I'm having this problem and it's driving me crazy! And I've spent hours on the phone with Apple trying to solve it but they keep going in obivously the wrong direction when trying to troubleshoot. They won't even acknowledge it's an iCloud keychain problem, and keep blaming my wifi network. In fact the "senior" apple tech currently helping me won't even acknowledge that iCloud Keychain IS in fact supposed to sync your preferred wifi networks.
Problem Details:
This is *NOT* an issue with Safari saved passwords! Those are syncing just fine. And everything else that iCloud is supposed to sync, is syncing properly too.
The problem is with the list of preferred WiFi networks your devices connect to. iCloud Keychain is supposed to keep those in sync, so if you connect on one device, before long all of your other devices will have access to that same wifi network. Its a very handy feature for me because I am in fact a Mac tech myself. I do on-site work so I'm always going into peoples homes. So I connect to tons of different wifi networks, and its very nice having them sync to all my devices.
But they are not syncing.
On the Macs, you can see this list of preferred networks (different name under Ventura) in System Prefs. You can see they are not syncing. On iPhones and iPads, I don't know of any way to view this list. On those devices, I know they aren't working because suddenly my devices will be booted off my wifi and unable to reconnect without typing a password. I have two home networks in two houses (another long story) and both networks are actually running on Apple routers. Everything can connect fine, the signal is great. The issue is that the computers and devices don't have the password.
Now here's the thing. It's not JUST that the wifi networks are not syncing. Its that these devices and their list of preferred networks are REVERTING BACK to a previous form. But not the same form. Each computer has its own independent list of preferred networks. If I connect someplace new, a week later those new networks (including my home network) will be gone.
I am constantly having to retype my own network passwords on all of my Apple wifi devices, over and over. Except for some very old iPod Touches that don't have iCloud keychain. And my PS4 has no issues either.
Because you can't see the wifi preferred network list on iOS, it makes it really hard to try to fix this issue. Then again, there aren't many things to try anyway. Turn off iCloud Keychain, then turn it back on. Fully log out of iCloud, then log back in. I've done both of those many times and it has no effect.
Using my 20 years of Apple troubleshooting, I can't see any possible way this could be an issue with my two home wifi networks (as my apple support person keeps saying). I mean it doesn't even make sense.
To me, it seems like there is some fundamental problem with iCloud Keychain, likely on Apple's side, or maybe some glitch that got synced to every device and is now causing havoc.
Of my computer, my primary desktop 2018 Mac mini is the only one that seems to have the original full list of wifi networks that is many years old. I don't want to lose this list but there also doesn't seem to be any way to export the list and reimport it.
As I type this right now, I am on my 2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina. I fully logged out of iCloud, waited a while, restarted. Then I deleted alll preferred wifi networks except for the one in the house I am in right now, and another house I was at earlier today and just added. Thats all, just two.
Then I logged back in to my Apple ID. I got my contacts, my calendars, my safari saved passwords, but no wifi networks. It's the same list with just two networks in it. And I'd bet you $10 that in a week from now, my home network will get magically removed from that list.
I don't know how to get anywhere with Apple with this. And I'm completely out of ideas myself.
Hopefully someone has some crazy suggestion.
Problem Details:
This is *NOT* an issue with Safari saved passwords! Those are syncing just fine. And everything else that iCloud is supposed to sync, is syncing properly too.
The problem is with the list of preferred WiFi networks your devices connect to. iCloud Keychain is supposed to keep those in sync, so if you connect on one device, before long all of your other devices will have access to that same wifi network. Its a very handy feature for me because I am in fact a Mac tech myself. I do on-site work so I'm always going into peoples homes. So I connect to tons of different wifi networks, and its very nice having them sync to all my devices.
But they are not syncing.
On the Macs, you can see this list of preferred networks (different name under Ventura) in System Prefs. You can see they are not syncing. On iPhones and iPads, I don't know of any way to view this list. On those devices, I know they aren't working because suddenly my devices will be booted off my wifi and unable to reconnect without typing a password. I have two home networks in two houses (another long story) and both networks are actually running on Apple routers. Everything can connect fine, the signal is great. The issue is that the computers and devices don't have the password.
Now here's the thing. It's not JUST that the wifi networks are not syncing. Its that these devices and their list of preferred networks are REVERTING BACK to a previous form. But not the same form. Each computer has its own independent list of preferred networks. If I connect someplace new, a week later those new networks (including my home network) will be gone.
I am constantly having to retype my own network passwords on all of my Apple wifi devices, over and over. Except for some very old iPod Touches that don't have iCloud keychain. And my PS4 has no issues either.
Because you can't see the wifi preferred network list on iOS, it makes it really hard to try to fix this issue. Then again, there aren't many things to try anyway. Turn off iCloud Keychain, then turn it back on. Fully log out of iCloud, then log back in. I've done both of those many times and it has no effect.
Using my 20 years of Apple troubleshooting, I can't see any possible way this could be an issue with my two home wifi networks (as my apple support person keeps saying). I mean it doesn't even make sense.
To me, it seems like there is some fundamental problem with iCloud Keychain, likely on Apple's side, or maybe some glitch that got synced to every device and is now causing havoc.
Of my computer, my primary desktop 2018 Mac mini is the only one that seems to have the original full list of wifi networks that is many years old. I don't want to lose this list but there also doesn't seem to be any way to export the list and reimport it.
As I type this right now, I am on my 2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina. I fully logged out of iCloud, waited a while, restarted. Then I deleted alll preferred wifi networks except for the one in the house I am in right now, and another house I was at earlier today and just added. Thats all, just two.
Then I logged back in to my Apple ID. I got my contacts, my calendars, my safari saved passwords, but no wifi networks. It's the same list with just two networks in it. And I'd bet you $10 that in a week from now, my home network will get magically removed from that list.
I don't know how to get anywhere with Apple with this. And I'm completely out of ideas myself.
Hopefully someone has some crazy suggestion.
Last edited: