Using Your iPhone's (iOS11) Core Features

Connecting to Open Wi-Fi Networks

To connect your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network, perform the following steps:

1. On the Home screen, tap Settings. Next to Wi-Fi, you see the status of your Wi-Fi connection. It is Off if Wi-Fi is turned off, Not Connected if Wi-Fi is turned on and your phone isn’t currently connected to Wi-Fi, or the name of the Wi-Fi network to which your iPhone is connected.

2. Tap Wi-Fi.

3. If Wi-Fi isn’t enabled already, slide the Wi-Fi switch to on (green) and your iPhone searches for available networks. A list of available networks is displayed in the CHOOSE A NETWORK section (it can take a moment for all the networks available in the area to be shown). Along with each network’s name, icons indicating whether it requires a password (the padlock icon) to join and the current signal strength (the radio waves icon) are displayed.

4. Tap the network you want to join. Of course, when a network requires a password, you must know that password to be able to join it. Another consideration should be signal strength; the more waves in the network’s signal strength icon, the stronger the connection.

5. At the prompt, enter the password for the network you selected. If you aren’t prompted for a password, skip to step 7. (You’re likely to find networks that don’t require a password in public places; see the next section for information on these types of networks.)

6. Tap Join. If you provided the correct password, your iPhone connects to the network and gets the information it needs to connect to the Internet. If not, you’re prompted to enter the password again. After you successfully connect to the network, you return to the Wi-Fi screen.

7. Review the network information. The network to which you are connected appears just below the Wi-Fi switch and is marked with a check mark. You also see the signal strength for that network.

8. Try to move to a web page, such as www.bradmiser.com, to test your Wi-Fi connection. (See Chapter 12, “Surfing the Web,” for details.) If the web page opens, you are ready to use the Internet on your phone. If you are taken to a login web page for a Wi-Fi provider rather than the page you were trying to access, see the next task. If you see a message saying the Internet is not available, there is a problem with the network you joined. Go back to step 4 to select a different network.

Quick Access to the Wi-Fi Switch

You can quickly turn Wi-Fi on or off by swiping up from the bottom of the Home screen (all models except the iPhone X) or swiping down from the upper-right corner of the screen (iPhone X) to open the Control Center. If the Wi-Fi icon (it looks like the signal strength indicator on the Wi-Fi Setting screen) is blue, Wi-Fi is on. Tap that icon to turn Wi-Fi off (the icon becomes gray). Tap it again to turn Wi-Fi on and reconnect to a known network. See Chapter 1 for more information about working with the Control Center.

>>>Go Further: CONNECTING TO WI-FI NETWORKS

As you connect to Wi-Fi networks, consider the following:

• Typing passwords—As you type a password, each character is hidden by a dot in the Password field except for the last character you entered, which is displayed on the screen for a moment. Keep an eye on characters as you enter them because you can fix a mistake as soon as you make it rather than finding out after you’ve entered the entire password and having to start over.
• Changing networks—You can use these same steps to change the Wi-Fi network you are using at any time. For example, if you have to pay to use one network while a different one is free, simply choose the free network in step 4.
• Be known—After your iPhone connects to a Wi-Fi network successfully, it becomes a known network. This means that your iPhone remembers its information so you don’t have to enter it again. Your iPhone automatically connects to known networks when it needs to access the Internet. So unless you tell your iPhone to forget a network (explained later in this chapter), you need to enter its password only the first time you connect to it.
• Security recommendation—If you are connected to a network that doesn’t use what Apple considers sufficient, you see the words “Security Recommendation” under the network’s name. If you tap that network, you see its Info screen. At the top of that screen, you see the type of security the network is using and a recommendation about the type of security it should use. If the Wi-Fi network comes from a router or modem you own or rent, contact your Internet service provider, such as a cable company, to learn how the security provided by that router or modem can be reconfigured to be more secure. If the network is in a public place or business, you just have to use it as is (unless you can contact the administrator of that network to see if better security is available).
• Personal hotspots—iPhones and iPads can share their cellular Internet connection (how to do this is covered in a later Go Further sidebar) with other devices by providing a Wi-Fi network to which you can connect your iPhone. The icons for these networks are a bit different, being two connected loops that indicate the network is from a hotspot. You can select and use these networks just like the other types of networks being described in this chapter. The speed of your access is determined mostly by the speed of the device’s cellular data connection. Also, the data you use while connected to the hotspot’s network counts against the data plan for the device to which you are connected.

