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truthertech

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2016
2,109
2,263
I would think a typical user would want to either turn WiFi off or completely disconnect from their current connection (the equivalent of "forget this network" in settings). This temporary disconnection is baffling. You can turn it off, but it automatically reconnects the next day or when you move around.

I've got a feeling the carriers talked Apple into this. My phone will connect to an AT&T WiFi connection anywhere, anytime without asking my permission which helps relieve cellular network congestion in urban areas.


You have a distinctly minority view. The vast majority of times, and yes Apple has massive research to back it up, is that I and most people want to disconnect a device from the wireless; I don't want to turn it off completely, e.g., Apple Watch, Pencil, or just iPhone users that want to switch from one speaker to another or different headphones, etc. Apple's approach is designed to make it simple for what most people want, but EFF brings up a good point and Apple should give prompt when disconnecting from control center as to your intent or allow users to set default in settings as either off completely or simply disconnect.
 
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Paddle1

macrumors 601
May 1, 2013
4,811
3,120
I actually agree with the main idea, why they did it is beside the point, it is misleading.
 

nt5672

macrumors 68040
Jun 30, 2007
3,329
7,005
Midwest USA
I do understand their and apples viewpoint. I think much of this could have been avoided with a better explanation from Apple on the release, and a notification when they are first toggled.

Apple, with a major influence from Ive, have all but abandoned the concept of "usability".
 

truthertech

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2016
2,109
2,263
Apple, with a major influence from Ive, have all but abandoned the concept of "usability".


Yes, they have become the most valuable company in the world and have taken over the market in just about every single area they have chosen to compete because they are designing products that most people find unusable.
 

rpe33

macrumors regular
Jul 19, 2012
212
365
I couldn’t agree more.

I like another user who said, “the iPhone used to not require a user manual. Not anymore...”

Stupid quote. When the iPhone first came out it was incredibly basic in what it could do. The iPhone now can do 100x more things which in turn makes the device more complicated. You can't keep adding more and more features and technology and keep the same level of simplicity. It's absurd to think otherwise.
 
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skinuca

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2005
100
24
New York City
They are misleading and as such can compromise security. That said, the way the WiFi works in control center is quite useful. I thought it was a bug all the way through the betas and submitted it. One the way it works is known, i hope they keep it.
 
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rpe33

macrumors regular
Jul 19, 2012
212
365
"iOS 11 users can still completely disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for all networks and devices by toggling them off in the Settings app. A device can also be placed in Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disabled."

So what's everyone's problem exactly? You disconnect via CC and you completely shut off via settings. That seems like it's working as intended. Most people want to disconnect wifi and bt but still have access to features such as airdrop and handoff. Seems like people here are just complaining because they just need to complain.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,470
43,394
For most, they don't care if it's truly on or off, just that they can disconnect from the current network/device quickly. If you're that paranoid that you need to turn off everything, airplane mode it is.
Actually if people turned it off, it should be turned off. This isn't about the EFF, but rather Apple doing something rather baffling.
 

Count Blah

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2004
3,192
2,748
US of A
EFF always feels the need to define things for everyone, even where they don't understand them. They've turned into a group that does nothing but complain and have given up on actually taking action as they use to.

Apple made this change because it's the intension most users have when they use that functionality. For most, they don't care if it's truly on or off, just that they can disconnect from the current network/device quickly. If you're that paranoid that you need to turn off everything, airplane mode it is.
Link? It’s not how I want it to work.

Imagine if Apple had a setting to allow YOU to choose how it works - wild concept and definitely NOT Apple-like, to give the user a choice, I know.
 

Finnaqua

macrumors newbie
Mar 22, 2016
25
12
Lisboa
But if I read well, even if we go to "Settings" and tap Wifi or Bluetooth to OFF mode, it will override our choose in the followings circumstances (and turns to ON again, in Settings, himself).
  • 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 AM local time.
  • You restart your device.
At least, because everyday it will be 5 AM, both Wifi & Bluetoth will turn to ON again in Settings. If this does not require much battery consumption, beeing all day in ready status to turn on in control center, that's ok.
In this case it looks more or less when we turn off a TV by remote control. The TV is not definitely Off but there are some small energy consumption.
 
