Do you travel constantly? You probably have Apple devices on hand every single time. And with these iOS devices, you always connect to new Wi-Fi networks: in hotels, restaurants, train stations airports, and even in your client’s offices. When you connect to these networks, all your iOS devices will remember them as these are synced through iCloud. This is true when you utilize iCloud Keychain.
The ability of Apple devices to remember networks you’ve previously connected to have pros and cons. The good thing about it is you don’t have to remember usernames and passwords for various Wi-Fi networks, especially the ones you use daily.
However, it can lead to multiple Wi-Fi networks stored within your keychain. The downside? You can potentially connect a network that is not secure. And, it goes from there. Fortunately, you can forget these Wi-Fi networks using your Mac device. Read on and you’ll learn how to forget Wi-Fi network on Mac.
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How To Forget Saved Wi-Fi Networks On Mac Through Network Preferences
There are various methods you can do to view (and delete) saved Wi-Fi network on your Mac device. The first method involves Network Preferences. Here’s how to do it step by step:
Step 01: View System Preferences.
Step 02: Select Network.
Step 03: Choose Wi-Fi within the sidebar and press Advanced. Now, you will see a list of networks you have saved.
Step 04: Click the Minus (-) button to delete the Wi-Fi network. Do this for all Wi-Fi networks you wish to remove.
Once you do this, the iCloud Keychain will update itself. After which, the deleted Wi-Fi network will be removed from all devices linked to that iCloud account. The list of Wi-Networks is there in order of preference. The ones at the top of the list are preferred networks and they are the ones your device will instantly connect to one detected. You can simply drag the networks to sort them out in order of preference.
You can also uncheck the box that says “Remember networks this computer has joined.” If you do this, Wi-Fi networks joined by your Mac computer won’t be saved. Of course, it won’t be synced to iCloud Keychain as well.
There are cases when you can’t remove a Wi-Fi network through the method described above. However, you can remove them through Keychain Access. We will be discussing this in detail below.
How To Preview And Delete Saved Wi-Fi Networks Through Keychain Access
This is another method of deleting saved Wi-Fi networks using your Mac device. The Keychain Access application is found in the Applications > Utilities folder. It is used to store passwords, secure notes, certificates, encryption keys, and decryption keys, among others. One thing it stores as passwords is the credentials for Wi-Fi networks. To be more precise, these Wi-Fi network credentials are known as Airport Network Passwords.
Below are the steps on how to forget Wi-Fi networks on a Mac through Keychain Access:
Step 01: Go to Keychain Access by locating it in the Applications > Utilities folder.
Step 02: Go to the search box located at the top-right side of the window. Type “AirPort.”
Step 03: Various items will show up. Take a look at the Kind column and look for items labeled as Airport Network Password. These are the credentials of saved Wi-Fi networks. Select a network you would like to delete.
Step 04: Press Delete.
Step 05: Press Delete again to confirm. Repeat the deletion process for all Wi-Fi networks you want to forget.
Changes made on your Mac device take time to spread to other Mac and iOS devices. Note that doing these steps from time to time can help you delete saved networks you don’t need. When you clear out these unimportant networks, you’re preventing your Mac device from automatically connecting to Wi-Fi networks that might not be secure.