Bluetooth icon disappeared after iOS12

Yes, that's correct. In the iOS12 User Guide, the Bluetooth symbol is no longer listed as an iPhone symbol. This continues Apple's move to recommend Bluetooth not be turned off. There really is no real reason to ever turn it off as power is only used when a Bluetooth device is connected and there aren't security vulnerabilities one can experience by having the Bluetooth radio on 24/7. Otherwise, the symbol really didn't do anything.

I'm not Apple. This is a user to user ONLY forum. Everyone here is a user like yourself. Telling me to fix anything will get you nothing. If you want to tell Apple how you feel, use this link: Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Hi. If you bothered to read through this thread, you'd see I don't work for Apple. In fact, no one on this forum does. This is a user to user forum. I'm not going to solve this and I don't find it an issue either.

You can tell Apple you do find this an issue, by providing feedback to Apple via this link: Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Lividup wrote:

I have always been told to turn off your Bluetooth to conserve your battery charge as it is drained more quickly when searching for a Bluetooth device to connect with. Is that not true?

That may have been true years ago, but isn't valid anymore. So no, it's simply unnecessary to turn Bluetooth off to conserve battery power. Read this amazing post from a highly trusted member here about Bluetooth and power: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Battery Drain and other considerations

So if using Bluetooth has no detrimental effect why was the icon there in the first place and why were we able to switch it off? Surely the boffins at Apple haven’t just realised ? I would expect that any process running in the background waiting for a connection would have some effect on battery life at the very least?

The Bluetooth radio, when not connected to a paired device, uses so little power that if you turned off cellular/network services and just left the Bluetooth radio on, your battery would last for literally months. So no, it has little impact on battery life. As to why the icon was there and is now gone, you'd have to ask Apple. Ever since iOS 11 Apple has been gradually leading us down the path to understand that for the vast majority, there is no real need to turn Bluetooth off and on.

You may be confused about being able to switch it on or off however. That option has not been removed. It's still available in Control Center and in Settings > Bluetooth. There's just no longer a meaningless, does nothing Bluetooth Symbol.

I would think at the very least, that the blue tooth icon would appear to “confirm” that the device has established a connection with the paired device. I use an Apple keyboard on my iPhone 8, and have no quick idea that it is paired. If I want to know that it is paired. I have to open an application and hit a key to see if it is paired, or I have to go Settings>Bluetooth to see what has been (or is currently) connected. Fine...remove the icon always being on when Bluetooth was formerly on...but come on...show the icon when something is connected... i.e., the WiFi icon. Please fix!

Hi, the bluetooth icon is information that many of us users would like to have displayed as always, you should in any case make optional if a user wants or not this icon displayed. Finding an information icon useful or not is up to the users. Please read how many people are missing this feature and simply put it back. Thanks for listening and for your help in solving this that is obviously an issue.

jagdishsahu wrote:

Bluetooth icon is missing from the status bar after iOS 12 installed.

iOS 12 bluetooth sign dissapeared reports that it is no longer being displayed.

I have always been told to turn off your Bluetooth to conserve your battery charge as it is drained more quickly when searching for a Bluetooth device to connect with. Is that not true?

I have Bluetooth audio on a TV I only want paired with Bluetooth earphones. When I want to use the earphones, I need to be sure it hasn’t already paired with an iOS device.