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Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues.

iPhone-17-Pro-and-Air-N1-Feature.jpg

Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the past four days. It is unclear how widespread the problem is.

Specifically, affected users said Wi-Fi briefly disconnects and then reconnects after they unlock the iPhone. And since Apple's CarPlay system in vehicles relies on a Wi-Fi connection, the issue can result in CarPlay disconnecting too.

Many users said the issue occurs while they are wearing an Apple Watch that is paired and unlocked, but it is unclear if that is always a contributing factor.

MacRumors has been unable to reproduce the problem, but it has reached out to Apple for comment on the matter. This story will be updated if Apple responds.

It is unclear if this is a hardware or software problem, but Apple is often able to fix these sorts of issues with a software update. iOS 26.0.1 is coming soon, but it is unclear if Apple will have identified and implemented a fix in time for that version.

All four of the new iPhone models are equipped with Apple's first-ever custom-designed N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity, whereas previous iPhone models rely on a Broadcom chip for wireless networking.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Apple touted the N1 chip's power efficiency.

"One of the things people may not realize is that your Wi-Fi access points actually contribute to your device's awareness of location, so you don't need to use GPS, which actually costs more from a power perspective," said Arun Mathias, Apple's vice president of wireless software technologies. "By being able to do this more seamlessly in the background, not needing to wake up the application processor as much, we can do that significantly more efficiently."

In its press releases for the new iPhones, Apple said the N1 chip also improves the performance and reliability of features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop.

Unfortunately, though, it appears the N1 chip is not so reliable for Wi-Fi for some users right now.

Article Link: Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue
I have an iPhone 15 pro max and have been getting that issue since the update.
 
hmmm...

i wonder if this could be a situation where the N1 modem team were able to deliver a reliable and power efficient modem but needed other software teams to adjust the performance criteria for their projects, and those teams were unwilling to adjust their work, or, unable to adjust their work in a certain time frame.

i wonder if cross functional team solving within apple is organizationally ineffective.
if so, the problem is where the work outputs are joined, which is at the senior vp level, not within the individual teams themselves.
 
Definitely see this issue with constant disconnects from wireless CarPlay with my 17 Pro. Did not see this issue with a 16 Pro running iOS 26.
 
For what it's worth, I fixed this by giving myself a fixed IP instead of relying on DHCP.

This seems to be related to DHCP -- whenever my WiFi connection dropped, I noticed my phone had a 169.254.x.x APIPA address, suggesting DHCP was failing. Giving myself a fixed IP and fixed DNS entries resolved my problem until Apple can fix their implementation.
Are you always on only one WIFI network that you have control of?
 
Since upgrading all my devices to OS26 I have wifi drops on MBPm1 and iPad pro 7…
I haven't noticed on iPhone 15 pro max and may try turning cellular off to see…
So I believe this is an OS26 issue…
 
I have a 13 Pro, and recently got a newer (2019, so not newest) car that features Bluetooth Audio. Not yet using the Car Play feature, as my Lightning port is hooped. I always charge the phone wirelessly.

I was using a lower-wattage Qi charger all along, but when I switched to a newer 15W charger with magnets, the Bluetooth cuts off momentarily when the charging is initiated.

The animation on the screen is different when using 5W vs 15W chargers.

Wonder if this is related?
 
The problem I'm having with the 17 Pro Max Wifi is that it appears to be causing my main router to reboot when I switch networks. It is a repeatable problem.

I have 3-ASUS ZenWifi BQ16 Pro units set up in a mesh configuration. I have an IOT network setup on the 2.4Ghz band. Standard Wifi on the 5 and 6Ghz bands. The phone generally ignores the WiFi 7 bands and was routinely connecting to the 2.4Ghz band. I disabled Auto-join on the 2.4Ghz band so the phone only auto joins the WiFi 7 band.

Now, if I switch to the 2.4Ghz band manually on the phone, the main router reboots and the entire network loses connectivity. I've never heard of a phone rebooting a router, but I can repeat this process and it happens every time.
 


Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues.

iPhone-17-Pro-and-Air-N1-Feature.jpg

Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the past four days. It is unclear how widespread the problem is.

Specifically, affected users said Wi-Fi briefly disconnects and then reconnects after they unlock the iPhone. And since Apple's CarPlay system in vehicles relies on a Wi-Fi connection, the issue can result in CarPlay disconnecting too.

Many users said the issue occurs while they are wearing an Apple Watch that is paired and unlocked, but it is unclear if that is always a contributing factor.

