How do I keep my Mac connected to WiFi while sleeping?

If you have macbook air or macbook pro, then probably you would have faced this issue (if not, definitely you will face it someday) where your WiFi gets disconnected when macbook goes into the sleep mode.
Few days ago, when I started downloading a big file of 7GB and then went for lunch, hoping that my download will get finished in 2-3 hours. When I came back, I saw download was at 2 GB, interrupted due to request time out (No internet connectivity). I again started download and same thing happened when my mac book went into the sleep mode. Now I realized that WiFi is getting disconnected when mac book goes into the sleep mode.

I thought okay, now I know the problem, I just go to system preferences and uncheck WiFi sleep mode like I am familiar with android devices but there was no such option and then I started searching on Google for this problem.

I got this link https://www.igeeksblog.com/mac-disconnecting-from-wi-fi-after-sleep-wake/  from the web and I followed step by step guide given in this nice tutorial. Unfortunately it did not work out for me. Basically this link says, WiFi network that you connected to, should be your preferred network. But even after making it as preferred network, problem did not went away.

Then yesterday, I suddenly found this option and it worked like rain drops in the desert. I opened system preferences -> energy Saver -> power adapter and I saw this option “Wake for WiFi network access”. I immediately unchecked it.  This option really sounds confusing and it feels like this option must be checked in order to “Keep system wake for the network access” but actually it means that “Your system must be awake for the network access”. So uncheck it to have network access even with sleep mode and not just when system is awake.

Update: On macOS Monterey, Power Adapter option is available under “Battery”

But why so?

Basically under energy saving option, apple disconnects WiFi network to save the battery and it is checked by default. Once you uncheck this option, your macbook will stay connected to WiFi network even in sleep mode.

You don’t need to put your macbook on “Never sleep” mode as it will severely affect your battery performance and really not good option to go for.

So, this setting has saved me from the hell and thought to share with you. If you find this article useful, feel free to comment below and share with your friends.

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6 Responses

  1. hey hello, i tried doing this method but still it isn’t working for me by unticking the wake for network access box.
    I’m using Mac M2 is there any other option, so that i could fix this issue or do i’ve to visit the store.

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