iOS 11.0 - Periodically scan for SSIDs (WiFi) nearby

Unfortunately, we can't achieve this in iOS.

When I learned about NEHotspotConfiguration, I was initially excited, because I was hoping we could automate this process. However, it doesn't look like there's a way to retrieve a list of currently available SSIDs, which makes NEHotspotConfiguration much less useful for our use case.

Not possible.

I enabled the NEHotspotHelper permission and tried on a Demo app. Even though Apple does allow you to configure wifi connections, in order to get the list of available networks, you need to open the Settings > WiFi page to get the list. This API can NOT offer the ability to scan the WiFi list in background, not to mention periodically.

It's a pity for developers, but I think it's good for iOS users, to protect privacy and safety by strict restriction of the API usage.