Auto-Join – How to Pick and Choose Your Wi-Fi Networks on iPhone

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Smartphones are so smart that sometimes their smartness becomes a hassle. Have you ever seen your iPhone auto-joining a Wi-Fi network you do not want to use?

The problem is once you’ve connected to a Wi-Fi network, your iPhone will remember it and automatically connect to it again when you are within the network’s range. This happens even if the Wi-Fi network has a slow internet connection, slower than your cellular data, or does not have any connection at all.

If you prefer to only join a certain Wi-Fi network manually, say your Wi-Fi at work, or if you would like to have your iPhone always choose one Wi-Fi network over another, you can easily do it.

The Solution

I’ll be using my Wi-Fi setup at home as an example.

I have two routers at home and each router has its own Wi-Fi network, one called AirPort Express and the other NETGEARFreeWiFi. Each Wi-Fi network also has a 2.4 GHz band and a 5 GHz band.

Home Wi-Fi Setup

Because I use the NETGEARFreeWiFi most of the time, I have Auto-Join enabled for this network and disable for other networks.

To enable or disable Auto-Join on a Wi-Fi network, go to Settings, then WLAN, tap the Info button (blue i in a circle), and then toggle Auto-Join on or off.

With Auto-Join on for NETGEARFreeWiFi, my iPhone is still able to discover all my networks but it will only join NETGEARFreeWiFi automatically.

Auto-Join Enabled for Wi-Fi Network

Auto-Join Disabled for Wi-Fi Network

Now imagine you would like for your iPhone to always stay on the cellular connection when you are at work because the office Wi-Fi connection is never good. You can easily do this too by turning Auto-Join off for your office Wi-Fi.

Did you find today’s post helpful? Let us know in the comments! Interested in learning more iPhone tips and tricks? Check out this collection here.

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