Crashing Airport Extreme WiFi - Caused by IOS 14 on iPhone XS Max being connected to it

[rajs]

Anyone one else have an iPhone with latest IOS 14 public beta causing it to crash out an Airport Extreme - 5th Generation model - A1408). The airport extreme shows a solid green status light but drops off the network (monitoring it via Airport utility via ethernet cable and it becomes unavailable via ethernet as well as wifi for all clients).

I've tried turning of private mac address options and also changed IP6 to link only on the iPhone. All other iPhones (IOS 13), iPads (IOS 13) MacBooks (Catalina) and other non apple laptops (Windows) connected also get disconnected and stay disconnected until the Airport is rebooted (power removed for 10 seconds).

Initially I thought maybe the old Airport is just overheating or power supply getting flaky but I the airport keeps working with no issues when all those others are on it -- it's just within 5-20 mins of the IOS 14 device getting on it dies. I've left the IOS 14 device on Cellular only and the Airport has continued working for 24+ hours now. NOTE: the same iPhone XS Max with IOS 14 hasn't caused any issues on other WiFi routers from other MFGs. Also the same iPhone when running IOS 13 did NOT cause any issues on the Airport Extreme either.

Any suggestions or advice would be great (besides just replace the Airport Extreme).

 

[tony_glasgow]

Yes! That explains the strange behaviour I’m seeing with an iPad on iOS 14. I’ve got a mix of four Airports and i’ve seen the behaviour you describe on a 5th gen AE. I also get a warning that the iPad has joined a new network with the same name at least once a day in the room with the 5th gen.

No solution, i just swapped it out. No issue with newer tall Airports.

 

[rajs]

Continuing on the original post and your comment Tony ... My setup (which has worked for 8 years or so):

Verizon FIOS Router <-ethernet cable-> Airport Extreme (Gen 2) <-ethernet cable-> Airport Extreme (Gen 5).

Verizon Device is configured as firewall / router / DHCP server. Wireless AP 2.4 / 5ghz both disabled.
Airport Gen 2 - 2.4Ghz wifi network A24 (Bridge Mode and IP6 Local Link only)
Airport Gen 5 - 2.4 and 5 ghz wifi networks A24 and B5 (Bridge Mode and IP6 Local Link only).

The Gen 2 Airport if I connect to it with the IOS 14 phone doesn't die out or have any issues. Only the Gen 5 ... LOL

 

[ah-ha]

I have (had) 4 AirPort Extreme Gen5 set up as Bridge Mode access points throughout the house.
As soon as I upgraded my iPhone SE2 to iOS14, the one in my office crashed. I swapped the one in the basement, suspecting dead hardware or power supply. It drove me crazy trying to pinpoint the root cause: it only affected the device located in the office, regardless of power supply or AirPort in use. As soon as I carried the iPhone through the house, the other AirPorts started crashing as well.
iPhone SE and iPhone8 did not cause issues on iOS14.
I now have an AirPort Extreme Gen2, a AirPort Express Gen1 and one AirPort Express Gen2 running the show; as solid as can be expected.
Ubiquiti hardware incoming to save the day.
I no longer trust Apple for hardware any more. iPhones are hard to replace adequately, but everything else is on the way out.