[Spooky23]

Not really. This controversy is similar to people complaining about the loss of PC power buttons in 1997.

The previous behavior was turning off the radio, which is often not the intent of the user. They replaced it with turning off joining networks, which is more often user intent.

With the proliferation of personal connected devices like smart watches and cars, and point to point WiFi services like airdrop, users often want or need to have the radio on to utilize those services. At the same time, users may not want to join WiFi networks due to poor performance (ie one-bar WiFi), ineligibility for use (I’m at a Hilton for a conference, but am not eligible for free WiFi because I’m not staying there), or some other reason.

The previous behavior also duplicated the behavior of the “airplane mode” button in some scenarios.

IMO the iOS 11 behavior adds value in most cases and has two easy workarounds (airplane mode or system preferences) for people who want the radio off.

[mikeash]

The new behavior is fine. The problem is that they changed the behavior without changing the UI to show what it was doing, and didn't really tell anybody about the change. (A support article doesn't count. People don't read those things.)

I'd be a lot happier with the new behavior if the icons indicated it somehow. If they really wanted to go crazy, they could label the damned things!

[rahoulb]

Arguably the icons in Control Centre do reflect that. The WiFi icon has three states - blue (on), grey (not connected) and with a strike-through (totally off). However you use airplane mode to activate the latter, not the toggle.

[mikeash]

I don’t think it counts unless someone who doesn’t know about the change can actually figure it out.

[josteink]

> grey (not connected) and with a strike-through (totally off). However you use airplane mode to activate the latter

So how would you turn off WiFi while retaining mobile broadband?

Oh you cant?

This is just crazy bad UX. Apple is completely losing it.

[michh]

You can. You'll have to navigate to WiFi in the Settings app for it though.

[donohoe]

Gonna have to disagree.

I want them off. That has always been my intent and those I’ve informally asked.

[snowwrestler]

I'm with you; I mean "really turn this all the way off" when I turn off WiFi or Bluetooth.

But if you read between the lines, I think what happened here is that Apple did some analysis of their support database and figured out that a huge number of support issues came down to WiFi or Bluetooth being turned off. Like, if someone doesn't really understand how AirDrop works (probably most iPhone users, honestly) and they try to use it with WiFi turned off. Or if they turn off Bluetooth because they heard it was a security issue, then their phone doesn't connect to their car the way it should.

The reality is that most iPhone users don't really understand all this stuff, and so don't fully appreciate the tradeoffs of having WiFi and Bluetooth turned off.

It's a bit more inconvenient, but at least we can still use Settings to really actually turn them off.

[willstrafach]

Use the switch in Settings to turn it off. That still works.

The change referenced is the shortcut found in Control Center, which keeps Wi-Fi on but won't connect to new networks.

[Spooky23]

Do you have an Apple Watch?

[stevehawk]

I don't.. why does that matter? Do the watch and phone not communicate over Bluetooth?

[Spooky23]

It uses both to improve reliability.

Additionally, increasingly important services like Airdrop and HomeKit use it.

[mmjaa]

> some other reason.

I want to turn Wifi OFF because I want it off - I don't want to use Wifi, and therefore I don't want the Wifi using my batter life, and I also don't want any chance of Wifi broadcasting/receiving anything when I want it off.

This is just Apple treating their users like idiots. They're leaving the Wifi powered on for their own nefarious purposes - such as harvesting more Wifi SSID's when the user doesn't expect it, and using that harvested info to improve Location accuracy - also when the user is unaware that its happening, unless they dig deep, deep into the SysPrefs ..

From Apple: "For the best experience on your iOS device, try to keep Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on."

This is newspeak for "we need you to leave Wifi on so we can continue to harvest the SSID's of the networks around you, save the data, and report it later to improve our Location accuracy database" ..

[ronnier]

I always used the button to turn off the radio. This change really disturbs me to the point where I’m thinking about moving off of iOS.

[matthewmacleod]

Well that would certainly be a ludicrous over-reaction.