iPhone 5 Wi-Fi disconnects in lock mode

[jayt101]

Hi All,

I recently purchased an iPhone 5 and I seem to be having trouble with iMessage being sent via Wi-Fi (cellular data is off). The problem is, when my phone is locked I do not receive any push notifications with iMessage, Mail, Whatsapp etc. I found out that this is because wi-fi cuts off when the phone is locked so I don't get any push notifications. I just wanted to see if this is normal as I assume this is Apple's power saving feature. However, with cellular data on and Wi-fi on, I get push notifications perfectly because 3G is always kept on even with the phone locked. People have to send me msgs twice in order for iMessage to work when I'm connected to Wi-fi (cellular data off). One message to wake my phone up, which turns on wi-fi, and the second message which is now recognized as an iMessage since the Wi-fi is on again for a brief period before shutting off.

I'm extremely frustrated that this is the case because I do travel a lot and I have to rely on Wi-fi in order to keep in touch with my family. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[bearxor]

Yes, this is expected behavior.

You shouldn't be using significant amounts of cellular data when the phone is locked. If you're streaming something, like music, off wifi and lock the phone, the wifi will stay on. It won't switch to cellular. But if you're not actively doing anything, the wifi will switch off to save power.

Also, I think they may have changed the behavior slightly starting in iOS 5. It might stay connected even in lock mode, if you have it plugged in to power. Would need to try it and see.

Ok, I just put my iPhone in airplane mode, turned WiFi on, plugged it in to charge, put it in standby, waited 5 minutes, turned it on, and wifi was still connected. Didn't have to wait for it to reconnect.

FINAL EDIT: Scratch that. I set a computer to ping it, turned the phone off and lost it in about 10 seconds. Wake the phone up and it reconnected almost instantly, so I guess the iPhone 5 just connects back to WiFi REALLY FAST! Streamed some music, and didn't lose the ping. Pause the music and lose the ping again.

So no, it won't stay connected to wifi even if it's plugged in, unless you're streaming music or something.

 

[jayt101]

Yes, this is expected behavior.

You shouldn't be using significant amounts of cellular data when the phone is locked. If you're streaming something, like music, off wifi and lock the phone, the wifi will stay on. It won't switch to cellular. But if you're not actively doing anything, the wifi will switch off to save power.

Also, I think they may have changed the behavior slightly starting in iOS 5. It might stay connected even in lock mode, if you have it plugged in to power. Would need to try it and see.

Ok, I just put my iPhone in airplane mode, turned WiFi on, plugged it in to charge, put it in standby, waited 5 minutes, turned it on, and wifi was still connected. Didn't have to wait for it to reconnect.

FINAL EDIT: Scratch that. I set a computer to ping it, turned the phone off and lost it in about 10 seconds. Wake the phone up and it reconnected almost instantly, so I guess the iPhone 5 just connects back to WiFi REALLY FAST! Streamed some music, and didn't lose the ping. Pause the music and lose the ping again.

So no, it won't stay connected to wifi even if it's plugged in, unless you're streaming music or something.

Thanks for the response. Mine does the same - wifi comes back on almost instantly when I unlock my phone. The only problem is, when I'm in airplane mode with Wi-Fi on, I will NOT receive any iMessages, facetime, or skype messages at all since the Wi-fi gets cutoff upon entering sleep mode. Does this happen for you too? I find this extremely frustrating when I'm in a hotel in a different country, and can't receive iMessages when I'm connected to the Hotels wi-fi. But once I unlock my phone, I'll get a flurry of messages. I just want to be able to receive push notifications when my phone is locked!

 

[bearxor]

Thanks for the response. Mine does the same - wifi comes back on almost instantly when I unlock my phone. The only problem is, when I'm in airplane mode with Wi-Fi on, I will NOT receive any iMessages, facetime, or skype messages at all since the Wi-fi gets cutoff upon entering sleep mode. Does this happen for you too? I find this extremely frustrating when I'm in a hotel in a different country, and can't receive iMessages when I'm connected to the Hotels wi-fi. But once I unlock my phone, I'll get a flurry of messages. I just want to be able to receive push notifications when my phone is locked!

Well at least this explains my 'why would you turn off cellular data' question.

Yes, everything you described is expected behavior. I thought they may have changed it so it would still work when connected to power in iOS 5, but they did not.

I think your best solution might be to jailbreak and look for an app called insomnia on the cydia store. I believe it will keep WiFi on during sleep.

 

[jayt101]

Well at least this explains my 'why would you turn off cellular data' question.

Yes, everything you described is expected behavior. I thought they may have changed it so it would still work when connected to power in iOS 5, but they did not.

I think your best solution might be to jailbreak and look for an app called insomnia on the cydia store. I believe it will keep WiFi on during sleep.

Unfortunately this is not a good fix for me. I wish apple would update the OS and give us an option to keep Wi-fi on when asleep. I find it unacceptable imo. I wonder if owners with iPods have the same issue :S I suspect they wouldnt receive iMessages when the iPod is locked since wi-fi cuts out

 

[dawks]

It will often depend on the wifi. Before I even noticed you mentioning it happening in a hotel, I was going to say, some types of Wifi.. high traffic Wifi networks in particular (like a hotel or coffee shop) will drop the Wifi connection, when the device goes to sleep. Most portable devices sleep the Wifi whenever possible. If it was on constantly, your battery wouldn't last very long.
Theres not a lot you can do other than find a different Wifi network, or as bearxor says, try an app that will keep the radio on (and kill your battery).

I've seen this at several hotels. If I locked the screen and came back 5 min later, I'd have to re-authenticate to the network. Just unlocking wasn't good enough.

They do this to limit load on the network. Having a high number of devices constantly connected drains resources, and slows things down for everyone.

 

[bearxor]

Unfortunately this is not a good fix for me. I wish apple would update the OS and give us an option to keep Wi-fi on when asleep. I find it unacceptable imo. I wonder if owners with iPods have the same issue :S I suspect they wouldnt receive iMessages when the iPod is locked since wi-fi cuts out

You're not going to like the response to that:
If this is your "make or break" feature, better start planning your switch to Android.

iOS is a like it or leave environment.

 

[effowe]

If you're jailbroken there is a utility called "Insomnia" that maintains a persistent wifi connection when the phone is locked.

 

[ViRGE]

FINAL EDIT: Scratch that. I set a computer to ping it, turned the phone off and lost it in about 10 seconds. Wake the phone up and it reconnected almost instantly, so I guess the iPhone 5 just connects back to WiFi REALLY FAST! Streamed some music, and didn't lose the ping. Pause the music and lose the ping again.

So no, it won't stay connected to wifi even if it's plugged in, unless you're streaming music or something.

Weird. My iPhone 5 stays connected to WiFi indefinitely when it's plugged into my computer to charge (so long as the computer is on, of course). I can ping it endlessly without issue.

 

[Rakehellion]

Leave it plugged in.

 

[jayt101]

Weird. My iPhone 5 stays connected to WiFi indefinitely when it's plugged into my computer to charge (so long as the computer is on, of course). I can ping it endlessly without issue.

I found out that the iphone 5 will be connected to wifi in sleep mode if it is connected to a power source. IF it is not, than wifi disconnects as soon as you put the phone to sleep

 

[eelw]

Alternate option is to pull out the sim. The wifi will stay connected even in standby.

 

[xian37]

aw .. it is bad, they should fix it ..
the alternate option is can be drained a batt. easily.