iOS 11

We are also having this issue at one of our schools.

Apple introduced one of their famous new 'features' which prevents the phone from connecting to 'spotty' wifi, however it's an issue at public wifi for some students but also at our school. Initially we thought it was isolated to an open SSID we had where Sophos UTM provided the login however it's now happening on an SSID with a WPA passphrase (then user logs into Sophos UTM) so it's not related to blocking open wifi. Normally they just connect to the open or passworded wifi connection then login to the internet via Sophos web logon authenticated via Active Directory.

There's an option for the SSID where you turn on auto-join for this 'spotty' connection to force the phones to connect regardless of what Apple feels the phone should connect to, but it's not working.

 A couple users don't have the issue but we can't determine why.

Symptoms:

• users had zero issues with iPhone on IOS 10.3.3 or earlier
• user connects to SSID on iPhone with IOS 11
• user receives an appropriate IP via DHCP
• a split second later the user's phone disconnects
• user tries to connect again, receives IP via DHCP for a few seconds, then disconnects, etc., etc..

We were with Firmware 9.502-4 and had the issues.

We upgraded to 9.503-4 hoping Sophos knew about this and fixed whatever Apple's issue was with the UTM. Undetermined if resolved.

I should also add that this is classified at this school as a 'huge problem' as piles of kids have upgraded to IOS 11. We sent out a notification for teachers to tell students not to update but we already have about 50 who've done it and about 47 or so can't stay connected.

We are also having this issue at one of our schools.

Apple introduced one of their famous new 'features' which prevents the phone from connecting to 'spotty' wifi, however it's an issue at public wifi for some students but also at our school. Initially we thought it was isolated to an open SSID we had where Sophos UTM provided the login however it's now happening on an SSID with a WPA passphrase (then user logs into Sophos UTM) so it's not related to blocking open wifi. Normally they just connect to the open or passworded wifi connection then login to the internet via Sophos web logon authenticated via Active Directory.

There's an option for the SSID where you turn on auto-join for this 'spotty' connection to force the phones to connect regardless of what Apple feels the phone should connect to, but it's not working.

 A couple users don't have the issue but we can't determine why.

Symptoms:

• users had zero issues with iPhone on IOS 10.3.3 or earlier
• user connects to SSID on iPhone with IOS 11
• user receives an appropriate IP via DHCP
• a split second later the user's phone disconnects
• user tries to connect again, receives IP via DHCP for a few seconds, then disconnects, etc., etc..

We were with Firmware 9.502-4 and had the issues.

We upgraded to 9.503-4 hoping Sophos knew about this and fixed whatever Apple's issue was with the UTM. Undetermined if resolved.

I should also add that this is classified at this school as a 'huge problem' as piles of kids have upgraded to IOS 11. We sent out a notification for teachers to tell students not to update but we already have about 50 who've done it and about 47 or so can't stay connected.

Yep, what you're describing seems to be the same as what I'm experiencing.

Hi, William, and welcome to the UTM Community!

Nicholas won't get anywhere with his request here as this is not "official" Sophos Support even though we do get some good participation from some Sophos folks.

I can't imagine that this is unknown to Sophos, but the admin at your school should get a case open with Support, William.

Cheers - Bob
PS For any piece of mission-critical equipment, it's always wise to be a late-adopter.  The folks having problems with iOS 11 will have gotten a good lesson and the wise ones will learn from it.