Too many Wi-Fi networks? Bad connections? Fix it on Apple Mac

Use a MacBook out of the office or home you will probably have connected to many different Wi-Fi networks, macOS remembers each one and the list grows. Is it too long? What can go wrong?

Storing the configuration details of a large number of wireless networks is unlikely to be a problem, but if some circumstances it can be? If you have an old MacBook or you have travelled a lot, there could be dozens of stored networks.

Most people that use a MacBook out of the office or home will have connected have a number of Wi-Fi hotspots - home, work, cafes and coffee shops, hotels, train stations, airports, and so on. There could be dozens of networks stored on the Mac.

It is an easy task to tidy up the Wi-Fi network list and you should do this occasionally. In addition to deleting Wi-Fi networks you will never use again, you can also set the order of Wi-Fi networks and this determines the order in which the Mac will try to connect.

Suppose for example, that at home, work or your favourite coffee shop or hotel, there are two or more wireless networks in range. Your MacBook can connect to all of them, so which one should it use? One may be better than the others, one may be your home network and the other is your next door neighbour’s, there may be two networks in your workplace, public and private networks and so on.

By removing unused Wi-Fi network details and setting the order of the remaining ones, the Mac will make the right connection and not the wrong one. It will examine each Wi-Fi network in the list and see if it can connect to it, so by placing one above another, you determine which the Mac will connect to.

1 Open System preferences

Go to the Apple menu and click System preferences. Find the Network icon and click it.

2 Go to Advanced settings

The current network is displayed and you can see the network name and set options like Automatically join this network and Show Wi-Fi status in menu bar. Click the Advanced button in the bottom right corner.

3 Delete unused Wi-Fi networks

A list of every wireless network you have ever connected to is displayed and you might even see some that you have never used. Places that you have never been to with your MacBook! Where have they come from? Don’t panic, iCloud Keychain in macOS and iOS means that the networks you connect to are shared among all your computers, iPhone and iPad.

You probably connect to a lot more wireless networks with your iPhone and you may never use them again, such as that holiday you went on, the hotel you stayed at, the cafe you visited and connected using your iPhone to read your email while enjoying a meal or drink.

There could be a lot of junk in that list, well not exactly junk, but networks you will never use again. The lst can be tidied up by selecting Wi-Fi networks you do not use and clicking the minus button below.

What is the worst case scenario, deleting a network you actually need? Instead of the Mac connecting automatically you will have to click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and select it. That's hardly an inconvenience. The main problem is that you will need to enter the Wi-Fi password, so don’t delete wireless networks to which you have forgotten the password!

4 Set the order of networks

The Mac looks for networks in the order in which they appear in the list. Click and drag a network higher up the list to ensure it is selected in preference to another one.

This is useful in locations where there are two or more networks within range, the one higher in the list will be connected to in preference to others lower in the list. Click and drag your preferred networks to the top of the list.