How do I forget a network on a Mac so it stops reconnecting

There are two reasons to forget a network on a Mac, and they need different buttons. One is that the current connection has gone wrong and needs to be rebuilt from scratch. The other is that a network stored months ago keeps grabbing the Mac whenever it comes into range, usually a captive portal in an office lobby, a hotel, or a train.

Using the wrong route explains most of the complaints that a forgotten network came back. Forgetting the network currently in use removes it from the list, but a network that is still stored on an iPhone or iPad signed in to the same Apple Account can return through iCloud Keychain sync. Knowing which list a network sits in is the whole problem.

The connected network: Details, then Forget This Network

For the network in use right now, the route runs through the button next to its name.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Wi-Fi in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Click Details, then click Forget This Network. Source: support.apple.com, read September 27, 2026

Details opens a sheet holding everything about that one network: whether it joins automatically, the private address mode, low data mode, the IP and router addresses, and the TCP/IP and DNS tabs. Forget This Network sits at the bottom of it.

This is the right route when a connection has broken rather than when a network is unwanted. Apple frames it as a reset: remove the network, then join it again to set it up fresh. Doing that discards the stored password, the DHCP lease, and any per network settings that were changed at some point and then forgotten about, which is often the actual cause of a connection that works on every other device in the building.

One consequence is worth planning for. Forgetting the network the Mac is currently using drops the connection immediately, so anything that needs the password to rejoin should be to hand before the button is clicked. On a network with an enterprise login or a captive portal, that means the account details, not just a passphrase.

The stored list: Advanced, then Remove From List

For a network that is not in range, or one that is in range and not wanted, the list of everything the Mac has ever joined sits behind a different button.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Wi-Fi in the sidebar. Click Advanced. Below Known Networks, click next to the name of the network you want to remove, then choose Remove From List. Source: support.apple.com, read September 27, 2026

This is the list that matters for the rejoining problem. A Mac that has been in use for a few years typically holds dozens of entries here, most of them airports, hotels, cafes and guest networks joined once. Any of them will be rejoined silently the moment its name appears again, because that is what a known network means.

The Advanced sheet is also where a stubborn entry can be caught out. Networks appear here by name, so two different venues that both called their network the same thing are stored as one entry, and joining either one is enough to keep it alive.

Scrolling this list once a year and removing everything unrecognised takes a few minutes and quietly fixes a class of problems that look like hardware faults: a Mac that connects to the wrong network in a shared office, a Mac that appears to have no internet in a building with two overlapping networks, or a laptop that drops off a mesh network in one room.

Two other ways to reach the same result

The Known Networks list in the main Wi-Fi pane offers the same removal without opening Advanced, along with a few neighbouring actions.

Known Networks: Available known networks. Known networks are Wi-Fi networks you have connected to previously. Quickly toggle the automatic join setting for a known Wi-Fi network: Click, then choose Auto-Join. Copy the password of a known Wi-Fi network: Click, then choose Copy Password. Remove a known Wi-Fi network from the list: Click, then choose Forget This Network. Source: support.apple.com, read September 27, 2026

Two things in that list are worth more attention than the removal itself.

Auto-Join is the setting most people actually want. Turning it off for a network keeps the password stored but stops the Mac joining it unprompted. For a phone hotspot, a neighbour's guest network, or an office network that is slower than the one next to it, this is a better outcome than forgetting, because the network is still one click away when it is genuinely needed.

Copy Password is the reason to check before removing anything. Once a network is forgotten, its password is gone from that Mac. If the password lives nowhere else, copying it first turns a five second removal into something that cannot go wrong.

Which route fits which symptom

Symptom	Route	What it actually changes
Connected network is broken or slow	Wi-Fi, Details, Forget This Network	Discards the password and per network settings so the network can be set up again
A network joins on its own and is not wanted	Known Networks, Auto-Join off	Keeps the password, stops the automatic join
A network will never be needed again	Wi-Fi, Advanced, Remove From List	Removes the entry and its credentials from the list
Too many captive portals stored over the years	Advanced, remove in bulk	Shortens the list the Mac chooses from
Mac keeps picking the wrong network of two	Remove the unwanted one, or turn its Auto-Join off	Removes it from the pool of candidates

The column that resolves most arguments is the third one. Forgetting a network is not a way of telling the Mac to prefer a different one. It only takes one candidate out of the pool. When two wanted networks are both in range and the Mac keeps choosing the worse one, the lever is the order of network services rather than the known networks list.

