I started having this problem last night. Basically, I was having trouble to reconnect to my Wi-Fi network. Suddenly, last night, my iPhone decided that my Wi-Fi password was incorrect, even though I was using the same password for years without any problem. Here is what exactly happened in this order:
- My iPhone disconnected from a Wi-Fi connection that my iPhone had been connected to
- My iPhone tried to re-connect. My iPhone was not able to connect automatically, like it did all the time
- But iPhone did not accept the network password to let me join, even I entered the correct password manually also.
See also: Cannot join hidden network?
This article explains how I was able to resolve this problem. Are you having the same problem? All iOS devices can have this problem. Randomly, your iPhone (or iPad) says the password is incorrect? If you are having the same issue, please follow the steps below to resolve it:
Incorrect Wi-Fi Password
Steps to resolve this problem, please after each step check if you fixed the problem:
- First of all, lets make sure that you are entering the password correctly (note that Wi-Fi passwords are case sensitive)
- Do you have other devices and are they connecting the same Wi-Fi without any problems?
- Make sure that Auto-Join is turned on. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and find your Wi-Fi and tap the info (i) icon next to it and turn on Auto-Join.
- Weak Wi-Fi signals may cause this. Move closer to your router, does this fix your problem? if it does, then your problem is poor Wi-Fi signals.
- Turn off Airplane Mode, wait a few seconds and then turn back off by going to Settings > Airplane Mode.
- In iOS, tap Settings > Wi-Fi, then find your connection and tap the info (i) icon next to it and tap Forget This Network, tap Confirm and then try to reconnect.
- Restart everything:
- Your iOS device (iPhone or iPad). You can shut down your device by going to Settings > general and scroll down and the tap Shut Down. Then start your device.
- Restart your router and Modem. Unplug your router (and modem) from its power source. Wait about one minute. And then reconnect by plugging them back into the power source. Some modems have backup batteries. If your modem has batteries, remove these as well. Wi-Fi interference from other connections many cause this problem. Restarting your router will likely fix this.
- Update everything:
- Update your iOS device. You can do so wirelessly by going to Settings > General > Software Update
- Make sure that your router has the latest software. Check your router’s manual to see how you can update.
- If you are still having problems, reset your network settings. Please note that doing so will remove your settings (e.g., your Wi-Fi passwords etc). Simply go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Do not worry, you will not lose any data.
- Check to see if your router has MAC filtering enabled, turn off Mac filtering (Media Access Control) if it is on. Mac filtering limits the devices. Please note that this is mostly disabled by default. See your router’s manual for more information regarding this. Apple recommends this disabled.
See also: Cannot connect to a known network?
If you are having problems, contact Apple support. You may chat or make a Genius Bar appointment.
Turned off 5G for my router to fix. I had a network that was using the same name to handle both 2.4 and 5.8 and when I selected 2G only, the issue was resolved.
Unifi UAPs with cloudkey
iPhone 7s (2 were having the same issue)
Other devices could connect to the networks fine.
Excellent article! Turning the modem off for a bit and then back on is what eventually worked for me.
Thank you.. That worked for me!
I was unable to connect to wifi with my iphohe5. Finally figured out what was the issue in my particular case.
Wifi has 14 channels and iphone5 cannot use all of them, I disabled extra channels (12 and 13) and it worked immediately. There was a slider to disable extra channels in dlink router web interface.
my iphone always connects to my wif but this afternoon its decided not to. ive tried clearing network data, turning on and off airplane mode, restarting my iphone, typing the password again, but nothings working. my laptop and my parents and brothers devices are all working perfectly. HELP
After deleting all of my info on my iPhone 6 before giving it away I can now no longer sign on to Wi-Fi
i have the same issue but pretty sure it’s because i have two iphones that share the same apple ID. the new one is the one with the issues. i think the router thinks it’s the same phone. not sure how to fix it though. no other devices have the issues just the two phones that share the same id
That’s not how it works, despite having the same apple id, each device has its own unique MAC/physical address, with the new “private address” feature your phone would even have different MAC addresses every time it connects.
If only one phone has issues it could be a faulty wifi module
Yes, it is never the iPhone or iPad, those Apple devices are always perfect, it is always the user or the environment that is wrong…
Extremely tough nut to crack (read on):
Firstly lookup your iphone on GSMarena.
Under COMMs, look what’s there.
Example for Iphone SE 2020:
COMMs: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, hotspot = problematic
COMMs: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot = OK
W-T-F is going on you might wonder?
At first I thought it was a bug to do with wifi password length after all I had two iphones with same IOS version – one connected the other did not, BUT they had slightly different WIFI specs as seen above.
At this point, I am starting to get UBER pissed.
I had a WIFI 6 router, so what you saying Iphone with WIFI 6 not compatible with WIFI 6 router or vice versa? If any of you know your WIFI 6, it operates both on the 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ band. I couldn’t connect to either band with the Iphone SE 2020 which comes with WIFI 6. So I go in my router and dig in the advanced wireless configuration and there are different modes you can pick:
802.11 a/n/ac mixed
802.11 a/n/ac/ax mixed
BOOM, the moment I changed it to “802.11 a/n/ac mixed” it worked. I also did a network reset on the phone prior to reconnecting. This means the bug and fault is the router’s. You see an adapter cannot reject itself, it receives rejection from the AP (Access Point) – wireless router. So there’s a firmware bug within my router. Bug applies to TP-Link AX50 and likely other TP-Link products.
Master Debugger
This is a Netgear router issue, not an Apple issue. The only solution is to strap some TNT to the router and post it back to Netgear.
The only solution that worked out with me was to change both WiFi name and password and retry.