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This is ridiculous.

But it is true - lots of features depend on it. And the average person might turn bluetooth off just for the reason they don't want anyone to connect them - it doesn't mean they want to disable technologies that rely on it (which they didn't even realise) like handoff, airdrop, W1 chip pairing - it's not apparent to the average end user that these features use bluetooth - so it would make sense the easy access bluetooth toggle on disables things it's obvious to the end user, use bluetooth. That way there's no "I can't understand why handoff has stopped working" etc.
 
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OK, I see how it works. It certainly wasn't obvious in the little time I'd had with iOS 11 and watchOS 4.

But note this: When you "turn off" BT in CC, iOS 11 shows a transient message at the top of the screen on the iPhone (in my case an iPhone 6s+):

'Disconnected from "XXXX's Apple Watch"' ...which is not true; as the article suggests, the Apple Watch still shows it is connected to the paired iPhone

Try it and see for yourself! This BT/WiFi "feature" may have generated a lot of comments/feedback during the beta period, but nobody at Apple apparently looked at the messaging part of the user experience on the phone...

Innuendo
 
but its still able to provide SERVICES connections.

Yeah, but you have to ask yourself how is it able to do that when not connected to a wifi network? Answer: because it's scanning open wifi ssids and using the results for ssid-based location services. So it's using up battery doing that. Question is, how much battery? I suspect a non-trivial amount.
 
I think this feature is awesome. It was so confusing before when I turned WiFi or Bluetooth off, and they stayed off. It makes so much more sense now that when I turn them off, they'll turn back on unexpectedly based on 4/5 conditions that are completely arbitrary to my uses. And of course, if I want to go back to the "confusing" behaviour of off-means-off, I can always go through settings like it's 2012 again when I was wishing Apple had quick settings like Android did in 2010. Amazing work Apple, you've truly done it again!
 
Yeah, but you have to ask yourself how is it able to do that when not connected to a wifi network? Answer: because it's scanning open wifi ssids and using the results for ssid-based location services. So it's using up battery doing that. Question is, how much battery? I suspect a non-trivial amount.

If I were a cynic I'd say Apple did this because they wanted advertising and Apple stores to always be available while simultaneously wearing out the battery faster to promote more frequent phone upgrades.

But I'm sure Apple executives never ever think in such terms.
 
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Because it's a bug. Instead of fixing it they come out with "story" to explain it is a wonderful feature.
I noticed my WiFi turning on even when I turned it off from the control centre, it was annoying as during transit I hardly need it and seems like a waste of battery.

Do we know why they decided it to behave this way?
 
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The original iPhone famously came without a manual as everything was so obvious. That time is over.
That’s why Apple had how-to videos when the device launched? Also what was obvious about selecting text and copy/cut/paste. People complain about 3D Touch but when was long press ever obvious?
 
While Wi-Fi is disabled, auto-join for any nearby Wi-Fi networks will also be disabled until one of these conditions is met:

You turn on Wi-Fi in Control Center.
You connect to a Wi-Fi network in Settings > Wi-Fi.
You walk or drive to a new location.
It's 5 a.m. local time.
You restart your device.
This seems to be the "bug" people are experiencing. The device does not discriminate between trusted or untrusted wifi devices and not even ones requiring a password NOT saved. It needs to ask for permission or wait for you to ask it to connect to a new wifi network.

Apple should deprecate the feature and have the user actively switch from LTE to wifi with a virtual button. Given the new abundance of wireless data and the low usage of the watch generally, defaulting to LTE makes sense.

It's not like the first ATT bills people got that documented ON PAPER each and every data handshake that occurred. Reams of bills per user!

I would like to see all apple devices add to the wifi feature a blacklist so wifi stations you are regularly near but you do not have password for can be ignored.
 
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If I were a cynic I'd say Apple did this because they wanted advertising and Apple stores to always be available while simultaneously wearing out the battery faster to promote more frequent phone upgrades.

But I'm sure Apple executives never ever think in such terms.


This has to be the stupidest thing I have read in a long while. Apple is not benefiting from downgrading the battery life experience on a iPhone.. Far from it, that would make it much easier for people to reconsider other brands if they feel Apple is not up to par on battery life.

