How to Delete a Wi-Fi Network on a Mac

Your MacBook automatically saves the credentials for every Wi-Fi network you have ever connected to, silently building a long list of known networks over the years. While this is convenient for your home and office, it can create frustrating situations — your Mac might repeatedly attempt to connect to a weak public hotspot from a coffee shop you visited months ago, or stubbornly try to use an old password after you changed your home router’s credentials. The solution is to make macOS “forget” those unwanted saved networks.

How to Delete a Wi-Fi Network on macOS Ventura, Sonoma, and Later

Apple restructured the Network settings in macOS Ventura. If your Mac is running Ventura (13) or a newer version, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Settings.
2. Click on Wi-Fi in the left-hand sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the very bottom of the Wi-Fi panel on the right side and click the Advanced… button.
4. A sheet will drop down displaying a list of Known Networks — every Wi-Fi network your Mac has previously joined.
5. Locate the network you want to remove. Click the More button (…) (the circle with three dots) to the right of the network’s name.
6. Select Remove From List from the small menu that appears.
7. A confirmation popup will appear. Click Remove to confirm.

Your Mac will no longer attempt to automatically join that network. If you ever need to reconnect to it in the future, simply click on it in the Wi-Fi menu and enter the password again.

How to Delete a Wi-Fi Network on macOS Monterey and Earlier

If you are running macOS Monterey (12), Big Sur (11), or an older version, the process uses the classic System Preferences interface:

1. Click the Apple menu () and select System Preferences.
2. Click the Network icon (a globe with signal waves).
3. In the left column of the Network window, click Wi-Fi to select it.
4. Click the Advanced… button in the lower-right corner of the main window.
5. Ensure you are on the Wi-Fi tab at the top of the new window. You will see a box labelled “Preferred Networks” containing all your saved connections in priority order.
6. Click on the name of the network you want to delete to highlight it in blue.
7. Click the Minus (−) button located below the list of networks to remove it.
8. Click OK, and then click Apply in the lower-right corner of the main Network window to save your changes permanently.

Why You Might Still Reconnect Automatically

If you forget a network but your Mac still seems to connect to it, there are two possible causes:

• iCloud Keychain: If you use iCloud Keychain across multiple Apple devices, Wi-Fi passwords sync between them. Forgetting a network on your Mac may not remove it from your iPhone’s saved networks, and your iPhone might later re-share the password back. To prevent this, forget the network on all your Apple devices simultaneously.
• Auto-Join is re-enabled: If the network is still in your Known Networks list with “Auto-Join” turned on, check that the removal was applied correctly by returning to the Advanced settings and confirming the network is no longer listed.