About Wi-Fi Assist

You can use Wi-Fi Assist to automatically switch to cellular when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection.

How Wi-Fi Assist works

With Wi-Fi Assist, you can stay connected to the Internet even if you have a poor Wi-Fi connection. For example, if you're using Safari with a poor Wi-Fi connection and a webpage doesn't load, Wi-Fi Assist will activate and automatically switch to cellular so that the webpage continues to load. You can use Wi-Fi Assist with most apps like Safari, Apple Music, Mail, Maps, and more.

When Wi-Fi Assist is activated, you'll see the cellular data icon in the status bar on your device.

Because you'll stay connected to the Internet over cellular when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection, you might use more cellular data. For most users, this should only be a small percentage higher than previous usage. If you have questions about your data usage, learn more about managing your cellular data.

You can use Wi-Fi Assist with any iOS device with iOS 9 or later, except for these models: iPhone 4s, iPad 2 Wi-Fi+Cellular, iPad (3rd generation) Wi-Fi+Cellular, and iPad mini (1st generation) Wi-Fi+Cellular.

Turn Wi-Fi Assist on or off

Wi-Fi Assist is on by default. If you don't want your iOS device to stay connected to the Internet when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection, you can disable Wi-Fi Assist. Go to Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data. Then scroll down and tap the slider for Wi-Fi Assist.

Learn more

  • Wi-Fi Assist won't automatically switch to cellular if you're data roaming.

  • Wi-Fi Assist only works when you have apps running in the foreground and doesn't activate with background downloading of content.

  • Wi-Fi Assist doesn’t activate with some third-party apps that stream audio or video, or download attachments, like an email app, as they might use large amounts of data.

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