How-To

How to Forget a WiFi Network on a Mac

By Ben Stockton

Published April 14, 2023

Connecting to the wrong Wi-Fi network? Forgetting a Wi-Fi network on a Mac will help you keep your connections secure. This guide explains how.

Have you ever connected to a WiFi network you don’t want to use again? Maybe it was slow or insecure—or worse, publicly accessible (and easy to exploit). Whatever the reason, you might want to forget that network and prevent your Mac from automatically joining it in the future.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use a few different methods to forget a WiFi network on a Mac.

Why Should You Forget a WiFi Network on a Mac?

There are several reasons why you might want to forget a WiFi network on your Mac:

• Improve your security and privacy. Some WiFi networks might be malicious or compromised, exposing your data or infecting your device with malware. Forgetting such networks can help you avoid connecting to them accidentally. There’s also an obvious risk from certain networks, such as public networks, that allow your data to be sniffed out easily.
• Optimize your performance and battery life. Some WiFi networks might be slow, congested, or have poor signal strength. Forgetting these networks will help you switch to faster and more reliable ones automatically (especially in a congested area), improving your online experience and saving your battery power.
• Declutter your network list. Your Mac remembers every WiFi network you’ve ever connected to, even if you only used them once. This can make your network list long and messy, making it harder to find the ones you use regularly. Forgetting the ones you don’t need can help you clean up your list and make it easier to manage.

When you forget a WiFi network on your Mac, here’s what happens:

• The network is removed from your list of preferred networks in your Network settings in the System Preferences menu.
• The login credentials for that network are deleted from your iCloud Keychain, which means they won’t be available for any of your other Apple devices either.
• The next time you’re in range of that network, it will appear as an available network but not as a network that your Mac can automatically join.
• If you want to connect to it again, you must enter its password and select it manually.

If you want to forget WiFi networks on a Mac, we’ve outlined the common steps below.

How to Forget a WiFi Network on a Mac Using System Preferences

The System Preferences app is the easiest way to forget a WiFi network on your Mac.

To forget a WiFi network using System Preferences on a Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu icon on the menu bar in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Preferences.
   
2. On the System Preferences dialog, click Network.
   
3. On the Network page, select Wi-Fi from the sidebar.
4. Click Advanced in the bottom-right corner of the window.
   
5. On the Wi-Fi tab, scroll through the list of preferred networks and find the one you want to forget.
6. Select the network and click the minus (–) button below the list.
7. Click OK and then Apply.
   

You’ve successfully forgotten the WiFi network on your Mac. Repeat the steps to remove any other networks and exit the System Preferences app when finished.

How to Forget a WiFi Network on a Mac Using Terminal

If you prefer using commands instead of menus, you can forget a WiFi network on your Mac using the Terminal app.

To forget WiFi networks on a Mac using the Terminal app:

1. Launch Terminal from the Applications > Utilities folder in the Launchpad.
2. Alternatively, search for Terminal using Spotlight Search by pressing Command + Space.
3. In the Terminal window, type networksetup -listpreferredwirelessnetworks en0 (the last character is a zero) and press Enter. This will show you all the preferred wireless networks that your Mac remembers.
   
4. If that doesn’t work, replace en0 with en1 in the command, then press Enter.
5. Find the network you want to forget and copy its name exactly as it appears (including spaces and punctuation).
6. Next, type networksetup -removepreferredwirelessnetwork en0 “Network Name” (or en1 if en0 doesn’t work). In this case, replace “Network Name” with the correct network name you copied, including the quotation marks.
7. Press Enter to run the command.
   

You’ll see either Preferred wireless network has been removed or Failed to remove preferred wireless network appear in the terminal, depending on whether it worked.

If it didn’t work, retrace your steps and ensure that your network name is correct. If it did work, congratulations—you’ve successfully forgotten that WiFi network on your Mac. You can repeat these steps for any further networks you want to remove.

Managing Networks on a Mac

Forgetting a WiFi network on your Mac can help you improve your security. If you’re always connecting to the wrong network, removing the ones you don’t want to use can help you maintain security, swerving past the networks that are too slow or too insecure.

Curious to try more commands in the Terminal? You can try some cool macOS Terminal commands next, from file maintenance tricks to a quick game of Tetris.

Running out of storage? If you’ve got a network-attached storage device, you can map a network drive on your Mac using Finder or the Terminal.