iPhone refuses to roam to the closer AP unless I toggle Wi-Fi 

Wi-Fi Optimization
1

I have two access points in the house and my iPhone keeps hanging on to the wrong one.

The annoying part is that I can be standing almost next to the closer AP and the phone will still stay connected to the one across the house. Sometimes it drops down to 2.4 GHz first, gets slow for a bit, and only later decides to move over. If I toggle Wi-Fi off/on, it immediately connects to the closer AP and everything is fine.

Both APs use the same SSID. I’m not trying to do anything fancy, just want calls and video to stop getting weird when I walk from one side of the house to the other.

Is this where I should use minimum RSSI / roaming assistant, or is that just going to make things worse?

2

Roaming is mostly client-side. The AP can suggest, nudge, or kick, but the iPhone ultimately decides when it wants to move. And iPhones can be stubborn little bricks about it. Minimum RSSI can help, but don’t start there too aggressively. If you set it too high, you can create random drops instead of smooth roaming.

3

Check your transmit power first, especially 2.4 GHz.

4

@FIRE_DRAGON666 That’s what I was afraid of. I don’t want to “fix” sticky roaming by making the phone disconnect every time I walk down the hallway. That would be worse than what I have now.

5

Before you start throwing minimum RSSI values at it, measure the overlap. Use something like NetSpot or WiFiman and walk the route where the iPhone should switch APs. Check what the far AP’s signal actually looks like there, not just what the Wi-Fi bars say. If the old AP is still hanging around strong enough, the iPhone may decide it’s “good enough” and stay stuck. If the signal drops hard but the phone still refuses to roam, then roaming assistant / min RSSI might make more sense. NetSpot won’t force the iPhone to roam, but it can make the power/overlap problem a lot easier to see.

6

Minimum RSSI is useful, but it’s a knife, not a pillow. Start conservative. Something around -75 or -80 can be a sanity check. Don’t jump straight to -65 unless you enjoy troubleshooting a new problem you created yourself. Also test with more than one device. iPhones, Android phones, laptops, IoT junk — they all behave differently.