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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.
Since the battery can't be removed, I'm beginning to wonder if there is any way to turn off wifi AT ALL.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
Apple's paternalistic approach to their users results in a 'we know better than you how to protect you' attitude.
It's unfortunate for Apple, because it means that only the duller customers will continue to trust Apple's judgement.
Unless you can remove the battery.
The mic is always hot, and probably the camera too.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
The original Steve, who actually did all the initial design at Apple, is still living. One can't blame him for not being much inclined to get involved in the company at this point in time.
And to be fair it was a 'right time to be there' situation that got the Woz his fame. There are thousands of other nice, adept nerds in the world who could do what he did.
We have really stumbled down terrible road havent we? We are all building on sand now.
Good-bye
If the off switch on a radio doesnâ(TM)t actually turn it off that sounds like something that should be filed as a complaint with the fcc. Ralf regulation is a serious matter.
Saying the UI doesn't communicate the differences is not entirely true. There is a visual difference in the control center between the radio being "on",m "disconnected" and "off".
In the normal "compact" control center mode if the device is "disconnected", the icon is displayed with a gray background (blue background is "on"). If the device is "off" the icon has a cross through it. In the expanded view (tap and hold on a button will bring up the expanded view), it will actually say "on", "disconnected" and "off" based on the mode.
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.
It's almost like you're trying to be bad here editor.
Pro tip - go into settings and shut off wifi or bluetooth if you don't want to use it or you're that concerned about security.
The new kinda-off mode is exactly what I need. I turn the wifi off because some bastard has put up an open AP with a closed internet behind it (E.G. Comcast) and the phone connects to it opportunistically and then looses internet connectivity because it's send packets into the void.
I turn it off to stop it connecting to bad APs. I want it to turn back on if I'm at work or home or Starbucks where I don't want it using up my contract data balance because there's working wifi.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Misleading settings are bad - period. A thing should say what it does and do what it says.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I've disabled the automatic update for the OS.
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.
END
My samsung android has a similar feature I can turn off wifi but if I move to a new location it is turned back on. Like what happen just implemented you have to go into a deep menu and change that setting so off means off.
Probably these people are thinking "Why would you turn it off?"
I'm the opposite, I turn off mobile data and keep wifi on.
You know there's an button to forget a Wi-Fi network and an option to not automatically connect to unknown networks, right? And that those features have been around since... IIRC iPhone OS 1.0, give or take?
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
My phone constantly reports available networks even with wifi turned off. It's Galaxy S7.
I don't, but if someone stands up something with the same SSID as something I've connected to in the past, it'll connect to it. Same for basically every WiFi enabled device ever created. It's especially bad with the access points AT&T and the various cable companies provide. I want to connect to those to save cellular data when I can, but they're often overloaded or misconfigured which knocks me offline. The "take a rest wifi" interface option has come in handy numerous times. It's a documentation bug at worst.
Newer versions of Android do not turn off Wi-Fi when you switch it off, the switch is just used to disconnect you. There is a setting that will re-enable WiFi when you come within range of a trusted hotspot (eg your home network). I've found it useful as occasionally I'll turn off WiFi when the free offering at a place is not working properly, and then forget to turn it back on when I leave.
If you REALLY want it all off, you can enable airplane mode and then piecemeal enable things you want (though cell service remains disabled). At least, I think it works this way. Not 100% sure.
The promise of the Apple eco-system was that everything worked together without fiddling, and there were no headaches. That promise is less and less true. More and more the damn things have gotten more buggy, and behaviors change (or get buried) for no obvious reason ("Courage" my ass).
Most recently the Apple router has occasionally stopped talking to the Apple TV when my Apple iPad is talking to the interwebs. Turn off WiFi (while I still can, since I am still on iOS10) and the Apple TV springs back to life for an hour or so.
I turn the radios OFF to conserve power. I need the power to log a 10h trip to a mountaintop and back. If the phone looks for wifi (or cell coverage) it depletes the batteries in 3h or so. Turning everything off and only using the gps receiver conserves power and allows it to last through the day. (I don't need a network to get my maps, the maps are permanently installed on the phone.)
Of course this is android, not apple. But even an apple user might want to conserve power in this manner. Sadly, for them it won't work when the phone lies - only disabling services - not the power-hungry radios.
Wrong. It was Motorola's.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
With LTE it's certainly true that very weak or no signal on LTE can kill any phones battery very fast. On an iPhone that's not really true for WiFi or Bluetooth, so there is no need to over-manage them.
"Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
You're going to get what you deserve
The original Steve, who actually did all the initial design at Apple, is still living. One can't blame him for not being much inclined to get involved in the company at this point in time.
And to be fair it was a 'right time to be there' situation that got the Woz his fame. There are thousands of other nice, adept nerds in the world who could do what he did.
But in stark contrast with those other "nice, adept nerds", Woz actually DID do it.
Of course, Android isn't any better.
FTFY.
Airplane Mode... it doesn't turn off Wifi anymore. It re-enables Bluetooth when turned on again. It doesn't really work like it should.
Why not just save the state of the cellular/wifi/bluetooth settings and toggle them on/off? Why is this such a difficult thing?
You're talking about Samsung now, right?
You can trivially prevent the problem by not buying the device.
Retroactively?
I turn the radios OFF to conserve power. I need the power to log a 10h trip to a mountaintop and back. If the phone looks for wifi (or cell coverage) it depletes the batteries in 3h or so.
Absolute nonsense. WiFi uses no power when not connected. Yes, it looks for WiFi every 10 seconds or so, but that is a receiver only, and uses unmeasurably small amounts of energy. Cell coverage is a different story; if you don't have a connection it uses huge amounts of energy. The weaker the cell signals, the more energy.
Continuously scanning for and trying to connect to new APs does kill battery. It's especially bad if you ever use one of the cable company WiFi services like XFinityWiFi, because you're continually driving past APs that your phone tries to connect to until you drive out of range of them. The only real fix is to turn off the WiFi radio while you're driving, or riding a bus or train that doesn't have WiFi service of its own that you're connected to.
Iâ(TM)ve not seen any battery problems leaving WiFi or Bluetooth enabled, and Iâ(TM)m in coastal Southern California where such signals abound. I have seen crappy carrier WiFi cause connectivity issues (thanks AT&T) but the iOS 11 settings would let you disconnect. What model iPhone are you seeing problems on?
"Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson