Need help to stop iPhone from changing iPad's WiFi network

[aces99]

Setting the SSIDs the same should work and you can even do that for 2.4 and 5g bands. Then the iDevices will connect to the better channel (actually preferred from Apple and a former Apple engineer wrote an article about this). Anyway that works flawless for me on a single router with 2.4 & 5ghz bands. Your issue is caused by iCloud keychain most likely as mentioned. Turn it off and it should solve this particular issue.

The main modem and extender is not a single unit, they are two separate units. But yes I did what they and you said by making the SSID's on the main 2.4 GHz modem and 5GHz extender the same. It actually made the problem worse because unless the iPhone and iPad were in the same room the iPad would switch to whatever wifi the iPhone was hooked to and the iPad was still slow as or or wouldn't work period and I had no way to switch it to the stronger l5G signal. As soon as put the modem and extenders SSID back to factory setting and hooked the iPad back up to 5G it works like a hot dam. I have the iPad set to forget the main modems wifi but as soon as I hook the iPhone up to it the iPad also hooks to it. Which it shouldn't. All I need is to find a way to stop the iPad from hooking up to a certain wifi network. Apple needs to figure that out as I don't want the iPad from hooking up to the regular modem. I don't think that is to much to ask.

 

[aces99]

That is exactly what I think is happening....And, he pretty much says as much in his last post...."because it hooked to the main modem and I had to way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal".

I found the post you were referring to and there is a typo. When I said "I had to way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal" it should of said "I had no way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal" What I was referring to was once I made my modem and extender have the same SSID, like what was suggested, it actually made my problem worse because if I was in the family room and both the iPad and iPhone were hooked to the stronger signal and working just fine, which would of been the 5G extender. But once I took the iPhone to the other side of the house and it connected to a stronger signal, which would of been the regular modem. The iPad would all of a sudden get really slow or stop working all together because it would switch to the same wifi network that the iPhone was hooked to and I had no way of switching it back to the stronger signal. Which is actually what I said in my post except to should of been no. If you would of read my post carefully you would of realized to=no. I did not say what you think I said and that is NOT what is happening. All I need is to find a way to stop my iPhone from changing my iPads wifi network. Is that to much to ask?

 

[aces99]

I don't understand why if the iPhone and iPad are hooked to the same wifi network and are working fine. Then the iPhone goes to another room and changes to a different wifi network, but the iPad stays right where it is, why the iPad automatically connects to the same wifi network as the iPhone even know it has a weaker signal and the iPad has already selected "forget this network". The iPhone shouldn't change the wifi network of the iPad and vice versa, specially if it hasn't left the room it was in. I could see if you took the iPad with you that they both would hook to a different wifi. But if the iPad never left its stop the iPhone should change the iPads wifi just because the iPhone did. And there should be an option on the iPad to stop the iPhone from changing the iPads wifi network. That's all I want to know because making the SSID the same on both the modem and extender makes the problem worse. Because when the iPad is really slow or doesn't work at all I have no way to hook the iPad to the 5G network because the SSID's are the same and you have no way to distinguish which is the 2.4GHz modem and which is the 5G extender.

 

[JamesMB]

I found the post you were referring to and there is a typo. When I said "I had to way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal" it should of said "I had no way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal" What I was referring to was once I made my modem and extender have the same SSID, like what was suggested, it actually made my problem worse because if I was in the family room and both the iPad and iPhone were hooked to the stronger signal and working just fine, which would of been the 5G extender. But once I took the iPhone to the other side of the house and it connected to a stronger signal, which would of been the regular modem. The iPad would all of a sudden get really slow or stop working all together because it would switch to the same wifi network that the iPhone was hooked to and I had no way of switching it back to the stronger signal. Which is actually what I said in my post except to should of been no. If you would of read my post carefully you would of realized to=no. I did not say what you think I said and that is NOT what is happening. All I need is to find a way to stop my iPhone from changing my iPads wifi network. Is that to much to ask?

Your typo has nothing to do with my comment. I knew it was a typo when I read it.

 

[IHelpId10t5]

Hi, I am having a problem I need some help with. I have a Wi-Fi modem in my living room that covers one side of the house and I have a Wi-Fi extender in the family room that covers the other side of the one because the signal is to weak if you are in the family room and hooked to the main modem. The problem is if we are using the iPad in the family room and hooked to the "Extender" and I take my iPhone in the living room and hooked up to the "Main modem" the iPad also switches and hooked up to the "Main modem". How do you stop the iPhone from changing iPad Wi-Fi network as well when you move the iPhone and hook up to a different Wi-Fi network.

