Not connecting automatically to the nearest strongest wifi signal

We are using iPhone SE 2020s now an have noticed that, as we move around the house, they are not automatically connecting the both of our wifi extenders we have. We need to manually select them.

The “Ask to Join Networks” in Settings > Wifi is set to Ask. Off and Notify are the other options. We’ve tested and not noticing much different behaviour. Which setting is the correct one?

Are there other settings which would make a difference here?

Thanks in advance!

We have a Eero mesh network and I’ve noticed that it can take a while for the Eero with the strongest signal strength to pick up the phones or watches as we move around the house. Eventually the connection is made. It’s not that we lose signal, it’s just not always the best signal. Toggling WiFi on the phone off-wait a beat-then on will cause the phone to get the strongest signal.

I always feel like they try way to hard to stay connected to a network. I’ve noticed that I’ll be a couple houses away and it’s still trying to connect to my home network.

I don’t find this surprising. If the network performance is acceptable (whatever that means) I would expect the phone to remain connected to that network device, only switching if the network performance drops below some threshold (I agree it might be nice to be able to adjust this threshold with a setting). @anon41602260’s suggestion is probably the easiest way to force a switch.

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I have noticed the same problem, and have gotten accustomed to doing the on-off-on dance when I move my iPad from one side of the house to another.

It doesn’t seem to be a problem with the iPhone, perhaps because of the cellular signal boost.

Agreed, that my phone tries to stay connected to the one that it was already connected with.