The Wi-Fi Tug-of-War
Your Mac is designed to be helpful by remembering every Wi-Fi network you have ever joined and automatically connecting to them when they are in range. However, this becomes incredibly annoying when you are in an area with multiple overlapping networks. For example, if your home internet goes down, you might connect to your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. But the moment your home router broadcasts a weak signal, your Mac might aggressively drop the hotspot and switch back to the home network, even if there is no internet access. Or perhaps you walk past a coffee shop, and your Mac connects to their slow public Wi-Fi instead of remaining on your cellular tether.
How to Disable Auto-Join for Specific Networks
macOS allows you to tell the system to remember a network password (so you don’t have to type it again), but strictly forbid it from joining that network without your explicit permission.
1. Click the Apple logo () in the top-left corner of the screen and select System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions of macOS).
2. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Wi-Fi.
3. In the main Wi-Fi panel, look for the list of Known Networks. If you are currently connected to the offending network, it will be at the top under the “Known Networks” or “Other Networks” section.
4. If you don’t see the network, click the Advanced… button at the bottom of the window to see a complete list of every network your Mac remembers.
5. Locate the specific network that keeps hijacking your connection (e.g., “Starbucks Public” or your home router).
6. Click the three dots icon (or the “More” button) next to the network name.
7. Uncheck the option that says Auto-Join.
From now on, your Mac will still remember the password for that network. However, when you walk into range, your Mac will ignore it. You will have to manually click the Wi-Fi icon in your menu bar and select that network to connect.
How to Change the Network Priority Order
If you have two networks you do want to auto-join, but you strongly prefer one over the other (like a 5GHz band over a 2.4GHz band), you can simply reorder them.
1. Go to System Settings > Wi-Fi and click the Advanced… button.
2. In the list of Known Networks, find the network you prefer.
3. Click and drag the network name higher up in the list.
macOS reads this list from top to bottom. It will attempt to connect to the network at the top of the list first. If that network is unavailable, it will move down to the next one.