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The new behavior for the WiFi and BT toggles in control center is stupid (Updated: Maybe not.)

devsfan1830

devsfan1830

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 26, 2011
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Used to be these toggles physically turned the wifi and BT on and off entirely. Now it just enables and disables automatic connections. The radios are always on unless you drill into settings and toggle them off there. Maybe it drains the battery. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, there is zero need to mess with this. Why the hell do they constantly need to fiddle with things that need no change? Especially with functions that have remained constant for years.


Edit: Having used the final version of iOS with these features. I have kinda come around on it. I notice no faster drain of battery. I'd love a 3D Touch/tap hold gesture to do a full toggle off still. I seem to also have noticed a side-effect of the always on Wi-Fi. I kee getting autoconnected to carrier operated hot spots (Xfinity, ATT, Cox, etc.) So even where I have full LTE data and I try to browse a web page real quick I get ambushed by the hot spot login sheet when I have no intention of using public hot-spots or in most cased don't have the requisite customer login TO use them. Unless I'm missing something there needs to be a way to kill autojoin for unknown APs.
 
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devsfan1830 said:
Used to be these toggles physically turned the wifi and BT on and off entirely. Now it just enables and disables automatic connections. The radios are always on unless you drill into settings and toggle them off there. Maybe it drains the battery. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, there is zero need to mess with this. Why the hell do they constantly need to fiddle with things that need no change? Especially with functions that have remained constant for years.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree, but is there some reason that the control center is set up that way? What does it solve?

Aggravating from where I sit, unless I am missing something!
 
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I think it’s brilliant, actually. I’m sitting in my favorite cafe at the moment and the free WiFi is terrible. Flip up control center, hit the toggle to disconnect and carry on with my day. I don’t have to worry about remembering to enable it when I get home.

Same thing with the Bluetooth speaker my wife and I share at home. When I get out of the shower and finish getting ready for work and she takes over the bathroom, I simply hit the toggle to disconnect from the speaker so she can connect. When I leave for work my phone automatically connects to my car because the radio isn’t off.

As an aside, I’m getting great battery life even with both radios constantly on so that shouldn’t really be a concern unless you have no Bluetooth devices and never use WiFi.

517B7969-BB94-49BC-BA79-97F2D060FF05.png
 
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I feel like WiFi and Bluetooth chips causing battery drain is a thing of the past for newer chipsets - similar to how LTE chips used to be known as battery murderers.

I'm sure Apple was also fed up with Genius Bar appointments:

"My WiFi is broken!"
"No, you accidentally disabled it.."
 
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I personally prefer it. Then again I have some weird use cases involving multiple iDevices/MacBook and only wanting some of them to connect to WiFi. Prior to this arrangement I’d have to either turn off WiFi on some devices, or disable keychain on certain devices and ‘forget’ the WiFi hotspot on the others.
 
I wonder whether this effects the Apple Pencil battery at all?

The Apple Pencil has no on/off switch so any movement of the pencil switches it on. However if Bluetooth is switched off on the iPad I would assume that the Pencil battery would drain less or maybe switch off sooner as it is not connected to any device.... or is this not the case?
 
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I haven't used the beta myself, but I heard reports about the new behavior. I agree that it's stupid: the whole purpose was to originally completely turn those connections on and off. To have to go to Settings to completely disable them defeats the point of even having them in Control Center.

I guess the times are changing and it makes more "sense" to just leave them on all the time.

Also, the argument about neither radio causing battery drain is moot at best; Apple themselves recommends disabling both to save power. That, and I'd rather not have those radio waves piercing my brain...
 
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You can also use Siri to disable it, if you're in the right environment.

Maybe they should add a toggle for this in Settings.
 
fisherking said:
would be nice to instead, get a pop-up window with options; ie change wifi network, disable currently, turn off...
Click to expand...

An option to Turn WiFi off, Select a different network, Temporarily disable or open up full settings would be great, probably will only come in iOS 12 or later if it ever does
 
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twinlight said:
I leave all radios on so this is no problem for me but I can understand the other side of it. Should be 3D touch controlled..
Click to expand...

