macOS is a wonderful operating system but, as is often the case with computers, you might have to do some troubleshooting from time to time. A key area you want to be on top of is your Mac’s internet connectivity.
If your Mac keeps switching Wi-Fi networks, here are a few useful tips you can use.
Identifying That the Wi-Fi Problem Is Just on Your Mac
So you’re browsing the internet and suddenly your webpages stop loading. You glance at your Wi-Fi icon and find it disconnected, then it suddenly connects to another Wi-Fi network, either one you’ve connected to in the past or a seemingly random network.
This can be incredibly annoying for any occasion, whether you’re working, watching a video, or just surfing the net. In addition to the time wasted when disconnecting and switching Wi-Fi networks, you might get a pop-up asking you to input the password to this newly connected network. Even after you switch back to your original network, macOS might keep switching Wi-Fi networks.
The first step would be to identify if the Wi-Fi problem at hand is just on your Mac. Check if any other devices using your router have the same problem. For Wi-Fi problems affecting multiple devices, you could reset your router or contact your network provider. In most cases, this should help.
If the Wi-Fi problem is happening exclusively on your Mac, resetting your router or contacting your network provider may not solve it. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do that are both quick and easy.
Start With macOS Network Settings
Before you look at a few different ways of solving your Mac’s Wi-Fi problem, you’re going to want to make sure your network settings are open. To do this, either click on the Wi-Fi icon on the top-left of your screen then select Network Preferences or click on System Preferences and select Network.
Uncheck “Ask to Join New Networks”
Sometimes your Mac can connect to new Wi-Fi networks for random reasons or possibly because they give a strong signal your Mac wants to tap into. This will create a pop-up menu asking you to join this new network, interrupting you and disconnecting you from your working Wi-Fi.
To prevent your Mac randomly connecting to these Wi-Fi networks, uncheck the box that says Ask to join new networks.
You can still access new networks, but you can now manually select them instead of having annoying pop-up menus constantly appearing.
Uncheck “Automatically Join This Network”
If you’ve got multiple Wi-Fi networks in your home/workplace that you can switch between, your Mac might automatically do that, perhaps going for the network that has the strongest signal.
Though you’ll connect to this network, you’ll still experience your internet annoyingly drop out and back in as your Mac switches networks. Also, if your Wi-Fi networks’ strength often varies, you might find your Mac constantly switching back-and-forth between them.
To prevent this from happening, you can uncheck Automatically join this network for all the known Wi-Fi networks in your home or workplace except your main home/work Wi-Fi.
Use Advanced Settings
By clicking on Advanced in your network menu, you can open up a more comprehensive list of options for your networks.
If this is your first time using your advanced network settings, under Wi-Fi, you should see all the networks your laptop has connected to. Here, you can drag your networks in order of preference as well as quickly check or uncheck Auto-join for your networks.
Using the +/ – options found below your list of Wi-Fi networks, you can add/remove any Wi-Fi networks on this list. This is particularly useful you’ve built up a huge list of Wi-Fi networks you largely don’t use.
Alternatively, you could keep your list and just re-order it based on your preference. Doing this also means that you can connect new devices by accessing your saved passwords for each Wi-Fi network.
Troubleshooting Network Problems on Your Mac
Now you know what do you if your Mac keeps switching Wi-Fi networks!
These tips should hopefully save you time if macOS decides it wants to switch between various Wi-Fi networks and also add to your knowledge of troubleshooting network problems on your Mac.