Having your Mac automatically connect to the internet can come in handy at home or in the office. However, it can be annoying when your Mac automatically connects to another Wi-Fi network. Whether it’s a coffee shop network or McDonald’s Wi-Fi you connected to some months ago, it helps to know how to forget a network on Mac.
Disabling a network isn’t simple as clicking a different Wi-Fi network and hoping for the best. You’ll have to go into your Mac’s settings and configure the computer to forget the network manually. Thankfully, it’s a lot easier. Let’s see why you might need to remember a network, and steps to forget a network on Mac — complete with photos for clarification.
Why Remember a Network on Mac?
While your gut instinct might be to forget a network, there are a few reasons to remember the network. It could be that the network owner — whether a friend, a family member or a colleague — might not remember the password or lost access to it. If you go through the steps to forget a network on Mac, you’ll have to re-enter the password again to connect to it again.
Another reason to remember a network is that you might return to that network again. Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble… whatever the public location may be, remembering the network will save you time when connecting again later. Even if you’re not sure when you’ll be back, forgetting one of these free public networks could prolong your Mac setup time the next time you’re there. Every minute counts if you’ve only got an hour to complete some work. In this instance, leave the network there. It won’t hurt.
If you use the network daily, you may also want to remember it. From your home network to your work network to your friend’s network and beyond, your frequently used Wi-Fi networks should stay in your Mac’s memory for convenience. You will most likely connect to these places, so why get rid of them? It’s fine to leave these ones as-is.
Step One: Navigate to System Settings
Click the Apple logo in the top lefthand corner of your Mac screen. From there, you’ll see a list of different options. The one you’re looking for is System Settings. Click on this option.
Step Two: Forgetting the Network
Two possible options are forgetting a network you’re currently using and forgetting one you aren’t currently using.
Forgetting the Network You’re Using
From the Wi-Fi tab under System Settings, click Details beside the Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to. There, you’ll see an option to Forget This Network. Click that, then click Remove. With this, the network is effectively wiped from your Mac’s mind — Men in Black style.
Forgetting a Network You’re Not Using
Sticking to the same Wi-Fi tab under System Settings, you should see an option labeled Advanced down on the right side of the page. This will pull up a list of every network you’ve ever connected to. Click the three dots (…) next to the network you want to forget, then Remove From List. Click Remove, and then consider it done.
Alternative: Turn Off Auto-Join
There’s one other option here that we haven’t discussed yet. That’s simply turning off Auto-Join instead of forgetting the network. By turning off Auto-Join, the network will remain in your Mac’s memory without outright forgetting it. In other words, it’ll remember the password and login info, but it just won’t connect you to the network automatically every time. You’ll see this option next to Forget This Network.
Bonus: Forget a Network on Mac with an Earlier Version of macOS
The process is very similar for macOS versions before Ventura but ultimately a little different. First, you’ll want to navigate to the Apple logo in the top left corner of the desktop and click on System Preferences.
Next, click the Network icon. You’ll be taken to a list of previous Wi-Fi network connections.
Click on Advanced, then scroll to the network you want to forget. Once it’s highlighted in blue, you can click the Minus ( — ) icon and remove it. Repeat as needed, then click OK. To lock your changes in, click Apply. All done!
Check out the video below for a quick visual guide to forgetting a network on your Mac.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Tetiana Yurchenko/Shutterstock.com.