MacRumors has been unable to reproduce the problem, but it has reached out to Apple for comment on the matter. This story will be updated if Apple responds.

It is unclear if this is a hardware or software problem, but Apple is often able to fix these sorts of issues with a software update. iOS 26.0.1 is coming soon, but it is unclear if Apple will have identified and implemented a fix in time for that version.

All four of the new iPhone models are equipped with Apple's first-ever custom-designed N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity, whereas previous iPhone models rely on a Broadcom chip for wireless networking.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Apple touted the N1 chip's power efficiency.

"One of the things people may not realize is that your Wi-Fi access points actually contribute to your device's awareness of location, so you don't need to use GPS, which actually costs more from a power perspective," said Arun Mathias, Apple's vice president of wireless software technologies. "By being able to do this more seamlessly in the background, not needing to wake up the application processor as much, we can do that significantly more efficiently."

In its press releases for the new iPhones, Apple said the N1 chip also improves the performance and reliability of features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop.

Unfortunately, though, it appears the N1 chip is not so reliable for Wi-Fi for some users right now.

Article Link: Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue
This is driving me crazy. It happens so often when I’m streaming Spotify. Tried on Apple Music, same issue. I’m air playing to 3 HomePods and a Sonos and if my iPhone doesn’t decide to disconnect me from WiFi, I also experience individual speakers stop and start playing again. I restarted the router, reset network settings, disabled WiFi assist or whatever it was called - still getting lots of disconnections :(
 
  • Wow
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Living in Finland, there would be no need for Wi-Fi since cheap mobile connections have delivered the speed for over 10 years. But Apple hangs in the past (like tech in America) and requires devices to connect Wi-Fi every now and then, like when setting up new devices. Hopefully Apple would finally give us the possibility to connect and setup without Wi-Fi so these modem issues would not affect ux.
 
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Count me in as having this problem with my new iPhone 17 Pro.

I have two wireless CarPlay units, and both of them drop out.

However, using my iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 26, I have zero issues.
An update on my issue: regarding my wireless CarPlay drops, CarPlay still loses its connection, regardless of being in airplane mode, Bluetooth off, or having the watch out of the car.
 
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I regret upgrading tbh. The migration was messy with a couple of my authenticator apps locking me out, apple watch had to be rebooted 4-5 times before pairing, cellular activation took a while, and I lost all my saved bluetooth devices aside from airpods lol. Took me a good 4-5 hours to get up and running, most likely because the servers were slammed.

The 17 pro is also noticeably heavier and bulkier than my 15 pro, and you can see a thin aluminum border around the screen next to the silicone case border so the screen doesnt disappear into a slab of black glass anymore

Don't even get me started on the hot mess that is ios 26. Visual glitches, lag, and UI bugs everywhere

I should have just paid $79 for a new battery in my 15 pro, stuck to 18.7, and waited another year for the foldable.

The "it just works" advantage is slowly fading away at apple
Battery replacement is now $99 for the 15P.
 
This is driving me crazy. It happens so often when I’m streaming Spotify. Tried on Apple Music, same issue. I’m air playing to 3 HomePods and a Sonos and if my iPhone doesn’t decide to disconnect me from WiFi, I also experience individual speakers stop and start playing again. I restarted the router, reset network settings, disabled WiFi assist or whatever it was called - still getting lots of disconnections :(
I had the same issues. Like the Air is basically unusable. I can connect to the web through the browser but the Music app wouldn't load Home Screen. was missing calls. took forever to download apps. Based on another post earlier about VPN, I looked at that because even though I didn't have VPN on (the protonvpn app wasn't even setup), when I looked at my VPN config in settings it was turning on and off every second without me doing anything. I deleted my vpn app and now Music loads. I have twice had to revert back to my previous phone but I'm going to try again. So if you having bigger issues than wifi not working when unlocking look at your vpn config even if you haven't used VPN in a while.
 
I’m starting to wonder if it only is an issue if you also have an Apple Watch paired to the phone. Anybody have a watch paired with no isusues?
 
I really hope Apple will put in the necessary work to make the N1 chip firmware as reliable as the Broadcom Wifi has been on older devices. It would otherwise ruin an almost perfect upgrade for me.
 
Not having any issues with WiFi dropping. All the recorded events (blue numbers) are either me setting things up, speed testing cellular or going out the house.

Screenshot 2025-09-22 at 20.24.35.png
 
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