iPhone Air iPhone Air: Wifi Issues?

[alexjohnson]

Got my Air: and so far I like it a lot, coming from a 13 mini. I don't like that it's bigger in every dimension (counting the camera) and heavier! But the screen is amazing.

However: I am finding it is really struggling to keep my wifi connection. None of my other devices have this issue. I use a Frontier-provided eero Pro 6E and I have reset it: same issue. I am of course thinking of the N1 as a differentiating factor…

I don't use my phone at home a great deal but my cell service is bad so I actually have an automation shortcut to switch to Airplane Mode when on my home wifi network, so as to force wifi calling. With service like this I'm going to have to pick between bad 5G, or a high likelihood of calls dropping if the wifi drops. Anyone else seeing this?

 

[GiantRadio]

No issues with wifi connectivity and the air here that I have noticed.

 

[alexjohnson]

No issues with wifi connectivity and the air here that I have noticed.

Out of interest do you have an Apple Watch? I do and am experiencing what these people on Reddit are, exactly. The workaround is just not to wear the Watch if you need wifi on your new iPhone…! It is only at the point of unlock that it happens.

 

[GiantRadio]

No apple watch here....

 

[jclardy]

Have an Air and AWU2 - no wifi dropping issues. I've got a Unifi access point.

 

[zakarhino]

Same issue with the 17 pro max. I think it’s apples new WiFi in house WiFi chip. I will turn my phone on from sleep and notice the WiFi has been disconnected. I need to head back into WiFi settings and after a few seconds it finds the right network.

 

[jfim88]

No issues here 17PM with Mikrotik routers.

 

[zakarhino]

Echoing what I just posted in the main MR story about this, for anyone curious:

Apple are aware of the problem, several people have filed tickets and those have been escalated to engineering.

One reddit user has found driver crash logs in their iPhone analytics dump, so it's probably going to be a firmware update.

Hopefully it gets fixed soon and it's not some permanent issue.

 

[charles21]

Echoing what I just posted in the main MR story about this, for anyone curious:

Apple are aware of the problem, several people have filed tickets and those have been escalated to engineering.

One reddit user has found driver crash logs in their iPhone analytics dump, so it's probably going to be a firmware update.

Hopefully it gets fixed soon and it's not some permanent issue.

Thanks for posting about this. Ive been stressed all weekend that something was wrong with my router (I just got a new Asus wifi7 router). I was hoping for lower latency but all I got was the worst latency of all time.

my problem: when I turn the screen off on my iPhone air, seconds later the wifi connection seems to drop and it reverts to cell data. then upon wake, it will show that its connected to wifi, and possibly be connected for about 1-2 seconds, then the status indicator shows it revert to cell connection (lte or 5g) for about 5-8 seconds, then it will reconnect to wifi. this happens about 85% of the time I turn on my phone screen from sleep.

this makes my HomeKit controls frustrating (for my HomePods song selection and volume control)

meanwhile, my iPhone 15 pro, sitting idle on my desk... I will wake it from screen off and it will be connected to the same wifi network 100% of the time with no drops.

any more tips or workarounds would be appreciated if anyone has them!

thanks guys!

 

[zakarhino]

Thanks for posting about this. Ive been stressed all weekend that something was wrong with my router (I just got a new Asus wifi7 router). I was hoping for lower latency but all I got was the worst latency of all time.

my problem: when I turn the screen off on my iPhone air, seconds later the wifi connection seems to drop and it reverts to cell data. then upon wake, it will show that its connected to wifi, and possibly be connected for about 1-2 seconds, then the status indicator shows it revert to cell connection (lte or 5g) for about 5-8 seconds, then it will reconnect to wifi. this happens about 85% of the time I turn on my phone screen from sleep.

this makes my HomeKit controls frustrating (for my HomePods song selection and volume control)

meanwhile, my iPhone 15 pro, sitting idle on my desk... I will wake it from screen off and it will be connected to the same wifi network 100% of the time with no drops.

any more tips or workarounds would be appreciated if anyone has them!

thanks guys!

Same exact behavior here on my 17 Pro Max. My Air is not showing the same behavior. Reddit seem to think it's related to bluetooth because apparently disconnecting your Apple Watch (or turning bluetooth off on your iPhone) can help stop the problem. I haven't tried that myself yet but it sounds convincing because my 17 PM is connected to my AW + other BT devices and my Air is connected to nothing except WiFi.

It's very annoying and frustrating. We need a fix this week honestly, this is a major issue.

 

[alexjohnson]

Follow-up: iOS 26.1 developer beta fixes the issue — as far as the Watch goes. It looked fixed on the iPhone before I upgraded the Watch, FWIW. (Not affected by CarPlay personally so nothing to add.) If people aren't comfortable with the DB then I presume the PB will be out tomorrow, or at least soon, and I imagine Apple will want to push the fix into a release quickly. An embarrassing bug for the N1 launch, but I can't fault the engineering response time: 10/10.

 

[charles21]

Thanks, zakarhino and alexjohnson,

I've found that after turning off bluetooth on the iPhone air, the wifi appears to be working properly with no drops and a stable connection with screen-off then on. (ive tested now for 5 hours)

(I do not have an Apple Watch and I did not use it for CarPlay (also it was not connected to any bt devices) and I still had the wifi issue previously)

If we get some reassurance that this is a known issue with a fix in 26.1, or a more urgent update is on the way, I may actually keep my phone (this morning I was researching the steps to return it and reactivate my old phone). I can live with Bluetooth turned off (or toggle on when needed) for a few days/weeks.

Thanks again for helping me with a workaround!