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Wifi/Bluetooth in Control Center

J

jebbe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
490
8
Louisville, KY
I don't know if anyone else noticed this but the new toggles in Control Center don't actually disable Bluetooth or Wifi they just disconnect you from whatever you're currently connected to. At least that's the way it is on my phone, is this the same for everyone else?

Seems like a stupid thing, what's the point of that? I want those toggles to be able to turn them off while not using them to save battery life.
 
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fraggot said:
I don't know if anyone else noticed this but the new toggles in Control Center don't actually disable Bluetooth or Wifi they just disconnect you from whatever you're currently connected to. At least that's the way it is on my phone, is this the same for everyone else?

Seems like a stupid thing, what's the point of that? I want those toggles to be able to turn them off while not using them to save battery life.
Click to expand...

Lots of people noticed it. A number asked why they’re not toggles to turn them off. It doesn’t save a lot of energy to turn off radios that are not actively in use and, even when they’re not actively in use by the user, they are useful on in some circumstances.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...driving-and-more.2052584/page-4#post-24724824

With all that said, Apple may (or may not) add on/off functionality in CC later.
 
Last edited:
It was stated in the MacRumors Beta 2 thread by the author(s).

I personally, like it this way. I hated going to Settings every time to turn off/on my Bluetooth.
 
This is an unwelcome change for me. My wifi connection on the iPad Pro constantly drops out whenever I connect a Bluetooth device such as the Apple Pencil or Bluetooth headphones. It only occurs on the iPad and not on any other devices (iMac / MacBook / windows pc / android tablet & phone) It is a fault with the iPad and the only fix I have found is to turn off Bluetooth when not using the Apple Pencil for example.
 
bmac89 said:
This is an unwelcome change for me. My wifi connection on the iPad Pro constantly drops out whenever I connect a Bluetooth device such as the Apple Pencil or Bluetooth headphones. It only occurs on the iPad and not on any other devices (iMac / MacBook / windows pc / android tablet & phone) It is a fault with the iPad and the only fix I have found is to turn off Bluetooth when not using the Apple Pencil for example.
Click to expand...

You should get your iPad repaired or replaced. I’m on my 5th iPad and none have ever had that type of issue.
 
Feenician said:
You should get your iPad repaired or replaced. I’m on my 5th iPad and none have ever had that type of issue.
Click to expand...

It is a difficulty getting into the store for me and not sure whether they will replace it now. It's been a problem since I bought it over a year ago. Just after buying it they said they could give me refurbished one but have not been able to get back to the Apple Store.
 
bmac89 said:
It is a difficulty getting into the store for me and not sure whether they will replace it now. It's been a problem since I bought it over a year ago. Just after buying it they said they could give me refurbished one but have not been able to get back to the Apple Store.
Click to expand...

Ah, that sucks. It still may well be worth trying your luck. In my experience Apple, if you explain the situation and are nice, will go above and beyond. I once smashed an iPad - long out of warranty - because I picked it up clumsily by the smartcover, causing it to tumble to the ground, due to a bird crapping on me and it (it was a very big, London pigeon crap) and the Genius replaced it and waived the cost just because we had a laugh about it.

If you can demonstrate the issue and aren’t mean or aggresive about I’d bet that they will replace it.
 
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Feenician said:
Ah, that sucks. It still may well be worth trying your luck. In my experience Apple, if you explain the situation and are nice, will go above and beyond. I once smashed an iPad - long out of warranty - because I picked it up clumsily by the smartcover, causing it to tumble to the ground, due to a bird crapping on me and it (it was a very big, London pigeon crap) and the Genius replaced it and waived the cost just because we had a laugh about it.

If you can demonstrate the issue and aren’t mean or aggresive about I’d bet that they will replace it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll see how I go.

I guess being crapped on by a bird can bring you good luck! :)
 
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fraggot said:
I don't know if anyone else noticed this but the new toggles in Control Center don't actually disable Bluetooth or Wifi they just disconnect you from whatever you're currently connected to. At least that's the way it is on my phone, is this the same for everyone else?

Seems like a stupid thing, what's the point of that? I want those toggles to be able to turn them off while not using them to save battery life.
Click to expand...

I'm not a fan of this change, it seems to be catering for the minority.

There should be an option to vary this in the settings.

I suspect most people would want to just have these buttons work as they do in iOS 10 as easy access switches to turn the radios completely off.
 
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KeanosMagicHat said:
I'm not a fan of this change, it seems to be catering for the minority.

There should be an option to vary this in the settings.

