If you are an iPhone user, you’d be very much aware that, like all other modern operating systems available nowadays, your iOS also has the tendency to remember Wi-Fi networks that you connect to manually. The next time you get in range of those remembered Wi-Fi networks, your iPhone will connect automatically without requiring you to enter passwords if the network is password-protected. The feature often comes in handy because you do not need to connect manually to networks that are regularly in your use like your Home or Office Wi-Fi networks.
But you may find it annoying as well because your list of Wi-Fi networks continues to expand and even if you do not need to use a network, it still appears in the list of Networks on your device. You may also need to forget networks if you are trying to connect to a new network with the same name. For instance, if you have named your home network as ‘Home Wi-Fi’ and one your friends also has the same name for their network then whenever you’ll try to connect to their network an error will be generated because the two networks may have different passwords.
Jump To Section
- How To Forget Wi-Fi Networks On iPhone
- Beware With iCloud Keychain
- Changing Network Joining Permissions
How To Forget Wi-Fi Networks On iPhone
So, if you do not want your iPhone or iPad to remember the Wi-Fi networks anymore or just want to Forgeta particular network connection, you can easily do that by changing settings of your iOS device. Here is how you can do that.
First of all, browse Settings on your iPhone and go to Wi-Fi. Here you will be able to see any Wi-Fi network that you may be connected to currently as well as list of available networks detected by your device. At the bottom, you will also be able to see names of a few networks that are not in range but you might have used your device to connect to them previously.
Once you pick the network that you want to forget, tap on blue-circled small icon visible right next to the name of the chosen network.
If it is the network that you are connected to currently as well then tapping on the icon will show you all the details of your current connection – like DNS information and IP address assigned to you. However, if you are not connected to the network, you won’t see any such information. No matter if you are connected or not, you will see ‘Forget This Network’ option right at the top.
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When you will tap on this option, you will be asked to confirm your action. Remember, that forgetting the network will remove all information related to network that is stored on your device including its password. So, only remove the network if you don’t have to use it in future or if you have password details that you can use to connect to the network should you need to use it after some time.
So, if you want to continue, tap Forget option in verification area to finish forgetting the network. You may still be able to see the network connection in the list of available networks but your iPhone won’t attempt to connect to it automatically. If you want to join the network again, you’ll have to do so manually and will be required to enter the password again.
Beware With iCloud Keychain
It is important to mention here that OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 or later have iCloud Keychain sync feature enabled by default and all the Wi-Fi networks remember by your device are synced.
So, in this case when you forget a specific network on your iPhone then the network will be removed from all the compatible devices on which the network was synced and remembered. So, Forget networks only if you’re sure you won’t be using them anywhere in future.
Changing Network Joining Permissions
Besides forgetting the Networks remembered by your iPhone, you can also set your iPhone to ask you before joining any new Wi-Fi networks.This way you can avoid connecting to any unsecured network connections unintentionally.
You can change the permissions by going to Settings and then Wi-Fi. Toggle permissions ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’at the bottom of this window.