Mobe reception grief turns LTE Apple Watch 3 into – er, a dull watch The new LTE-enabled Apple Watch 3 appears to suffer from a bug that can keep the touch-screen wearable from connecting to cellular data networks. Multiple reviews of the still-unreleased device have found that when wearing it without its paired iPhone, the Apple Watch constantly tries to connect to nearby Wi-Fi networks, …
Indeed, the described problem also applies to any phone with WiFi, I had suffered the problem of having connected to some crap public WiFi that is too slow or often just broken - like the ones in supermarkets, next time you go in the same supermarket the WiFi connects again effectively shutting down the comms.
So, it pays to do tidy up and forget these networks, or just switch off WiFi when away from known working ones.
All this public WiFi "security recommendation" stuff that requires a login every time is so badly done and such a pain to deal with that I actively avoid it.
I notice that iOS 11 now has an option in for each individual Wi-Fi hotspot that says 'Auto-Join'. Select it and you have to click on the WiFi hotspot to connect (but no need to add your login details - it still remembers these).
This should stop the pain in the backside that is O2 Wifi, BT Cloud, Tesco WiFi and alike that you only connected to once in the past that now like to rear their ugly heads at the most inappropriate times.
I hate to say 'in fairness to Apple', but, in fairness to apple...
The link in the article to the Apple site clearly shows that you disconnect from your *current* wifi / Bluetooth links using one method, but actually completely turn off wifi / Bluetooth in the sense we would all understand using another method (turning off in settings, much like in Android).
So, *in this one particular and isolated case* I think this comment was a bit unfair on Apple.
/ Just off to wash my hands
Airplane Mode will still work -
it shuts down that whole chuck of silicon (which is annoying because in Qualcomm devices one loses the FM radio.)
Android's default behaviour for years has been to occasionally poll for WiFi networks (for location), even with WiFi supposedly turned off. (I'm sensitive to these things because I'm forced to - Nexus 5 battery capacity was always sub-par.)
The fear expressed in the article is that battery life will suffer in iOS - but that's a matter best settled by empirical testing. Any drastic drop will be fixed.
"Airplane Mode will still work"
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your stewardess speaking... We regret any inconvenience the sudden cabin movement might have caused, this is due to periodic air pockets we encountered, there's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you enjoy the rest of your flight... By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
It shuts down that whole chuck of silicon (which is annoying because in Qualcomm devices one loses the FM radio.)
It's designed to stop any spurious emissions from the FM radio causing interference apparently. I cornered a manufacturers rep at a exhibition and asked about that very thing.
I was very disappointed when I found out that Android/Apple don't allow you to disable but not delete a wifi profile. I had that on Blackberry products e.g. the Playbook and found it extremely useful when somewhere where there are two or more different wifi networks that I have previously and can now connect to. At home I have one wireless network for a security camera set up that is not connected to the internet. I have another for the browsing the web etc. If I want to check the cameras I have to connect to that network which is fine up until I find I'm on the other network because the signal was stronger or some such. It's worse when I'm bidding on Fleabay and suddenly I can't connect to the site because the camera network has taken over.
Off should mean OFF. Totally.
If Bluetooth is still on and polling for connections it's going to cause chaos in the car as we frequently want only 1 device to pair with the cars sound system - not three.
I can see us reverting to a USB cable to determine which device is - or isn't - connected to the cars system.
You CAN turn Wifi and Bluetooth off in iOS 11. What you CAN'T do anymore is turn them off from Control Center. Those buttons that from iOS 7 to iOS 10 turned off the antennas now only disconnect them. I raised it as an issue in every version of the public beta and was informed that it is by design, not a bug. I have not upgraded to iOS 11 on my phone as a result.
One subset of apple users include those who are clueless about tech. This is why my mother has been given an iPhone. It's why my company have the iPhone as the corporate device, because it's the only thing Deborah from accounts and Gary from HR can get to grips with. As far as they are concerned, the control centre is where wifi is turned on and off. Apple have made a point of having one setting in one location and preventing things that are perfectly possible to avoid confusion to their precious technically illiterate users. This absolutely flies in the face of that - a button where off doesn't mean off. I'd expect this from the likes of windows, and perhaps even android, but not apple.
So whilst it's perfectly possible to disable wifi and bluetooth properly, this is no longer default behaviour due to the fact that they've messed with the control centre buttons.
"One subset of apple users include those who are clueless about tech. "
I suspect it is by far the largest subset, and that isn't criticism. Car companies didn't become big by expecting you to be able to operate manual advance and retard on the ignition.
The problem, of course, is that as soon as you get to multiple wireless connections to all kinds of sources, thinking of ways to idiot proof them is hard.
@Brenda McViking
i see the furore, but.......
if you absolutely need the radio's off then currently you have to go to airplane mode to ensure the gsm/lte radio is off anyway,
most of the time you turn wifi or bluetooth off to disconnect from or prevent connecting to something that is usually not an Apple something.
If i turn her bluetooth off to connect my phone to the car sound system i really don't mind if her phone is still connected to her watch, saves me grief when she moans her watch isn't connected as i forgot to turn it back on again.
They should change its name so its clear its just disconnecting from non apple stuff but still on.
They should also explain the ramifications for tracking purposes (the MACS and ID's should be randomized etc)
Also what's with the reenabled at 5am nonsense? What's so special about 5am.
Lots of complaints out on the t'interwebs about this.
I sort of understand what crApple are trying to do. It's so you can disconnect quickly from slow networks but still connect to your preferred ones like home without constantly having to disable and re-enable wifi when in different places.
What I've seen most complaints about is that because wifi doesn't really switch off now, that if you're out and about, that you still repeatedly get asked to join new networks as the phone detects them. Things like BT wifi etc.
There's a setting in Wifi settings where you can switch that off, and it works, now you no longer get connected to new networks automatically or asked to join them.
Of course "please don't call me Surely" mode still works and that's actually a bit better now as you can turn that on then put wifi back on so only tluebooth and your phone's mobile functions are off, still leaving you with connectivity. Maybe it's always been like that though, I don't know in honesty.
Personally, while it took me a few mins to get my head around what they had done, it doesn't really bother me that much. It's not really wifi and bluetooth that kill battery, it's the phone searching around for a mobile mast which kills it. So in that respect, this works better IMHO. You can be in that pub in the country with ten foot thick walls and no mobile reception, turn airplane mode on and still use the pubs wifi, so saving your battery from being drained by phone hunting for signal, but still be connected to the outside world.
The London Underground and wifi is probably another good example where this will save battery and be useful.
But I can understand why people don't like it. It's typical of crApple's attitude of, that's how it works now sod off.
Oh and about that pub in the country, my phone would be off, I'd much rather be drinking and enjoying my solitude than staring at the fecking screen,
I can understand why this was never caught during testing. What Apple fanboi/grrl has ever been caught out without at least one iPhone on them? Surely Apple's fix to this bug is to buy an extra iPhone...
Turning off Personal Hotspot doesn't turn off Personal Hotspot.
I turned it on this morning, so my iPod Touch could do something, then turned it off when it had finished doing it, but it remained connected. My other iPhone decided to connect to it as well despite the fact that it had a perfectly good connection of its own.
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