iPhone 16 Wi-Fi issues at home despite working router

What is more important is the frequency that the router is broadcasting the WiFi network. Wifi 7 supports 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz. You do not want to be broadcasting on the 2.4Ghz band and it may be necessary to create a WiFi network on a specific band and connect to that one. The 2.4Ghz band is still plagued with interference and channel overlap that results in a poor connection and is only there for compatibility with older devices. With multiple devices, that band gets quickly overwhelmed and will start dropping connections.

Devices will frequently connect to the 2.4Ghz band when available because it does have a longer range, so will be the first one detected when coming home. The benefits of WiFi 7 with faster speeds is not available on the 2.4Ghz band.

"iPhone 16 Wi-Fi issues at home despite working router: Hi there, I’m experiencing WiFi issues exclusively at home with my iPhone 16 base model. Our WiFi 7 router works seamlessly with all other devices, but when I’m working or playing on my phone, the apps I’m using suddenly lag and display that I have bad internet. Restarting the affected app provides temporary relief, but the issue persists. Could you please advise on how to resolve this problem? I greatly appreciate your assistance."

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Successfully Opening Apps with WiFi:

A. Close All Apps:

There might be apps open that are pending downloads. So, save what need be, and then close all apps. Hold you finger down as you swipe up form the bottom-left corner of your screen. Then, close all of these open apps, by swiping up quickly for all apps.

B. Turn Off Cellular:

If you are using WiFi, then turn off Cellular, though the Settings app.

C. Perform a Force Restart:

Try Force Restarting your iPhone. Save any information that need be. Then perform the restart. See if you can then perform this. Go Here: Force Restart iPhone - Apple Support

Evab55 wrote:

My father forces me to have qustodio tracking on my phone and it uses a VPN. Could that be the problem?

VPNs can cause issues, yes. Hand this connectivity issue to your IT administrator — your father — to deal with.

What amounts to stalkerware in another guise can potentially open up other issues, as users of some parental controls apps and some stalkerware apps have discovered:

• https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/02/hacked-leaked-exposed-why-you-should-stop-using-stalkerware-apps/

The built-in Apple-provided parental controls are locally preferable, at least from a privacy and security perspective:

• Use parental controls on your child's iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

If you have any add-on VPN apps installed here, remove all — remove, not disable — and then restart the iPhone, and test again.