iPhone or iPad Says “Incorrect Password” Fails to Join Wi-Fi? Here’s the Fix

Jul 19, 2018 - 98 Comments

How to fix an Incorrect Password for wi-fi network error on iPhone and iPad

Some iPhone or iPad users may occasionally encounter a strange issue where they are attempting to join a familiar wi-fi network, but iOS throws up an “Incorrect password” error message, and the iPhone or iPad refuses to join the wireless network. Often users will see the “Incorrect password” wi-fi error despite they being certain the wi-fi password is correct. Given how dependent these devices are to an internet connection, it’s understandably annoying when an iOS device doesn’t join a wi-fi network or gives you a repeated “incorrect password” message.

This walkthrough will aim to troubleshoot and fix the annoying “Incorrect password for network” error messages on an iPhone or iPad when trying to join a wi-fi network.

Wait! 4 Common Reasons Why You Will See the “Incorrect Password” Error

Before proceeding any further, be sure you cover the following bases:

  • Make sure you know the correct password of the wi-fi network
  • Make sure you are joining the correct wi-fi network, sometimes they have similar names as nearby wi-fi access points
  • Make sure you are entering the wi-fi password correctly, they are case sensitive and the wi-fi password must be an exact match
  • Make sure you do not have CAPS LOCK or an alternative language keyboard enabled when entering the password

You might think those recommendations are goofy, but many people incorrectly type a wi-fi password, or have the CAPS LOCK enabled when entering one, or perhaps they hear a word or phrase incorrectly and are typing the wi-fi password wrong. For example, if a wi-fi password is “Burrito123” then it must be entered exactly as that with the proper capitalization, otherwise you will see the ‘incorrect password’ error. It’s also not uncommon for people to be trying to join the wrong wi-fi network, so entering a correct wi-fi password but on the wrong access point is not going to work.

Assuming you have the proper wi-fi password and the proper network, and you are still seeing the incorrect password message, proceed to trouble shoot the issue in iOS.

Fix “Incorrect Password” Wi-Fi Errors on iPhone & iPad

We’ll cover a variety of troubleshooting tips and tricks to resolve the “Incorrect Password” error message when attempting to join a wireless network in iOS.

1: Reboot the iPhone or iPad

Sometimes simply restarting the iPhone or iPad can resolve strange network connection issues, including an inability to connect to a wi-fi network.

Restarting an iPhone or iPad is easy, you basically just turn the iPhone or iPad off, then back on again.

  1. Hold down the Power button on the device until you see the ‘Slide to Power Off’ screen
  2. Slide to power off the iPhone or iPad
  3. When the screen has turned completely black, hold down the Power button again until you see the  Apple logo show up on screen, signifying that it is booting back up again

When the iPhone or iPad has started up again, go ahead and try to rejoin the wi-fi network again.

2: Forget the Wi-Fi Network, then Re-Join

Forgetting a wi-fi network and then rejoining that wi-fi network can often remedy incorrect password issues:

  1. Open the “Settings” app and go to ‘Wi-Fi’
  2. Tap the (i) info button next to the network name of the wi-fi router you want to join
  3. Tap on “Forget This Network”
  4. Confirm that you want to forget the network by tapping “Forget”
  5. Wait a moment or two, then re-join the same wi-fi network again and enter the correct password

3: Reset iOS Network Settings on the iPhone or iPad

Resetting the iOS Network Settings clears all wi-fi and network preferences and settings from the device. The downside to this approach is that you will lose any remembered wi-fi passwords, custom settings and configurations, and other remembered network data.

  1. Open the “Settings” app on the iOS device and go to “General” and then to “Reset”
  2. Tap on “Reset Network Settings” – it is critical you choose “Reset Network Settings” only as the other options may erase your entire device!
  3. Confirm that you want to Reset Network Settings
  4. When finished, re-join the wi-fi network with the correct password

Resetting network settings can often fix many annoying connectivity issues in iOS, often including the “incorrect password for network” error, an ambiguous “unable to join network” error, amongst others.

After you reset network settings, you may need to reconfigure various iOS networking components again. For example if you use custom DNS on the iPhone or iPad, manual DHCP configuration, use a VPN, a proxy, or if you had many networks remembered along with their passwords, all of that data would need to be entered manually again after a device network reset.

4: Restart the Wi-Fi Router or Modem

Unplugging a wi-fi router or modem, waiting about 15 seconds, then plugging the router back in again, will restart the router or modem.

