How to ditch bad Wi-Fi info so Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular has better connectivity
The Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE has a bug related to how it decides to stay on shoddy Wi-Fi, or shift to LTE. This can be remedied somewhat by cleaning up your known networks and not connecting to the some bad Wi-Fi hotspots in the first place -- here's how to do it.
This won't be the ultimate fix to connectivity with the LTE Apple Watch, but it will improve the situation dramatically until Apple rolls out the software patch.
The most precise way to eradicate errant Wi-Fi network login information on your iPhone is actually done from your Mac -- assuming you've got iCloud Keychain synchronization on. There is another way to do it from your iPhone or iPad, but it is a little more drastic and we'll cover it at the end.
First, the precise way.
Toggle Keychain on if it isn't already.
The Mac will prompt you to enter your Apple ID and Password. If you already have the feature on, other devices will ask permission to add the new device.
Tap Keychain and turn on iCloud Keychain.
If your Mac was the first device to enable the iCloud Keychain, it will ask you for permission to add your iPhone or iPad to the list of authorized devices. If two-factor authentication is on, the iCloud Keychain can be turned on without approval from the other device.
Select Wi-Fi, then click the Advanced button.
There are probably a wide assortment of Wi-Fi networks here to choose from. Delete any and all of them that you don't immediately recognize. The changes will propagate across the iCloud Keychain to the other devices.
Select Settings, and tap on General. Scroll down, and tap on Reset
The next step will eradicate all wi-fi passwords from the iPad, and your iCloud Keychain if you're synchronized. Be sure you have the password for your network that you're currently connected to before you move to the next step!
Select Reset Network Settings and enter your passcode.
This won't be the ultimate fix to connectivity with the LTE Apple Watch, but it will improve the situation dramatically until Apple rolls out the software patch.
The most precise way to eradicate errant Wi-Fi network login information on your iPhone is actually done from your Mac -- assuming you've got iCloud Keychain synchronization on. There is another way to do it from your iPhone or iPad, but it is a little more drastic and we'll cover it at the end.
First, the precise way.
Set up iCloud Keychain on your Mac
Select System Preferences and click iCloud.Toggle Keychain on if it isn't already.
The Mac will prompt you to enter your Apple ID and Password. If you already have the feature on, other devices will ask permission to add the new device.
Then, set up iCloud Keychain on your iPhone or iPad
Select Settings, and tap on your name. Tap iCloudTap Keychain and turn on iCloud Keychain.
If your Mac was the first device to enable the iCloud Keychain, it will ask you for permission to add your iPhone or iPad to the list of authorized devices. If two-factor authentication is on, the iCloud Keychain can be turned on without approval from the other device.
Purge the bad base stations
On your Mac, in Settings, choose Network.Select Wi-Fi, then click the Advanced button.
There are probably a wide assortment of Wi-Fi networks here to choose from. Delete any and all of them that you don't immediately recognize. The changes will propagate across the iCloud Keychain to the other devices.
The more dramatic option
If you're not so inclined to prune your known Wi-Fi network list, or it's just time for a clean sweep, the process is simple on iOS.Select Settings, and tap on General. Scroll down, and tap on Reset
The next step will eradicate all wi-fi passwords from the iPad, and your iCloud Keychain if you're synchronized. Be sure you have the password for your network that you're currently connected to before you move to the next step!
Select Reset Network Settings and enter your passcode.
Comments
I am glad you pointed this out, this is not just a Watch 3 issue, I had this issue on my phone.
I have Xfinity and they offer free hotspots which essential using someone home routers wifi, they steal their users wifi and internet bandwidth to give the other customers free wifi. With this my phone has connect to hundred of Xfinity hotspots and some of them had really poor connection but the phone would not drop them. I had to go in and clear these off so they would not automatically connect.
I suspect Apple go caught by this since they testing in house and they wifi is much better than the crap around big cities. The evaluators probably had lots of marginal wifi listed in their connection history and the watch tried jumping on them. Not sure how Apple fixes this.
..... Perfection please. Not just the first time, but everytime!
............ And no stinkin' trade-offs either!
... I refuse to connect to them anymore -- not for this reason but because I would find my phone connecting to those essentially unsecured spots rather than to my preferred, known WiFis.
Using the 'Mac' method, you can also re-order your networks, placing the preferred ones on top. I've had to do that to help prevent my Mac, when at work, from choosing a public SSID over my work's private LAN SSID. It so happens this public SSID is generously located in most retail and public places in my city, so I'm normally happy to connect to it, just not at work.
It's too bad that:
a) you can't prune and re-order networks directly on your iOS device (not everyone has a MacBook, and the reset network settings in iOS is a pretty 'big hammer' solution)
b) that iOS and macOS don't just analyze the utilization of SSIDs, also taking into account the device's location, and just auto-sort the SSIDs into a preferred order list - maybe even letting you promote favorite SSIDs to always take precedence over the auto-sorted list.
Yes, I've submitted both ideas to https://www.apple.com/feedback/
otoh Ones I use that require repeated acceptance of terms before completing the login I gather will confuse the watch.
Does the Watch not have the same option? I'll just set it to know my trusted networks at my house, work, and family and let everything else stay on LTE...if that's possible. I'll know more this afternoon when I get home and unbox that beautiful 42mm AW3LTE.
Comcast and, I think, AT&T have been (for reasons I don't understand because neither has ever been accused of being altruistic) pushing free remote WiFi hotspots for people to connect to instead of using cellular. Now, Apple is getting caught by connecting to those hotspots -- even when their performance is unacceptable.
This seems like two giants banging heads. Something needs to change.
Its actually not QUITE that bad. The Xfinity hot spot network is completly isolated and firewalled off from from the personal traffic in your home. If comcast's network interferes with your own network, you can ask them to turn it off completely, or buy your own modem without any wifi (that is what I did). But it does not impact your own bandwidth subscription in the slightest and is on a completely separate network.
Although I do think it is a bit presumptuous of Comcast to use their equipment, that you are renting from them, to serve other customers. But then Comcast is all about presuming.