Are you sure that you don't have "Personal Hotspot" enabled on your iPhone and the iPad is using it until you move the phone out of range?

 

[aces99]

Are you sure that you don't have "Personal Hotspot" enabled on your iPhone and the iPad is using it until you move the phone out of range?

Hi, no personal hotspot is disabled on both devices. That was one of the first things I checked. I have never had this happen before until I upgraded to the latest IOS version. I can't believe there is no option to stop that from happening.

 

[aces99]

Your typo has nothing to do with my comment. I knew it was a typo when I read it.

Anyhow the iPad is not trying to connect to the stronger wifi network because the iPad hasn't moved and is in the exact same stop was in and is already hooked to the strongest wifi network. So that is not the problem and is not what is happening. All I want is an option to block the iPhone from switching the iPads wifi network when it changes to a different wifi.

 

[rocknblogger]

That is exactly what I think is happening....And, he pretty much says as much in his last post...."because it hooked to the main modem and I had to way of getting it to hook up to the stronger 5G Signal".

No the OP is right. This happens to me also. On occasion i use my downstairs neighbor's WiFi (with their permission) on my iPad when I'm outside in the backyard. If I then pick up my iPhone which is in the same room with my router it will have changed to the same WiFi. It's a pain in the butt and I wish there was a way to stop it. Even if I tell the iPhone to forget that network it'll connect back to it if I again connect my iPad to it.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Turn off iCloud Keychain on your iPhone! I don't think just telling your iPad to forget the extender network is enough because the info is stored in the cloud for all of your Apple devices to use so you don't have to constantly log in for each device. The feature isn't working for you since you have two networks in close proximity. You need your iPhone to have its own separate list of wifi networks so that the iPad won't switch. Turning off iCloud Keychain should fix that.

I actually have a similar situation in my apartment. My complex has a wifi network that we log into through our browsers and register the MAC addresses of each device we want to use. Since we're limited to four devices I bought a travel router that connects to my complex wifi as a registered device and has its own wifi network that I can connect more devices to. I have to have iCloud Keychain off on my iPhone because it does not like connecting to the extender and only works when connected to the main network. I make sure iCloud Keychain is off so it doesn't know the password to connect to the extender network and only connects to the complex network. It should work for you too.

But I still believe turning off iCloud Keychain would be a bandaid to your problem. Both of your routers should be able to be on the same network and allow your devices to move back and forth without issue. That's how a main router and wifi extender are supposed to work. It may work better if you only use 2.4ghz. I messed around with 5ghz, and it didn't seem to work well.

 

[whsbuss]

It is definitely keychains. On my Mac I set the wifi priority network as my 2.4 because its not an 802.11ac macbook. (You can prioritize this on a Mac in the Network settings under advanced by sliding the position of the network you want t0 the top). So what happens on my iPhone (under the same AppleID) when I return to the house is it connects to the 2.4 network and not the 5ghz network. Keychains syncs all your config information between devices.

I wish Apple would allow each device to set its connection policy and yet still sync the wifi information.

 

[aces99]

Turn off iCloud Keychain on your iPhone! I don't think just telling your iPad to forget the extender network is enough because the info is stored in the cloud for all of your Apple devices to use so you don't have to constantly log in for each device. The feature isn't working for you since you have two networks in close proximity. You need your iPhone to have its own separate list of wifi networks so that the iPad won't switch. Turning off iCloud Keychain should fix that.

I actually have a similar situation in my apartment. My complex has a wifi network that we log into through our browsers and register the MAC addresses of each device we want to use. Since we're limited to four devices I bought a travel router that connects to my complex wifi as a registered device and has its own wifi network that I can connect more devices to. I have to have iCloud Keychain off on my iPhone because it does not like connecting to the extender and only works when connected to the main network. I make sure iCloud Keychain is off so it doesn't know the password to connect to the extender network and only connects to the complex network. It should work for you too.

But I still believe turning off iCloud Keychain would be a bandaid to your problem. Both of your routers should be able to be on the same network and allow your devices to move back and forth without issue. That's how a main router and wifi extender are supposed to work. It may work better if you only use 2.4ghz. I messed around with 5ghz, and it didn't seem to work well.

