Roger Fingas
Contrary to intuition, toggling off Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi in the iOS 11 Control Center won't completely disable those radios, according to a new Apple support document.
The only way to completely disable network connections is to toggle them in the iOS Settings app, the document says. Instead the Control Center options simply disconnect any accessories apart from the Apple Watch and the Apple Pencil, so that those first-party products and some iOS functions — namely AirDrop, AirPlay, Continuity, Instant Hotspot, and Location Services — will continue to work.
After toggling off Wi-Fi, network auto-join is disabled as well until Wi-Fi is manually restarted, a person walks or drives to a new place, or it's 5 a.m. local time. Bluetooth accessory connections will resume under the same circumstances, minus the location trigger.
The scheme could be confusing or inconvenient for some users worried about battery life, security, or signal pollution.
Apple made the change during the iOS 11 beta. The support document codifies and explains it however, now that iOS 11 is available to the general public.
A redesigned Control Center is one of the focal points of iOS 11. The panel now takes up the entire display, showing more controls at once. Users can also add and remove items, customize their order, and control new functions like screen recording or Do Not Disturb While Driving.
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42 Comments
So?
This seems completely counterintuitive without some sort of note to the end user in Control Center. "Disconnects Non-Apple Devices" or something.
:\ I asked you guys to write about this months ago
"After toggling off Wi-Fi, network auto-join is disabled as well until Wi-Fi is manually restarted, a person walks or drives to a new place, or it's 5 a.m. local time. Bluetooth accessory connections will resume under the same circumstances, minus the location trigger."
Really?! This sounds incredibly silly and certainly makes it less convenient. If I'm toggling off WiFi, it's because I don't want it on. Period. At least three use cases that affect me personally...
1. I'm driving and the phone wants to connect to some public wifi signal that I may have used in the past. But now, all it will do is slow down the phone because it's not connecting to LTE. On a typical commute, I may pass through dozens of wifi networks.
2. I'm running errands and don't want my phone to connect to every public or store wifi signal I may pass through. Most of them suck and I prefer to use my phone data.
3. I do not connect to my company's wifi network with my phone as they block most non-work related sites. No personal e-mail, no score updates etc. So, I again turn off the wifi. Don't want it turning on again when I go into a different building.
Shouldn't have to go into Settings to turn it off thereby negating the benefit of Control Center. Not like Apple to make things less convenient.
The more I read about these quirks of iOS 11, the less interested I am in upgrading to it. Apple software has historically been intuitive, but this behavior is the opposite. Disappointing.