Apple Addresses iPhone and iPod touch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Problems – Reset, Redo, Restore, Repair
Apple has updated a knowledge base article for those “Unable to use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with iPhone or iPod touch because there’s no address listed for the device”, which is something we’ve heard quite a bit about lately. The four-pronged approach:
- Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
- Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
- Restore the device via iTunes
- Take your iPhone or iPod touch in for repairs.
Apple finishes off with some extra advice:
If the device shows an address in the Wi-Fi Address field and you are still having issues using Wi-Fi, refer to article 305715 for additional Wi-Fi troubleshooting tips. If the device shows an address in the Bluetooth field and you are still having issues using Bluetooth, refer to articles HT1843 and HT1664 for additional Bluetooth troubleshooting tips.
If any of that works for you, let us know in the comments. If it doesn’t, let us know as well…
[via iLounge]
July 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Been there…..done that! Apple had me do all those things on 2 different 3Gs iPhones. Still have the same issues. From the reporsts I have been reading, it looks like most users suffering from this issue are those with dual band n routers. I run my netgear in dual band so my wireless a devices will work. i will try to run in g only and see if it preforms better. I still have no problems with my wifes 3G.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I’ve been hit with the wifi loss. After about a week of restores and resets, messing with network settings and hitting forums for help I had nothing. In the end I booked an appointment at the genius and swapped my 3g out for a new one. As helpfull as the bar was, they wouldn’t admit to apple being at fault. I wasn’t insured but the warranty was good enough.
It seems strange; my old 3g was ten month old and although my new one is exactly the same it works faster and seems less groggy. I’ve allways been JB, but I’d put money on the being something different inside the new one now. It just works so much better with 3.0.
Probably nothing different; but it does make you wonder…..
July 10th, 2009 at 11:50 am
I’ve been avoiding N since OS 2.0. It just lengthens connect time. I just run the router locked to G. Want even faster connects? Lock the router to B. Use WPA2-AES.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Iv never had a problem
July 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
My old Blackberry Curve would never connect to my Linksys router if I had it set to dual G/N. I had to lock it on G for it to even find the network. It might be a router issue. HMMMMMM…
July 10th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
No problems here. WiFi and 3G are working swimmingly.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
No problem what so ever with my 3GS
July 10th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Pathetic. Apple need a good peeling.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I have the original iphone. I had no problems with Wifi until I did the new update. Now I can connect but won’t stay connected. My ATT signal sucks. I’ve done everything Apple says to do. There answer was actually go get a new phone, but from what I have read 3Gs is having the same problem.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Even though my WiFi still ends up working similarly to before 3.0 on my 3G, I noticed longer connections times as well as dropping the WiFi a few times before it finally locks onto it. Especially visible when launching the REMOTE app (linked to my Apple TV).
July 10th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I have the same issue Tb. My iPhone 3G takes considerably longer to connect to my Belkin router. I’ve had the problem the last few days. Sometimes after waking my phone it won’t even connect at all, unless I open the Settings app :-/
July 10th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
My luck with wifi has not been to good. I am on my 3rd iPhone. My first and second iPhone both had the wifi go bad after about 6-9 months. The second time I had to bare the burden of replacing it, because I phone only honors the warranty of the first iPhone unless you renew your contract and upgrade. Once you are past the warranty the real iPhone warranty is only 90 days. So if you buy a replacement iPhone they will only fix the hardware if it goes bad within 90 days. I tried to argue that it was only 3.5 months since I got the replacement and they admitted clearly it was a hardware failure. Problem is they could not tell me what to do to prevent it in the future. I really use my wifi a lot. I did find that if I turn of the cellular I get a stronger wifi signal.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Never had a problem.
July 11th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Hopefully this is fixed in 3.1
July 11th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Not good…my itouch wifi signal is barely usable. Restting routers? The itouch is a mobile unit. How do I reset the rest of the worlds routers??