If I shut off iCloud Keychain then I will loose all the other password saved and all the other functions that use iCloud Keychain and is only a bandaid fix as you said. There should be an option do stop another device from changing wifi settings or connecting wifi networks on another device or have an option to set wifi priority for a wifi network. No clicking "Forget this network" on a device doesn't work. As soon as you connect to a wifi network and put in the password it automatically puts that wifi network info to all other devices. There should be a way to stop that from happening. Someone will be using the iPad and searching the Internet and everything is working perfect. Then all of a sudden it will just stop working. Then I will find out it is because I took my iPhone to the other side of the house and connected to a different wifi network because it has better signal on that side of the house. Because I did that the iPad decides to connect to it as well. But because the iPad didn't move locations and connected to the other wifi network, the signal on iPad will be way weaker because it is now connected to a modem or router that is on the other side of the house and is aways away from it. It should still be connected to the original modem that is about 5 feet away from it and has full bars and signal. But it connected to a different network just because another device did. I can't believe Apple doesn't have an option to stop that other than disabling iCloud Keychain all together.

 

[aces99]

No the OP is right. This happens to me also. On occasion i use my downstairs neighbor's WiFi (with their permission) on my iPad when I'm outside in the backyard. If I then pick up my iPhone which is in the same room with my router it will have changed to the same WiFi. It's a pain in the butt and I wish there was a way to stop it. Even if I tell the iPhone to forget that network it'll connect back to it if I again connect my iPad to it.

Yes, finally someone else having the exact same problem as me. Yes even clicking "Forget this network" doesn't work. I can't believe there is no other way to stop or block one device from changing the wifi network on another device. Can't believe the only way to stop it is disabling iCloud Keychain and loosing all the other iCloud Keychain functions. Sad Please let me know if you find a way to fix this problem and I will do the same. It is a pain in the butt having to always go to the settings and check what wifi network you or hooked to and if the device doesn't work having to go to settings and changing the devices wifi network to the one it is supposed to hooked to. I just remembered if I click on "Forget this network" on one device It also forgets it on all devices. Then you just keep going back and forth. Frustrating to say the least.

 

[aces99]

It is definitely keychains. On my Mac I set the wifi priority network as my 2.4 because its not an 802.11ac macbook. (You can prioritize this on a Mac in the Network settings under advanced by sliding the position of the network you want t0 the top). So what happens on my iPhone (under the same AppleID) when I return to the house is it connects to the 2.4 network and not the 5ghz network. Keychains syncs all your config information between devices.

I wish Apple would allow each device to set its connection policy and yet still sync the wifi information.

I wish you could set wifi priority on IOS or at least stop a wifi network from connecting and changing another devices wifi. Is that to much to ask?

 

[whsbuss]

I wish you could set wifi priority on IOS or at least stop a wifi network from connecting and changing another devices wifi. Is that to much to ask?

No it is not. What Apple doesn't understand is having a non-ac device on a 5ghz ac wifi band forces all devices connected to that band to be at that speed. That's why I keep my Macbook on the 2.4g network. But as you can guess when I return to my home it connects the iPhone on 2.4 and not 5g. Listen, I love the fact that wifi network data is sync'd to all my devices. But having a priority would be great on iOS

 

[Richdmoore]

No it is not. What Apple doesn't understand is having a non-ac device on a 5ghz ac wifi band forces all devices connected to that band to be at that speed.

I don't believe that is nessarily true.

My anecdotal experience on my own network using multiple N & AC wifi devices at the same time does not appear to affect the performance of my AC devices to any measurable extent. I did also find this article, which while showing a drop in transfer speeds, still demonstrates that the AC device is still much faster than an N device in mixed network same band tests.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...l-do-ac-routers-handle-mixed-networks?start=2

Anyway, you may want to test your own network to see if you can notice any real world speed loss when mixing both wifi AC and wifi N 5ghz devices at the same time. I couldn't myself.

 

[whsbuss]

I don't believe that is nessarily true.

My anecdotal experience on my own network using multiple N & AC wifi devices at the same time does not appear to affect the performance of my AC devices to any measurable extent. I did also find this article, which while showing a drop in transfer speeds, still demonstrates that the AC device is still much faster than an N device in mixed network same band tests.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...l-do-ac-routers-handle-mixed-networks?start=2

Anyway, you may want to test your own network to see if you can notice any real world speed loss when mixing both wifi AC and wifi N 5ghz devices at the same time. I couldn't myself.