Restarting a router or modem is not always possible however, particularly in many workforce or public environments. So while this approach may be fine in a home or small office, it’s not practical at an airport, office, or public space.

5: Change the Wi-Fi 5G Router Channel Width: 20 mhz or 40mhz or 80mhz

This is a bit more advanced and requires modifying the wi-fi router or wireless access point, but some users report success with: changing the wireless routers channel width, usually from 20mhz to 40mhz or 80mhz.

The process of changing channel width varies per router, but will require admin access to the wireless access point. You can find your router IP address from iPhone or iPad with these instructions if you are not certain of it.

6: Have Someone Else Share the Wi-Fi Password With You

A great new feature available on iPhone or iPad running newer versions of iOS is the ability for anyone to share a wi-fi password with another iPhone or iPad that is nearby.

If you or someone else is in a situation where an iPhone or iPad user is repeatedly getting the “Incorrect password” error message when trying to join a network, and you and the other device is on a new iOS release (iOS 11 or later) then you can use the Share Wi-Fi Password feature in iOS to share the password with that person and allow them to join the network without having to type the password manually themselves. This is particularly effective if someone is prone to typos or CAPS LOCK, using an alternative keyboard, and other similar situations where some user error can be involved in the failure.

Additional “Incorrect Password for Network” Wi-Fi Troubleshooting Options

  • Join another wi-fi network to confirm that wi-fi is indeed working on the iPhone or iPad
  • If the iPhone or iPad will not join any wi-fi network, there may be a hardware issue – this is rare and fairly unlikely, but it’s vaguely possible (particularly if the device sustained substantial water contact or some other damage). In such a case, contact Apple Support or an authorized Apple technician or repair center to diagnose for hardware problems
  • Rarely, backing up, resetting, and then restoring an iOS device from backup may resolve the problem – this should be considered a last resort

Remember, if the wi-fi network is hidden you will need to manually enter the wi-fi SSID to join a hidden wi-fi network in iOS

Did the tips above fix your “incorrect password” for wi-fi network errors on an iPhone or iPad? Are you able to join the wi-fi network as expected? Do you know of another effective solution for this particular problem? Share with us your experiences in the comments below!

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPad, iPhone, Tips & Tricks, Troubleshooting

98 Comments

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  1. Sunny says:

    None of this is working, it’s my own wifi! My tablet got booted off for no reason after buffering for 5 minutes with full bars and now no matter what, even with my iphone and copy and pasting the password into the bar, it says its “incorrect”. Like, no shit, it is my password and it will NOT connect. Wtf is going on??

  2. fragmites says:

    I think this might be a problem with a weak wifi signal. Disabling 5GHz on my router fixed this for me

  3. Alex says:

    Thank you all for the assistance , cause’ of your comments I figured why my iPad kept showing wrong password ; as soon I turned off the Wi-Fi extender I got my iPad working again . Thank you !!

  4. Bill says:

    I have two Airport Extreme routers set up in a mesh connection and had the invalid password issue.
    Thanks to another comment, I fixed the issue.

    However, I had to make this change for both Airport Extreme routers.
    You use Airport Utility on the mac:
    Select the Network tab.
    Deselect the “Enable Access Control” check box, if it is checked.
    That eliminated the invalid password issue.

  5. Some Guy says:

    Well, crap – I don’t HAVE an option to ‘forget this network’. It doesn’t show on any of the networks I’m having problems with(2 at work, 1 at home). iPhone 8, and I’ve already reset network settings. I’d hate to have to back up everything the totally wipe the phone…

  6. Larry Arnold says:

    I have the same problem and none of the recommendations solved the “wrong password” for wifi. Wifi5 and Wifiext2 work fine. Even with other iPhone sharing password, I receive “wrong password” message.

    • SandiMacD says:

      Same here. Whenever I try to share password from another iPad or iPhone, then that device will suddenly lose its network connection and reverts to displaying “incorrect password”. Pulling the plug to my in home router doesn’t work. My only solution is to go out to the garage and pull the plug on the FiOS system entering the home, wait 2 minutes and plug back in. Most irritating to do this repeatedly during the day. We got a tech solution company to come out and replace our mesh wifi that was only 2 years old. No improvement. It’s only Apple products affected. The killer is that even my MacBook pro on a direct Ethernet connection, won’t connect either. Our other wifi connected devices continue to work on our wifi during these “incorrect password” events. TiVo, Roku, PC, Kindle, etc. remain connected. Wish Apple would find a fix to this.

