Mac Keeps Asking to Connect to a New Wi-Fi Network: How to Stop It
TL;DR
Your Mac keeps nagging you about a new Wi-Fi network because it's seeing a signal that looks similar to one you've joined before, or because your saved network list has junk in it confusing macOS. Clean up your known networks, check your router's band settings, and the popups usually stop. If they don't, something's actually wrong with the Wi-Fi hardware or your router, not your settings.
What you need
- A Mac running a reasonably current version of macOS (the menus look slightly different across versions, but the logic is the same)
- Access to System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS)
- Your Wi-Fi router's admin password, in case you need to check its settings
- About 10-15 minutes
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Step 1: Figure out what the popup is actually saying
Before changing anything, read the prompt carefully. Is it asking you to join a network with the same name as your home Wi-Fi? Or is it a nearby network you've never seen, like a neighbor's router or a device hotspot?
This matters. If it's the same network name showing up repeatedly, your Mac is likely seeing two access points broadcasting under one SSID (common with mesh routers or dual-band setups) and treating them as separate networks each time. If it's a totally unfamiliar name, your Mac may just be set to alert you about any open or new network it detects, which is a privacy feature, not a bug.
Step 2: Forget the problem network and rejoin it clean
Go to System Settings > Wi-Fi > Details (click the small info button next to the network name) and choose Forget This Network. Once you've done that, restart your Mac, then manually reconnect to your Wi-Fi by selecting it from the menu bar and entering your password fresh. This clears out any corrupted preference data macOS may have stored for that network, including mismatched security settings or a cached DHCP lease that's causing the repeated prompts.
If you're on an older Mac still running macOS Monterey or earlier, the path is System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced, where you'll see a full list of known networks. You can remove individual entries there by selecting them and hitting the minus button.
Step 3: Clean up your full list of known networks
Over time, Macs accumulate dozens of saved networks , coffee shops, hotels, friends' houses, old offices. Each one is a potential source of confusion, especially if a new network nearby happens to share a name with one on your list. Pruning that list is one of the most effective fixes for repeated popup behavior.
In System Settings > Wi-Fi, scroll down and look for the option to manage known networks. Remove anything you don't recognize or no longer use. On older macOS versions this lives in the Advanced pane. Be thorough , a network you connected to once at an airport three years ago can still trigger prompts if a nearby device is broadcasting the same SSID.
Step 4: Turn off "Notify me of available networks"
macOS has a setting that actively alerts you when new Wi-Fi networks are detected nearby. It's meant to be helpful when you're somewhere without a saved network, but in practice it creates noise for most home users. Here's how to turn it off:
- Open System Settings > Wi-Fi
- Scroll down to find Ask to join networks (sometimes labeled Notify me of available networks depending on your macOS version)
- Set it to Off or Never , this tells macOS to stop prompting you about networks you haven't explicitly connected to
Note that this won't stop your Mac from reconnecting to known networks automatically. It only suppresses the prompts about unfamiliar ones.
Step 5: Check your router's band configuration
If the popup is referring to your own network name and keeps appearing even after forgetting and rejoining, your router's dual-band or tri-band setup may be the culprit. Many routers broadcast separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. If they're assigned different names (SSIDs), your Mac may treat them as two distinct networks and ask about switching between them frequently.
Log in to your router's admin panel , usually accessible by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 into a browser, though the exact address varies by router brand. Look for a setting called Band Steering or Smart Connect. Enabling this feature tells the router to present both bands under a single SSID and automatically move your devices to the best band without prompting. Most modern routers support this, but the menu label varies: Netgear calls it Smart Connect, ASUS calls it Band Steering, and TP-Link has similar options under wireless settings.
If you'd rather keep the bands separate, just make sure you know which SSID is which and that your Mac is saved to both intentionally.
Step 6: Reset your Mac's network settings if the problem persists
If you've done all of the above and your Mac is still throwing repeated Wi-Fi popups, it's worth doing a more thorough reset of your network configuration. macOS stores Wi-Fi preferences in a set of plist files. Deleting these files forces macOS to rebuild them fresh on next boot.
Here's how to do it safely:
- Open Finder and press Command + Shift + G to open the Go to Folder dialog
- Type
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/and press Enter - Look for these files and move them to your Desktop (don't delete them yet , this lets you restore if something goes wrong):
com.apple.airport.preferences.plistcom.apple.network.identification.plistcom.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plistNetworkInterfaces.plistpreferences.plist
- Restart your Mac
- macOS will recreate these files automatically. Reconnect to your Wi-Fi network manually.
This is a safe procedure, but make sure you have your Wi-Fi password on hand before you do it , you'll be starting fresh as far as your network preferences are concerned.
Step 7: Check for interference or a failing Wi-Fi card
If none of the software fixes work, consider whether something in your environment changed recently. A new cordless phone, a baby monitor, a neighbor's new router, or even a microwave can introduce 2.4 GHz interference that causes your Mac's Wi-Fi to drop and reconnect repeatedly , which can trigger repeated join prompts depending on how macOS interprets the disconnection.
You can use a free app like Wireless Diagnostics (built into macOS , hold Option and click the Wi-Fi menu bar icon, then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics) to scan nearby networks and see what channels are congested. If your router is on a crowded channel, logging into its admin panel and switching to a less-used channel (for 2.4 GHz, channels 1, 6, and 11 are the non-overlapping options) can make a meaningful difference.
If your Mac is older and the Wi-Fi card itself is failing, you may see erratic behavior that looks like a software issue but isn't. Symptoms include random disconnects, slow speeds even on a strong signal, and yes , repeated prompts to rejoin a network. In that case, a hardware diagnostic or professional repair is the right next step.
Why this keeps happening: the short explanation
macOS is designed to be helpful about Wi-Fi, sometimes to a fault. It remembers networks, looks for known ones automatically, and alerts you when it finds something new. That's great when you're traveling, but at home it can create a loop where a minor mismatch , two access points with slightly different settings, a router that dropped and came back on a different channel, or a corrupted preference file , triggers repeated prompts that feel impossible to dismiss permanently.
The fixes in this guide address each of those root causes in order from least disruptive to most. Most people find their issue is resolved after Step 3 or Step 4. The later steps are for edge cases, but they're worth knowing about if you've already tried the obvious stuff and it hasn't worked.
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