What does this blue icon in the dock stand for?

[Benz63amg]

and what exactly happens when I disable it? it seems like a WiFi toggle and I didn’t have this toggle on my Series 2, I just got the Series 3 and noticed this new icon.

 

[dave006]

Yep it is a Wi-Fi Toggle to manage Wi-Fi on watchOS 4 and later. Blue indicates that you have Wi-Fi enabled and it is currently available on the watch, you can toggle Wi-Fi off by tapping the button and it will turn "Gray".

Note this does not indicate that you are actually using Wi-Fi. For that status you will need to look in the upper left of the Control Center, Blue waves, Wi-Fi is active, Green Box, Bluetooth active.

Dave

 

[Benz63amg]

Yep it is a Wi-Fi Toggle to manage Wi-Fi on watchOS 4 and later. Blue indicates that you have Wi-Fi enabled and it is currently available on the watch, you can toggle Wi-Fi off by tapping the button and it will turn "Gray".

Note this does not indicate that you are actually using Wi-Fi. For that status you will need to look in the upper left of the Control Center, Blue waves, Wi-Fi is active, Green Box, Bluetooth active.

Dave

Thank you dave.

 

[JackieInCo]

Also, the toggle is only on the series 3 watches. My series 2 watches on 4.2 do not have the toggle.

 

[Benz63amg]

So just so I understand this correctly, the Series 3 has a built in Wifi chip that the Series 2 does not have? If the series 2 also has WiFi then why doesn’t it also have a WiFi on/off toggle?

I’m assuming that turning off the WiFi toggle on the Apple Watch to the OFF position will also conserve the battery of the watch?

 

[JackieInCo]

So just so I understand this correctly, the Series 3 has a built in Wifi chip that the Series 2 does not have? If the series 2 also has WiFi then why doesn’t it also have a WiFi on/off toggle?

I’m assuming that turning off the WiFi toggle on the Apple Watch to the OFF position will also conserve the battery of the watch?

Both series 2 and 3 watches have WiFi, just the series 3 has the ability to turn it off. Here is what control center looks like on each version. As for turning off WiFi, I keep it off on all three of my Series 3 watches and in the month that I have owned them, I can't tell the difference in battery life with it on or off.

 

[Benz63amg]

Both series 2 and 3 watches have WiFi, just the series 3 has the ability to turn it off. Here is what control center looks like on each version. As for turning off WiFi, I keep it off on all three of my Series 3 watches and in the month that I have owned them, I can't tell the difference in battery life with it on or off.

View attachment 746007 View attachment 746008

I see, Thanks for that info. What’s the benefit of keeping WiFi enabled on the Apple Watch? I’m a little confused regarding that.

 

[JackieInCo]

I see, Thanks for that info. What’s the benefit of keeping WiFi enabled on the Apple Watch? I’m a little confused regarding that.

The watch has WiFi and will connect to it in case your phone is not with you. It will connect to known WiFi routers that the iPhone has connected to in the past.

 

[Strelok]

This is limited to the LTE version, hence why the series 2 doesn’t have it and my series 3 doesn’t either.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Both series 2 and 3 watches have WiFi, just the series 3 has the ability to turn it off. Here is what control center looks like on each version. As for turning off WiFi, I keep it off on all three of my Series 3 watches and in the month that I have owned them, I can't tell the difference in battery life with it on or off.

View attachment 746007 View attachment 746008

It’s basically saying thaty your watch is on WiFi rather than cellular.

 

[Benz63amg]

I wonder whether disabling the WIFI on the Apple Watch itself has a negative or positive effect on the battery life of the watch as well as the battery life of iPhone that it’s paired with. Perhaps the watch may be operating it’s battery more efficiently if WIFI is left enabled at home or it could be vice versa

 

[Benz63amg]

I have a question, does that blue WiFi icon on the Apple Watch series 3 Re-Activate itself after a day or two? Because 2 days ago I turned it off By clicking that blue button and it turned grey and now I was just checking some stuff on my watch and I swiped up the control panel on the watch and to my surprise the WIFI icon which I turned off 2 days ago is blue again and turned on, I guess I’m not understanding the true purpose of that WIFI toggle on the Series 3?

 

[dave006]

I wonder whether disabling the WIFI on the Apple Watch itself has a negative or positive effect on the battery life of the watch as well as the battery life of iPhone that it’s paired with. Perhaps the watch may be operating it’s battery more efficiently if WIFI is left enabled at home or it could be vice versa

It really depends on how far away you get from your paired iPhone. By default the watch will start using the Bluetooth connection first, then switch to Wi-Fi when you go out of range of the Bluetooth signal. So if you disable Wi-Fi, yes it will save slightly more battery unless you are using the Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), then be default the watch will try to fully power up LTE which really burns the battery.

The watch does a good job at managing the battery management between Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and/or Cellular depending on model and distance from your paired iPhone / Wi-Fi network.

The Wi-Fi Toggle is for the Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) to allow you to force the watch to use cellular (LTE) instead of using Wi-Fi.

Dave
[doublepost=1515823843][/doublepost]

I have a question, does that blue WiFi icon on the Apple Watch series 3 Re-Activate itself after a day or two? Because 2 days ago I turned it off By clicking that blue button and it turned grey and now I was just checking some stuff on my watch and I swiped up the control panel on the watch and to my surprise the WIFI icon which I turned off 2 days ago is blue again and turned on, I guess I’m not understanding the true purpose of that WIFI toggle on the Series 3?

Short answer is yes it resets.

Longer answer:
Swipe up to open Control Center and Tap the Wi-Fi Icon. The icon will dim and your device will disconnect from any network that you're connected to. After you disconnect, your Apple Watch won't automatically re-join the Wi-Fi network that you disconnected from until you do one of these things:

• You turn on Wi-Fi in Control Center
• You walk or drive to a new location
• It's 5:00 a.m. local time
• You restart your device

Note:This is new behavior in the default in the Control Center on both the Watch and the iPhone.

Dave