    • Mladen says:

      Try to click info beside wifi SID and turn off Private Wi-Fi Address.
      Works for me

  7. Vladimir says:

    I resolve that problem by disabling timed access in air port utility

    • Bill says:

      Perfect.
      This worked for me as well when using Airport Extreme router. You must use Airport Utility on the mac.
      Select the Network tab.
      Deselect the “Enable Access Control” check box.

  8. Barry Globe says:

    *Occasionally* ?
    bollo*ks it’s more than occasional! And I don’t get the option to forget until I’m logged in – which I cant because the cr*p iPad says the password is incorrect!!! its going in the bin, costly piece of sh*t, but my peace of mind is worth more. 🙂

  9. Cindy says:

    Definitely Apple issue because it did the same for my wireless printer. However, my 5G option on same router works with password (so I KNOW it’s right)

    • Kurt Curran says:

      Exactly the problem I have, the 5g takes the password, but the regular wifi does not. In fact, I went to use ipad and the wifi was logged off for unknown reasons. The Android pads I have work fine with the password, it is just apple ipad mini that no longer works on wifi.

  10. Phil says:

    Very good suggestions to resolve a common problem with iPads & iPhones. I keep this link to give to my customers. A new one just popped up recently, PC can connect but I products cannot. Older router without WPA2.

  11. why so serious?! says:

    Gong Fan! You are the best..guys just change the channel bandwith from 20 to 40! It worked!!

  12. Stanley Ling says:

    I have a very strange issue. Have a D-Link DIR-3060 AC3000 Smart Mesh Wi-Fi router running a mesh network with 2 D-Link DRA-2060 AC2000 Mesh Enabled Range Extenders. My iPhone 8 ios 13.5.1 has no problem connecting with the range extenders but occasionally can’t connect to the router (Incorrect Password, Cannot join, move nearer etc). This requires a reboot of the router. I have tried everything. Reset the wifi gear to factory settings and set up all over again twice. Reset my iphone network settings and iphone several times. Disabled smart connect (left it mesh enabled). Have finally tried lowering transmission power to medium (doesn’t make sense to me though coz I can go to parts of my home where only the router can reach and have still had connection issues). Rebooting about twice a day now. Getting very frustrating. If anyone has a solution to this problem I’d be much obliged.

  13. Jonas olof says:

    The problem iphone/ipad > incorrect password gets really bad if you use Unifi access points. There are a number of tips on their community forum.

    I’m thinking of scrapping my newly installed wifi network with eight Unifi APs and go for AVM instead. They have a mesh system (wifi or cabled) with handover managed centrally by the router.

  14. Cutsy says:

    What worked for me: put in plane mode for 1 minute. Turn off cellular data and Wi-Fi. Reset network settings. Put plane mode off. Try again

  15. RT says:

    Same problem on ipad 6. What eventually worked for me was going into the advanced network settings by clicking the (i) icon next to the router name.

    Keeping the configure ip on automatic but changing the configure dns to the routers default gateway, in this case 192.169.2.1 clicking save then trying the password again.

    Hope that will work for some people.

  16. Muskie says:

    I tried reseting the network settings. Even when I share the password from my iPhone or MacBook it isn’t working anymore. I reboot the iPad. It has really gotten annoying. I’ll try turning off the router.

  17. Ziptie says:

    I just want to chime in and say once a week I wake up and find the WiFi is disconnected on my iPhone X. I can’t reconnect without restarting the modem. Sometimes (when it’s not my modem) I don’t have that option.

    I have overrun my data plan several times because I didn’t notice it dropped WiFi. I ended up increasing my data plan and turning off cell every night so I would notice.

    I depend on WiFi to get emergency calls from my elderly parents. Once they needed help evacuating—big wildfire!—but they couldn’t reach me because WiFi had dropped. Can you imagine, my parents couldn’t reach me in a wildfire?

    I am glad to at least learn its not just my imagination. What’s going on, Apple? This is crazy.

    I am not seeing all the same settings others cite and I have the latest iOS 13-something. Is it the modem settings? I just rebooted it, but next time it happens I’ll dig through these ideas. What if I’m in a place where I can’t change the router? Why wouldn’t Apple work with standard settings (or at least make these fixes available)? They need to recognize they have a problem.

  18. Techsuxatbest says:

    Wrong, im right next to router and still not good on the iphone, yet other devices are running fine.