And do you even know how small amount of battery life WiFi and Bluetooth actually uses? Having them activated doesn't make any difference, and using WiFi for data over LTE actually consumes less.... And bluetooth doesn't really use anything at all unless you constantly transmit data and if you are constantly transmitting large amount of data over bluetooth you have to be connected to something and constantly transferring so why would you want it disabled if you have uses cases like that?
 
So if I toggle wifi off in Control Centre, does that mean it's still on? A bit confused here.


Unfortunately yes. You can toggle the wifi off in control center then go to settings and check on wifi setting. Wifi setting is still on. Same as bluetooth.

The difference is the icon in control center. When the wifi and bluetooth are "completely off" (disable from settings), the control center icon will be grayed out and crossed out.
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A "pro" smartphone user.

They really should have called this thing the iPhone Pro :D
Don't you love how they use "Pro" for everything?

Yep, I'm a Pro iPhone user - I literally make my living from using a smartphone! :p
 
Finally.
I work in a support center and all users disable BT without knowing how iOS use it, then blame Apple for non working feature like AirDrop.
As a tech support I say: best feature ever
 
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"Apple says users should try to keep Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on for the best experience on an iOS device".

In an area with wifi networks that you cannot join, the phone will continue trying to join ad infinitum. Seems to prevent downloading emails via cellular on my phone. Once I completely disable wifi, I get a bolus of emails.
This. The only time I turn it off is when the wifi is being stupid, or there are wifi networks it's joining that aren't connected to the Internet. Now I have to take extra steps to turn it off. Great.
 
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Omg, how many angry posters here.
Here’s some public service/utility - one of my previous posts. Please read before criticising Apple’s move:
“To sum it up: Apple is absolutely right to hamper users from toggling WiFi off. Give it a read...
“Nah, it’s much better now. In regards to Airplane Mode, it is meant to prepare your phone to take off and be used inside an airplane. The only thing you shouldn’t use on airplanes is cellular connection, the whole idea that WiFi or Bluetooth (lol, such a tiny, tiny, drop-in-the-ocean of a connection) can interfere with airplanes is a proven myth. Why should Airplane Mode disable Bluetooth and WiFi?
Also, in regards to keeping Bluetooth and WiFi on while just disconnecting them from their current WiFi and Bluetooth connections, newer versions of Bluetooth use very little energy, the energy savings shouldn’t be more than 1% to 2% out of the total battery life. WiFi also uses very little energy nowadays.
On the other hand, if you turn off your Bluetooth and WiFi you won’t be able to use continuity, to connect your headphones to Apple’s W1 chips, you won’t be able to use AirPlay, you won’t be able to send files through AirDrop, you won’t be prompted to use your iPhone or iPad as a remote control for the Apple TV, and so forth.
Do you know how annoying it was when I turned airplane mode on and off to search for cellular connection (or inside a plane) only to find that my AirPods stopped playing? Now THAT’S bad design.
Apple is just teaching us how to use things correctly, and taking us away from the myths of the past (such as WiFi and Bluetooth influencing airplanes lol, or that Bluetooth draaaaains your battery life).”
Also, if you keep WiFi off your location is much less precise. We should thank Apple for encouraging the right use of their devices.”

Happy?
 
For my use cases this is definitely better. I turn off wifi when I am on a weak network. This happens every single day sadly. I turn off bluetooth to move headsets between devices. Not having my watch disconnect during this is better. On the occasions I want them off off, I can live with force touching the settings app icon. Well, if I could ever remember that was a thing. Which I never can.
 
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Thanks for this. It's a major security risk. When I turn off WiFi, I turn off WiFi and want it to stay off. Stupid design.

A whole ton of people are going to get hit at BlackHat next year.
 
When I first started testing the betas, I thought this was a bug. It's annoying that it doesn't fully disable from Control Center. I don't like to keep BlueTooth on all the time.
 
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Android and Samsung welcomes anyone who wants complete control of their WiFi. Once again Apple takes control away from the consumer for their own selfish gains.
 
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Broken.

Users who want the best iOS experience should just leave WIFI and Bluetooth on. I think most users do just that.

The people that use these buttons to turn off wifi and bluetooth actually want those services completely off.

There are times when I absolutely am not using wifi or bluetooth and I don't want the phone wasting battery trying to see what devices are out there that it could connect to if it wanted to, or if it thought I wanted to.

Control Center is broken by a new feature no one asked for.
 
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