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GP-SE

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 27, 2013
344
52
Hey guys, I notice that after two weeks my iPhone 11 Pro Max will loose WiFi when the screen is off/sleep. I had this same issue with my iPhone 8 Plus before getting the 11 Pro Max. Both are running the latest software/firmware, both restored from the same backup. It takes two weeks before the issue shows up. I say it takes two weeks because if I restore the phone through iTunes it works fine for two weeks. Once I wakeup the phone it goes: WiFi -> LTE -> WiFi. This switching happens very fast in about a second, but I confirmed the phone is not using WiFi when sleeping by logging into my router and seeing the iPhone not connected when sleeping.

It's very weird because it doesn't happen right away, it takes two weeks before it starts doing this behaviour. I have an iPad air, Apple TV, and iPhone XR that don't do this, only my iPhone 8 Plus and 11 Pro Max. I tried getting a new router, but it still did this after two weeks, so I ruled out the router, also my wife has the XR and it doesn't have this issue. I think has something to do with my apps/settings since it happens to both of my personal phones. When I setup the 11 Pro I used my 8 Plus backup so I believe that's why I see this issue on my 11 Pro Max. Sometimes if I plug my phone in the charge for a few hours the issue will "reset" again for another two weeks. I tried to reset network settings but it doesn't help.

Anyone experience this before, is there some settings I can change to help keep it on WiFi while sleeping?
 

BuggyGT

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2019
165
148
A shot in the dark, do you happen to have any VPN apps installed by chance? (if so you can try to uninstall those as a first testing step)
 

mnsportsgeek

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,380
6,850
It's normal, and it can't be fixed. It only happens with devices that have cellular. When the device goes to sleep it will disconnect from wifi. I'd double check your XR. It's one of the reasons Apple's "persistent" hotspot isn't persistent at all because any Apple device that is connected to WiFi drops the connection shortly after going to sleep.

Either that or it's not normal and I also have the same issue.
 
Last edited:

Tsepz

macrumors 601
Jan 24, 2013
4,826
4,639
Johannesburg, South Africa
Hey guys, I notice that after two weeks my iPhone 11 Pro Max will loose WiFi when the screen is off/sleep. I had this same issue with my iPhone 8 Plus before getting the 11 Pro Max. Both are running the latest software/firmware, both restored from the same backup. It takes two weeks before the issue shows up. I say it takes two weeks because if I restore the phone through iTunes it works fine for two weeks. Once I wakeup the phone it goes: WiFi -> LTE -> WiFi. This switching happens very fast in about a second, but I confirmed the phone is not using WiFi when sleeping by logging into my router and seeing the iPhone not connected when sleeping.

It's very weird because it doesn't happen right away, it takes two weeks before it starts doing this behaviour. I have an iPad air, Apple TV, and iPhone XR that don't do this, only my iPhone 8 Plus and 11 Pro Max. I tried getting a new router, but it still did this after two weeks, so I ruled out the router, also my wife has the XR and it doesn't have this issue. I think has something to do with my apps/settings since it happens to both of my personal phones. When I setup the 11 Pro I used my 8 Plus backup so I believe that's why I see this issue on my 11 Pro Max. Sometimes if I plug my phone in the charge for a few hours the issue will "reset" again for another two weeks. I tried to reset network settings but it doesn't help.

Anyone experience this before, is there some settings I can change to help keep it on WiFi while sleeping?

Sounds like Wi-Fi Assist is On. Please go to Settings - Mobile Data - scroll to the bottom and see if this is On
80861c8657986b445cfeb65d4f1f1134.plist
 

GP-SE

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 27, 2013
344
52
It's normal, and it can't be fixed. It only happens with devices that have cellular. When the device goes to sleep it will disconnect from wifi. I'd double check your XR. It's one of the reasons Apple's "persistent" hotspot isn't persistent at all because any Apple device that is connected to WiFi drops the connection shortly after going to sleep.

Either that or it's not normal and I also have the same issue.
It's not normal, The XR and my old iPhone 6, 6s, 8, etc. all stay on WiFi while sleeping, this is confirmed when I log into my router and view active devices. Also my 11 Pro Max will stay on WiFi while sleeping for two weeks then start doing this behaviour. If it was normal then this wouldn't only start happening after two weeks. Once I Sync/Backup my phone in iTunes the two week period resets, also if I fully charge my battery overnight the two week periods resets. I thought maybe low battery was causing this, but it doesn't matter the charge level, I could be at 80% battery and it will start doing it.
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Sounds like Wi-Fi Assist is On. Please go to Settings - Mobile Data - scroll to the bottom and see if this is On
80861c8657986b445cfeb65d4f1f1134.plist

WiFi assist is on, I'll try turning it off now and see if that helps.
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A shot in the dark, do you happen to have any VPN apps installed by chance? (if so you can try to uninstall those as a first testing step)

I actually did have Cloudflare DNS/VPN installed at one point, and I was using Custom DNS entries. I however uninstall the Cloudflare app months ago, but perhaps something didn't fully delete.
 

GP-SE

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 27, 2013
344
52
So even after disabling WiFi assist the issue started showing up today, so it takes exactly one week. Anyone have other ideas I can try? I don't want to restore the phone and set up as new because I have a lot of messages, pictures etc. that I don't wanna loose. Since my iPhone 8 Plus had this issue I don't think it's a hardware issue, and I don't think it's an issue with my network because my wife has the Xr with no issue staying connected while sleeping.

I just did a network reset to fix it, but I am expecting it to only last for a week or two since in the past I have done the reset with the same results.
 

MarinLee

macrumors newbie
Feb 20, 2022
1
0
Florence, Tuscany
iPhone 12 and 12 pro has same problem, It can not be fixed. It's works as this way since the 1st iPhone launched.
And it's not safe, because you can not get notifications in time, and that means you cant turn off cellular.
 
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