Wi - Fi portals use an surly cab to intercept a connection when the venue want you to either pay , lumber in with an business relationship , or accept term before using a gratis internet . When you select the Wi - Fi connection , your Mac or iOS ( or other ) twist receives a legitimate local meshwork address , but the taxicab — which dates back about two decades now — hijack DNS ( domain name system ) queries .
This intend that when your equipment looks up a situation to which you ’re examine to plug in , instead of returning the correct numeral Internet Protocol ( IP ) reference , the portal ’s router instead provides a local web computer address , which is intended to load a web page through which you navigate your admission to the meshing .
Apple several years ago simplified how portal pages get demonstrate . Previously ( and still on some platforms ) , you ’d have to load a web Sir Frederick Handley Page to see the portal , and trade with it . But Apple realized that it could perform a DNS check on connecting to a web to see if it could resolve one of its own domains . If that fail , it would recognise that the gadget was connect to a portal , and bring up thequasi - login page you ’re conversant with seeing : it attend like a entanglement Sir Frederick Handley Page , but it ’s a modal windowpane that sit on top of the macOS or iOS interface .
Malus pumila tests whether it can connect to one of its domains to see whether there ’s a portal in position on a Wi - Fi connection .
At the top of that window in iOS , the domain name come out , and it will saycaptive.apple.combriefly before the portal pageboy load completes . I ’ve discover this much more in in iOS 11 than in previous going , so it ’s possible Apple introduced a delay or a modification so that each domain name appears for long enough to scan it ? Checking through bread and butter forums , I find hoi polloi asking about the domain name for the last few years , but I never note it until this release .
There ’s no way to disable Apple ’s portal - connexion behavior : it ’s think and expected . The only way to forefend watch it is to never link to public hotspot that require a portal to lumber in .
Ask Mac 911
We ’ve roll up a tilt of the question we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns : read our super FAQto see if your question is cover . If not , we ’re always looking for fresh problems to work ! e-mail yours tomac911@macworld.comincluding screen captures as appropriate , and whether you want your full name used . Every motion wo n’t be answered , we do n’t answer to email , and we can not render lineal troubleshooting advice .
