WiFi turns off when iPhone goes into sleep mode/is locked

[Miss Daredevil]

As the title says, my WiFi keeps disconnecting whenever my phone goes into sleep mode. This started happening the moment I signed with a new internet provider and they came over to set up the new gear. I have read online that turning off WiFi in sleep mode is a feature that is supposed to preserve battery and that the iphone is supposed to be doint that, but I used a number of different WiFi's since getting the phone (my old one from another provider, my friends', public, etc.) and WiFi would ALWAYS stay on even if my phone is in sleep mode and locked for whatever time.

I suspect the problem is with my new router and my phone (all other phones - Android, Windows, work FINE on my new router and they never disconnect, the WiFi works flawlessly with them). It's just my iPhone that's the problem.

Can you guys help me?

 

[Ledsteplin]

How is the iPhone the problem? Seems to be the new Internet provider. Apparently, that's how they want it to work. I've never heard of a router or modem that works that way. The iPhone is not designed to shut wifi off while asleep.

 

[Miss Daredevil]

I'm not saying it is, I'm saying there's a disconnect between the new router and my iPhone. The problem is that this problem only happens to my iPhone, all other phones are fine.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I'm not saying it is, I'm saying there's a disconnect between the new router and my iPhone. The problem is that this problem only happens to my iPhone, all other phones are fine.

It could be the iPhone only uses wifi when it needs to while asleep. That's probably normal. But it shouldn't stay disconnected the entire time.

 

[Miss Daredevil]

Could be, but that never happened before.

 

[kch50428]

Could be, but that never happened before.

It likely has happened before... You're just noticing it because of a display lag... iPhones have always had wifi go into a "hot standby" mode when locked to extend battery life.

 

[Miss Daredevil]

But why don't my push notifications come through now? Whereas with my old provider I got notifications constantly, even if I hadn't used the phone for a while aka it went into sleep mode.

 

[StayClassy101]

If I was you, I would reset my network settings and see if that helps first. Usually when the iPhone processes connections it can save long term ones and process newly attached connections as temporary assignments. This can be the case with some computers, it's possible the same is happening with your iPhone if all your other devices are fine.

Note: after a network settings reset, all saved connections and wifi passwords would have to be reestablished.

 

[Miss Daredevil]

I will try that, thanks for the advice!

 

[btwoody]

I will try that, thanks for the advice!

So I have had the same issue. For me it only happens with certain networks and I haven't found anything that fixes it. For me it happens when I'm connected to a public hotspot or guest wifi type of networks. When I'm at work I have to connect to their guest network. So my phone constantly disconnects from wifi after I lock the screen, since auto join is on, when I unlock the screen it joins after a few seconds. This has to be the most annoying "feature" I can think of. I understand it saves battery but battery isn't as important as saving data. And to anyone who says the iPhone will connect to wifi when it needs to transfer data even while asleep, is incorrect.
There isn't anything to do except get used to it. Sorry it happens on ur home network....that would be infuriating.

 

[gaboon13]

I will try that, thanks for the advice!

Turn Auto-login on. Problem solved!

 

[gaboon13]

I will try that, thanks for the advice!

Also keep background app refresh on for whatsapp.

 

[btwoody]

Turn Auto-login on. Problem solved!

That doesn't help with background data being transferred. Sure if I pick up my phone and unlock it, data will be over wifi, but data transferred while locked is still over cellular.

 

[anon(9721108)]

I don't have the sleep mode problem that I noticed but I just went through the same problem because I got a brand-new 5G modem router Wi-Fi installed two days ago, and my Wi-Fi kept cutting out.

It turned out the reason was because when the guy was here setting up the new router, he used all the same network passwords and login code that I had before. This confused the new 5G modem and it kept looking for both Wi-Fi names when you're trying to find the wifi network to connect to. So I had to phone sasktel and it took about 35 minutes for them to wipe the other one out and then do some rebooting and I also had to reconnect to the 5G Wi-Fi name for my router. There were actually two to connect to that were for my router but I had to make sure I choose the one that said 5G, otherwise the names of the networks looked identical.


So I guess the point is I'm wondering if your new Wi-Fi router is still set to the same login password code you had before and that might be confusing it they might have to reconfigure it for you as a brand-new one, which they should do anyway.

Edit: now I see how old this thread is and I realize it was probably solved a long time ago

 

[metalchick719]

Hmm... I'm having this exact same problem on my SE that I just got last week. It's pretty annoying. Never have this issue on my 6s at all.

 

[b1709946]

Turn wifi on (doesn’t matter if you connect to a wifi network now or later, but the wifi toggle must be on). If your ios device supports mobile data, turn it off for now.
Turn off the device (by keeping the sleep button pressed and then swiping)
Wait 30s
Turn it on
After the home screen loads, reset it (hold the home and sleep buttons down and keep holding until you see the apple logo)
That’s it.

 

[HoliMiau]

Turn wifi on (doesn’t matter if you connect to a wifi network now or later, but the wifi toggle must be on). If your ios device supports mobile data, turn it off for now.
Turn off the device (by keeping the sleep button pressed and then swiping)
Wait 30s
Turn it on
After the home screen loads, reset it (hold the home and sleep buttons down and keep holding until you see the apple logo)
That’s it.

