If your iPhone is updated to iOS 14 or iPadOS 14, you may have seen a “Weak Security” or Weak Security warning under the name of your Wi-Fi network, and we have talked about some details of this warning in a previous article this -Link. In this article, we will learn how to solve the problem and make the Wi-Fi security warning disappear from the iPhone and iPad settings.

Solve the problem of poor Wi-Fi security on iPhone in iOS 14


What does a weak security warning mean?

This means that your router is set to use an outdated security mode and thus is not vulnerable or vulnerable, such as the WEP or WPA standard, and furthermore, a “Weak Security” or Weak Security warning appears if TKIP encryption is used short for “Temporal Key.” Integrity Protocol, or "Temporal Key Integrity Protocol", is known that insecurity or weakness in TKIP also significantly slows down Wi-Fi speed.

As a result, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 consider that open Wi-Fi hotspots are not secure, and in this case, your iPhone will appear as an "unsafe network."


How can the "weak security" problem be fixed?

The problem is completely related to the wireless router or access point of the selected access point. This means that you can get rid of the "weak security" warning on your iPhone and iPad only in case you have access to the router settings page that links to it, in which case you have to do the following steps:

1- Log in to your router settings

Solve the problem of poor Wi-Fi security on iPhone in iOS 14

The steps for logging into the router settings vary depending on its type and manufacturer. However, there are common ways to access the router settings page by typing the IP address, such as 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.0.1 or a hostname such as tplinkwifi.net in the address bar of your browser.


2- Find Wireless Security Settings

Go to the Wireless section, then go to the sub-section called Wireless security, or anything close to that meaning.


3 Go to WPA2-PSK + AES or WPA3

This is the most important step, select WPA2 as security mode and AES as your encryption type. It is precisely for this reason that the “Weak Security” warning is received on iPhones and iPads. Note that you should choose to use “WPA2 only” and not the built-in option that is usually called “WPA / WPA2”.

However, in some router settings, you may need to select “WPA / WPA2” and then you will be able to select WPA2 in a separate menu that appears.

This is the LinkSys router

In the Asus device.

Incidentally, if your router supports the WPA3 standard, it is best to choose "WPA3 / WPA2-Personal" to ensure that all of your devices will be able to connect to a Wi-Fi network, like the previous picture on the Asus device.

After that, save the settings and don't forget to click on “Save Settings” or “Apply” depending on the button on the router's configuration page.


An additional step

Most modern routers support the dual-band operation. Therefore, at least two Wi-Fi networks are broadcast, in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ranges. We therefore recommend that you do the same for every Wi-Fi network on your router. Switch both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks to WPA2-PSK with AES to get rid of the "weak security" warning on the iPhone.

Moreover, don't forget the guest network or the multiple SSID feature if you are using one currently.

Usually, you don't need to reconnect to the network after applying the above, unless you change the password as well.


Enable private Wi-Fi addresses

To improve privacy, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 use a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network. This feature is designed to prevent hotspot administrators from tracking you by your real MAC address. The feature makes it difficult to track your device and your activity when using wireless networks and is applied on a network by network basis.

All you have to do is enable the private address when connecting to a public network or a network that is not yours, and disable it if you connect to your router.

Disabling random MAC address makes sense if you want your router to be able to assign the same IP address to your device every time you connect it to a Wi-Fi network. Hence, there is no need to disable the feature when connected to your device.


What to do if the "poor security" error persists?

If you followed all the above-mentioned steps and the issue is resolved in your router settings but the 'Poor Security' warning is still displayed below the Wi-Fi hotspot name, here's another step.

Go to Wi-Fi settings on iPhone or iPad, select your network and click on “Forget This Network” or forget the network or cancel pairing, then reconnect to Wi-Fi again and enter the password.


last word

We see that Apple is doing the right thing by warning users in the event that their devices connect to unsecured Wi-Fi networks, and you have the right to know how secure the current network is and decide whether you want to continue using it or not.

This is especially true for public hotspots. You never know who is currently connected to the same network and what their intentions are. And public hotspots, user accounts and even bank credentials are often stolen through them.

Thus, this warning on Apple devices will spur network administrators to pay more attention to improving network security for their hotspots.

Are you facing such a problem? And did you solve it? If you can solve the problem, give us the steps and the type of your router in order for the benefit to prevail.

Source:

wifi-settings

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