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Maziar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 22, 2010
387
4
Hey guys
Recently,I upgraded my 4S to iOS6 and since then,I've been experiencing this issue.Wifi drops when the phone is locked for more than 2-3 minutes.
Any ideas ?
 
Yep - always does this.

One of the most annoying things in the world, as soon as my phone locks my speakers start randomly singing with interference!

I think it's a battery saving thing. I don't know if I notice any difference though, cause I have to leave the screen on...
 
Why? Assuming it's on an iPhone, it'll use cellular data to push through notifications.

Not just thinking about notifications. what if I am streaming music, I don't want it to kick over to cellular data simply because the lock screen cam on.
 
Hey guys
Recently,I upgraded my 4S to iOS6 and since then,I've been experiencing this issue.Wifi drops when the phone is locked for more than 2-3 minutes.
Any ideas ?

I had to do a full restore on my device yesterday, and the constant wifi-dropping proved to be a huge pain during the iCloud restore process. If I didn't tap the screen to prevent auto-lock, the whole process would fail and I had to start the restore over again. The result was 15 minutes of tapping the screen every 30 seconds.

I like that it drops wifi on lock in most situations, but it seems like an oversight to do so during an icloud restore, especially when the phone is connected to a power source.
 
Strange,Because w/iOS5,my Wifi icon was visible in the lock screen but not with iOS6
 
Strange,Because w/iOS5,my Wifi icon was visible in the lock screen but not with iOS6
Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. It's annoyed me too. I'm running my iPhone on prepaid and I don't have a lot of data, so whenever I'm home, it's much better to turn off cellular data altogether and just leave Wi-Fi on.

With iOS 5, Apple had the sense to leave the Wi-Fi radio on if cellular data was turned off. In iOS 6, if cellular data is off and Wi-Fi is on, it will still disconnect Wi-Fi after a few seconds of sleep. You can see it reconnect when you turn on the lock screen again, right?

It's an annoying and arbitrary change, and I've been looking for a fix as well.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. It's annoyed me too. I'm running my iPhone on prepaid and I don't have a lot of data, so whenever I'm home, it's much better to turn off cellular data altogether and just leave Wi-Fi on.

With iOS 5, Apple had the sense to leave the Wi-Fi radio on if cellular data was turned off. In iOS 6, if cellular data is off and Wi-Fi is on, it will still disconnect Wi-Fi after a few seconds of sleep. You can see it reconnect when you turn on the lock screen again, right?

It's an annoying and arbitrary change, and I've been looking for a fix as well.

Yes exactly.
As soon as I unlock the phone,it connects to the wifi
 
I think it's an iOS 6 issue b/c it happens on my iPhone 5 & now it's happening on my iPad 2 even though I never noticed it being an issue with iOS 5 installed.
 
Not just thinking about notifications. what if I am streaming music, I don't want it to kick over to cellular data simply because the lock screen cam on.


I know this is a few months old, but that's not how iOS works.

It will not turn off the Wi-Fi when there's something using it (like a streaming audio App - e.g Pandora or a VOIP App - e.g. Skype).

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iOS behaviour or iOS 6 bug?

This is how iOS has always functioned.

iOS 4 changed things slightly so that Wi-Fi would remain on if cellular data was completely unavailable for some reason.
 
Agreed with you all on this.

I just don't get it.
Why the hell did Apple want to change something that was already working fine/perfect??? Just stupid for no reasons.

the ipod music app is ugly too. I liked the previous one much better.
I think iOS6 is a downgrade in terms of visuals and some part of functionality
 
I know this is a few months old, but that's not how iOS works.

It will not turn off the Wi-Fi when there's something using it (like a streaming audio App - e.g Pandora or a VOIP App - e.g. Skype).

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It actually does turn off wifi on my iPad 4 - when using stitcher for example, or streaming podcasts, or using airplay to stream video to my TV. If the screen goes off, the audio stops and I get a connection error once the buffer runs out. Wifi reconnects right away when I wake it up and I can start the audio again. Even more irritating is that it tries to save my battery for me in this manner even when it's plugged in at 100% and running fully off the outlet.

I appreciate Apple trying to protect me from using my own battery, but unless I'm mistaken, the battery is there so I can use the device, correct? Or is it there so I can worry about it running out to the point where I need Apple to limit functionality so it will never ever run out ever? Why don't they just shut down the iPad totally when it gets to about 5-10% to make sure it doesn't die and hamper my user experience? ;)
 
I'm going to throw in my $.02...
This WiFi bug is particularly annoying when you're traveling and you have your iPhone in Airport Mode with WiFi turned on. If you're using the phone, iMessages/Emails/Notifications won't come thru, and even when you unlock the phone they are either delayed or never make it thru.

IMO this is a big issue because if you're in an area with poor cellular coverage (ofice building, home basement) and you rely on WiFi for iMessage and emails, you will miss all of them unless your leave the screen on all the time.
 
Reset your network settings. I had this issue, and it went back to normal after I reset it. I also think it has something to do with restoring from backup, but I can't really prove that.
 
Reset your network settings. I had this issue, and it went back to normal after I reset it. I also think it has something to do with restoring from backup, but I can't really prove that.

I doubt this would fix it. It's not a bug. WiFi cuts off by design after the screen goes off.
 
I doubt this would fix it. It's not a bug. WiFi cuts off by design after the screen goes off.
But it's supposed to wake up whenever there are any push notifications. (And it shouldn't be turning off if the screen simply goes off while you are still streaming something, for example.)
 
On my 3gs I have tmobile unlimited data and 100 minutes 30 dollar plan. I leave it on all the time including wifi. When I lock my phone the wifi stays on the lock screen. It only goes off wifi and onto 3g or E when I leave the house or am out of range of the wifi. It came with 5.1.1. Or if you're jail broken Insomnia app.
 
But it's supposed to wake up whenever there are any push notifications. (And it shouldn't be turning off if the screen simply goes off while you are still streaming something, for example.)

Well if your cellular data is off then there's no way to tell the WiFi that there's a push notification waiting to come thru. Thus, you miss iMessages, emails etc, until you physically unlock the phone.
And I don't think there's a different behavior for when you're streaming media.

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On my 3gs I have tmobile unlimited data and 100 minutes 30 dollar plan. I leave it on all the time including wifi. When I lock my phone the wifi stays on the lock screen. It only goes off wifi and onto 3g or E when I leave the house or am out of range of the wifi. It came with 5.1.1. Or if you're jail broken Insomnia app.

We're talking about iOS 6 here.
 
I was just confirming it was a 6 thing and not 5. Anyhow I found the answer. My moms 4s with 6 doesn't go off when wifi when locked either as long as I'm connected to that little square white wall usb plug thing that the iphones come with.

And yesterday after reading about that from another user on apples own forums the 4s would not disconnect wifi even when unplugs. Unless it just takes a few minutes to register. But while on power at least is good news. So if you are iclouding or updating apps or something god news.
 
Mine switch to wifi in a blink of eye as soon as I press the home button. I guess that's how it is for OP, that's why he never noticed it before. But it really depends which wifi I'm connecting to..

EDIT: Forgot to mention that wifi stays on when it's charging. So I am assuming it's a battery save purpose.
 
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