    Please note, i did do all suggestions bar shating from another device (thats not a reasonable option) and nope no fix

  19. Rob T says:

    3 hours it took me to determine the issue was with my NetGear WiFi router. Their Smart Connect feature was the culprit. Turned that off on the WiFi router, snap. Issue resolved for me. Hope this helps at least one other person, it was so frustrating. NetGear box is getting returned, just bought it a week ago and thank goodness I saved the receipt.

  20. NoNo-A says:

    my Xiaomi device is working flawlessly and my iPhone says “incorrect password” then it automatically connects then disconnect on it’s own and says “incorrect password” again.
    did reset modem
    change beacon interval
    changed modem freq band
    changed channel width
    upper and low sideband
    nothing fixed the issue.

    changed from WPA2 ( AES ) to WPA (AES) and this piece of crap could connect to my wifi and it shows WEAK SECURITY below the network name !!! tell me about it apple !

  21. joe says:

    please add turn airplane mode on, leave for a few seconds then turn off, to this terrible, useless advice page.

  22. Stu says:

    It’s a wi-fi interference problem. That’s why it comes and goes. That’s why changing the channel width can fix it. That’s why going close can fix it.
    Put your wi-fi access point in a better spot.

  23. Exterme says:

    Thanks big help

  24. Thanks says:

    Thank you!

  25. Rizwan says:

    Password

  26. Bear says:

    My iPad often (not ‘occasionally’) brings up the incorrect password message. I live on my own, I have one router, it only broadcasts 2.4ghz, the iPad knows the SSID and password, and yet it still throws up this error on a regular basis. My android phone never has a problem. Just one more reason, in my opinion, to smash this iPad to tiny pieces when it has outlived it’s usefulness. Or perhaps I should sell it and let an apple disciple deal with the crappy hardware and/or software, and buy an android tablet…

  27. Nomad says:

    my older relative’s iPad 2 was not able to connect to our Wi-Fi, keep on getting ‘Incorrect Password’. I tried some of the recommendations, no go. I disable password on my Wi-Fi, the iPad connect. This tells me the older iPad 2 does not know how to handle the complex passphrase on my WPA2-PSK AES Encrypted Wi-Fi. This is my solution. I enabled the guess Wi-Fi used the simple 10 or 26 hexadecimal digits password/passhrase (abcdef, 0-9 characters, sample: ab12cd34ef56). When my guess leave, I will just disable the guess Wi-Fi. Hope this helps anyone else.

  28. Denys says:

    iPad refusing to connect with Incorrect Password the Unable to Join. Tried all the usual fixes, resets, reboots etc, etc, none worked. Then tried the Share Password between iPad & my iPhone which worked instantly. Thanks for that hint!

  29. sameh khalid says:

    my problem have been solved when I get too close to the modem.

  30. Rich says:

    Was having this same problem with a phone I had just bought slightly used. The phone had been thoroughly reset to original settings. Tried may of the suggestions here and nothing seemed to work. I was trying to connect to my home network which has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, both share identical passwords. I could not for the life of me get past the password being incorrect on the 2.4GHz network

    Even though I though it was hopeless, I finally tried the 5GHz network. Worked like a charm.

    Beats me!!!

  31. Ricci says:

    Thanks for this fix

    • Chez Bay says:

      This happened to me at a friend’s house and again at home. I was connecting to an Apple Airport at BOTH locations. I DO use WiFi calling (Verizon, “VZW Wi-Fi”). Another commenter said that was involved.

      Importantly I didn’t type anything; these wifi passwords have been in my icloud and have never changed for at least two years.

      I power-cycled my iphone 6S and all is well.

  32. Yam says:

    I have tried all thosethings which u have mentioned above about still it is not working.

    • daquavious johnson johnson jones says:

      same i literally did everything (i have i phone 7 btw). I turned on and off router, reset phone network settings, rebooted phone, etc. Everyone in my family has wifi, even my computer, but my phone doesn’t and i haven’t had wifi on my phone for months now, today i decided to look into it and spent all day wasting my brain away on my computer looking for solutions but none work!!! please someone help or provide solutions that worked for you or that i haven’t listed above of what i have already performed on my iphone 7.

      P.S . im a kid and my dad doesn’t want to call router company bc he doesn’t want to lose wifi for his phone, or damage router accidently, and hes at work for most of day (its summer for me), and my mom doesn’t know anything about iphones she only had samsungs and lgs and isnt able to help, and shes also at work most of day.