I suspect most people would want to just have these buttons work as they do in iOS 10 as easy access switches to turn the radios completely off.
Click to expand...
It’s very unwelcome as my current router is a dual band router, and one band sometimes has a stronger connect than the other. It basically disconnecting me from one when I hit the toggle will just connect me to the other when I do this.

As it just temporarily disabled auto-join for one, and if you leave your house it’ll just connect you to any of the other ones. Seems like a weird change that makes no sense unless the new iPhone has some weird power mode that turns itself off when it’s disconnected from a hotspot.
 
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Feenician said:
Lots of people noticed it. A number asked why they’re not toggles to turn them off. It doesn’t save a lot of energy to turn off radios that are not actively in use and, even when they’re not actively in use by the user, they are useful on in some circumstances.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...driving-and-more.2052584/page-4#post-24724824

With all that said, Apple may (or may not) add on/off functionality in CC later.
Click to expand...

I like the ability to disconnect quickly vs turn off BT completely as but for the world of me I don’t understand why they designed it so you can toggle it on in CC and nothing happens. Confusing design and if I have to go all the way at into settings anyway they might as well revert back to it switching the radio entirely
 
it’s quite weird, because on an ipad it works as it should.. it toggles the full chip on - off.
 
K.chris said:
it’s quite weird, because on an ipad it works as it should.. it toggles the full chip on - off.
Click to expand...

I don't have the beta so I don't know but I'm wondering, does it only switch it on/off when no Bluetooth devices are connected or do you experience the same behaviour with Bluetooth devices connected also?

Thanks
 
bmac89 said:
I don't have the beta so I don't know but I'm wondering, does it only switch it on/off when no Bluetooth devices are connected or do you experience the same behaviour with Bluetooth devices connected also?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Same behaviour with BT devices. Chip stays switched on. In advance, only 3rd party devices gets disconnected - my watch stays connected.
 
I like the idea for Bluetooth, but not wifi. For Bluetooth it will be handy to be able to quick disconnect from say a speaker without it turning it off for my AW. For wifi I don't think the disconnect feature really make much sense.
 
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So this is odd. What you're saying is that turning off Wi-Fi in iOS 11 no longer turns off the chipset? So it stays on but just doesn't associate with any network?

I'm not sure I like this change. For example, when I'm out cycling I turn off Wi-Fi to ensure Cyclemeter only uses GPS and doesn't get confused by location services trying to use random Wi-Fi networks to determine location.

My suspicion is that since Wi-Fi is required for certain services like AirDrop to work, they changed the implementation so you can be disconnected from Wi-Fi and still use those services. This is good but there should still be a way to completely turn off Wi-Fi.
 
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zorinlynx said:
So this is odd. What you're saying is that turning off Wi-Fi in iOS 11 no longer turns off the chipset? So it stays on but just doesn't associate with any network?

I'm not sure I like this change. For example, when I'm out cycling I turn off Wi-Fi to ensure Cyclemeter only uses GPS and doesn't get confused by location services trying to use random Wi-Fi networks to determine location.

My suspicion is that since Wi-Fi is required for certain services like AirDrop to work, they changed the implementation so you can be disconnected from Wi-Fi and still use those services. This is good but there should still be a way to completely turn off Wi-Fi.
Click to expand...

Basically that’s how it works currently unless it’s a bug. But it’ll just disconnect you from your current network but will allow you to connect to others. It does not turn the actual chip off.

I don’t like this change, I mean I can just go to settings to turn it off but it seems silly to have to do that now.
 
fraggot said:
Basically that’s how it works currently unless it’s a bug. But it’ll just disconnect you from your current network but will allow you to connect to others. It does not turn the actual chip off.

I don’t like this change, I mean I can just go to settings to turn it off but it seems silly to have to do that now.
Click to expand...

Alright, this isn't so bad then. From my testing it seems tapping the WiFi button just turns off "auto-join" for your current network. I don't know how consistent it is because I don't have many other networks around to test with, but that's the gist of it.

Also, the NUMBER ONE reason I turn off WiFi when I'm out and about is so the phone won't join those damn xfinitywifi and attwifi hotspots. Now that I can turn off auto-join for them maybe turning off WiFi completely won't be necessary anymore at all.
 
Feenician said:
They still do what you described in the OP (they leave the BT and Wifi radio active). They just do it correctly and consistently now.
Click to expand...

Ahh I misunderstood - I thought they were now properly turning the radios off like they do in iOS 10.

Thanks for the confirmation.
 
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