Reinstalled MacOS and old access points were still there..how?

[bbates123]

I was having major Wifi issues with my 2016 MBP so after trying everything I could find on the internet to resolve the issues I decided to just reinstall the OS. I didn't just reinstall over the existing installation (which I had tried before and didn't resolve my issues)...I deleted the partition and did a clean install and reinstalled everything. Thankfully that seemed to fix my wifi problems.

Now here's the weird part... If I go into my wireless network preferences I see all of the old access points that I joined years ago and haven't accessed in ages. So does Apple store these in the cloud or the recovery partition or how is that possible?

 

[mikzn]

I believe they are stored in Keychain? and can be synced across multiple devices with the same apple ID, I know that when I sign into a wifi on my phone - my ipad and MBP also work (sometimes) after the keychain has time to sync.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

It's part of your iCloud/Keychain. You can manage them under System Preference, Network, Advanced...

 

[bbates123]

It's part of your iCloud/Keychain. You can manage them under System Preference, Network, Advanced...

Huh, I had no idea that was stored in the cloud. Thanks much!

 

[Crunch]

Huh, I had no idea that was stored in the cloud. Thanks much!

Yea, it can feel creepy to come across stuff like that.

Apple is pushing us to store more and more things in the cloud. First, it was all of our photos. Then, it was all of our passwords. All of a sudden, it's the entire Documents folder. What's next? Perhaps the key combination for the front door of your "smart home".

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Yea, it can feel creepy to come across stuff like that.

Apple is pushing us to store more and more things in the cloud. First, it was all of our photos. Then, it was all of our passwords. All of a sudden, it's the entire Documents folder. What's next? Perhaps the key combination for the front door of your "smart home".

I think this is actually one of the oldest things Apple stored, as when the iPhone came out, mobile data was expensive and slow, so it was encouraged to connect to wifi hotspots. Not sure when it went to the cloud, but I bet it's been part of the iPhone backup for quite some time.

 

[Crunch]

I think this is actually one of the oldest things Apple stored, as when the iPhone came out, mobile data was expensive and slow, so it was encouraged to connect to wifi hotspots. Not sure when it went to the cloud, but I bet it's been part of the iPhone backup for quite some time.

OK, you may be right. But overall, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and rest of the gang, are on the same page when it comes to steering us to a more and more cloud-centric computer existence with privacy out the window. That's all I'm saying here...

Peace!

 

[blackdogaudio]

I think it's a matter of perspective...personally I think it's all part of the philosophy that "it just works" with the idea many (or most) Apple users would find it convenient if all of their Apple devices would automatically be joined to any network when one of their devices connected to it previously. (It's actually one of the small things I love about their ecosystem)

As mentioned previously, if you want to eliminate old or unwanted connections it's simply a matter of deleting an entry on all of your devices in network settings if not KeyChain. (You'll have to repeat this if you restore any of those devices from a backup until those older backups are overwritten however if you only delete from network settings.)

Regarding Apple's cloud-centric world we're part of...in my opinion, they've established a good track record of trying to store our data as securely (and privately) as possible. I work in IT for a fairly large corporation (35K employees) and trust me...we have no desire (or time) to view an employee's data. Every second is spent making that data available at all times for the employees while keeping it secure.

 

[Crunch]

I think it's a matter of perspective...personally I think it's all part of the philosophy that "it just works" with the idea many (or most) Apple users would find it convenient if all of their Apple devices would automatically be joined to any network when one of their devices connected to it previously. (It's actually one of the small things I love about their ecosystem)

As mentioned previously, if you want to eliminate old or unwanted connections it's simply a matter of deleting an entry on all of your devices in network settings if not KeyChain. (You'll have to repeat this if you restore any of those devices from a backup until those older backups are overwritten however.)

Regarding Apple's cloud-centric world we're part of...in my opinion, they've established a good track record of trying to store our data as securely (and privately) as possible. I work in IT for a fairly large corporation (35K employees) and trust me...we have no desire (or time) to view an employee's data. Every second is spent making that data available at all times for the employees while keeping it secure.

I agree that Apple is high up on the totem pole when it comes to privacy, but only as compared to the other major corporations. And I'm not worried about Apple or any companies such as the one you work for snooping around.

What I am concerned about are those pesky so-called "third-party" companies (read: government surveillance services, NSA, etc.) and their never-ending need to feed your human behavior to their respective A.I. algorithms for future use against you.

They're not trying to learn about you to help you or make your life easier and more convenient. They're there to control you and run your life. Sound like a dystopian novel or movie? Well sure, because that's just predictive programming. Check out movies from 15-25 years ago and tell me you don't see tons of parallels to the world we live in today.

 

[blackdogaudio]

I agree that Apple is high up on the totem pole when it comes to privacy, but only as compared to the other major corporations. And I'm not worried about Apple or any companies such as the one you work for snooping around.

What I am concerned about are those pesky so-called "third-party" companies (read: government surveillance services, NSA, etc.) and their never-ending need to feed your human behavior to their respective A.I. algorithms for future use against you.

They're not trying to learn about you to help you or make your life easier and more convenient. They're there to control you and run your life. Sound like a dystopian novel or movie? Well sure, because that's just predictive programming. Check out movies from 15-25 years ago and tell me you don't see tons of parallels to the world we live in today.

That's a risk we all have to take if we want to use the cloud to the fullest and without managing our own personal clouds. I don't know any way around it.