[Cyph0n]

On Android 7.0, the cellular icon in the status bar makes it very clear when you are not on WiFi. The icon serves as a reminder for me since I usually switch off WiFi in the morning and re-enable it at home. I don't recall ever forgetting cellular on.

Regardless, I think Apple could have come up with a more user-friendly solution. This just looks like a lazy hack to be honest.

[nardi]

It would have taken you 10 seconds to Google and find out that iOS also has an icon in the status bar that shows you whether you’re on Wi-Fi or cellular.

[Cyph0n]

Why thank you! I would truly be lost without your wisdom.

Unfortunately, that still doesn't explain Apple's decision to make it harder to switch off WiFi. Do iPhone users simply not notice the status bar?

[TheSpiceIsLife]

I'm not defending nor evangelising Apples current solution.

I'm lead to believe it's not iPhone users specifically, but people in general.

I've worked in IT, but qualified as a tradesmen nearly a decade before, and I occasionally forget to turn wifi back on when I get home. I currently work for a large steel fabrication company. One of the project managers here doesn't even use email.

It's way too easy for the average person to forget to turn wifi on and blow all your mobile data / get slogged with overage.

In a similar fashion, it's not hard to see and feel when a / the tyres on your car need a bit of air, but we mandate tyre pressure monitoring systems.

We are, for good or bad, reluctant to regulate software system. So, I guess, as always, if we think of a better design we should probably make a demo or promote it, maybe iOS / Android will pick it up along the way.

[rospaya]

In 5 years we're gonna wonder how we got to the point where you can't easily turn off wifi, slowly dumbing down devices for all of us for the sake of your project manager and the like.

[mikeash]

You can still easily turn off WiFi. It's two or three taps, depending on how you want to get to the setting and what you count as a "tap".

The problem isn't that Apple made it hard to turn off WiFi, it's that they changed one of the controls without making it clear that it had changed.

[Tepix]

@mikeash it takes a minimum of 4 or 5 taps and button presses.

[mikeash]

On my 6+, the sequence is: press home button, tap Settings, Wi-Fi, Off. That's 3-4 depending on whether you count the home button.

On a 6s or newer, with 3D touch, you can cut it down to 2-3: unlock, force touch on Settings and toggle WiFi from the menu that appears. (That might be 1-2, I forget whether you can force touch and drag to what you want to activate, or whether it has to be a separate tap.)

[Cyph0n]

A better way would be to: (1) use either GPS or cell towers to specify some sort of geographical area (with user input of course), and then (2) allow the user to specify what happens to WiFi/3G when entering and/or exiting that area.

Llama on Android has been doing this for years, but the UX was a mess in my opinion. Apple could streamline the setup process, throw in some "amazing"s and "revolutionary"s, mix that with Touch/FaceID, and voila, you have a viable solution.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

It does sadden me there aren't a bunch more advanced options a level or two below the standard options on iPhones.

I didn't down vote you by the way.

[williamscales]

Android does the same thing, more or less, now. For quite a while Wi-Fi has not been truly off unless you access a buried setting—it's scanning for access points for location data. Now in the latest release the Wi-Fi will turn itself back on after having been turned off once you're near a known access point. I never really had an issue with this, as you say it is not that hard to notice the icon in the status bar, but I will admit it is a nice touch. Granted, I have already signed my soul over to Google so I have little to care about.

[mikeash]

Most users notice very little, ever.