iOS 11's Misleading 'Off-ish' Setting For Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is Bad for User Security (eff.org)

Last month, we covered a story about how turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in iOS 11's Control Center doesn't really turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. EFF has called the situation bad for user security. From the report: Instead, what actually happens in iOS 11 when you toggle your quick settings to "off" is that the phone will disconnect from Wi-Fi networks and some devices, but remain on for Apple services. Location Services is still enabled, Apple devices (like Apple Watch and Pencil) stay connected, and services such as Handoff and Instant Hotspot stay on. Apple's UI fails to even attempt to communicate these exceptions to its users. It gets even worse. When you toggle these settings in the Control Center to what is best described as "off-ish," they don't stay that way. The Wi-Fi will turn back full-on if you drive or walk to a new location. And both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will turn back on at 5:00 AM. This is not clearly explained to users, nor left to them to choose, which makes security-aware users vulnerable as well. The only way to turn off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios is to enable Airplane Mode or navigate into Settings and go to the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sections. When a phone is designed to behave in a way other than what the UI suggests, it results in both security and privacy problems. A user has no visual or textual clues to understand the device's behavior, which can result in a loss of trust in operating system designers to faithfully communicate what's going on.

Comments

You'll never know if your phone is off

[fustakrakich]

Unless you can remove the battery.

The mic is always hot, and probably the camera too.

Re:You'll never know if your phone is off

[Anonymous Coward]

Mic is always hot on an iPhone ever since they added "hey Siri" support and all audio recorded is almost certainly sent to Apple to help them train their voice AI. We know that with the iPhone X, the camera will also always be active and scanning for faces.

Ever wondered why the battery life in new iPhones is so abysmal? Because it's always spying.

Re:"UI fails to even attempt to communicate..."

[JohnFen]

I'm not saying this makes everything better, as the user would still have to know what the visual cue's mean. But to say that the UI fails to communicate this is not true.

"Communication" is different from "signalling". "Communication" requires understanding on the part of the recipient, or it's not communication.

If it isn't clear to the user what the color-coding means, then the UI is failing to communicate to the user.

This isn't so hard people ...

[seth_hartbecke]

The anti-apple hate here is just ... something else. Two stories on this, really?

So, on iOS there is this control panel you can access when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. In there is a WiFi logo, that is normally blue if you are connected to WiFi. If I tap it, it disconnects from the currently connected WiFi network. It's really nice for when I decide "hey, I don't want to access this NSFW thing while on the work WiFi" or "the hotspot in my Car (which has a different carrier then my cell phone)" is in a cellular dead spot and I need to disconnect from it. But when I come in range of another known network, the phone will associate with it again (like, when I get home and I'd like my phone using my home WiFi, I don't have to remember to turn it back on).

When you do this you even get a blurb of text on the screen "Disconnecting from {wifi name}." NOT "I've powered the WiFi radios down."

You still CAN actually power the WiFi radios down. You just have to go to Setting -> WiFi -> and flip the off switch. Now they are off, period.

So yea, the button in the control panel really means: disconnect from this wifi network because I don't like it right now.

Bluetooth does the same thing. Tapping that in the control center basically drops all connected devices. But two hours later when you turn your bluetooth headset on, it'll pair up just fine.

Queue freakout.

Re:This isn't so hard people ...

[spire3661]

Some of us dont like things turning themselves back on. If i set something off, i want it off until i personally decide i want it back on. You are making an argument for the lazy and absent minded. Its not hard to remember to turn BT back on...Dont excuse this outright disrespect of the user.

Re:"UI fails to even attempt to communicate..."

[spire3661]

Jesus Christ, you have to have Bluetooth on to initiate a fucking ad-hoc wifi file transfer? So both phones have to be iphones of a certain date, both have to be logged in to Apple, and then you can only transfer files through one app, and you dont ever actually get a true network. Tell me again how any professional actually uses this shit? Two VERY advanced computers cant even direct connect and share files without two separate radios and be connected to the mothership......WTF happened here?