... which won't help people like me (i'm on an SE, no 3D touch). in general, it's always annoyed me that i can't change wifi networks (for instance) with a shortcut (ala android, since forever).
 
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Dwalls90 said:
I feel like WiFi and Bluetooth chips causing battery drain is a thing of the past for newer chipsets - similar to how LTE chips used to be known as battery murderers.

I'm sure Apple was also fed up with Genius Bar appointments:

"My WiFi is broken!"
"No, you accidentally disabled it.."
Click to expand...
Yeah, my uncle was wondering why his iPhone doesn't connect to his cary anymore... he had his BT turned off...
 
No, it’s not. There is absolutely no advantage to toggle WiFi and Bluetooth off. I hated when I used airplane mode (either in a plane or to check for cellular signal again) and my AirPods would be disconnected. Likewise, it’s a disturbance to try to use continuity on the iPad only to discover that WiFi was toggled off on the phone, hence, it didn’t work. Apple is only taking the right decision to teach (or force) its users to use Bluetooth and WiFi correctly.
The belief that these things use battery life is based on old technology (if you want to save 2-3%battery life you should use a dumb phone altogether, they last a week with a single charging), and the idea that Bluetooth or WiFi influence airplanes has been proven a myth for a long time now. It’s medieval to think so. (Please note that I am not talking about cellular connection, which is actually affected by airplane mode.)
devsfan1830 said:
Used to be these toggles physically turned the wifi and BT on and off entirely. Now it just enables and disables automatic connections. The radios are always on unless you drill into settings and toggle them off there. Maybe it drains the battery. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, there is zero need to mess with this. Why the hell do they constantly need to fiddle with things that need no change? Especially with functions that have remained constant for years.
Click to expand...
No
[doublepost=1502479024][/doublepost]Someone with good reasoning and sense!
Knowlege Bomb said:
I think it’s brilliant, actually. I’m sitting in my favorite cafe at the moment and the free WiFi is terrible. Flip up control center, hit the toggle to disconnect and carry on with my day. I don’t have to worry about remembering to enable it when I get home.

Same thing with the Bluetooth speaker my wife and I share at home. When I get out of the shower and finish getting ready for work and she takes over the bathroom, I simply hit the toggle to disconnect from the speaker so she can connect. When I leave for work my phone automatically connects to my car because the radio isn’t off.

As an aside, I’m getting great battery life even with both radios constantly on so that shouldn’t really be a concern unless you have no Bluetooth devices and never use WiFi.

View attachment 712411
Click to expand...
 
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fisherking said:
... which won't help people like me (i'm on an SE, no 3D touch). in general, it's always annoyed me that i can't change wifi networks (for instance) with a shortcut (ala android, since forever).
Click to expand...
In iOS 11, all 3D Touch Control Center features can be accessed with a long press on devices without 3D Touch.

They could do this but it's a bit clunky since I believe there's already a 3D Touch gesture there.
 
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Paddle1 said:
In iOS 11, all 3D Touch Control Center features can be accessed with a long press on devices without 3D Touch.

They could do this but it's a bit clunky since I believe there's already a 3D Touch gesture there.
Click to expand...

sorry, that's right; am used to doing this, and forgot it's providing the same function.
 
devsfan1830 said:
Used to be these toggles physically turned the wifi and BT on and off entirely. Now it just enables and disables automatic connections. The radios are always on unless you drill into settings and toggle them off there. Maybe it drains the battery. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, there is zero need to mess with this. Why the hell do they constantly need to fiddle with things that need no change? Especially with functions that have remained constant for years.
Click to expand...

Because it brings functionality we never had before:

* Slow Internet connection on WiFi? Now you can dissociate without having to shut off WiFi completely and remember to turn it back on later.

* Want to disconnect from your Bluetooth headphones? Now you can easily without having to shut off Bluetooth and remember to turn it back on later.
 
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if it disconnects from wifi how do u reconnect?

e.g.

my fiancee turns off her wifi at nite when she goes bed so no alerts etc of email/facebook.
and in morning turns it back on.

new system how do you reconnect, toggles it again and it reconnect to same network?
I'm asking for her as i moved back to android
 
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