Enterprise Wi-Fi (WPA2) won't reconnect on watchOS 5

The issue is still present in my case, even with the watchOS 5.1 Developer beta 4 installed.

It was working for 2 days for me, today it has stopped working again. Interesting thing is that when I approach my phone (get back to the range), it doesn't even connect to the phone. I have to manually disable WiFI in watch's control center, then it recognizes the phone via bluetooth instantly.

It's clearly a software bug. Is there another channel where we could escalate this to Apple, since I am not sure they are even aware of this problem?

Hi Kopovsky, Thanks for sharing your feedback message! I had to pare down the wording as the feedback site would not accept the number of characters in your note. Curious, are you a developer and used the developer's feedback site to submit your message? Does that site allow more characters? I actually have a developer account and occasionally use it to submit feedback. If the answer to my question is true, I will resubmit on the developer site with your more detailed and informative information. Again, thanks for taking the time to share. Regards, Mr. Luigi

Glad I found this discussion thread and realized I was not alone. Getting all the same symptoms others are facing (able to connect Wpa2 Enterprise for the 1st time and maybe 2nd time, but subsequent connection fails). It seems that the watch simply forgets the credentials after a while. I also submitted a feedback to Apple.

Very curious to see if Watch OS 5.1 will fix this issue. I will upgrade tonight and test it.

Installed WatchOS 5.1 and the issue is still there. Like before, I can connect to the Wpa2 Enterprise wifi the first time, and maybe once or twice after (when my phone is not in range of the watch). Subsequent connections simply fail. Very frustrating!

This is doubly frustrating because, as I said before, I bet this problem is much more widespread than Apple realizes b/c most Watch owners are probably not even aware this new functionality exists and/or don't need it. So they are not complaining about the problem and sending Apple feedback. That leaves us few, inglorious bas*ards with little hope for a fix in the near future. 😢

Sorry to necro an old thread but we are having this same type of issue and wanted to pick some brains. Are the WiFi system you're using Cisco with ISE as the backend? Cause we are moving over from Aruba with Clearpass to Cisco with ISE and having a ton of issues with Apple Watches joining cause the watch and ISE keep fighting.

I don't want to falsely get everyone high on good news, but it appears the enterprise wifi connectivity problem has been solved...at least where I teach. I just spent a half-hour roaming to several different buildings on campus and I was able to connect to wifi each time. When I returned to my lab, BOOM! connection established. In the past, when I would return to my lab, I could not reconnect. Anyone else experiencing this Holiday gift from Apple?

OMG! Come on Apple! I arrived on campus this morning and my Series 4 Watch no longer connects to the enterprise wifi again. I apologize for bothering everyone with false hopes in my previous post. The Watch did successfully connect for the entire day, no matter where I went on campus. Awesome! But, it appears that was a one day wonder. I give up. Thankfully, I have a cellular Watch and can remain connected that way.

I have submitted the feedback to Apple via this form: Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

Encourage you all to do the same.

Thank you very much, I managed to set it up.

I confirm no problems on a Series 2. One week has passed and it keeps reconnecting as it should be when it loses phone connection.

Thanks for the reply but at least for me this doesn't work since I don't have the cellular version......

So did I.

Hmm, not sure honetstly, but I did sign up for beta program, so could be that this counts as developer. Try to trim a bit the message, if not, follow option B. 🙂