Wi-Fi not connecting automatically

PixOS

Hi,

I’ve been using GrapheneOS for a few days now and overall it’s working great. However, I’m facing an issue with Wi-Fi connectivity that I haven’t been able to resolve;

My phone (Pixel 10 Pro) doesn’t automatically connect to saved Wi-Fi networks (home and work) even when they are in range. Wi-Fi is enabled, and the 'Auto-connect' option is turned on for both networks. The networks appear in the Wi-Fi menu with the label 'Saved,' but my phone only connects when I manually select them or toggle Wi-Fi off and on again.

I’ve configured 'Use per-network randomized MAC' for my home network and 'Use per-connection randomized MAC' for my work network.
It’s not a DHCP issue: my phone’s MAC address has a reservation in my home DHCP pool, and work leases are cleared nightly (I’m usually one of the first in the office).
Manually selecting the network connects without any issues, confirming the DHCP setup is correct.
I’ve already reset the internet settings via the Internet menu and the reset button in the top-right corner.

I’ve searched for solutions but haven’t found anything helpful. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Novalissoide

PixOS maybe try Settings > Network and internet > Internet > Networks

Select your connection entry.

In the sub menu entry 'Advanced options', select 'Treat as unmetered', if not already.

de0u

PixOS I’ve already reset the internet settings via the Internet menu and the reset button in the top-right corner.

I'm not 100% sure from this description what was done. Can you try: Settings, System, Reset options, Reset Bluetooth & Wi-Fi? I realize it may be disruptive.

PixOS

Novalissoide
Unfortunately, that doesn’t help. The strange thing is that it sometimes connects automatically and sometimes it doesn’t. I haven’t been able to figure out what triggers the connection or why it fails.

xxx
Thanks, but that’s the Auto-connect option I mentioned earlier :)

xxx

There is an option for each lan 'reconnect when in range' (my phone is not english).

xxx

PixOS Auto-connect option I mentioned earlier :)

That should work. There is one more ->
'Adaptive Connectivity' in settings
I have it on.

6s5xz

I have been having the same issue and so double checked my settings compared to what was mentioned here. Of the two options below, I had the second turned off, so I'm hoping now that I've enabled it my phone will auto connect in future.

Settings - Network and Internet - Internet - Network preferences - 'select your WiFi connection' - Auto-connect (turn on)

Settings - Network and Internet - Internet - Network preferences - Turn on Wi-Fi automatically (turn on)

PixOS

xxx
I checked the settings, and it was already enabled.

6s5xz
Settings - Network and Internet - Internet - Network preferences - Turn on Wi-Fi automatically (turn on)

First of all, to enable this 'Wi-Fi scanning' has to be turned on as well. I don't want to allow apps and services to scan for Wi-Fi networks at any time, even when Wi-Fi is off.
Second, it doesn't make sense for my problem. Wi-Fi isn't turned off. It is turned on all the time. I only won't connect to the network all the time. I'm not sure, but it looks like it happens when my phone isn't connected to the network for a longer time.

2JADEd

I have both options enabled and it doesn't auto connect at all.

I use a Pixel 8 Pro btw.

6s5xz

Further to my earlier post, unfortunately the problem remains for me also.

For reference, I have a Pixel 10 Pro XL, running build 2026012801.

PixOS

de0u

I went to Settings > Network & Internet > Internet and selected the reset option in the top-right corner.

As you suggested, I reset both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I’ll need to reconfigure my connections now, but I hope this resolves the issue. I’ll follow up with an update in a couple of days.

Johnnyloans

PixOS

2 long shots come to mind:

WiFi on your phone is set to turn off after a certain time period of no connections ( it won't scan for networks).
close to zero chance of this one and out of your control. I am sure google wouldn't let this happen.

Certain technologies for WiFi meshes may be incompatible with--typically old--devices/drivers and cause issues. Most are for quickly changing WiFi access points when you move around a campus like 802.11r.

Reinstall gos for the weird software behavior?

Edit: or your WiFi does connect and either your antenna has issues or there's interference to cause packet drops and retries so your phone disconnects. Probably zero chance of this, again.

de0u

PixOS I went to Settings > Network & Internet > Internet and selected the reset option in the top-right corner.

I don't think that does very much. I think it just temporarily disconnects and reconnects any current network connections. I wouldn't expect that to address any secret internal misconfigurations.

PixOS As you suggested, I reset both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I’ll need to reconfigure my connections now, but I hope this resolves the issue. I’ll follow up with an update in a couple of days.

Best wishes. Let us know!