Following are the general steps to connect to many types of public Wi-Fi networks:

1. Move to the Settings screen.

2. Tap Wi-Fi.

3. Tap the network you want to join. You move to that network’s Log In screen. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the process. This often involves selecting a connection option and providing payment or identification information, as this example of connecting to a hotel’s Wi-Fi network shows.

4. Choose the connection option you want to use.

5. Provide the information required to join the network, such as a last name and room number. If a fee is required, you have to provide payment information. In many cases, you at least have to indicate that you accept the terms and conditions for using the network, which you typically do by checking a check box.

6. Tap the icon to join the network. This icon can have different labels depending on the type of access, such as Connect, Authenticate, Done, Free Access, Login, and so on.

7. Tap Done (if required).

8. Try to move to a web page, such as www.wikipedia.org, to test your Wi-Fi connection (not shown in a figure). (See Chapter 12 for details.) If the web page opens, you are ready to use the Internet on your phone. If you are taken to a login web page for the Wi-Fi network’s provider, you need to provide the required information to be able to use the Internet. For example, when access is free, as it is at most airports, you usually just have to indicate you accept the terms of use for that network.

No Prompt?

Not all public networks prompt you to log in as these steps explain. Sometimes, you use the network’s website to log in instead. After you join the network (step 3), your iPhone is connected to the network without any prompts. When you try to move to a web page as explained in step 8, you’re prompted to log in to or create an account with the network’s provider on the web page that appears.

A Closed Network

Some Wi-Fi networks are closed, which means they don’t broadcast their names. This means that you don’t see closed networks listed in the CHOOSE A NETWORK section on the Wi-Fi screen. To be able to access a closed network, you need to know its name, its password, and the type of security it uses. With this information in hand, tap Other in the CHOOSE A NETWORK section. Then type the network’s name. Tap Security, choose the appropriate type, and tap Other Network. Enter the network’s password and tap Join.

To disable automatic network prompting, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Settings app and move to the Wi-Fi screen.

2. Set the Ask to Join Networks switch to off (white). To connect to unknown networks, you need to use the Settings app as described in the previous tasks because your iPhone no longer automatically prompts you to join unknown networks. (Remember that it still joins known networks, meaning those you have used before, automatically.)

To have your iPhone forget a network so it doesn’t automatically connect to it in the future, do the following:

1. Tap Wi-Fi in the Settings app to view the Wi-Fi screen.

2. Tap the Info icon for the network that you want your iPhone to forget. (You can forget a network only if you are or have previously been connected to it.)

3. Tap Forget This Network.

4. Tap Forget in the resulting prompt. Your iPhone stops using and forgets the network. You return to the Wi-Fi screen. If another known network is available, your iPhone connects to it automatically. If a network you’ve forgotten is still in range of your iPhone, it continues to appear in the CHOOSE A NETWORK section, but your iPhone no longer automatically connects to it. You can re-join a forgotten network at any time, just as you did the first time you connected to it.

Forget Versus Auto-Join

When you forget a network, your iPhone stops connecting to it automatically and erases the network’s password so you have to enter it again if you want to re-join that network. If you just want to stop automatically joining the network but keep its password on your iPhone, set the Auto-Join switch to off (white) instead of performing step 3. Your iPhone stops automatically connecting to that network, but you can re-join it at any time by tapping it on the CHOOSE A NETWORK list (you don’t have to re-enter the password as you do if you forget a network).

Cell Phone Provider Wi-Fi Networks

Many cell phone providers also provide other services, particularly public Wi-Fi networks. In some cases, you can access that provider’s Internet service through a Wi-Fi network that it provides; often, you can do this at no additional charge. So, you can take advantage of the speed a Wi-Fi connection provides without paying more for it. You connect to these networks just like any other by selecting them on the network list. What happens next depends on the specific network. In some cases, you need to enter your mobile phone number and then respond to a text message to that phone number. Check your provider’s website to find out whether it offers this service and where and how you can access it.