Hi!

Same exact issue here. NOT FIXED with any of these solution
iPhone 7 - 128gb - iOS 10.3.3

My experience description:
Everytime I pick up the phone to check the notifications, the Wi-Fi symbol shows no signal (ALL "curved" lines in gray: screenshot attached) for a second or so. After that, inmediatly turns on de 4G and a few seconds later seems to react and reconnect the Wi-Fi.

This is annoynig because:
- Every device connected via Wi-Fi to the iPhone, lose their connection when the phone screen turns off (e.g. Chromecast)
- If I turn off the 3G/4G, I get NO NOTIFICATIONS when connected to Wi-Fi until I turn the screen on

I contacted Apple Support and they have no idea. They said could be software, but I'm waiting for their solution (they asked me to send this exact screenshot I attached).

What did I try?

- Restored WITH my back up
- Turn off and then reset (as quoted)
- Restored Net Settings
- Tried with regular WiFi (2.4GHz) and WiFi 5G

Not tried yet:

- Restore as new iPhone - this would be my last option. Apple told me to try this but not before they tell me so (they are "doing some research" about this issue) They said could be a software problem or even an app. So, the "last option" would be clean firmware and install apps manually (oh god...)

- Send it to be checked by Apple

 

[Ledsteplin]

Hi!

Same exact issue here. NOT FIXED with any of these solution
iPhone 7 - 128gb - iOS 10.3.3

My experience description:
Everytime I pick up the phone to check the notifications, the Wi-Fi symbol shows no signal (ALL "curved" lines in gray: screenshot attached) for a second or so. After that, inmediatly turns on de 4G and a few seconds later seems to react and reconnect the Wi-Fi.

This is annoynig because:
- Every device connected via Wi-Fi to the iPhone, lose their connection when the phone screen turns off (e.g. Chromecast)
- If I turn off the 3G/4G, I get NO NOTIFICATIONS when connected to Wi-Fi until I turn the screen on

I contacted Apple Support and they have no idea. They said could be software, but I'm waiting for their solution (they asked me to send this exact screenshot I attached).

What did I try?

- Restored WITH my back up
- Turn off and then reset (as quoted)
- Restored Net Settings
- Tried with regular WiFi (2.4GHz) and WiFi 5G

Not tried yet:

- Restore as new iPhone - this would be my last option. Apple told me to try this but not before they tell me so (they are "doing some research" about this issue) They said could be a software problem or even an app. So, the "last option" would be clean firmware and install apps manually (oh god...)

- Send it to be checked by Apple

View attachment 119331

If I'm not mistaken, it's normal for wifi to shut down while the phone is locked. This is a power saving feature. You can try setting autolock to "never" or keep your phone plugged in to an external power source.

 

[krisb60]

Hi!

Same exact issue here. NOT FIXED with any of these solution
iPhone 7 - 128gb - iOS 10.3.3

My experience description:
Everytime I pick up the phone to check the notifications, the Wi-Fi symbol shows no signal (ALL "curved" lines in gray: screenshot attached) for a second or so. After that, inmediatly turns on de 4G and a few seconds later seems to react and reconnect the Wi-Fi.

This is annoynig because:
- Every device connected via Wi-Fi to the iPhone, lose their connection when the phone screen turns off (e.g. Chromecast)
- If I turn off the 3G/4G, I get NO NOTIFICATIONS when connected to Wi-Fi until I turn the screen on

I contacted Apple Support and they have no idea. They said could be software, but I'm waiting for their solution (they asked me to send this exact screenshot I attached).

What did I try?

- Restored WITH my back up
- Turn off and then reset (as quoted)
- Restored Net Settings
- Tried with regular WiFi (2.4GHz) and WiFi 5G

Not tried yet:

- Restore as new iPhone - this would be my last option. Apple told me to try this but not before they tell me so (they are "doing some research" about this issue) They said could be a software problem or even an app. So, the "last option" would be clean firmware and install apps manually (oh god...)

- Send it to be checked by Apple

View attachment 119331

Please keep this forum updated.
I'm having same issue with new iphone7. Bloody annoying as when I start any app immediately after unlocking the phone, the app gets confused as the phone switches from grey wifi to 4G to active wifi, and in many cases the app cannot resolve and hangs. Does not happen on my wife's iphone6 and never before with any iPhone I've owned!
Btw her phone on same 4G, same wifi routers and same IOS

 

[HoliMiau]

Please keep this forum updated.
I'm having same issue with new iphone7. Bloody annoying as when I start any app immediately after unlocking the phone, the app gets confused as the phone switches from grey wifi to 4G to active wifi, and in many cases the app cannot resolve and hangs. Does not happen on my wife's iphone6 and never before with any iPhone I've owned!
Btw her phone on same 4G, same wifi routers and same IOS

Hi again!

FIXED

I had to restore it as new iphone to check.
Apple told me to try it, and right now the issue has disappeared.
Maybe was a software issue, maybe an app was causing it... i don't know yet

If the issue comes back I will tell you.

I repeat:
After Restoring as New iPhone, the issue was fixed: no more WiFi disconection when the screen is "sleeping"