WiFi connected but not transmitting

My iPhone detects and connects to WiFi's but does not transmit any data/update anything. When I switch back to cellular data everything works just fine. Any ideas as to what is going on?

When your iPhone is on WiFi only, can you get on the net? In other words, browse web sites, and so on? Assuming here that the WiFi signal is strong enough...

Nope. It just looks like it's trying to load and never does. Then I'll turn the wifi off, go back to cellular data and I'm right back in action.

That's a strange one. Which model iPhone do you have? What you can try is first backup your iPhone to iCloud and also to your Mac or PC with iTunes and then reset it.

I'm assuming that you tried rebooting your iPhone to see if that got WiFi working again?

iPhone 5. Yeah, it is pretty odd. I've tried it on multiple WiFi networks, turned it off and on again; I was hoping the new software update would reset something and get it working again, but no luck when I updated either.

Thanks

I can't think of anything off hand that would cause WiFi to go down but cellular to work. Both depend on signal reception in the phone. Is your iPhone 5 still under warranty from your carrier or Apple? It may be a hardware problem but a strange one if it is.

If it doesn't work at your local Starbucks, then I'd say either you're forgetting to sign in (which sometimes brings up a signin page automatically, sometimes you have to open a browser and try to go somewhere first), or you have an issue with the Wi-Fi antennas or other Wi-Fi systems on your phone and that should be seen to by an Apple tech.

One way to double-check that its not just user error is to find or create a completely password-free open wi-fi network and try to join it.

Also, if you haven't done so in a while, I'd suggest powering down the iPhone (not just putting it to sleep, actually shutting it off) and restarting. This generally cures all ills.