July 11th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Switched my dual band router over to g mode only and I have had full signal strength all day. I believe it is definatly an iPhone firmware issue. My wife’s 3g doesn’t blink an eye in either setting. I still have some intermetant siganl drop out on the AT&T network on the 3gs but this will get me through till the firmware update
July 12th, 2009 at 9:17 am
It seems to be a plan by AT&T to get new iPhone users to buy a data plan
July 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
all apples method did was, brick my phone. it shows a wifi adress, but will not pick up any networks.. i have like 4 around my house alone including mine and it will not pick up any of them.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
3.0 has just killed my wi-fi. Before it always worked great. Spent too much time trying to get it to work without success. Have given up and just turned off wi-fi. Too bad.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I solved my problem with iPhone 3GS connecting but not showing the IP address: my router was set to both B and G. Setting it to G only and the wi-fi icon immediately appeared on the iPhone 3GS!!! I spent hours on this for 5 days, someone should tell Apple. WIFI worked at the Apple Store but not at my home. The genius at the Apple store warned me against N but thought having both B and G supported was OK. This is with a Linksys WRT54G.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I spoke too soon, I now have an IP address and a mask but no router or DNS addresses and the iPhone reverted to 3G. I tried to forget the network and reset the network and the IP address was gone. I have now set the IP address, mask and DNS as static and wifi works.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Disable dual band… Yep, that did it. Much appreciated! My 3G (also on 3.0 code) was rock-solid with all WiFi bars, but my new 3GS was lucky if it could maintain a connection for more than a minute. Just disabled the 5GHz radio on my dual-band Linksys, and as soon as the router returned from the settings change I immediately had steady and full signal strength. Connections are zippy and comparable to my old 3G.
July 26th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Well I have an Iphone 3G since a year, no problems until 3.0, Wi-fi and Bluetooth were working fine (I have a jabra bluetooth), but now wi-fi works with a greatly reduced range (g) and I can’t pair my Bluetooth headset anymore! I did all the Apple suggested stuff with no result it is a 3.0 problem they have to solve it and be more transparent!
August 1st, 2009 at 8:56 am
Ever since I updated my I touch to 3.0 my wifi hasnt worked. the icon and update shows up but nojoy
August 10th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Just started having this problem myself after upgrading my iPhone 3G to the OS 3.01. I may have been having it with 3.0, but it was sporadic. Now it’s all wifi connections.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:16 am
My wifi was working awesome until i upgraded software to version 3. Now nothing – i used it every day and now all i get is ‘Select a Wi-Fi Network’ when i tap on network it says Enter password – which i do and then it reads ‘Unable to join network’….WTF?? this continues on – i’ve tried all the resets & nothing – Apple needs to fess up a fix it!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I have a 3G on 3.0, jailbroken and unlocked. Can’t even see wifi networks in available list. Nothing shows up. I have the exact same model/version on another phone and the wifi works fine.
Any ideas?
August 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Got a 3GS with exactly the same problems as Cayman above. It’s jailbroken, 3.0 and worked great the first 2 weeks and today, no wifi, no list of networks and can’t connect even when inputting the router info manually.
My old 2G connects without problem.
Certainly hope there will be a solution to this problem soon. The Apple fix with restoring everything didn’t work too well from what I hear and on top of it for us with Jailbroken devices, reckon it’s not even an option.
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Exactly the same issues as above. Took my phone to the Genius Bar and checked the Wifi in the shop. It was only picking up the Apple signal with one bar of power. They replaced the phone under warranty and I did the same test in the same place in the shop (with the new phone) and the Wifi lit up like a Christmas tree with about 15 router signals all around.
As the new phone came with 3.0 factory installed I can only assume (if the hardware’s the same) that there must be something in the upgrade process that’s causing this problem.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
seems I was lucky, reset jut the network settings and I can now see wi-fi hotspots again in the wi-fi settings…..phew!!
September 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Resetting the network settings worked for me! Thank you!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
It’s not working again.. GAH! And resetting the settings doesn’t work this time.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:53 am
I upgraded to 3.1 and wifi loses signal all over than it does not connect, wished if i could go back to 2.2
September 30th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Upgraded my 2G touch to 3.1 What a mistake. Nothing but trouble with wifi. I’ve tried all the fixes listed here and elsewhere, but to no avail. I’m heading to The Apple Store and see what a Genius has to say about it. I’ll keep you posted.