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macTW

Suspended
Oct 17, 2016
1,395
1,975
But it doesn’t say wifi off, it has a wifi icon, and if you are on a wireless network, it states “disconnected from X”. It is working as intended, Apple just didn’t make the change well known.

Better communication would have avoided the issue / confusion.



I am not sure what he question is here.


I like it too, it actually gives us more options than we had before.

I understood how it worked because I read the buried documentation during beta. Apple should have better documented the change and made it apparent for users, or, make a toggle available to make the switch behavior match what it did in iOS 10.



Better documentation and notification (to users) would have solved much of this.



I like it too, but I also understood how it worked. You can still fully disable WIFI and BT. Perhaps they could have enabled a 3D Touch option to fully disable WiFi / BT.



It’s not a bug, it’s just not a well documented feature.

Actually it provides more functionality than the system did before. You can still fully shut off WIFI or BT from the settings app. Just wished they created a 3D Touch shortcut to actually fully shut of radios, like these buttons did before.
This is what I was coming here to say. Allow the original functionality through 3D Touch or a long Touch.
 

Rocco83

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2011
287
408
EFF always feels the need to define things for everyone, even where they don't understand them. They've turned into a group that does nothing but complain and have given up on actually taking action as they use to.

Apple made this change because it's the intension most users have when they use that functionality. For most, they don't care if it's truly on or off, just that they can disconnect from the current network/device quickly. If you're that paranoid that you need to turn off everything, airplane mode it is.

I literally no of no one who has that intention when they want to turn off wifi or bluetooth. I do not know of anyone that truly does not care if something is off when they turn it off.

Airplane mode is not the answer to wanting to just turn off your bluetooth or wifi. A toggle to turn off just your bluetooth or wifi is the answer.

What works for you, does not necessary work for the masses. You probably should not speak for them with your "most" quantifier.
 

chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,553
11,301
A few thoughts.
  • I do think the UI is less than ideal. It does say "Disconnected from", which is unambiguous enough, but that message is easily overlooked.
  • It's also problematic that the toggles in Settings behave differently.
  • It seems obvious to me that 3D Touch on those two toggles should give me more options. Why can't I directly pick a Wi-Fi network from Control Center? Other Control Center menus like AirDrop and Timer have various submenu options, and this one seems obvious to add. Thus, I'm guessing they eventually will — they just haven't gotten around to it.
Now, as for the user perspective:
  • Continuity highly depends on a perception of 'it just works'. When it does, stuff like unlocking your Mac with the Watch, copying and pasting between Mac and iPhone, and so forth are quite amazing. When they don't, they are infuriating. And when you have to start fiddling with stuff and manually configuring things like "well, you gotta turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and this and that on first", the suspension of disbelief breaks.
  • Another feature that depends on Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth when you don't expect it to? Location Services. These two taken together explain why users might have a perception of "well, I don't really need Wi-Fi", then confusingly end up with a broken user experience.
Then there's the question of why you would turn off Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth at all. In this thread, I've seen:
  • Privacy, security. Theoretically, the radios do expose you more, although I suspect the cellular connection is a far bigger factor here. Taken together, if you want to go incognito, toggling Airplane Mode is probably a much better call: it turns virtually all radios off (including GPS and NFC, I think?), and it then lets you manually turn Wi-Fi back on if you desire.
  • "I don't currently need it." I don't know what that means, exactly. You also don't currently need app x, y, z to be installed, or photo A or music track B to be on your device, but you don't remove those just because. There seems to be an excessive concern here that you need to manually manage your device, when it can probably do so much better itself.
  • Save battery. That's a more concrete variant of "don't currently need it". However, this idea is based on outdated assumptions — in the 2000s, the radios did make up a significant portion of your phone's battery life, but these days, they do not. The chips have gotten much smarter at shifting to low-power modes while idling. You're probably chasing a problem that isn't there.
In conclusion:
  • I don't care much either way about Bluetooth, but the 3D-touching the Wi-Fi toggle should simply let me choose to disconnect from the network, disable Wi-Fi altogether, or pick a different network. And the Settings pages for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth should be similar to that.
  • Apple should have done a better job communicating this somehow.
  • The problem you're trying to solve probably isn't there. Want to save some battery and/or go a little more private and secure? Turn on Airplane Mode. Done.
 
