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iOS 19 Likely to Sync Captive Wi-Fi Data Between Devices

First, as an end user, please no. Sometimes I only want one device on a network.

Second, as someone who operates a captive network, please no. I need affirmative consent for each device that connects so that I can properly attribute abusive use.
 
lellis2k said:
Ah was hoping this would be something more universal to prevent having to enter info to every new captive wifi you turn up at. Syncing between devices is a nice addition, but not a big one imo
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You have it, it's based on digital certificate. For example take a look at eduroam project.
 
Should be useful. Hopefully it won't be a feature that will take a few months to be available after its public launch in September.
 
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bradman83 said:
I'm curious how this impacts paid captive wi-fi, specifically those found on aircraft. Currently if the airline charges for wi-fi you'd have to pay a fee for each device. Does this get around it? I would imagine paid wi-fi operators would be able to tell based on the device's MAC address or something similar.
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No, this wouldn't let you use multiple devices on a paid network with only one fee. Captive networks control access on their end based on MAC address. This feature is only syncing your login/form info. It will not/cannot whitelist your other devices on the network.

Captive networks typically work like this:
  1. You fill out a form and submit it.
  2. The network adds the device's MAC address to its allow list.
  3. If you have other devices, you need to fill out and submit the form on each device.
  4. The MAC addresses of those devices are then added to the network's allow list.

What this feature supposedly does:
  1. You fill out a form and submit it (and the network adds the device's MAC address to its allow list).
  2. The OS (or perhaps Safari) will remember that info.
  3. If you have other devices, they will use the info you previously used to connect. Think of it being somewhat like auto-filling your credit card, address, passwords, etc. It's unknown if it will auto-fill the form like this, or just do it in the background.
  4. The MAC addresses of those devices are then added to the network's allow list.
Theoretically, on devices like the Apple TV, it could just pull this info and submit the form itself, rather than making you continue on an iPhone or iPad to fill out the form.
 
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This would be a QoL improvement for setting up a Vision Pro on the plane. Hopefully it works with AVP as well
 
Nah don’t do this. Captive portals were already super shady without people knowing how often it was abused by law enforcement to get into your device. But to expand it where bad actors can now track you across different networks. Apple must be throwing LE a bone for surveillance. It must be since i live in an age where i bring a starlink terminal everywhere with me. What sucker uses captive portals and depends on others networks… probably the same people FBI loves
 
MacRumors said:
suggesting it will likely arrive with iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and macOS 16
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It would be great if Apple were to enable this feature to sync up (with not just iOS & macOS) but with tvOS as well:

www.macrumors.com

Apple Releases tvOS 15.4 With Support for Captive WiFi Networks

Apple today released tvOS 15.4, the fourth major update to the tvOS operating system that first launched in September 2021. tvOS 15.4 comes less than...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com

I bring my Apple TV with me when I travel and stay at hotels so the ability to easily connect to the hotel’s captive portal network (on either my iPhone or MacBook) and then have that connection easily transferred to my Apple TV would be wonderful and would improve upon those⬆️ existing capabilities (introduced in tvOS 15.4 back in 2022) by unifying the Wi-Fi synchronization across ALL of Apple’s OSs

A possible future improvement (even further down the road) could be to integrate this new WiFi connection feature into the existing capability of sharing Wi-Fi networks with friends & family:

 
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