Gfrktyl

I have a pfsense router. I also have an iPhone.

On my router, I clicked "Set a static mapping for this device"
I set the static ip to 10.12.1.56 for my iphones mac address.

Well the DHCP server won't lease that IP address to my phone. It keeps using a random IP address.

Whats the point of being able to set a static IP on pfsense if it doesn't work until I set a static IP on my phone?

I've been using pfSense for years. It works fine as far for me, and as far as I know for most people. My first reaction (sorry if it turns out wrong!) is that you're doing something wrong or misunderstanding what's happening. But your question doesn't have enough detail or screenshots of the settings screens (with sensitive bits blacked out) to see what it is or take it any further.

I don't think your last line of the question is right. You wrote "... if it doesn't work until I set a static IP on my phone". But if it "doesn't works until [you] set a static IP", then by definition it's working. So I think this sentence in the question must be wrong. It sounds more like the static mapping isn't being used by the device, when you think it's set and should be being used, and you can't work out why. Can you edit the question so it's clearer.

More things to check (most are obvious and - in honesty - most are redundant checks, but it's hard to know at this point your level of knowledge or what you would think best) - if it's not getting the IP you want, what IP is it being allocated, and is this IPv4 or IPv6? What IP ranges/subnets is your LAN configured to use, and what IP ranges is your DHCP server configured to assign? Is IPv6 enabled/disabled/in use (and if not completely disabled, are IPv6-IPv4 bridging/tunnelling/encapsulation enabled)? if it's connecting via wi-fi, what are you using to bridge pfSense to Wi-Fi (a card or an AP) and if it's a separate device are you sure this device isn't the one allocating the IP and that pfSense and not the wifi device/AP is actually getting and returning the DHCP request? Is the iPhone actually requesting an IP and is the 10.12.1.56 IP actually being allocated by the router (it might be an old fixed setting in the device or getting it some other way)? Are any other devices on your WLAN, or in the wireless neighbourhood of the iPhone, capable of allocating via DHCP (could it be getting it from something else)? Could the IP address be persisting (ie you aren't seeing a new IP allocated because the router or the iPhone think the old IP still has many hours until renewing)? What happens if you disable the DHCP server then reboot the iPhone, does it fail to get an IP address (which would show it's asking the server as it should)? If you change the DHCP server's "pool" to some other range like 10.5.0.0-10.5.0.100 and reboot the iPhone what happens? If you change the DNS servers or other DHCP data is that change picked up by the iPhone next time it connects (proves DHCP is being sent and received correctly)? If you use the DHCP log or "packet capture" to watch the iPhone connecting and requesting an IP what does the traffic capture show (Is the problem that the router isn't receiving a DHCP request or isn't returning the expected IP in its response, or is it the iPhone not sending a DHCP request or not using the IP in the reply)? Does the list of static leases list the same MAC address as the iPhone settings page shows? When you look at the leases (all, not just recent/online) does it show the iPhone as online and if so does it show the correct mac address next to it?

Maybe some of those will help. More details will be needed to help more, if not.

Just in case your setup is like this; if you are using an old router as your WAP (for example I used my old ISP router for WiFi connectivity which is patched into my pfSense LAN), then make sure DHCP is turned off for that router you are using for WiFi connectivity.

If your not using a router as a WAP, ignore this.

This used to work correctly (2.03, at least) and then stopped working (unless you hand-whack a few things) by 2.2.x, though I don't recall at exactly what point it started being a problem - I have not deployed 2.3 yet to see what it does, as there are usually teething issues with new releases.

On 2.2, what I need to do is (after reserving a fixed address outside the pool in DHCP) find the "random DHCP pool mapping" for the device in question (under Status: DHCP Leases) and delete it. On the older version, this got done as a matter of course when the static was created. It should get done, but does not, as I'm resolving one right now to check my process as I write this answer, on 2.2.x - This means that there are two leases associated with one MAC address, which seems obviously wrong. You may need to "show expired leases" to see the troublesome one, but despite the fact that it (might be, depending when you look) expired, and the static is not, being static, if you don't delete the expired (or active) random mapping, it seems to stick around and become active again when the device connects again. IIRC, you can't delete it when the device is online, either; So you need to take it offline long enough for the DHCP server to consider it offline.

Sorting the DHCP lease list by MAC address is usually the easiest way to find the doubled entries.

Update: this appears to work as it should again (no hand-tweaking as above) on 2.3.2-RELEASE.

Just a quick addition to this. I'm running 2.3.2 and have a similar problem. I added a static mapping AFTER a device already asked and was offered an address by my router. The device kept on getting the old address. I could not delete the old lease, apparently the GUI grayed out the trash can icon for some reason. I had to delete the static mapping, then the trash can icon appeared on the original lease, then delete the old lease, then add the mapping and it worked. It seems as though the add static mapping process does not delete the old lease associated with the MAC. This was all IPv4.