      • GK says:

        Guys,

        Had the same problem for months and tried all procedures one by one but didn’t worked.

        but after all I put my iphone to another iphone which was connected into the same network and it Said the same incorrect password, then I went near the modem and typed the password again and it got connected.

        so try all the above listed procedures then go near by the modem and connect it manually, I will work.

        Thanks

        • N says:

          Thanks so much. Tried all advice, going crazy, then saw your comment of just putting phone next to modem and putting in password again. It worked!!!

        • Lisa says:

          I was able to connect the WIFI when I was close to the modem. But as soon as I moved away from the modem, it disconnected again and the password was incorrect again! PLEASE HELP! I’ve seriously tried everything here too!

      • joe says:

        Here’s what I did last time. I went to the apple store to complain, a member of staff connected it to their wifi somehow, and it proceeded to work fine for a couple of months.

        I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist type. What this honestly made me think, wtf apple? Are you doing this on purpose?

    • Bobboi04 says:

      I had the same problem. But i found the problem. I checked the blacklist of my wifi and it turned out my wifi had been automatically adding connected devices to the blacklist. You can check on the user website http://192.168.0.1

  33. Vishal says:

    The following worked for my ipad with version 12.2

    Disable Wifi Networking
    For this go to the Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Wi-Fi Networking and disable this.

    Hope this helps.

  34. Les says:

    The slow password entry as above was the solution to my ipad and iphone 6s for wifi eduroam. Suggest Try first before more drastic solutions liek resetting network settings whcih involves a lot of reentering if your phone has many wifi details in memory

  35. DFresh says:

    Hey guys, I was having the same Wi-fi problem with my Iphone 8. For what ever reason, this worked!!

    Download Latest IOS 12.2 update.

    Power off device.

    Settings> Wi-fi.> Turn Wi-fi (off)

    Settings> Cellular> turn Wi-fi Calling to (OFF).

    Settings> Wi-Fi> Turn Wi-Fi (on). Enter password.

    Wi-fi working again! Settings> Cellular> turn Wi-Fi Calling back to (ON).

    It seems to be a glitch with the making calls over wi-fi.
    Hope this helps everyone..

  36. IT Guru stuck in space says:

    Hi, just checking if anyone in the same boat as me?

    My iphoneX issue has gone worst! causing Wifi and Bluetooth (both)
    Spoke to Apple Support, its really weird issue. Tried restoring iOS, on latest version now, no luck so far :)

    KEY ISSUE:
    Yes the same WiFi that everyone explained on this channel. PLUS
    Airpods and my AppleWatch 3 and 4 both doing identical on Bluetooth keep disconnecting. Sooner the phone is unlocked, they connects fine. e.g. Watching a youtube video (so screen wont shuts) audio on bluetooth works, but when screen lockedout/timedout within few seconds I hear in Airpods ‘disconnect’, AppleWatch shows the red phone unreachable sign.

    Anyone any advice please?

  37. Michael Chopra says:

    Hi all. I have a person whose iPhone is unable to join our wifi network. I’ve had people try putting it on the 2.4Ghz band, instead of the 5Ghz band. Earlier today, one of my cousins who came to my house was able to connect his device just fine. The phone was brought in Canada, but that shouldn’t make any difference. What could be happening?

  38. Dave says:

    I tried all these solutions with success, but what worked for me was scanning the QR WiFi set up code provided by my router ( FritzBox 7330 )

  39. Moulin says:

    After trying all the recommendations with no success, I typed the password very slowly waiting for the character to disappear when is hidden with the dot, before typing the next character. That solved the issue in my Ipad and iPhone.

    Copy and paste the password from a note o message doesn´t work.

  40. Aden says:

    Went through all the steps on my iphone with no success. It was only when I was looking through the other settings on my router that I found that somehow the iphone had been added to the blacklist on the router. I know I didnt do it so I dont know how it happened. Removed the blacklist item and suddenly the phone is happy to connect using the cached password.

  41. Mark says:

    I SOLVED IT by changing my 5ghz WiFi “control channel” from auto to something in the first 5ghz band (from 161 to 44). I also switched the bandwidth from auto to 40, which did not work by itself but might be part of the equation.

  42. Paul says:

    I had this problem with an iPad 2 and tried everything published on forums etc. including cold reboot, reset network settings, forget this network, switch off network services, plus resetting moain and extension routers. This is an incredibly stubborn fault.
    Finally I solved it by accessing my Magic 2 Wifi adapter’s configuration page and activating the guest network (the one you might offer to visitors).
    I found that I could then enter the new network name and password on the iPad and joined the network successfully.
    I suspect that this worked because the iPad had no record of that network or its metadata.

