jhonsonrodes91

Hey everyone,

I ran into this exact same issue a few weeks ago on an iPhone 14 running the latest iOS update, where the WordPress iOS app repeatedly failed to connect to self-hosted sites while working completely fine on iPad and desktop.

Before tearing your hair out resetting the app, check these four common culprits:

1. Check Local Network Permissions (iOS Specific): Go to your iPhone Settings > WordPress and make sure Local Network and Background App Refresh are both toggled ON. iOS sometimes revokes local network access silently after major updates, which blocks XML-RPC and REST API calls.
2. XML-RPC / REST API Endpoint Blocked: If you are using security plugins (like Wordfence or iThemes) or Cloudflare rules, make sure the xmlrpc.php or /wp-json/ endpoints aren’t completely hard-blocked for mobile user agents.
3. SSL/TLS Certificate Chain Issue: iOS Safari/Apps are far stricter about incomplete SSL intermediate chains than desktop browsers. Run your domain through an SSL checker to ensure your CA bundle is installed correctly on your host.
4. Application Passwords: If you have 2FA enabled on your WP user account, standard passwords will fail in the iOS app. Generate an Application Password under WordPress Admin > Users > Profile and use that to log in via the app. If you’re constantly managing remote setups, testing client deployments, or optimizing site infrastructure, having a clear digital workflow—much like the strategies shared over at zoridiamantes—helps you isolate whether it’s an iOS network bug, a server-side header block, or a cached DNS issue much faster.Hope one of these steps gets your site connected on that iPhone! Let me know if you get a specific error code (like HTTP 403 or SSL Error) so we can narrow it down further.

• This reply was modified 1 day, 8 hours ago by jhonsonrodes91. Reason: because i have some wording mistake