Wi-Fi Not Working on iPhone or iPad: A Complete Fix Guide

Quick fixes to try first

These three steps take under two minutes and solve a lot of Wi-Fi problems. Try them in order.

1. Toggle Wi-Fi. In Settings › Wi-Fi, turn Wi-Fi off, wait a few seconds and turn it back on. Use Settings rather than Control Center, which only disconnects for a while.
2. Toggle Airplane Mode. Turn it on in Control Center, wait 30 seconds and turn it off. This restarts all the radios.
3. Restart the device. Turn it off and on again. If it is frozen, a force restart helps; our guide to force restarting an iPhone has the button sequence.

Is it the router or your iPhone?

Find out where the fault is before you change any settings. Try two quick checks:

• Other devices on the same network. If a laptop or another phone also has no internet, the problem is the router or your internet service, not the iPhone.
• Your iPhone on another network. Join a different Wi-Fi network, such as at work or a friend's house. If it works there, your iPhone is fine and the problem is with your home network.

If only your iPhone fails, and it fails everywhere, carry on with the device fixes below.

How to restart your router properly

Routers are small computers, and they get into bad states after running for a long time.

1. Unplug the router's power cable. If you have a separate modem, unplug that too.
2. Wait a full 30 seconds.
3. Plug the modem back in first and wait until its lights settle.
4. Plug the router back in.
5. Give it two or three minutes to reconnect before you test again.

Forget the network and rejoin it

If your iPhone connects but nothing loads, or it keeps dropping, forget the network. This throws away the saved settings for that network and makes a fresh connection.

1. Open Settings › Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the (i) button next to the network name.
3. Tap Forget This Network and confirm.
4. Tap the network in the list and enter the password again.

Have the password ready before you start. On the same screen, check that Auto-Join is on so the iPhone reconnects by itself next time.

Check Private Wi-Fi Address on routers that filter devices

Some routers only allow devices they recognise, using a setting called MAC address filtering. iPhones and iPads use a private Wi-Fi address for each network by default, which can look like a new, unknown device to a router like that.

1. Open Settings › Wi-Fi and tap (i) next to the network.
2. Look at Private Wi-Fi Address.
3. If your router filters by address, either add the address shown there to the router's allowed list, or turn the private address off for that network only.

While you are in the router's settings, also check that DHCP is turned on, so the router hands out addresses automatically. If your router has separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, try joining each one. 2.4GHz reaches further through walls; 5GHz is faster at short range.

Reset Network Settings

If the problem follows your iPhone onto every network, reset its network settings. This clears every saved network, VPN and Bluetooth pairing and rebuilds them from defaults. It does not erase your data.

1. Make sure you know your Wi-Fi passwords.
2. Go to Settings › General › Transfer or Reset iPhone. On iPad, it is Transfer or Reset iPad.
3. Tap Reset, then Reset Network Settings.
4. Enter your passcode and confirm.
5. After the restart, rejoin your Wi-Fi network.

Our guide to resetting network settings on iPhone, iPad and Mac explains everything the reset removes. Because it also clears Bluetooth pairings, you will need to pair headphones and watches again. If those give trouble afterwards, see our Bluetooth fix guide.

Update iOS or iPadOS

Apple fixes Wi-Fi bugs in software updates, so make sure you are current. Open Settings › General › Software Update and install anything waiting. The current public release is iOS 27.0.1. If Wi-Fi is down, you can update over cellular data where your plan allows it, or use a computer with Finder or the Apple Devices app.

Turn off VPN and iCloud Private Relay

A VPN or iCloud Private Relay changes how your traffic leaves the iPhone, and some networks block them. Turn each one off briefly to test.

• VPN: turn it off in the VPN app, or in Settings › General › VPN & Device Management.
• Private Relay: turn it off in Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Private Relay.

If Wi-Fi works with them off, update the VPN app or keep Private Relay off for that network.

Try a different DNS server

DNS turns website names into addresses. If your internet provider's DNS servers are slow or failing, pages will not load even though Wi-Fi shows as connected.

1. Open Settings › Wi-Fi and tap (i) next to your network.
2. Tap Configure DNS and choose Manual.
3. Add a server such as 8.8.8.8 and save.

Switch back to Automatic if it makes no difference.

Check the date and time

Secure connections depend on the right time, and a wrong clock can break sign-in pages and some router logins. Make sure Set Automatically is on in Settings › General › Date & Time.

Wi-Fi problems on the iOS 27 beta

Beta builds are unfinished software, and network bugs come up during testing. If Wi-Fi broke right after you installed a beta, and your other devices are fine, the beta is the likely cause.

• Check our iOS 27 known bugs and fixes page to see whether others report the same thing.
• Install the next beta when it appears. The current build is iOS 27.2 beta 4 (24B5110a).
• Report it in the Feedback Assistant app. Our guide to reporting iOS 27 beta bugs shows how to attach the logs Apple needs.
• If you cannot live with it, turn off Beta Updates to stay on your build until the next public release, or restore iOS 26.6.1 RC (23G82), the version Apple signs for iPhones today.

Signs of a hardware problem

If nothing above works on any network, the Wi-Fi hardware itself may be at fault. Look for these signs:

• The Wi-Fi switch is greyed out and will not turn on.
• Settings › General › About shows the Wi-Fi Address as unavailable.
• The device gets unusually hot when it tries to use Wi-Fi.

At that point, contact Apple Support or visit an Apple Store. Back up first, because a repair can mean a replacement device.

Which fix to try for which problem

What to do next

If Wi-Fi is back but AirDrop or nearby sharing still misbehaves, our AirDrop fix guide picks up from here. If nothing on this page helped, start with Reset Network Settings and, failing that, book a repair check with Apple.

Frequently asked questions