PixOS

Unfortunately, resetting both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi did not resolve my connection issue. While reviewing the system logs (System > View logs), I noticed the following entries during a manual Wi-Fi connection attempt, triggered because the automated connection failed:

02-18 06:34:55.647  1000  1578  1746 I WifiService: stopRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId uid=10149
02-18 06:34:55.651  1000  1578  1746 I WifiService: connect uid=10149 uidToUse=10149 packageNameToUse=com.android.systemui attributionTagToUse=null
02-18 06:34:55.652  1000  1578  2699 D WifiConfigManager: Enable disabled network: "<NETWORK_NAME_DELETED>" num=0
02-18 06:34:55.653  1000  1578  2699 D WifiClientModeImpl[130545609:wlan0]: connectToUserSelectNetwork netId 2, uid 10149, package com.android.systemui, forceReconnect = false, isUserSelected = true, attributionTag = null
02-18 06:34:55.656  1000  1578  2699 D WifiScoreReport: setShouldReduceNetworkScore=false mNetworkAgent is null? true
02-18 06:34:55.656  1000  1578  2699 D WifiClientModeImpl[130545609:wlan0]: CMD_START_CONNECT  my state DisconnectedState nid=2 roam=false
02-18 06:34:55.659  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : wifi_configure_roaming: num_blacklist_bssid == 0 (flush)
02-18 06:34:55.701  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : Successfully added 0 blacklist bssids

The log line "Enable disabled network" stands out. Why was the network disabled in the first place? For context, "Auto-connect" is enabled for both of my saved Wi-Fi networks.

I reviewed earlier logs but found nothing unusual:

02-18 06:34:17.608  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : no peers in unassoc case, skip processing peer stats
02-18 06:34:17.609  wifi  1123  1123 E libbinder.IPCThreadState: binder thread pool (1 threads) starved for 134 ms
02-18 06:34:17.610  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : Getting cached scan results, iface handle = 0xe00c44952b9dde0
02-18 06:34:17.610  wifi  1123  1123 E WifiHAL : Creating message to get cached scan results
02-18 06:34:17.622  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : In GetCachedScanResultsCommand::handleResponse

02-18 06:34:25.181  1000  1578  2475 D WifiNl80211Manager: Scan result ready event
02-18 06:34:25.181  1000  1578  2475 D WifiNative: Scan result ready event

02-18 06:34:43.174  1000  1578  2699 I WifiConnectivityManager: SetInitialScanState to : 0

02-18 06:34:43.235  wifi  1123  1123 I WifiHAL : Successfully set firmware roam state - 1

02-18 06:34:43.975  1000  1578  1691 I am_cpu  : [Pid=1300,UID=1010,Base Name=wificond,Uptime=77.194s,Stime=30ms,Utime=10ms]

02-18 06:34:44.168  1000  1578  2696 I netstats_wifi_sample: [xt_rx_bytes=2580328621B,xt_tx_bytes=101531578B,xt_rx_pkts=2093664,xt_tx_pkts=763717,uid_rx_bytes=2576688080B,uid_tx_bytes=97163963B,uid_rx_pkts=2081903,uid_tx_pkts=720890,trusted_time=1771396484.155s]

Side Note: I’ve been using my Pixel phone since its release on August 28th, and I never experienced Wi-Fi issues with stock Android. I’m not suggesting GrapheneOS is the cause, if it were, many others would likely report the same problem. Instead, I suspect it’s a configuration issue. Just wanted to clarify that hardware doesn’t seem to be the cause.

PixOS

I can no longer edit my original post, so apologies for the bump. After further research into why the network might be disabled, I found this Android documentation by searching for "stopRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId."

It turns out there’s an API (WifiManager#startRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId) that temporarily disables nearby Wi-Fi networks. When I manually connect to a Wi-Fi network, the stopRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId API is triggered.
What’s odd is that I couldn’t find any mention of startRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId in the four log files I collected over the past few days.

I’ve revoked Wi-Fi control permissions for some apps (via Settings > Apps > Special app access > Wi-Fi control) and hope this resolves the issue. If anyone knows how to identify what triggers WifiManager#startRestrictingAutoJoinToSubscriptionId, I’d appreciate the insight. Otherwise, I’ll share an update with my findings in a few days.

PixOS

No matter what I configure, disabling the Wi-Fi control permissions for some apps, every app or even system apps, nothing fixes the issue.
Also, turning off adaptive connectivity (a setting I can only find by searching, not by navigating) doesn't solve my problem.

I’m giving up and switching to MacroDroid (without network permissions) to handle Wi-Fi connections automatically.

Thank you all for your suggestions.