September 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
set up an appointment at the Genius Bar early this am. I explained my problem, erratic wifi after upgrading to 3.1 The person helping me said he had not heard much about that. He ran a few tests, connecting my ipod to his macbook pro, and then went into the back room area, returning with another unit. It was in a plain white box, maybe a rebuilt touch. He said it was up to me if I wanted to upgrade to 3.1 Well, I’m back home now, wifi signal strong, steady, just as it was before I installed the firmware. I’m at 2.2.1 right now, and very happy! Thank you Genius Bar!
October 11th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Switched from “N” to “G” only and iphone is working great
October 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I recently purchased a 32GB 3rd Gen Touch. OS = 3.1.2
There is no chance of picking up a wifi signal unless I’m within 6 – 10 meters of the router.
Very disappointing. None of Apple’s tips help.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 am
My wi-fi was grayed out on my iphone 3G version 3.1.2. I tried full resets and restores from iTune with no luck. I contacted apple support and they replaced my phone and had me send my screwed up iPhone back. Thankfully it was still under warranty. No software fix, they said it was a hardware problem.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Thanks a lot! I only used reset networks settings and it got fixed! =)
October 25th, 2009 at 4:09 am
my 2g iphone was on 2.2.1 firmware wifi did work great and all the sudden nothing. still searches for signals but nothing. i tried upgrading no help tried resetting everything with no luck i have a belkin router wireless g.anyone have any luck.it wasnt jailbroken or anything
October 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I have an itouch and recently did the new upgrade. Like many of you I have had a problem with staying connected to wifi.
I found this fix on another site and it seems to have worked for me.
In the wifi setup menu of the ipod when you click on the blue triangle to the right of yuor wireless network name, what are the values of the addresses listed there. Probably specifically the dns address. Try clicking on the dns entry erase whatever is listed there and use: 208.67.222.222 This is an open dns address.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Im having similar issues. WiFi not working or low signal on itouch (not sure which generation) version 2.2.1 but works on iPhone 1st generation version 3.1.2. I am using a Linksys router WRT600N, updated to new firmware, changed network modes, have tried changing security settings/ encryption type and have had no success.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Okay, I had similar issues with my iPod Touch. I had to combine three solutions which worked perfectly. Here’s what I did for my iPod Touch 2G with 3.1.2 Firmware:
Step 1: Got into my wireless router’s firmware and locked the wireless format to G. Save that setting.
Step 2: Instead of “Auto” for channels, I locked it to Channel 11 (which I read is the channel used by iPods for WiFi.)
At this point I tried it and it worked perfectly, all of the DHCP fields were populating perfectly in the Network settings, and I could browse the internet. However, once I was done, when I came back a couple of hours later, the WiFi was dropped again. I went in to “Renew Lease” on the connection, and the addresses all filled in but only stayed for about 3 seconds. So, I wrote down all of the settings DHCP filled in (had to hit “Renew” several times to get through writing down all of the info!)
Step 3: After copying all the “disappearing” info from the DHCP section, I changed that connection to “Static IP” instead of “DHCP.” I plugged all the identical info into from DHCP into the matching fields in the Static section, and now it holds all of the addresses and never “forgets” or drops them. Been 3 days now and still works perfectly!
November 12th, 2009 at 7:45 am
I have put mine under an air conditioning and it started working again!
November 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@James – after days of tearing my hair out – your solution has worked! thankyou!
November 28th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Thanks guys. Just changed my D-Link from n, g and b to just g and b and it worked with my 3GS iPhone. No other changes were necessary.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:04 am
Thought is was just me. Having the same problems with ipod touch since upgrade to 3.0, wifi used to pick up more networks than my laptop. Now, almost nothing comes in unless near a very strong signal. Wtf. Seems lately all Apple updates extremely buggy.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:38 am
Why no blue tooth. Dang it!
December 6th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Got an apple iphone 3g 8gb two days ago, last night i updated it to firmware version 3.1.2. and now my wi-fi and bluetooth has gone gray, tried everything in here but no luck at all. There is no apple service center here in my country. So I guess il just live with it, for now.
December 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
yeh you ran both tests at the same time and not individually, makes it harder to see the true difference between them
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 am
3gs t-mobile. got it last week. had this problem today, did the reset…it worked.
December 28th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I can connect, but it doesn’t stay!!! What to do? It’s getting EXTREMLY tedious…
December 28th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
WHEW! thanks for this… Step one worked for my ipod touch
January 10th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
How do you switch the router from n to g? i have a netgear wireless N.