If your device always connects to a Wi-Fi connection you no longer want to use, you need to forget that network. Otherwise, it will connect to that network every time you turn WiFi on.

If you don’t know how to forget a WiFi network on your Mac, keep on reading to learn everything about it.

Forget Wi-Fi Network on Your Mac

If you carry your Mac to public places, you usually connect to the free WiFi connection. There’s no problem with that. However, the issue begins when you don’t want your Mac to connect to a WiFi network automatically.

Therefore, it’s essential to learn how to forget any Wi-Fi network on your Mac laptop or computer.

Log in to Your Mac

The first step is to click the WiFi icon on the top-right corner of your Mac screen. This step is the same on all Mac computers and laptops.

When you turn on your Mac and log in with your account, the WiFi network icon shows up on the top-right side.

Open Network Preferences

Now, the next step is to click on the WiFi icon. A dropdown list of options will show up. Then, select Open Network Preferences from the bottom of the list.

However, if you don’t find the Wi-Fi icon, follow these steps:

  1. First, click the Apple logo on the top-left side of the menu bar. That will open the Apple menu.
  2. Select System Preferences.
  3. Click Network.

Now you are in the Network settings of your Mac. You will see all the networks, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Select Wi-Fi

To do that, follow these steps:

  1. On the left sidebar, select the Wi-Fi option.
  2. Now click Advanced on the bottom right of the Network window. You will see all the Wi-Fi networks in the Preferred Networks window.
  3. Select the network you want to forget on Mac. Then, make sure you select the correct network.
  4. Now to forget that WiFi network, click the minus sign. That sign means you to remove a network and forget it altogether.
  5. Once you click the Remove sign, a confirmation prompt will show up.
  6. Click the OK button if you want to forget that WiFi network.
  7. After that, click Apply to finalize the settings for your Mac wireless networks.

In the same window, there are other options as well.

Auto-Join Feature

This feature allows you to let a Wi-Fi network automatically join once the Mac is in that network’s range. You can see a check box next to the WiFi network in the same window. Check the box next to the required WiFi network if you want to enable this feature.

Prioritize Network

If you get different WiFi networks on your Mac, you can prioritize your required one. Select a network, and drag it to the top.

Forget Multiple Networks

If you want to forget more than one WiFi network, follow these steps:

  1. First, from the list of the networks, select multiple networks by pressing the Command key and hovering or selecting the required networks. The selected networks will be highlighted in blue color.
  2. Once you have all the required networks, click the minus sign. That will forget all the WiFi networks you selected.

Forget Wi-Fi Network on Your iPhone

It’s not necessary that you only need to forget a Wi-Fi network on your Mac. For example, you might need to remove a network from your iOS device wholly.

Therefore, let’s see how to forget Wi-Fi on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Forget a Network on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

  1. Open the Settings app on your iOS smartphone.
  2. Go to Wi-Fi.
  3. From the list of available networks, tap the information “i” icon next to the Wi-Fi you want to forget.
  4. Tap Forget This Network. A confirmation prompt will show up.
  5. Tap the Forget button.

You have successfully forgotten that network. Now, your Apple devices will not connect to that network.

Similarly, let’s see how to forget a Wi-Fi network on Android devices.

Forget a Network on Android Smartphone

We’ll go through two simple methods to forget Wi-Fi on an Android phone.

Settings

  1. On your Android phone, go to the Apps page.
  2. Open Settings.
  3. Now, go to connections.
  4. Tap Wi-Fi. You will see a list of networks. Moreover, the top network is the one you are connected to. Other Wi-Fi networks are from nearby routers.
  5. Tap and hold a network.
  6. Tap the Forget button.

Wi-Fi Menu

  1. Bring the Quick Settings menu by swiping down your Android phone’s screen.
  2. Tap and press the Wi-Fi option. Make sure you don’t just tap and release the button. That will turn off the Wi-Fi on your phone.
  3. You will see the same list of Wi-Fi networks. Tap and hold a network.
  4. Tap the Forget Network button.

Why Should You Forget WiFi Network on Your Device?

No doubt, connecting to WiFi gives us access to the internet. If we are in a public place and have no cellular data, we can automatically join the public WiFi.

However, there’s a risk associated with that if you travel regularly.

The public WiFi networks are easy to hack. Moreover, intruders can access your details and communication using these WiFi networks.

It would also help if you kept deleting the saved networks from your Android and Apple products. That will clean that clutter from your phone’s memory. Also, the tech-geeks recommend deleting networks so that you can quickly join the required WiFi without struggling.

Conclusion

When you delete a Wifi network on Mac, you no longer can join that without entering the password again. Moreover, the whole process also updates the iCloud Keychain, which means all the devices with the same iCloud account will affect.

Therefore, your Mac will not automatically connect to a forgotten WiFi network. Instead, you can quickly check the available networks and join one. So, forgetting WiFi will keep your Mac from saving a long list of networks.