When a forgotten network comes back

A network that reappears after removal has not been forgotten badly. Something put it back.

The most common cause is another Apple device. Networks stored in iCloud Keychain sync between devices signed in to the same Apple Account, so a network removed on a Mac while an iPhone still holds it can be handed straight back. Removing it on every device, or turning off Auto-Join on all of them, is what makes the removal stick.

The second cause is a notification accepted without reading it. The Wi-Fi pane has a setting for how aggressively the Mac offers unknown networks.

Click the pop-up menu next to "Ask to join networks," then choose Off, Notify, or Ask. Source: support.apple.com, read September 27, 2026

Notify puts a banner on screen when an unknown network is available, and joining from that banner stores the network again. The same pane has an equivalent setting for hotspots, with Never, Ask To Join and Automatic as the options, and Automatic is why a phone hotspot can appear to attach itself without being asked.

A third cause is a configuration profile. Networks pushed by a school or employer through device management are reinstated by the profile, not by the user, and removing them by hand achieves nothing until the profile is removed.

What removing a network does not touch

Forgetting a network is a narrow operation, and several things that look related are left exactly as they were.

The rest of the Wi-Fi configuration survives. Manual DNS servers, proxy settings, a static IP address and the 802.1X profile all belong to the network service rather than to one network name, so removing an entry from Known Networks leaves them in place. A Mac that was given a custom DNS server two years ago will keep using it after every network in the list has been removed, which is worth knowing when the symptom being chased is name resolution rather than connectivity.

Per network settings, on the other hand, go with the entry. Anything set behind the Details button for that one network, including Auto-Join, low data mode, the private address mode and the Wi-Fi 6E choice, is discarded along with the password. Rejoining the network starts those at their defaults again, which is usually the point of the reset but occasionally an unwelcome surprise on a network that needed a specific setting to work at all.

Nothing about Ethernet, a VPN or a captive portal account is affected. A saved VPN configuration stays in Network settings, and a hotel portal login stored by a browser stays in the browser. Network locations are also untouched, so a Mac configured with separate locations for home and office keeps both, with the network removed only from the location that was active at the time. Switching locations is a faster way to change a whole set of network behaviour than editing the known networks list one entry at a time.

Keeping the answer one click away

Most of this is easier to see from the menu bar than from System Settings, because the Wi-Fi icon carries both the current state and the list of what is in range.

Clicking the icon shows the available networks and the switch to turn Wi-Fi on or off. Holding Option while clicking it adds a technical block above the list with the current network's channel, signal strength and transmit rate, which is the fastest way to confirm whether a Mac has attached itself to the wrong access point rather than the wrong network.

That only works when the icon is visible. On a laptop with a wide app in front, the right end of the menu bar fills up with status icons and the older ones get pushed off the visible strip altogether, at which point checking the network means opening System Settings instead of glancing at the top of the screen. Apple's own controls go part of the way: the Menu Bar pane switches built in icons on and off, and holding Command while dragging an icon out of the strip removes it.

To rearrange status menus, press and hold the Command key while you drag an icon. To quickly remove a status menu, press and hold the Command key while you drag the icon out of the menu bar. Source: support.apple.com, read September 27, 2026

Beyond that, keeping a long strip usable without deleting the icons in it is what a tool that hides menu bar icons on a Mac is for, and the feature list is the place to check whether a given one lets a hidden icon still be clicked or merely pushes it out of view.

What to change first

Open Wi-Fi settings, click Advanced, and read the Known Networks list to the bottom. Remove the venues that will never be visited again, and for the networks that are occasionally useful, turn Auto-Join off instead of removing them. If the Wi-Fi icon itself has been squeezed out of the menu bar in the process, Koffret keeps it reachable without giving up the icons beside it.