    • Peter says:

      Great tip. I activated my guest network for my older iPad 1 with less security (I only use it to read my newspaper) and now it’s connecting flawlessly. Thank you!

  43. Shazza says:

    How do you configure iPhone 7 ? I have tried all fixes I want to try this – my telco tried to help by updating firmware but it didn’t work 😩 so I’m interest in the reconfiguring or removing profile fixes above please!

  44. Patrick Hough says:

    So I have a weird one. I work for a telecom company and we install the technicolor 4131 gateway modem. Every once in a while we come across one that will allow you to connect to the wifi but then it kicks you off. You try to reconnect and it says invalid password. This goes on and on. Tried changing wifi channels, user names, passwords, firewall, and security settings and noting fixes it. I end up installing a separate modem and netgear router and it works fine. I would easily say its just bad equipment but each time this has happen I installed that exact same gateway at another location and it works exactly like its supposed too never disconnecting or failing to authenticate. I have a spectrum analyzer and each time I have seen a lot of wifi networks in the area. My question is are there environmental factors that would cause this to happen and if so why didn’t it affect another router the same way. And yes the problem was on both the 2.4 and 5g bands.

  45. Mna Mohammed says:

    I followed al the steps but no resilt.!!!
    It used to work with that Wifi.but it stopped.it hadn’t returned back 😢😢😢.
    It didn’t recognize the wifi it was working with,
    It eas sudden stop.
    I’ll throw it and buy a Samsung mobile.
    Complicated company Apple

  46. Donna says:

    A NEW FIX!

    “Forget this network” USED to be an option, I’ve used it before, but newest iOS installed (12.1.2) I don’t see “forget this network” as an option. I was just forced to change my work password (email and other in-house, used also for wifi) and now can’t connect to work wifi. Have turned off Auto-Join, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and Wi-Fi, Reset Network, rebooted phone, all repeatedly and in various combinations. This is not a case of my having gotten the password wrong: I can’t even get to the dialog box where I would enter it, I just get “Unable to Join Network”.

    IN DESPERATION I CLICKED AROUND AND FOUND:
    Settings> General> Profile> [work wifi]> Configuration Profile [work wifi]> More Details> Wi-Fi Networks> [work wifi] detail arrow> [And found that it shows Autojoin on even though it’s off!! Grrrr!!!!]

    SO, I:
    Clicked back to Profile>[work wifi], and hit Remove Profile. Then went back to the Settings> Wi-Fi, selected the work wifi network, it asked me for username and password, and I’M ON!

    What a pain in the butt. But maybe this will work for others.

  47. Olaf says:

    Have seen connection problems when apple units try to connect to a wifi access point if the key contains “special” characters like @ # _ – or other non-alpha or non numeric characters.

  48. Jennifer Olay says:

    I really really hope this will be nail in the Apple Universe coffin. This problem has been coming and going for quite some time and it’s clearly related to how Apple designs it’s software to make your perfectly running 2 or 3 yr old very expensive device obsolete. It’s not like they aren’t capable of releasing software that actually functions. This is intentional and I do believe the fact that it is now happening on newer devices is simply they screwed the pooch. Apple is a nakedly greedy unethical corporation that does not care for its users, as has been proven time and time again w one software disaster after another. They front load all the flash to get your big dollars and then f*ck you down the line. I hope they sink. They deserve to.

    • Fascinating says:

      That’s an interesting conspiracy theory Jennifer.

      But usually an inability to join wi-fi is almost always because you are entering your wi-fi password wrong.

      Recall that you need wi-fi to install updates to iOS, download apps from the App Store, buy iTunes products, etc. why would they want to prevent users from participating in their ecosystem? That’s illogical from any business standpoint.

      • YouAreSoSmug says:

        YAY!! Thank you GONG FAN! I went into the router and changed my channel width on 5g from 40mhz to 80mhz… success!

        FASCINATING, you don’t describe having this issue but decide to chime in by shilling for Apple? Fascinating that both my iPhones ‘decided’ not to connect to my wifi at the very same time. Fascinating how I’ve spent hours scouring the internet for solutions that hadn’t worked, having entered my KNOWN password many times while other devices with my KNOWN password continue to work flawlessly. Thank you Fascinating for your logical nonsense.

