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It feels like they’re trying to educate me as a user that switching wifi off to save battery is not super smart. It’s true, the difference is minuscule at best

It feels like they’re trying to educate me as a user that switching wifi off to save battery is not super smart. It’s true, the difference is minuscule at best (20-30 minutes of battery life) but maybe I want to micromanage to get these 20 minutes. Or because I am concerned about privacy. My take is that if you want to “educate” users on how best to use a feature you must leave them the freedom to do it wrong (depending on the consequences). If you’re right they will do what you want (profit) and if you’re wrong then you have avoided alienating them.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> My take is that if you want to “educate” users on how best to use a feature you must leave them the freedom to do it wrong This is diametrically opposed to Apple's tradition, about which they have been clear and consistent.
Spooky23 9y ago
Those 20-30 minutes matter when you travel, which is when the iPhone's undersized battery is already a liability. After about a year of wear and tear, a day trip to Manhattan requires an external battery or finding an outlet somewhere. Ditto on killing or removing abusive/"too big to fail" apps like Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
- scott_s 9y ago
  Before getting on the train to the city, I try to remember to put my phone in battery-save mode preemptively.
developer2 9y ago
Turning off Wifi is not something anyone - whether average or intermediate user - should be needing to do on a frequent basis. Airplane mode already takes care of the primary use case, namely disabling all radios. Someone intending to disable Wifi "temporarily" and then forgetting to re-enable it may wind up paying hundreds of dollars for cellular data. That goes against the "it just works" mentality, which is "Wifi automatically wherever possible. ALWAYS. Cellular as last resort only." Privacy is less of a concern on iOS; the MAC address is rotated frequently specifically to prevent passive tracking. The battery savings are going to be minimal; with Apple's history with these kinds of optimizations, you'd probably save as much battery by reducing screen brightness by only 5%. tldr; There's no real reason outside of developer testing to ever disable Wifi. Users who care should not mind the extra tap. And frankly, most who are obsessively toggling their Wifi are probably not receiving the benefits they believe.
- simplify 9y ago
  MAC randomization seems to be broken security-wise on iOS: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-break-mac-address-randomization-and-track-100-percent-of-test-devices/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-b...
- dingaling 9y ago
  > There's no real reason outside of developer testing to ever disable Wifi. When I go for a ramble or cycle in the countryside there's no point having Wifi enabled for four or five hours with no APs within several kilometres, so I disable it. Likewise I disable Bluetooth and GPS when not needed. Being a 'good RF citizen'.
  - dspillett 9y ago
    > Being a 'good RF citizen'. And saving battery power by not having extra radio equipment polling for connection apportunities. Win win.
- yourewrongagain 9y ago
  Registered for this. This is so wrong. I have iPad and currently I use wifi _only_ to download iOS updates. All the other (voip, netflix and spotify for example) is done over LTE/3G. Why? Because I can. I don't want to be scanned and located by APs or have unnecessary radars in my backpack. tldr; ever heard of terms privacy and need to _not_ use specific networks? kthxbye.
- WizzleKake 9y ago
  No. Sometimes at work I don't want to use my employer's wifi. Sometimes I do.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    But you don’t need to turn OFF WiFi for that, simply disconnecting (as the button does) will accomplish that too.
- 9y ago
zwily 9y ago
You can turn on airplane mode to turn off all radios, then turn on the radios you want on if you really want to micromanage.
- 24gttghh 9y ago
  You cannot enable airplane mode and then proceed to enable the cellular radio without first disabling airplane mode. At least you can't on an SE.
  - zwily 9y ago
    Ah, you're right. The other option is force-touching the Settings icon... but the SE doesn't have force-touch, I believe.
    - 24gttghh 9y ago
      Correct, no force-touch on the SE.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

> My take is that if you want to “educate” users on how best to use a feature you must leave them the freedom to do it wrong This is diametrically opposed to Apple's tradition, about which they have been clear and consistent.

Spooky23 9y ago

Those 20-30 minutes matter when you travel, which is when the iPhone's undersized battery is already a liability. After about a year of wear and tear, a day trip to Manhattan requires an external battery or finding an outlet somewhere. Ditto on killing or removing abusive/"too big to fail" apps like Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

scott_s 9y ago
Before getting on the train to the city, I try to remember to put my phone in battery-save mode preemptively.

developer2 9y ago

Turning off Wifi is not something anyone - whether average or intermediate user - should be needing to do on a frequent basis. Airplane mode already takes care of the primary use case, namely disabling all radios. Someone intending to disable Wifi "temporarily" and then forgetting to re-enable it may wind up paying hundreds of dollars for cellular data. That goes against the "it just works" mentality, which is "Wifi automatically wherever possible. ALWAYS. Cellular as last resort only." Privacy is less of a concern on iOS; the MAC address is rotated frequently specifically to prevent passive tracking. The battery savings are going to be minimal; with Apple's history with these kinds of optimizations, you'd probably save as much battery by reducing screen brightness by only 5%. tldr; There's no real reason outside of developer testing to ever disable Wifi. Users who care should not mind the extra tap. And frankly, most who are obsessively toggling their Wifi are probably not receiving the benefits they believe.

simplify 9y ago
MAC randomization seems to be broken security-wise on iOS: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-break-mac-address-randomization-and-track-100-percent-of-test-devices/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-b...
dingaling 9y ago
> There's no real reason outside of developer testing to ever disable Wifi. When I go for a ramble or cycle in the countryside there's no point having Wifi enabled for four or five hours with no APs within several kilometres, so I disable it. Likewise I disable Bluetooth and GPS when not needed. Being a 'good RF citizen'.
- dspillett 9y ago
  > Being a 'good RF citizen'. And saving battery power by not having extra radio equipment polling for connection apportunities. Win win.
yourewrongagain 9y ago
Registered for this. This is so wrong. I have iPad and currently I use wifi _only_ to download iOS updates. All the other (voip, netflix and spotify for example) is done over LTE/3G. Why? Because I can. I don't want to be scanned and located by APs or have unnecessary radars in my backpack. tldr; ever heard of terms privacy and need to _not_ use specific networks? kthxbye.
WizzleKake 9y ago
No. Sometimes at work I don't want to use my employer's wifi. Sometimes I do.
- MBCook 9y ago
  But you don’t need to turn OFF WiFi for that, simply disconnecting (as the button does) will accomplish that too.
9y ago

zwily 9y ago

You can turn on airplane mode to turn off all radios, then turn on the radios you want on if you really want to micromanage.

24gttghh 9y ago
You cannot enable airplane mode and then proceed to enable the cellular radio without first disabling airplane mode. At least you can't on an SE.
- zwily 9y ago
  Ah, you're right. The other option is force-touching the Settings icon... but the SE doesn't have force-touch, I believe.
  - 24gttghh 9y ago
    Correct, no force-touch on the SE.