iPad repeatedly asks for WiFi password although unchanged

Question

Sometimes our Internet service (terrestrial wireless funneled through our router to all devices in our house) temporarily stops working, but comes back up within minutes. During and after the outage our Windows and Android devices never report a problem with the WiFi password, just network issues, and never require the password to be re-entered to re-establish connectivity.

On the other hand, our iPad Air 2 (Version 11.2.6 (15D100) Model MH182LL/A) frequently requires the user to re-enter the WiFi password, on some occasions many times. This despite the fact that the Internet interruption has nothing to do with the WiFi password. Once I "Reset Network Settings" on the iPad, and naturally I expected to have to enter the WiFi password once more, but as before I must enter it again and again.

The router is an ASUS RT-N66R and I have changed little of its defaults other than of course the password, but I changed the password shortly after buying the router and haven't changed it since.

How can we avoid having to re-enter the WiFi password on the iPad every time there is some kind of Internet interruption?

Answer 1

To those who experience Apple products 'forgetting' (temporarily or indefinitely) a WIFI password, this is AN APPLE FAILURE - not yours.

Equally failing are the responses you'll get to 'reset network settings' that will delete ALL of your saved WIFI passwords. This is a totally unacceptable response and should be avoided. Same goes for completely restoring an Apple device to resolve some mundane issue that renders your Apple product less than useful and lacks a true 'fix' from Apple.

No other product line outside Apple has this chronic problem that has made it through every generation of OS and iOS.

Since the issue has never been resolved for the end user, one can only surmise Apple has good reason to inconvenience users with this.

Not amused.

Solution: other than resetting network settings and losing all logins... one can (usually) find success by turning off WIFI and waiting some time before allowing your device to re-login. Or, one can reset (turn off and on again) all devices (including modem/router/etc) EXCEPT network settings on the Apple device and that should clear the problem. It is an inconvenience, but it should work.

And for the few that will be forced to reset network settings, and lose everything, I'm surprised you haven't sued Apple for the loss of business - if taking a chance using an Apple product for your business.

Answer 2

Your iPad may be set to only join your WiFi network manually. You can check on this:

1. Connect to the WiFi network in question.
2. Launch the Settings app.
3. Tap Wi-Fi.
4. Tap the Info button next to the WiFi network name. (It looks like a lower-case 'i' in a circle.)
5. Ensure that the Auto-Join switch is on.
6. If Auto-Join is off, turn it on.

Answer 3

Please be careful when re-entering your password. When you see the same SSID (Network name) and your device is asking you to enter a password, it is possibly an "evil twin attack"

Apple isn't just dropping the ball here. They are training their users to take a dangerous step just to maintain a wifi connection that has worked for years, password still securely in the iCloud keychain.

If you have any tools available to do a "wifi survey" (Tomato or other powerful router, iStumbler, etc) My advice would be to use that tool First to make sure someone is not tricking you into joining their wifi attack router they set up in order to steal your wifi password. You may also use one of the more reliable android or windows or linux devices on the network to check for a duplicate SSID before typing the password.

There is another feature apple implemented that can cause problems joining the wifi network: "Private Address". This will break your connection on any router that only allows "known devices" listed by mac address to join. I noticed Apple turning this on by default. Ironically, this not only breaks connections to those routers, but it breaks their own AppleTV remote feature. When pairing an IOS device to Apple TV, it seems to remember the phone by its current Mac Address. If you find your iphone AppleTV remote stops working and you frequently need to re-pair it, this feature is likely the culprit. To fix that, simply go click on the "i" (information) for your remembered home network and uncheck "private address". At least for us, this re-enabled the appleTV remote to start working again.