IT turns out that tapping the blue buttons to switch your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off doesn’t truly shut them down.
These iPhone features still work quietly in the background unless you follow extra steps to turn them off for real.
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The fastest way to quickly disconnect your Bluetooth devices or switch off from a Wi-Fi network is to use the Control Center.
That involves swiping down from the top of the iPhone screen (or up from the bottom on older models) and tapping the blue buttons so that they gray out.
However, this doesn’t work exactly as you might expect.
Many features and services still rely on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth even if you “switch them off.”
FROM BLUE TO GRAY
If you toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off in your Control Center, you’ll immediately disconnect from the network and linked accessories.
However, some features will still work.
Apple lists the following as features that will still continue to use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in the background:
- AirDrop
- AirPlay
- Apple Pencil
- Apple Watch
- Continuity features, like Handoff and Instant Hotspot
- Instant Hotspot
- Location Services
- Unlock with Apple Watch
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These all rely on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in some form, and won’t turn off.
That’s important, as you might want to disconnect from a pair of Bluetooth headphones but don’t want to unlink from your Apple Watch.
However, if you want to totally shut these features off, you’ll need to take some extra steps.
HOW TO REALLY TURN OFF WI-FI AND BLUETOOTH
The only true way to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is by going into Settings.
In fact, you can even test out the claims yourself.
Go to Control Center and shut off Bluetooth, then go to Settings > Bluetooth and you’ll see that it’s still switched on.
Simply tap it off and Bluetooth will be shut off for good.
The same is true for Wi-Fi: go to Settings > Wi-Fi to turn it off properly.
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