Yes I have tested that many times. While it looks like there's not much of an impact on the ac-device it does in fact reduce total thru-put when both are using the same band. If both devices are connected and doing streaming of video or audio, they don't impact the bandwidth as much as devices doing regular networking things (web surfing, file copying, etc.).

I regularly visit smallnetbuilder as they are an excellent source on networking.

 

[rocknblogger]

Yes, finally someone else having the exact same problem as me. Yes even clicking "Forget this network" doesn't work. I can't believe there is no other way to stop or block one device from changing the wifi network on another device. Can't believe the only way to stop it is disabling iCloud Keychain and loosing all the other iCloud Keychain functions. Sad Please let me know if you find a way to fix this problem and I will do the same. It is a pain in the butt having to always go to the settings and check what wifi network you or hooked to and if the device doesn't work having to go to settings and changing the devices wifi network to the one it is supposed to hooked to. I just remembered if I click on "Forget this network" on one device It also forgets it on all devices. Then you just keep going back and forth. Frustrating to say the least.

I agree turning off iCloud keychain is not an option. Of course if I find a solution I will happily share it with you. I don't understand why Apple can't give us the preferred network option which would be the easiest possible fix.

 

[aces99]

I agree turning off iCloud keychain is not an option. Of course if I find a solution I will happily share it with you. I don't understand why Apple can't give us the preferred network option which would be the easiest possible fix.

Thanks. Yes I wish they would give us a preferred network option or a option to stop another device from changing its wifi network. Would make it a lot easier than what has been suggested. As soon as I have more time I will do some more searching. I will let you know if I figure something out.

 

[Paco II]

I'm still puzzled by this thread. As a test I put both my iPhone and iPad on the guest network. Then I switched my phone to the primary network. IPad stayed on guest network. Both have keychain enabled.

 

[aces99]

I'm still puzzled by this thread. As a test I put both my iPhone and iPad on the guest network. Then I switched my phone to the primary network. IPad stayed on guest network. Both have keychain enabled.

Yes this problem is weird as I have never had this problem before until recently. I am testing something out now to see if it works. I have a quick question for you. Do you have Handoff enabled on both device?

 

[whsbuss]

I'm still puzzled by this thread. As a test I put both my iPhone and iPad on the guest network. Then I switched my phone to the primary network. IPad stayed on guest network. Both have keychain enabled.

Each device will stay connected to the set wifi network. However (in my case) when I return to my house it switches to the network I have set on my mac which is 2.4 and not 5g

 

[lolkthxbai]

When you set the extender to bridge mode it should solve your problem. Disabling iCloud Keychain on the iPad will cause you to also lose your other passwords. I tested this out myself and it works fine. If I move my iPhone away from the bridge and closer to the main router my iPad still has a strong connection meaning that it's still connected to my extender.

I would do some research and see if there's something you missed while setting up your router and extender. Also, what kind of router and extender are you using? Admittedly, I'm probably find success because I'm using an AirPort Extreme as my router and an Airport Express as my bridge.

 

[whsbuss]

When you set the extender to bridge mode it should solve your problem. Disabling iCloud Keychain on the iPad will cause you to also lose your other passwords. I tested this out myself and it works fine. If I move my iPhone away from the bridge and closer to the main router my iPad still has a strong connection meaning that it's still connected to my extender.

I would do some research and see if there's something you missed while setting up your router and extender. Also, what kind of router and extender are you using? Admittedly, I'm probably find success because I'm using an AirPort Extreme as my router and an Airport Express as my bridge.

I'm not sure you understand the issue. Has nothing to do with bridge/extender/main. I have only one router with two different networks, 2.4 and 5g. Keeping my Macbook on the 2.4 and the iPhone on 5G when re-connecting after macbook sleep or iPhone re-connecting after returning. With keychains enabled it wants to connect to the LAST connected network on the LAST connected device. Doesn't matter the router type either.

 

[FloridaGary]

Doesn't turning off keychain also lose credit card info stored for Apple Pay?

 

[whsbuss]

Doesn't turning off keychain also lose credit card info stored for Apple Pay?

I don't think so.