      • Cecille says:

        You must work for Apple.

    • Viliam says:

      I completely agree. I must daily 10-20x a day disable wifi on iPhone and restart the router to be able to join after the signal drops and the incorrect password message appears after connecting. WTF they do or think about at Apple, when they let this problem happen to thousands of their customers for years?

  49. Nia says:

    I can connect WiFi with my iphone 6S at everyones’ house except my own house. I try to do all possible ways but my iPhone doesnot get connected. I get password failover notice. I tried through settings, checked airplane mode, switched on and off, I rebooted the modem. I tried going next to it but it says password failover. I try factory settings and everything. This problem has been since more than 11/2 year.

  50. KB says:

    Just started happening to me today on my 3 month old iPhone XS. None of the suggestions work. I’ve been using iPhones since the first model and this is the worse piece of crap I’ve ever had.

    • AB says:

      This problem just started happening to me as well. My iphone does NOT have the option, under WiFi settings, to “forget this network” and I can’t understand why it’s not there. Infuriating. I wrote the WiFi password in my notes so that I could cut-and-paste it when prompted to enter it, so that I don’t have to keep manually typing. It worked a few times but this weekend it would NOT. After reading all these comments, I finally typed the password in MANUALLY instead of CUTTING AND PASTING and it worked. No idea why but it worked. Ridiculous garbage.

      • CB says:

        i hate how they dont have forget this network on my iphone 7 and i still cant get iphone to connect to wifi. if it doesn’t say incorrect password, it says “unable to join network”. im sooo mad one guy said he got blacklisted but idk how to check blacklist on my router my dad has login but he wont help me he says “i dont want to damage the router” bc everyone in my family has wifi and used the wifi password but when i type it it doesnt work. i even connected to my dads ipad it said share wifi password with my phone and it didnt work arrggh im soo mad.

    • Donna says:

      A NEW FIX!

      “Forget this network” USED to be an option, I’ve used it before, but newest iOS installed (12.1.2) I don’t see “forget this network” as an option. I was just forced to change my work password (email and other in-house, used also for wifi) and now can’t connect to work wifi. Have turned off Auto-Join, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and Wi-Fi, Reset Network, rebooted phone, all repeatedly and in various combinations. This is not a case of my having gotten the password wrong: I can’t even get to the dialog box where I would enter it, I just get “Unable to Join Network”.

      IN DESPERATION I CLICKED AROUND AND FOUND:
      Settings> General> Profile> [work wifi]> Configuration Profile [work wifi]> More Details> Wi-Fi Networks> [work wifi] detail arrow> [And found that it shows Autojoin on even though it’s off!! Grrrr!!!!]

      SO, I:
      Clicked back to Profile>[work wifi], and hit Remove Profile. Then went back to the Settings> Wi-Fi, selected the work wifi network, it asked me for username and password, and I’M ON!

      What a pain in the butt. But maybe this will work for others.

  51. Lindsey Updegraff says:

    I have this problem on EVERY apple device I own and ONLY on our apple devices. it only happens for about 15 minutes at a time and then everything is fine but it is F***G annoying and we are already at our wit’s end due to a few other outside factors.

    It is only apple products and I tired every step above multiple times and since we were due for phone upgrades we got brand new iphone XRs today. So all the reset network settings, manually enter password, forget the network, power down, blah, blah, blah, doesn’t even apply – it’s a brand new phone, out of the box today!

  52. Mike Sadi says:

    If i knew iphones had this problem..i wouldn’t have switched. Damn. Been searching the internet for a fix but nothing worked.

    • lindsey says:

      it’s a new problem – didn’t start until 3 days ago for me and it’s bloody annoying.

      • Sharon says:

        Not a new problem…happened to me a year or so ago and none of these fixes worked. Eventually (after many days) my phone and iPad automatically started connecting to my home WiFi again. And today they stopped again (new iPad this time too). Very frustrating. I’m due for a new phone and was thinking of the XR but now I’m wondering if I should go Samsung again. My ASUS tablet is connected to home WiFi just fine so it’s definitely an Apple issue.

  53. Rajgrodziak says:

    Hi,
    Thank you very much; it works for me :-)

  54. Gong Fan says:

    RESOLVED:

    I have same problem. My samsung phones do not have this problem.

