Greetings,
I've covered this behavior before. The Wi-Fi menus have changed between various hardware releases. There is an old standard and new standard.
Older wireless standard icon
(called wireless settings)
New wireless standard icon
(called communication settings)
How you interact with each depends on the model of the camera you own.
To be clear, you can connect your wi-fi capable phone or tablet to your camera using an adhoc connection. You do not need a wireless network for both devices to connect to and can do so anywhere. Middle of the ocean, on a deserted island, in space, etc. The camera is the hotspot and is the device broadcasting its own network.
Wireless is used for image transfers. It is faster than bluetooth. Bluetooth is used for GPS location tagging.
Its best to review your user manual to understand how to successfully configure and connect to your Camera. When a external network is not present, you should confirm the camera's SSID broadcast name and password (if used) to ensure your mobile device will connect to the camera's broadcast. Once I enable Wi-Fi on the camera, I open the connection settings on my mobile device, choose the camera's SSID and connect to its network. Once this is initiated, the mobile device will prompt you to open the Canon Connect App to complete the connection.
This is where people often get hung up. iPhones are notorious for ignoring you telling them to connect to the camera and if you are within range of a known wireless network, like at your home, the connection will fail. With iOS it will always attempt to connect to a wi-fi network that has an internet connection behind it. Android OS does not have this issue but if you don't have the camera's SSID and broadcast configured prior to making the connection in Canon Connect, wireless pairing will also fail. If your camera is using the new standard (Communications Settings), there is an Advanced options menu on the connection menu that allows you to switch between what the camera does. 1. look for a compatible wi-fi network that both it and a mobile device can connect to for pairing, or 2. configuring it as the host (no wifi networks of any kind) are used and the mobile device connects to the camera's SSID (ahoc) network. Once set, and after a connection is made successfully, the camera will seamlessly pair (transitioning from bluetooth to wireless) moving forward. My R5 C has the older standard. The R50v has the new standard. While I prefer the older one, I have since had to become intimate with the latter. It's a bit more finicky. I'm using it with a BR-E1 and phone.
