If you travel regularly with your Mac or iOS device, you likely find yourself connecting to new Wi-Fi networks at airports, in train stations, in hotels, restaurants, pubs, or at clients’ offices. Whether you connect to these networks with your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, miraculously, your devices will remember these networks and sync them via iCloud.
Your Apple device’s ability to remember previously connected to networks can be both good and bad. While it means you don’t have to search for or remember login credentials when you connect to a known Wi-Fi network on a different device, it can lead to a surfeit of Wi-Fi networks stored in your keychain and potentially allow you to unknowingly connect to a Wi-Fi network that might not be secure.
How to Remove Wi-Fi Networks from iPhone or iPad
You can remove Wi-Fi networks on an iPhone or an iPad, but only if you are near enough to those networks for your device to detect them.
- If you go to Settings > Wi-Fi, you’ll see some available Wi-Fi networks
- Tap the i button next to a network that you have previously joined.
- Tap Forget this Network.
- The device will remove that network.
If you want to remove all saved Wi-Fi networks on your iOS device, there is a nuclear option.
- If you tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, the iOS device deletes all your Wi-Fi networks and passwords, along with other network settings. However, this does not carry over to iCloud Keychain if you are using it, and the only way to fully delete these saved networks is on iOS.
