IOS 14 WiFi

Same here 14.4, wifi off and on, but the main problem is the range of the same wifi that now is reduced than ios13. Or in other words the wifi is slower when Im at a certain distance from the router than the previous ios13 at the same distance.

Yes, after I set phone down and it goes dark, I turn it back on and have to toggle WiFi off then on to reset connection in order to get an internet connection.

I can confirm that the latest iOS 14.5 beta does not resolve the WiFi dropping issue on any of my 6 iPhones and 3 iPads.

@joshbish - I'm sorry, but to me it is totally unlikely that you would have such an all-encompassing problem with so many devices when most people do not have any problems at all. Also it is very hard to believe that there is such a systemic problem with WiFi reception on all Apple devices that Apple are unaware of, or are unable to fix.

Your case in particular points very strongly at an issue with the environment where you are using the devices - I would bet that you have a WiFi interference problem rather than a problem with the devices.

In my case it was a rogue Sky Q box - in your case it could be a different source for the problem (maybe not a WiFi device but some other source of radio interference) but that is almost certainly, in my view, where your problems will lie.

@Coatimundi I would normally agree with you except for the following points ...

1) I have a large Apple ecosystem in my house and I had none of these issues when all devices were on iOS 13. By the time I noticed the issue all devices except an old iPhone 7 were on iOS 14 and all except that old iPhone 7 that was on iOS 13 were experiencing this issue. I used that old iPhone for a couple of days and it didn’t drop WiFi in my house one single time. I then upgraded it to iOS 14.X and within 2 minutes of sitting idle on my desk it had dropped WiFi. Just like all my other iPhones and iPads it wouldn’t automatically reconnect without me manually connecting to the WiFi network. It has continued that behavior ever since.

2) I was using an aging Apple AirPort Extreme setup (3 units) and wondered if something was wrong with it so I bought an eero pro 6 setup and no difference. And if the sequence of events matters, I did this before testing that old iOS 13 device.

3) None of my Mac mini’s or MacBooks have this issue. I can walk around the house with the MacBooks and they seamlessly move between the mesh routers with no WiFi drops. My two youngest use Amazon Fire tablets (I’d rather they use iPads but Apple limits family sharing to 6 people), and those devices have never once dropped WiFi. I also have four HomePods in the house and none of those have ever dropped WiFi either. Oddly enough the four Apple TV’s upstairs that use WiFi wouldn’t stay connected to WiFi immediately after upgrading to iOS 14 but then the WiFi dropping stopped at some point but I’m not sure when. A month or so later I think.

4) My father in law has an iPhone still on iOS 13 and I get notified that he’s connected to my WiFi network the second they pull into the driveway. My iPhone almost never automatically connects to my WiFi without me manually connecting it.

5) Read this thread. Some of the issues are different but many of them are this same exact issue.

All of this points to iOS 14. I would LOVE for it to be something else but I can’t imagine that all of this is a coincidence. Apple made a lot of changes to WiFi in iOS 14 and somewhere in there they introduced a power saving change or something else that has manifested itself in this way at my house.

Also I can confirm that the iOS 14.6 beta does not resolve the WiFi dropping issue.

Yes, I too have this problem.
after 14.5.1 my iPhone will not connect to my wifi.
it is pretty bad ever since iOS 14.

thanks for the great product Apple. 👍🏻

Yes, I too have this problem.
after 14.5.1 my iPhone will not connect to my wifi.
it is pretty bad ever since iOS 14.

thanks for the great product Apple. 👍🏻

I tried many things to resolve it, but there is no any progress.. Although I restore my iPhone 11 via iTunes without any backup (clean installation), same issue still continuess; low WiFi speed, drops etc.

I basically have to toggle Private Address either on if it was off or off it was on each time to reconnect to my WiFi.

I was on IOS 14 before my wife and she just upgraded and of course she started having the issue.

Get it together Apple :)

Yup... I was fine until 14.6, now my iPad and my iPhone won't connect to the internet. It connects to the network, but won't load anything. Super frustrating because I have next to no cell service in my apartment, and now 2 of my devices are essentially bricks until this is fixed.

iOS 14.5.1 introduced these problems for me. Spent a long time troubleshooting failed iCloud backup for 14 days. No photos sync, no backup, no warnings. After a complete factory reset, the apps did not download automatically. Clicking on one app, the OS asked me if I wanted to wait to download on Wifi bue to size... but the phone is on wifi and surfing the web fine...

Checking mobile data logs, it's clear that although connected to wifi, the phone is downloading over 4G network.
iCloud still refuses to backup.

Same for all phones and iPads in the household with Asus router.

