iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone - MacRumors
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iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

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iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads.

Wi Fi WiFi General Feature
As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already connected to the hotel's network.

A captive Wi-Fi network is the type that requires you to fill out a web form before gaining access. They are commonly found at hotels, gyms, coffee shops, airports, and some other public places. With this new feature, which likely extends to macOS 26 too, it will be quicker and easier to connect multiple Apple devices to these networks.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was first to report that Apple was planning this feature, which was not mentioned during the WWDC 2025 keynote last month. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris later discovered references to it within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta. It was believed that the feature was not functional yet, but evidently it is. According to an earlier post, it seems that Weinbach had installed the second iOS 26 developer beta.

iOS 26 will likely be released in September, bringing this handy option to the masses.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

Top Rated Comments

Weaselboy Avatar
Weaselboy
10 months ago

Frankly, I've never felt inconvenienced by having to log in on the two devices I take with me when traveling. Who needs to save 5 seconds?
I have stayed in hotels that make you repeat the login process every 24 hours, and that gets to be a pain with my phone and MBP, plus the wife's iPad. So I'll welcome this feature.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleTO Avatar
AppleTO
10 months ago
Oh, so this just fills the fields the same. You still have to go through the captive process. I thought this would make it so the devices just connected and worked automatically.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
danny1305
10 months ago

Now all they need to do is sort the Available Networks by SIGNAL STRENGTH and not the idiotic alphabetical sort 😂
That’s actually a terrible idea
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
JohnC1959
10 months ago

Now all they need to do is sort the Available Networks by SIGNAL STRENGTH and not the idiotic alphabetical sort 😂
Sounds good, but in practice you may have 20 wifi's listed and the one you need (hotel, etc.) is far from the strongest. In that case you have to carefully scan the list for the right wifi instead of finding it quickly by alphabet.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hank3rd Avatar
Hank3rd
10 months ago
I noticed this last week when staying at an Omni hotel in Austin. Pretty cool.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
justanthonylee
10 months ago

Now all they need to do is sort the Available Networks by SIGNAL STRENGTH and not the idiotic alphabetical sort 😂
If you do that they would be jumping all over the place, so NO.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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