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Turning Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in iOS 11's Control Center Doesn't Actually Turn Off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the apple-things dept.

An anonymous reader shares a Motherboard report: Turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you're not using them on your smartphone has long been standard, common sense, advice. Unfortunately, with the iPhone's new operating system iOS 11 - which was released to the general public yesterday - turning them off is not as easy as it used to be. Now, when you toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off from the iPhone's Control Center -- the somewhat confusing menu that appears when you swipe up from the bottom of the phone -- it actually doesn't completely turn them off. While that might sound like a bug, that's actually what Apple intended in the new operating system. But security researchers warn that users might not realize this and, as a consequence, could leave Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on without noticing. Numerous Slashdot readers have complained about this "feature" this week.

8 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Very Brave by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was very brave and forward thinking of Apple to not allow you to turn off Wifi.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re: Very Brave by sound+vision · · Score: 5, Informative

      Another decision to impede security in the name of convenience. People act like Microsoft only does this.

    2. Re: Very Brave by Khyber · · Score: 5, Insightful

      https://youtu.be/ZBma82g3Uag

      Apple has become exactly what Jobs originally did not like.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  2. When...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can we go back to the 'old' way, where I buy something, its mine, and I get to determine how I want it to work.

    I know, I know, grumpy old man grumbling about progress....

    Maybe just go back to the old dictionary... where "off" meant off, and progress meant something other than "up yours".

  3. This reminds me of something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely." -- 1984

  4. Re:Product Opportunity by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just hold it wrong. Problem solved.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Re:And the point then? by quintus_horatius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can turn off both radios in the settings app

    Then why have this "false" radio-off setting? Why not turn them off the way users expect when they, for instance, toggle the radios off using the easy-to-find settings?

    Also, FTFA:

    ...both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will become active again when you toggle them off in the Control Center at 5 AM local time, according to Apple's documentation

    What the hell is the point of THAT?!

  6. Re:Burying the takeaway by tk77 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you long-press on one of the buttons in the control center, it pops up a larger display that sort of details whats going on.

    If you tap the wifi or bluetooth buttons to turn them off, the blue highlight turns gray and the text in the larger display will say "disconnected". If you turn them off in the settings app, the highlight turns gray and there's a line through the wifi/bluetooth logos and in the larger display it says "off".

    The airplane mode button which is the first button in the control center, when pressed, turns everything off.

    It's not obvious and I didn't really know that this is how it worked until I saw the Apple support doc. Knowing now how it works, I don't mind so much. It means on my iPad I can have Bluetooth on, but "disconnected" and still be able to use the pencil (rather then having to have BT fully on).