Incorrect Network Password on iPhone

martinfromkilmac wrote:

I tried rebooting the router (Archer C60) and this has worked for both devices, at least for now. I am not sure if the problem was with the iPhones or the router. There are at least a dozen devices connected to the router and the iPhones were the only ones that were unable to connect.

It's the router. Many routers will fail to assign IP addresses when devices ask for them if they have been running continuously for a long period of time. The DHCP server in the router is the culprit; if it crashes devices that connect intermittently will no longer be able to get an IP address. Devices that are connected continuously won't have a problem, because they already have an IP address, but intermittently connected devices like phones and tablets must reconnect every time they have been connected to a different network. So if rebooting the router fixes it most likely this was the cause. The other possibility is Wi-Fi interference. If there are a lot of networks in the area they can interfere with each other; rebooting the router results in the router finding the best, least congested channel.

What if I know my password, but the network won’t accept it?

In iOS: Tap Settings > Wi‑Fi > > Forget this network. Then try to rejoin.

If the network still won’t accept your password, make sure:

• You’re trying to join your network and not a nearby, similarly named network.
• You’re entering the password correctly. Wi‑Fi passwords are case-sensitive.
• If someone else set up your network, follow steps to confirm that you’re using the correct password.

Worked for me

Had this problem, reset phone, and everything. none of that worked.

I finally accessed my wifi router and manually added a device: my iphone.
I did this by looking at devices in my router set-up page, and then to "add device manually" and then used the name of my iphone and its wifi address, (under general/about/wifi address) then saved changes.
went back to wifi selection on the phone and re-entered password, and I am now connected to the wifi.

This has been SOOO frustrating but I've managed to resolve the issue for both family, friends and workmates today. Turned out to be the iCloud Keychain. We had all applied the 11.3.1 update and were experiencing WIFI issues. Each of us had been connecting to WIFI either at home, work or on public networks. These had been working fine for a long time until the update was applied. We then started seeing either random dropouts, 'incorrect password', SSID's not being found and the occasional 'no internet access' caused by being given a 169 IP address. This made me think that it was my home network but this couldn't have been as all my windows and android devices were unaffected. Googling just said reboot everything which 1) didn't work and 2) you can't just do that at work or on a public network. Anyway, all that was needed was to turn off the Keychain and everything resolved instantly. I'm sure they will issue another update soon which will undoubtably cause other issues down the line.

I had the same problem and I solved it by renaming the 5ghz access point on my router. The router had both 2.4ghz and 5ghz enabled with the same access point name. I had changed the password only on the 2.4ghz so when my phone would randomly pick the 5ghz, it would say “incorrect password”. I have no explaination why the problem occured after an IOS update.

I used to experience that with my 5s after updating it to IOS 11. I read somewhere that you have to reset the network settings.

Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset network settings

After resetting it, i joined the wifi network again.

I have a 6s-Plus, recently updated to iOS 11.4.1, and just experienced the same issue this morning:

iPhone says "incorrect password" and will not accept correct password

I tried the 'forget network' suggestion and it did not work. After clicking the "i" and clicking 'forget network' again, here is what I did that worked for me:

1. find your wifi network in the network list
2. click the 'i' icon next to your network
3. scroll down to "HTTP PROXY" section
4. my setting was set to "manual". I changed it to "Automatic".
5. then i entered my correct wifi password, my phone finally recognized it again, and it worked!

hope this helps! 😎

The "lease" on an IP address expires after a while, and the connected device(s) have to request a new IP address. There's a lease time setting in the router's control panel. That's why it can work for a while, then have problems. If you look in the router's settings you will find a lease time; it's in seconds, so it will be a large number. The other reason is your phone connects and disconnects frequently. Each time it reconnects it requests an IP address from the router. If it's lease time has not expired it will get the same IP address, otherwise a different one. Occasionally it will get an IP address that is already assigned; this is the result of a misconfiguration in the router, but it can happen if any of your devices have a permanent IP address rather than an automatically assigned IP address. Here's a list of reasons you might get a wrong password error when connecting:

