WiFi in iOS 11 keeps turning on

You can always choose another phone to replace your iPhone, there are many, some of which are quite good. Or you can live with it as is. It remains your choice but don't expect Apple to change it for you.

Gilderon wrote:

If I set up a configuration I want and the phone automatically changes that with my input or notice, my control has been taken away. That a design flaw in the best case scenario.

Absolutely. I want the Settings/WiFi to NOT turn off WiFi. When will that be incorporated?

You do know you can make changes to your settings to turn the cellular radio (voice/data) on and off? Doesn't require software changes. Your largest privacy vulnerability on your phone is the cell radio.

Gilderon wrote:

Cellular radio?

Really? You don't know your cell phone has a cellular radio, which:

1. Uses infinitely more battery power than Bluetooth or Wifi combined

2. Let's your location be known and is what you should really fear

If security is an issue worthy of your concern, you should simply not own a cell phone.

I’ve given up on the issue of having to go into settings to “permanently” turn things on and off when I was able to do that with a quick swipe before. Now, the problem is that I went into the phone settings and toggled off to stop my phone from joining networks, and the change reversed overnight. That’s not cool.

Gilderon wrote:

I’ve given up on the issue of having to go into settings to “permanently” turn things on and off when I was able to do that with a quick swipe before. Now, the problem is that I went into the phone settings and toggled off to stop my phone from joining networks, and the change reversed overnight. That’s not cool.

Absolutely. You would think that the Settings > WiFi Off would turn off WiFi but who are we to decide?

Gilderon wrote:

I’ve given up on the issue of having to go into settings to “permanently” turn things on and off when I was able to do that with a quick swipe before. Now, the problem is that I went into the phone settings and toggled off to stop my phone from joining networks, and the change reversed overnight. That’s not cool.

Perhaps iPhone is just not the right phone for you at this point. You're simply not going to change Apple's mind on this, no matter how many posts you make. This change was a very smart move, whether you understand it or not. But since it seems to upset you, you have other options in the cell phone world you can consider.

I’ve been with IPhone since 3GS. In the years I’ve been a customer, they’ve made bad design and upgrade decisions before and later fixed them. Apple is far from perfect. They'll probably get to this problem eventually after several agile sprints. I was just hoping there was a short-term fix I could implement. It’s an annoying nuisance but probably not bad enough to switch to a different, less secure product.

I’d have no problem with it if Apple gave us a way to disable or opt out of it, like maybe an option following the update for us to “allow your iPhone to optimize WiFi and Bluetooth settings automatically or retain manual control”. That shouldn’t be to hard of an option to roll out in an iOS update.

Correct. Apple does not track your phone. They don’t track it using WiFi. They don’t track it using Bluetooth. They don’t track it using cellular or GPS. They don’t track it at all, ever.

No one tracks your phone using WiFi, either, unless you are actively connected to a network and using it. WiFi scanners that see your phone are sent a random WiFi address that changes with each scan. A security feature that Apple added to iOS 3 years ago.

The only time Apple knows you location is if you use Find my IPhone. And presumably you want that to work. And if you turn off WiFi it won’t work.

Gilderon wrote:

Oh, the cellular data/network capability. Gotcha. I know that’s a battery drain when the signal’s weak but have read that it’s more secure than most WiFi networks.

That’s the funniest post I’ve seen today. Cell carriers track your every move and sell that information to anyone who asks. And they give it to governments. How is that secure? They also record you texts, and who you call and when. Is that secure? WiFi is secure as long as you only connect to WPA2 networks, or use VPN connections. And governments can’t track WiFi.

No argument regarding cell companies retaining call and text records but how they sell tracking info and give away that data depends on the carrier. Some are better than others, and in some cases they are legally required to hand over data (e.g. search warrant issued by a judge). I picked the carrier that has a better track record of safeguarding subscriber data than others (i.e. doesn't sell info for marketing purposes without user consent and makes Governments do their legal due diligence and obtain a warrant from a court before turning over user data instead of just setting up programs).

On the issue of security, I meant the ability for people to hack into your phone through the signal or monitor real-time data (mainly PII, work and financial data/account logins are my concern) you are transmitting over a signal. In that sense, wifi is a lot easier to hack into to monitor a specific device than a commercial cell frequency is. The end-to-end encryption used by some carriers for transmitting data is a lot harder to hack into and track to a specific device than a wifi signal. The only exception might be if your are at home, using your secured wifi, and you don't live in a densely populated area where someone might be camping out nearby hacking into your signal and installing spyware on your computer or phone via your router.

This has been the subject of several briefings I've received at work over the past three years given by cybersecurity professionals. It's why we are prohibited from using our work devices on ostensibly secure wifi networks anywhere but in the home situation I described above. It's also why I've taken the same approach with regard to my personal devices. This recent change just made that less convenient for me.

Gilderon wrote:

Contractors hired to secure highly sensitive Government networks. I can’t provide more detail than that.

In other words, you don't want to tell anyone.

So its just another apocryphal tale

At least the 3 of you i’ve been chatting with this morning appear to be unaware of the risks of using widely available so-called secure WiFi networks. It doesn’t seem like you’ll be convinced or that you’re convinced of the opposite. That’s your potential problem, not mine. Have a good day.

Gilderon wrote:

At least the 3 of you i’ve been chatting with this morning appear to be unaware of the risks of using widely available so-called secure WiFi networks. It doesn’t seem like you’ll be convinced or that you’re convinced of the opposite. That’s your potential problem, not mine. Have a good day.

At least one person participating in this thread (who is not you, by the way), is actually an expert in this area. So, I will trust them long before I trust someone who has demonstrated they don't really understand cellular phone technology (that would be you, by the way).