Easiest way to detect Internet connection on iOS?

Question

I did a little more research and I am updating my answer with a more current solution. I am not sure if you have already looked at it but there is a nice sample code provided by Apple.

Download the sample code here

Include the Reachability.h and Reachability.m files in your project. Take a look at ReachabilityAppDelegate.m to see an example on how to determine host reachability, reachability by WiFi, by WWAN etc. For a very simply check of network reachability, you can do something like this

Reachability *networkReachability = [Reachability reachabilityForInternetConnection];   
NetworkStatus networkStatus = [networkReachability currentReachabilityStatus];    
if (networkStatus == NotReachable) {        
    NSLog(@"There IS NO internet connection");        
} else {        
     NSLog(@"There IS internet connection");        
}

@BenjaminPiette's: Don't forget to add SystemConfiguration.framework to your project.

Seeing as this thread is the top google result for this type of question, I figured I would provide the solution that worked for me. I was already using AFNetworking, but searching didn't reveal how to accomplish this task with AFNetworking until midway through my project.

What you want is the AFNetworkingReachabilityManager.

// -- Start monitoring network reachability (globally available) -- //
[[AFNetworkReachabilityManager sharedManager] startMonitoring];

[[AFNetworkReachabilityManager sharedManager] setReachabilityStatusChangeBlock:^(AFNetworkReachabilityStatus status) {

    NSLog(@"Reachability changed: %@", AFStringFromNetworkReachabilityStatus(status));


    switch (status) {
        case AFNetworkReachabilityStatusReachableViaWWAN:
        case AFNetworkReachabilityStatusReachableViaWiFi:
            // -- Reachable -- //
            NSLog(@"Reachable");
            break;
        case AFNetworkReachabilityStatusNotReachable:
        default:
            // -- Not reachable -- //
            NSLog(@"Not Reachable");
            break;
    }

}];

You can also use the following to test reachability synchronously (once monitoring has started):

-(BOOL) isInternetReachable
{
    return [AFNetworkReachabilityManager sharedManager].reachable;
}

Sorry for replying too late but I hope this answer can help somebody in future.

Following is a small native C code snippet that can check internet connectivity without any extra class.

Add the following headers:

#include<unistd.h>
#include<netdb.h>

Code:

-(BOOL)isNetworkAvailable
{
    char *hostname;
    struct hostent *hostinfo;
    hostname = "google.com";
    hostinfo = gethostbyname (hostname);
    if (hostinfo == NULL){
        NSLog(@"-> no connection!\n");
        return NO;
    }
    else{
        NSLog(@"-> connection established!\n");
        return YES;
    }
}

Swift 3

func isConnectedToInternet() -> Bool {
    let hostname = "google.com"
    //let hostinfo = gethostbyname(hostname)
    let hostinfo = gethostbyname2(hostname, AF_INET6)//AF_INET6
    if hostinfo != nil {
        return true // internet available
      }
     return false // no internet
    }

I currently use this simple synchronous method which requires no extra files in your projects or delegates.

Import:

#import <SystemConfiguration/SCNetworkReachability.h>

Create this method:

+(bool)isNetworkAvailable
{
    SCNetworkReachabilityFlags flags;
    SCNetworkReachabilityRef address;
    address = SCNetworkReachabilityCreateWithName(NULL, "www.apple.com" );
    Boolean success = SCNetworkReachabilityGetFlags(address, &flags);
    CFRelease(address);

    bool canReach = success
                    && !(flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsConnectionRequired)
                    && (flags & kSCNetworkReachabilityFlagsReachable);

    return canReach;
}

Then, if you've put this in a MyNetworkClass:

if( [MyNetworkClass isNetworkAvailable] )
{
   // do something networky.
}

If you are testing in the simulator, turn your Mac's wifi on and off, as it appears the simulator will ignore the phone setting.

Update:

1. In the end I used a thread/asynchronous callback to avoid blocking the main thread; and regularly re-testing so I could use a cached result - although you should avoid keeping data connections open unnecessarily.

2. As @thunk described, there are better URLs to use, which Apple themselves use. http://cadinc.com/blog/why-your-apple-ios-7-device-wont-connect-to-the-wifi-network

It is possible and it is really simple if you look at it when finishing the implementation, which is again - very simple, since the only items you need are two boolean variables: internet reachability and host reachability (you often need more than one of these). Once you assemble your helper class that can determine the connections status, you really don't care again of the implementation needed for knowing these procedures.

Example:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@class Reachability;

@interface ConnectionManager : NSObject {
    Reachability *internetReachable;
    Reachability *hostReachable;
}

@property BOOL internetActive;
@property BOOL hostActive;

- (void) checkNetworkStatus:(NSNotification *)notice;

@end

And the .m file:

#import "ConnectionManager.h"
#import "Reachability.h"

@implementation ConnectionManager
@synthesize internetActive, hostActive;

-(id)init {
    self = [super init];
    if(self) {

    }
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(checkNetworkStatus:) name:kReachabilityChangedNotification object:nil];

    internetReachable = [[Reachability reachabilityForInternetConnection] retain];
    [internetReachable startNotifier];

    hostReachable = [[Reachability reachabilityWithHostName:@"www.apple.com"] retain];
    [hostReachable startNotifier];

    return self;
}

- (void) checkNetworkStatus:(NSNotification *)notice {
    NetworkStatus internetStatus = [internetReachable currentReachabilityStatus];
    switch (internetStatus)

    {
        case NotReachable:
        {
            NSLog(@"The internet is down.");
            self.internetActive = NO;

            break;

        }
        case ReachableViaWiFi:
        {
            NSLog(@"The internet is working via WIFI.");
            self.internetActive = YES;

            break;

        }
        case ReachableViaWWAN:
        {
            NSLog(@"The internet is working via WWAN.");
            self.internetActive = YES;

            break;

        }
    }

    NetworkStatus hostStatus = [hostReachable currentReachabilityStatus];
    switch (hostStatus)

    {
        case NotReachable:
        {
            NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is down.");
            self.hostActive = NO;

            break;

        }
        case ReachableViaWiFi:
        {
            NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is working via WIFI.");
            self.hostActive = YES;

            break;

        }
        case ReachableViaWWAN:
        {
            NSLog(@"A gateway to the host server is working via WWAN.");
            self.hostActive = YES;

            break;

        }
    }

}

// If lower than SDK 5 : Otherwise, remove the observer as pleased.

- (void)dealloc {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
    [super dealloc];
}

@end