EAWiFiUnconfiguredAccessoryBrowser "Accessory Setup" UI selects blank/null SSID by default

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We've received several reports of a new bug while setting up our products with WAC. The Accessory Setup UI appears with a blank network selected and the message 'This accessory will be set up to join "(null)".' at top. The user can tap "Show Other Networks..." to select another network, but this experience is very confusing. Why does this UI present a choice that is known to be invalid when other valid choices exist?

I've captured a screenshot and sysdiagnose from this case. In most cases this problem happens only intermittently, but I can reproduce it consistently by disconnecting my iPhone from any WiFi network (WiFi remains enabled).

My suggestion for a better user experience is that this UI should select the default network according to these rules:

The network to which iPhone is currently connected.
Any network which is in the known/my list for this iPhone
Any valid network

I believe rule #1 is the existing behavior, but applying rules #2 and #3 as fallbacks would be an improvement.

Is there anything I can change in my iOS code or in my accessory's WAC server to improve this experience? Screenshot 2025-09-19 at 10.24.56 AM.png

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DTS Engineer OP

Apple

28m

We've received several reports of a new bug while setting up our products with WAC. The Accessory Setup UI appears with a blank network selected and the message 'This accessory will be set up to join "(null)".' at top. The user can tap "Show Other Networks..." to select another network, but this experience is very confusing. Why does this UI present a choice that is known to be invalid when other valid choices exist?

I'm not sure of what specifically changed but it sounds like we broke something. Have you filed a bug? If so, what's the bug number?

Is there anything I can change in my iOS code or in my accessory's WAC server to improve this experience?

No, you don't have any control over this UI. However, one thing I would suggest is filing a separate bug asking us to redesign how WAC pairing works and integrating this into AccessorySetupKit. At this point, the WAC pairing APIs are quite old and need to be revisited, with AccessorySetupKit being the most natural "home" for them.

Finally, this assumes that your accessory is fact a pure "WAC" accessory, not a HomeKit accessory choosing to use the old WAC pairing API. However, if this is a HomeKit accessory then my suggestion would be to just shift to HomeKit's pairing APIs, which are simply "better" and have been for a VERY long time.

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Kevin Elliott
DTS Engineer, CoreOS/Hardware

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