE: The 4S shows disconnected (but still listed) after a long period of time, long after the pings start to time out. More than 15 minutes (I got tired of waiting).

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 5, 2017 11:05 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

My active client list is refreshed every 10 second. Once connected it shows immediately shows active list and once disconnected it goes away. so I can see which device is connected. I tested in my office and my home and complete disconnection. Iphone without issue even after the request time out on normal ping shows on client list. And if i ping say whatsapp instant push notification while my phone simple sit there without any response. This is the exact issue we are facing. Once locked no more notification. And other iphone have (with mobile data off obviously). Does your wifi symbol greyed out then disappear and comes back after 5-6 seconds when screen is unlocked? I bet no.

//None of my devices every disappear from my router connection map, even when the device is not connected to WiFi. [Your router might not have an active client list]//

kollamraku Author

Level 1

19 points

Sep 6, 2017 12:38 AM in response to spdang

Try this. remove all app from your iphone. You can keep whatsapp or other apps which u need back up. But try to remove whatever you can. Then connect to itunes. Do a back up. After the back up click on Restore iPhone as new. It will take some time since the OS file is around 1.7GB and downloaded from apple servers.

Restart and connect to wifi. If its stable restore back up using itunes. If its not stable Restore iPhone one more time.

I did this and now no more issues so far. Wifi is stable. I am getting all push notification. Try your luck.

Sep 22, 2017 4:55 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

"However, it will NOT reconnect if an app on the phone attempts to use data; the app will use cellular data..." ~ how is that a feature and not a bug?

If I'm somewhere with robust WiFi and the phone is asleep and as a result WiFi is "asleep," and an app attempts to use data...it will use data instead of WiFi?! How is using data when WiFi is available a feature and not a bug?

I shudder to think that apps that I allow to use data when I don't have WiFi available will be using data even when WiFi is available, solely because the phone went to sleep. Unless I'm missing something (a distinct possibility), that cannot possible be viewed as a feature.

Sep 22, 2017 5:08 PM in response to kollamraku

I noticed the same thing started happening maybe a month or so ago, with my iPhone 6 on iOS 10.whatever, and on two different WiFi networks. My phone is now on iOS 11 and doing the exact same thing. I'm not technical enough to do the ping stuff, but I do know that what I noticed started happening a month or so ago was new and different, because I am observant. At first I thought it was a router issue, but new routers in both locations (for unrelated reasons) and this still occurs.

I wake the phone, the WiFi icon appears momentarily (not grayed-out, though), then it disappears and is replaced with the 4G icon, then 3-6 seconds later the 4G icon disappears and the WiFi icon returns and stays. This happens with both iPhone 6 and iPad Air, and in iOS 10.whatever and now in iOS 11, and in both places where I'm located, with different ISPs and different routers.

Maybe mine is just useless anecdotal information and all the others who say this behavior is how it's always been are correct, but there seems to be something different happening over the past month-plus, IMO.

Sep 22, 2017 5:20 PM in response to dittoheadadt

There are technical reasons that the phone can respond to an incoming connection request, but cannot initiate one. A "bug" is something that doesn't work the way it was designed. As it was designed to work this way, by definition it is not a bug. It may be a characteristic that you don't like, but that doesn't make it a bug either. There are thousands (perhaps millions) of things in the world that I don't like. They are not bugs either.

Sep 22, 2017 5:56 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I assumed that when I used the word "bug" I would've been understood to have been saying "it's something undesirable" rather than making a literal, technical observation. My "I'm not technical enough to do the ping stuff" should've been the tell that I was using a layman's terms, not an engineer's or programmer's terms. After all, "that's not a feature, it's a bug" isn't a literal technical observation as much as an idiom usually used to describe an obvious boneheaded element of something.

If in fact iOS was deliberately designed such that when a device is asleep WiFi "will NOT reconnect if an app on the phone attempts to use data; the app will use cellular data...", then that most definitely qualifies as a "bug" in layman's terms, for the reason I explained in my original comment.

To say that WiFi going idle when the iPhone goes to "sleep" is an intentional, desirable outcome favored by Apple, given the fact that under certain circumstances doing so apparently forces apps to use data rather than WiFi even when WiFi is available, strains credibility on the issue.

Sep 22, 2017 5:59 PM in response to dittoheadadt

Every iPhone on every version of iOS has worked the same way for 10 years. The reason is that WiFi uses power continuously when on; if it stayed on and connect to a router it would drain your battery very quickly. That's why WiFi turns off 30 seconds after the phone goes to sleep. More recent hardware has a wake on connect capability, but the stimulus must come from the network. It cannot come from an internal app.

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,737 points

Sep 22, 2017 6:00 PM in response to dittoheadadt

dittoheadadt wrote:

If in fact iOS was deliberately designed such that when a device is asleep WiFi "will NOT reconnect if an app on the phone attempts to use data; the app will use cellular data...", then that most definitely qualifies as a "bug" in layman's terms, for the reason I explained in my original comment.

It is your privilege to allege that that "bug" has been designed into IOS products since the very first iPhone. In ten years, Apple has not addressed your "bug."

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Wifi drops when phone is locked after 10.3.3 update