Prevent Turning Off Wi-Fi on an iPhone
Keep an iPhone connected to a filtered Wi-Fi connection.
If you've set up your home router to filter content using DNS-based blocking, you'll want to ensure that an iPhone can't bypass it and use an unprotected internet connection.
A common way that iPhone users bypass WiFi content filtering is to simply turn off WiFi and use an unfiltered roaming internet connection (4g/5g), but you can prevent this using an Apple Config Generator .
One way to deal with this bypass technique is to configure the iPhone to point directly to your DNS Content Policy to ensure filtering on any internet connection (including while roaming on 4g/5g).
There's an additional strategy you might want to consider as well. If you've set up Supervised Mode on an iPhone, the best setup I can recommend is to:
- Prevent the iPhone from turning off WiFi so it's no longer possible to switch to cellular while at home
- Connect your iPhone to your Content Policy directly using a protected VPN connection
- Optionally, point DNS settings on your iPhone to your Content Policy as a backup to the protected VPN
This ensures that, while at home, the iPhone can't disable Wi-Fi and use cellular (which isn't filtered by default). Combined with a protected VPN and backup DNS settings, you can achieve a blocking setup that is very time-consuming and difficult to disable, even if you're an adult.
Here are the steps to follow:
Supervised mode is required to prevent Wi-Fi from being turned off, since this is done by using a Config File.
If you're enabled all three options (Forcing Wi-Fi, protected VPN, and DNS settings), here's how your iPhone will behave:
- By default, your iPhone will attempt to use the protected VPN to filter content
- If the VPN is disabled, your iPhone will revert to filtered DNS settings
- If both the VPN and DNS settings are disabled (which is highly unlikely) and you are at home, your iPhone will stay connected to your filtered Wi-Fi network
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the iPhone still use roaming internet?
Yes, if the device can't establish a connection with WiFi, it will fall back to the phone's 4g/5g connection. This technique is most useful when trying to prevent bypass of the home network filtering.
Do I need to enable all three layers?
Not necessarily, but if you've enabled Supervised Mode , then it's worth taking a few extra steps to prevent content filtering from being disabled.
How difficult is it to enable Supervised Mode on an iPhone?
Supervised mode requires a full reset of your iPhone, and can take between 15 and 30 minutes to set up. It's much easier to set up if you also have a Mac computer, although it is still possible to enable it if you have a Windows computer.