• Wi-Fi interference from other networks - Restarting the router will usually fix this, as it will pick a different channel. One solution is to hold your phone within a few feet of the router to see if it will then connect.
• MAC filtering - Routers have a capability to allow only "approved" devices on the network. ("MAC" is "Media Access Control" and has nothing to do with Apple computers). This feature is usually off by default, but if it is on the Wi-Fi address of all allowed devices must be listed in a "whitelist"
• Band selection - Routers can work on 2 different bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Most routers have the same SSID (name) for both networks, so you don't know which you are connected to. 2.4 GHz has greater range, but 5 GHz is much faster (up to 10 times faster). It helps to know which you are connected to, so one strategy is to change the name of one of them. For example, if your router's SSID is "XYZZY" you might rename the 5 GHz band as "XYZZY5". The 5 GHz band also has many more channels than the 2.4 GHz band, so it is the better one to use if there are a lot of local networks.
• Not enough IP addresses - Routers have a limit on the number of connected devices. Usually this is much greater than anyone in a home would need (255), but it's worth checking the "DHCP address range" in the router's settings to make sure it is wide enough, as it is possible to limit this to a lower number. As you have a lot of devices this is really something to check.
• Misconfiguration of the connection on the phone - "Forget" the network, restart your phone, and add it back. This will restore the default settings, which should work with any standard router.

If I think of any more things to check I'll post them.

Here's the Apple help tip: If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network - Apple Support

But to simplify it, first step is to restart your router (even if other devices connect OK). Remove all power for 15 to 30 seconds; don't just turn it off as some routers don't shut down completely unless unplugged.

The next step, if that doesn't fix it, is to restart your phone: Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

If it had been working and this happened suddenly, and you haven't changed anything else, restarting the router will probably fix it.

Goldsta wrote:

Worked for me

Had this problem, reset phone, and everything. none of that worked.

I finally accessed my wifi router and manually added a device: my iphone.
I did this by looking at devices in my router set-up page, and then to "add device manually" and then used the name of my iphone and its wifi address, (under general/about/wifi address) then saved changes.
went back to wifi selection on the phone and re-entered password, and I am now connected to the wifi.

That means that your router has MAC filtering enabled, which limits the devices that can connect through the router. (MAC is Media Access Control and has nothing to do with fine Apple computers 😉)

Seriously just had this problem on my daughter's iPhone 8 with iOS 11.

The problem for her phone was that she had made her text size bigger and it was causing the last few characters of the password to not be entered, even though it looked like they were.

The fix was that she put the text size back down to normal, and we re-entered the password and it connected fine.

I'm not sure if that will help others, but it's a SERIOUS bug if that's the case for others.

I was finally able to connect!

I grabbed my husband some phone (which was connected to our WIFI), and then set my Configure IP and Configure DNS to manual. You get to this by clicking the little i in the blue circle.

I then copied what was in his phone into the IP and DNS. After it connected, I set the IP and DNS back to automatic.

Hopefully I don’t have to do this every time.

My apple devices started randomly doing this yesterday. I tried everything that's been suggested with no luck. This is how I was able to fix my issue: Go to wifi settings and even though your network is listed choose other - type in your network name - choose the security type - enter your password. I was having this issue with my iphone and ipad and I was able to fix both doing this. I hope this helps some of you.

If anyone still having this problem....I have a fix! This drove me crazy for 24 hrs.... your modem may be configured to "enable MAC filtering".... if this is the case you will need to manually allow the device to join the network.... or disable MAC filtering on your modem. It is NOT a mobile device issue!

A few hours later a second iPhone that was also connected to the same WiFi network disconnected and started showing "incorrect password". I tried resetting the network settings on both phones (General > Reset > Reset Network Settings) but this made no difference. I tried rebooting the router (Archer C60) and this has worked for both devices, at least for now. I am not sure if the problem was with the iPhones or the router. There are at least a dozen devices connected to the router and the iPhones were the only ones that were unable to connect.