    I have to spend few hours to figure it out.

    finally I have to check up my UBNT AP ( wireless routor )

    config.

    solution:

    ****** RADIO 5G (11N/A/AC) Channel Width ******

    setup from 20Mhz to ( 80Mhz or 40Mhz)

    IOS devices working fine again !

    • Joss says:

      Thanks Gong Fan !

      Your fix to change the Channel Width in the router worked like a charm by setting up the width from 20Mhz to 40Mhz.

  55. Rebecca says:

    This is the second time this has happened since getting the iPhone X. Last time nothing worked except connecting from my husbands phone but now his won’t connect either. None of these options work. So frustrating! For as much as these phones cost, this shouldn’t keep happening!

  56. Mark says:

    I’ve followed all of the steps, including a full factory reset. I can connect to every network except my work network. We’ve done a router reset, we don’t have a long network key. I’ve attempted to share the wifi password from my mac that is connected to the wifi with my phone, and nothing has worked.

  57. faruko says:

    Found the solution !

    I tried everything that were recommended but nothing worked. Problem was persistent not only for my iphone but also samsung device.

    I called the router company and told them about incorrect password problem.

    Adviser told me to use long Network key (mine is 20 digits) instead of router password.

    I used Network Key and magicccc ! It works for me.

    I hope it helps you all.

    Faruko

  58. Heather Smith says:

    I’ve tried everything above that’s possible to try and nothing works. It’s on a new iPhone 6s, and the same thing is happening to my old iPhone 5 that I just restored. Can’t access Settings because the phones won’t get past the password prompt, and I KNOW it is the correct password. I’m sending back this piece of garbage and never buying another iPhone again. Done.

  59. Shama Lam says:

    Tim Crook is ruining Apple. He needs to be f***ing fired. It used to be there were a few bad parts of the Apple experience one of them being iTunes, now EVERY-F’n-THING that is Apple is garbage. Tim Crook, Jonathen Con-ivy-ng, Eddie Cue-for-nothing are ALL responsible for the tarnishing of what used to be a once professional company.

  60. Amie Lamm-Griffin says:

    I’ve tried it all now and I still can’t connect via my iPad. My iPhone works just fine. I get the incorrect password even when I share from my phone. I’ve reset my router, reset the network from iPad, shut down and restarted. All are updated.

  61. John says:

    Have this problem regularly, never been able to pinpoint the problem. Seems not confined to just iPhones. Happens with strong WiFi signals. However, a strong signal is one, you also need a good quality signal. Somehow I’m getting the idea that interference from external sources are involved. But, as I have the issue on 5GHz Wifi, the changes of disturbance there are less. Any “RF” expert can pitch in?

  62. Mia Evangelista says:

    I’ve tried almost everything, I want to avoid getting phone checked and resetting it completely, but nothing works. This has happened to me for 3 times now! Only in just a month—I don’t know what else to do. Someone help me.

  63. Paul Ross says:

    Been having this problem ever since upgraded to iOS 11

    Reported it to Apple support, been at it for 6 month then decided to just live with it.

    Hasn’t resolved yet, with each update it improves slightly, but still does not the seem reliability as in iOS 10. It seems to me a software problem, happens with all iOS devices (iPhones & iPads) own several in this household. Services drops, really bad at night, different routers. On 2 separate internet connections.

    So please Apple improve quality.

    • Karen says:

      Extremely frustrating consider the cost of these phones. The only thing that has worked for me is resetting the router.

  64. Norm Goody says:

    I find this happens with my home network about 2x/month. I have tried manual entry and that usually worked. When it didn’t, I restarted phone and that usually worked. Howeever, now, I found I could just turn off wifi on phone and then immediately turn WiFi back on and it usually connects. No need to even turn off phone.

  65. G says:

    after doing all the above things to reset. I had an issue where someone would share the wifi password using option number 5. even then my iPhone actually said wrong password even though it was shared through iOS. (i want so far as to try with another iOS devices and 2 macs …no dice). It seems to be resolved 2 updates ago for iOS.

  66. rick morris says:

    Every day I have to reset my router. Nothing else works. Damn you apple!

    • Tina says:

      Same here – tried all except resetting my devices to factory settings. I have 3 ipads and 2 iphones. the ONLY solution is going with unsecured network settings. NOT A GOOD OPTION!!

  67. Louie says:

    Yeah I’ve had that issue a few times, but it’s usually fixed by simply rebooting. I did try option 2 (forgettin the wifi) before rebooting at least one of those times, but it still wouldn’t take the password and connect to the wifi until after the device was rebooted.

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