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ikir

macrumors 68020
Sep 26, 2007
2,130
2,282
I couldn’t agree more.

I like another user who said, “the iPhone used to not require a user manual. Not anymore...”
Totally wrong. Users complain about not working features that require BT or Wi-Fi because they are ignorant. They are not just data anymore. I work in a support center, if you repeat 100 times a week why AirDrop is not activated or why can’t configure AppleTV you would change your mind.
 

GoodWheaties

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2015
787
838
I would like to know if there has been a study on the power consumption of Wifi and Bluetooth. I know from experience that Bluetooth being on with no connection is a very minimal power draw and I can't see Wifi being much different. Are the minimal power savings really worth the hassle? Not to me.
 
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OldSchoolMacGuy

Suspended
Jul 10, 2008
4,197
9,050
Actually if people turned it off, it should be turned off. This isn't about the EFF, but rather Apple doing something rather baffling.

And if this was the way in functioned from day 1, you wouldn't be surprised with the functionality. The issue is that it now functions in a different way than it did before. As I said, the change was made because the vast majority of users simply want to disconnect from the current network, not turn wifi off totally as that means having to remember to turn it on later. The functionality was changed. It wasn't an accident but rather what the users wanted.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Seems many are making the assumptions that functionality can never change with time. Once a hard on/off, always a hard on/off seems to be what some believe is a strict requirement.

The reality is, few really care about this. Most users are perfectly happy having it function the way it now does and never looked at it as a requirement to totally turn wifi/bluetooth off.

Gimme a break. If something looks like an On/Off toggle, then that's what it should do!

--

What next? Making the "Mute" button only partially mute and/or automatically unmute later? Making "Disable Location Tracking" only stop GPS tracking for a few minutes?

Sure, both of those temporary actions could be what many people "intention" as well, but THEN THE BUTTON SHOULD LET THE USER KNOW THAT THE ACTION IS TEMPORARY.

This feedback is so basic to user interaction that it should not even have to be stated.
 

jasonsmith_88

macrumors regular
Jul 27, 2016
162
344
If you're that paranoid that you need to turn off everything, airplane mode it is.

I was under the impression that the Airplane mode toggle no longer affects WiFi and Bluetooth in iOS 11. So no, airplane mode it isn't. It's going back and forth between setting pages to toggle both WiFi and Bluetooth on and off.
 

AbSoluTc

Suspended
Sep 21, 2008
5,104
4,002
"iOS 11 users can still completely disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for all networks and devices by toggling them off in the Settings app. A device can also be placed in Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth disabled."

So what's everyone's problem exactly? You disconnect via CC and you completely shut off via settings. That seems like it's working as intended. Most people want to disconnect wifi and bt but still have access to features such as airdrop and handoff. Seems like people here are just complaining because they just need to complain.


The general public are not that smart. Most think when you press a button, it's either OFF or ON. That's the problem. Apple made NO mention how these buttons function. None. So people assume ON/OFF. However, we here know that's not the case. Perhaps if Apple made everyone aware of this change, it would not have been a problem.

Honestly, I like it. Sometimes work WIFI sucks due to roaming, building or I want to use Snapchat (blocked on our network), I tap the WIFI button. My old me still thinks it's turning WIFI OFF. I just realized this button does exactly what I want and for the exact reason I have. In the past, I would forget to turn it back on and get home (poor cellular service) and have no signal. Now, problem solved.
 

sinsin07

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2009
3,606
2,662
snip... As I said, the change was made because the vast majority of users simply want to disconnect from the current network, not turn wifi off totally as that means having to remember to turn it on later.
Yeah, you keep saying it, but just because you say it doesn't make it a fact.
snip.. It wasn't an accident but rather what the users wanted.
Show proof this is what users wanted. Were is your third party independent links proving your claims?
 

paradox00

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2009
1,411
827
For real?! When I turn something off, I expect it to be turned off. You can't get much more simpler then that.

Can you not read? I said I use the toggle to disconnect from my current WiFi. It now does exactly what I want it to instead of brute forcing the disconnect by turning the radio off. I've never had any desire to turn the wifi radio off. Why is that surprising?
 
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