How come this is not fixed after such a long time?

iPhone 12 Pro Max Software Version 14.4.2 Modem Fimrware 1.42.03 has intermittent WiFi. Constantly have to turn WiFi "Off and On" for every iPhone we have that is version 13 or higher. There are zero problems with any other WiFi devices such as all the other popular brand phones, game consoles, computers, laptops, iPads and iPhones running IOS 9, or anything else. This is a nightmare, and I am very upset that this problem has not been identified and corrected with the latest software updates. I just completed some testing. iPhone Wifi shows connected, later after being home, no internet at some random time later as usaual. I was unable to ping the gateway / router from iPhone while using Joe's network utility. Zero packets can be captured from a live packet sniff from the router's interface when attempting to ping from the iPhone to the router's gateway IP when this occurs. However, I just noticed that if I "Turn Off" the Personal Hot Spot on the iPhone, WOW I am immediately able to access the internet as well as ping and then everything is working again as usual until the next time. There is also zero delay after disabling Personal Hot Spot and starting any network communication ping tests and the Safari browser on the iPhone was working as soon as the Personal Hot Spot is turned off on the iphone. I believe this issue is being caused by specifically due to wireless encryption keys no longer matching on both ends. Turning off and on the WiFi causes it to rekey the encryption. Also, another test I did with Joe's network utility which had some very odd results. Ping tested the network with a broadcast packet when unable to ping the gateway / router. I was getting a reply but only from the iPhone's DHCP IP obtained via DHCP on WiFi. That indicates the iPhone only detected it's own IP even though it was WiFi connected. Makes sense, because to talk to the local iPhone IP, it doesn't have to encrypt any of the wireless packets destined for the onboard wireless card! A packet sniff from the router's LAN interface on the network detected nothing from the iPhone, basically indicating that nothing was properly encrypted / keyed to match the access point, so nothing was received. Anytime I have ever seen this in the past when troubleshooting wireless issues is when there are no communication due to LACK of WIRELESS ENCRYPTION MATCHING ON BOTH ENDS! In the old days, you used to be able to manually type in the static encryption keys on both ends, Access Point and Wireless Client. Not matching these keys would result in NO PACKETS SENT or RECEIVED due to lack of matching encryption. After turning off the Personal Hot Spot on the iPhone, the same ping test with a broadcast packet, example pinging 192.168.0.255 returned ping results from all the other IP addresses on the network as expected. I suspect as soon as I turn off the Personal Hot Spot that the wireless encryption is immediately re-keyed to match both on both ends. This same type of scenario used to happen back in the days if you manually typed in your IPSEC security keys on both sides of a VPN and they did not match the expected value on both sides, basically making it impossible to decrypt the received data on both sides. I suspect that we could easily prove this issue by simply #1 changing the wireless access point's setup for Key Renewal to ZERO seconds. This basically disables the key from changing after initial connection. That is not something I recommend for anything but temporarily testing / identifying the problem. Leaving Key Renewal disabled would allow someone to easily sniff and attack the wireless. However if the original disconnect problem goes away after changing the key renewal, this would clearly indicate that the problem is related to not Renewing the Keys so they are the same on both sides. Since I only have this problem on Apple Devices running version 13 and 14, I suspect a software encryption / decryption matching issue with the WiFi drivers, etc. This could be a Key Renewal Calculation error or possibly a missed key exchange due to being out of wireless range. However, in my experience this isn't a range issue, but is more of a mismatch that isn't detected by the wireless driver to trigger another re-connection. To me, this is like there is no WiFi setting on the iPhone for Roaming Agressiveness, and somehow it holds on to the same WiFi connection regardless of if it is able to accurately encrypt the data with the correct matching keys.

I strongly believe the IOS 14 WiFi problem is being caused by WPA 2 Key Regeneration cycle timing issue.

Today I changed my WiFi Router’s WPA 2 Key Regeneration from the default value of 3600 seconds to the max allowable value of 36000 seconds (10 Hours).

Today, I have not had any issues with my iPhone’s WiFi being connected or communicating. For the first time since updating my iPhone to IOS 14, it has worked exactly as expected.

I am not joking around when I say that as of all day today May 22nd, 2021, I never had to turn my WiFi off and on during any part of the day.

Yesterday I experimented with a shorter Key Regeneration timing value below the default of 3600 to only 900. That caused the problem to get much worse on my IOS 14 iPhone. However all my other computers / devices on WiFi still worked as expected.

For everyone:

When Encryption Keys on both ends don’t match, the end result is that WiFi can show that it is connected, but it will never send or receive any data due to a encryption / decryption failure!

The first wifi encryption key negotiation happens during the initial wifi connection. After that, the wifi connection is maintained by the encryption key regeneration timing cycle value which is configured on your WiFi router.

This totally explains why if we turn WiFi off and on, it reconnects and works until the next time.

Again, I only have this issue with IOS 14 devices.

I have no idea what the IOS 14 default is or what the compatibility is for supporting a router’s Key Regeneration minimums or maximums.

I believe more people should try and confirm that changing the Key Regeneration value on their WiFi routers fixes all these IOS 14 WiFi issues.

Also, please note that I believe that changing the Key Generation timing to a higher value than the router’s default is very much less secure. This may give a snoop more time to listen with a recently captured key set.

Hopefully a new IOS update can be created to properly work with WiFi Routers that frequently regenerate the encryption keys.

Some more research about:

WiFi Group Key Interval, or Key Regeneration

The default interval in seconds is oddly different for many Wireless Router manufacturers.

Many default to:

3600 seconds (1 hour)
1800 seconds (30 minutes)
86400 seconds (24 hours)
0 seconds (not enabled)
and sometimes
Key Regeneration not enabled by default

After reading through many manufacturers websites, manuals, forums, etc

They all suggested disabling Group Key Regeneration to prevent issues with all apple products including iphones, ipads, and mac books.

Some routers have a check box to uncheck.

Other routers have either a minimum or maximum key interval value.

Setting that value to zero or the max may also disable the key regeneration interval on some wireless routers or wifi access points.

No more turn off and turn on WiFi anymore …. :)