I don't think I can connect to wifi with my iPhone 5 - help?

I heard that I can tell if my iPhone 5 is connected to wifi by seeing a wifi icon in the upper left corner of the display. I don't see that icon. Looking in Wi-Fi Settings, it looks like I'm connected because the wireless network I want to connect to (my home wifi) seems to show it's connected, because right under where I turn Wi-Fi on (it is green, so it's turned on) I see the name of my wifi network with a lock and a black wireless icon. That seems to me that I would be connected. But, I just don't see the wireless icon in the upper left corner so I don't think I'm really connected. (What I do see is three solid dots, two open dots, and "LTE" so that would mean I'm connected to the cellular network.) And, it would make sense to see that wireless icon on my main display because it would be a pain to have to go into settings to see if I'm connected to wifi. I'd appreciate any help with this. Thanks!

Accepted answers

Weth

Then you are not connected to wifi. Click in your wifi name and enter your wifi password. The check mark indicates you are connected, no check, no connection.

All comments

Weth

Does it have a blue check to the left of your wifi network? Is it like Home below or Wifisecure?

Lisp

Thanks so much for responding. No, I don't have a blue checkmark there. Sometimes I get a swirling icon to show it's looking, but then that icon goes away and I see nothing in its place. Oh, so it looks like WiFiSecure in your screen shot, including the padlock icon.

Weth

Then you are not connected to wifi. Click in your wifi name and enter your wifi password. The check mark indicates you are connected, no check, no connection.

Lisp

Okay, so to know I'm connected, I need to see a blue check mark. Good to know. I have previously clicked on my network name, but there is no option to enter a password or anything that indicates entering something to connect. Maybe I should delete my home wifi network off the phone and start over by adding it? You have helped me to at least know how to know I'm connected. Thanks!

Weth

Yes, delete the connection. Before reconnecting, unplug your wifi router for 30 seconds then plug back in. Wait a few minutes, then try connecting again.

Lisp

I guess by "delete the connection" you mean "Forget this network," right? That puts it down in the "Choose a Network" area, so it's still there. But, I do have to enter my password to reconnect. I guess there's no way to totally delete it, nor do I need to, right? I assume this is what you're recommending so I'll turn off my Airport Extreme for a couple minutes, turn it back on, and then try to connect my iPhone again to it.

Weth

Yes, forget this network is right.

Forget network, then reboot router, then reconnect.

Forget network does delete the details of that connection on the device. The bottom part, choose a network, just lists wifi access points in range, but not necessarily remembered by the device.

Lisp

Oh my goodness, I first tried restarting my iPhone in case that would work. I was hesitant to reboot the Airport because I didn't want to encounter any issues with my computer connections in the meantime. It's late and I want to go to bed, you see. Anyway, restarting the iPhone worked! I now have a blue checkmark to the left of my home wireless network. I also now see a wireless icon in the upper left corner of the iPhone display. Yay! It's there in addition to the cell strength, but I assume wireless will be used instead of the cellphone connection because I see the wireless icon. Is that correct? Thank you so much and I'm glad you responded after my last question. You have been a great help.

Weth

Your welcome. I am glad it is working. Consider rebooting that Airport once in a while. Routers can benefit too from a restart. I do mine about once a month even if it is not acting up. You may notice it connects faster and is slightly speedier Take care.

Weth

And yes, with the blue checkmark and wifi indicator, you data will go over wifi and not cellular. Do keep in mind, the phone needs to check into home once in a while and a little bit of data whle connected to wifi is considered normal. Usually a few megabytes at most over 6 hours.

parnfam4

I am having the same issue with my iPhone 11 pro max since the 14.1 update. Apple is working with me to try to get it fixed but nothing yet. It's been 4 days now with no internet connection!!

[Deleted User]

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Verizon_Support

That's certainly a major issue with the phone, parnfam4. Is the phone able to connect with cellular service? Please send us a Private Message, and we can look into this on our side.

ZakC_VZW