By default, when you turn on “Connect to Wi-Fi networks automatically” in Settings, your Android device connects to every Wi-Fi that it remembers. For instance, whenever you get back home or reach the office, you would notice your Android device would automatically turn on the Wi-Fi and connect to your home or office Wi-Fi. This is Android’s “Auto-connect”.
While this feature is useful in most situations, sometimes it gets annoying. For instance, you step into McDonald’s and your Android automatically switches to McDonald’s Wi-Fi since it remembers it. But, McDonald’s wants you to sign to the captive portal which you haven’t, and your existing download is interrupted. Here’s an easy way to prevent it in the future.
Disable Auto-Connect on Certain Wi-Fi Networks
Head over to the Settings menu and you would have your connected Wi-Fi on the top. Tap on it and under the Wi-Fi network page, tap on the gear icon beside your connected Wi-Fi.
Read: How to Get Pixel 4 Voice Recorder App on Any Android Phone
Under the Wi-Fi settings, tap on the “Advanced” option for furthermore settings. Once done, navigate to the bottom and you will have an option labeled as “Auto-connect”. Tap on it to turn off Auto-connect for the particular Wi-Fi.
Once you have done that, your Android wouldn’t Auto-connect to this particular Wi-Fi network. While it’ll still auto-connect to other WiFi networks whose settings you haven’t changed yet.
Now, this optional Auto-connect has been available on Android skins probably since Android 9 or Android 10. It arrived on OneUI a while ago and I have this feature on Android 10 itself.
Closing Words
Google brought a number of privacy changes in Android 10. One that went under the radar was Randomized MAC Address and a bunch of Wi-Fi changes.
For more issues or queries, let me know in the comments below.
Also Read: How to Get Live Captions on Any Android Device Running Android 10
