How to fix Wi-Fi on your smartphone or tablet

When your device struggles to connect, it can be frustrating and disruptive. However, fixing Wi-Fi issues on your smartphone or tablet doesn’t have to be difficult.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you troubleshoot and fix common Wi-Fi issues on both Android and iOS devices.

How do I fix my internet randomly disconnecting?

Make sure your device is up to date

Often the fix for a whole raft of problems is to ensure your devices are running the latest version of their operating systems.

• For iPhone and iPads: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘General’ and tap on ‘Software Update’.
• For Android devices: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘System’ > ‘System update’ and tap on ‘Check for updates’.

Follow our guides on how to update Android and how to update iPhone to learn more.

Turn Wi-Fi off and on again

This is a quick, simple test which may or may not fix your problem.

• For iPhone and iPads: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Wi-Fi’ and turn it off and on again.
• For Android devices: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Network & Internet’ > ‘Wi-Fi’ or ‘Internet’ and turn the ‘Wi-Fi’ toggle off and on again.

Check Airplane Mode

Also make sure that your device isn’t in ‘Airplane Mode’, as this mode disables all wireless communications.

• For iPhone and iPads: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen and check that the airplane icon is not highlighted.
• For Android devices: Swipe down from the top of the screen and verify that the airplane icon is not active.

Forget and reconnect to the network

If simply toggling it off and on doesn’t work, then forgetting and reconnecting to the Wi-Fi network might solve the problem.

• For iPhone and iPads: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Wi-Fi’, tap the network name, and select ‘Forget This Network’. Then, simply reconnect.
• For Android devices: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Network & Internet’, tap the network name, and choose ‘Forget’. Reconnect again.

Check network settings

You can also make sure that your device has a proper IP address.

• For iPhone and iPads: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Wi-Fi’, tap the network name, and check the IP Address in the DHCP tab.
• For Android devices: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Network & Internet’ > ‘Wi-Fi’, tap the network, and look under ‘Advanced’ for IP details.

If the problem persists, resetting network settings can help.

• For iPhone and iPads: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘General’ > ‘Reset’ > ‘Reset Network Settings’. This will erase all saved Wi-Fi passwords.
• For Android devices: Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘System’ > ‘Advanced’ > ‘Reset options’ > ‘Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth’. This will also clear saved networks and passwords.

Set a static IP address

The other option is to set a static IP address. However, this involves logging into your router’s management web pages. Here’s our guide on how to log in to a router and change settings if you’re not sure how to do it.

By default, it will assign a different IP address each time your device connects to it, but some devices don’t like this – especially Amazon Fire tablets. Telling your router to give a particular device the same IP address each time – a static one – can help with Wi-Fi connection problems. 

All routers are different, so we can’t explain step-by-step how to achieve this on your router, but look for a network settings menu and a DHCP reservation list or similar.

Try and locate your device. If your router is friendly, it might display the make and model of your phone / tablet or other device. Or it might just list a MAC address. If it’s the latter, you’ll have to search through your system settings on that device to track down that MAC address so you can match it up to the one in the list.

Once you have this information, you should be able to tell your router to always give that device the same IP address. You’ll have to enter this address yourself. Typically your router will help you out with the first three sets of digits – such as 192.168.0. It’s only the final digit you need to specify, and it’s a good idea to make sure this is outside of the range of addresses the DHCP server assigns.

Again, you should be able to see this in your router’s interface, so just pick a number (between 1 and 254) outside of that range and you won’t have any problems.

Restart your device and router

If none of the above solutions work, restarting your device and router might resolve the issue.

• For iPhone and iPads: Hold down the power and the volume up buttons together. Then, swipe left to power it off and turn it back on.
• For Android devices: Click the power and the volume up buttons together. Then, tap on ‘Restart’.

To restart your router, you can simply unplug it, wait for 30 seconds, and then plug it back in. However, it may also have a dedicated reset button. Follow our guide on how to reset a router to learn more.

Why do I keep getting disconnected from my Wi-Fi?

If your wireless signal strength is low, try moving closer to your router. If there are any obstacles such as walls between the device and the router, they could be hindering the wireless signal. Also, some electrical devices including microwaves, baby monitors or even lights can wreak havoc with Wi-Fi as they can use the same radio frequencies.

If you don’t think signal strength is the problem and you’re seeing all the bars lit up on your device’s Wi-Fi con, then the fixes above should help you solve the problem. And if you want to know how change your Wi-Fi password, we have a guide for that too.