EFF criticizes Apple for ‘off-like’ WiFi and Bluetooth mode in iOS 11

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized Apple for the fact that in iOS 11, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off position in quick settings doesn’t actually disable the features, but just disconnects. This would be a threat to privacy and security.

To actually turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, users now have to navigate to their iOS device’s settings or put the device into airplane mode, but then the connection to the mobile network will also be lost. ‘If you consider what kind of vulnerabilities are in bluetooth, it is very important that these kinds of settings do what you expect from them,’ the organization states. The EFF refers to a study this year on weaknesses in bluetooth. In quick settings, the icons for WiFi and Bluetooth are gray when a user turns them off, but that does not mean that they are actually turned off. In iOS 10, the system didn’t behave this way yet.

Keeping the features on means that location services can stay on and devices like the Apple Watch stay connected to the phone. Functions such as Handoff will then continue to work. “The system fails to communicate these exceptions to the user.” If you take the steps to actually turn off WiFi and Bluetooth, you will see that a crossed-out icon is a symbol for this in the control center. However, the user is not informed of this new distinction and what the difference is exactly.

According to the EFF, bluetooth and wifi also turn on automatically when the user moves to a new location. Also, every day at 5 o’clock in the morning, the two would jump back on. The EFF also calls it bad for the user’s trust in the operating system.