iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad for User Security

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by Nition on Thursday October 05, 2017 @10:48PM (#15414096)

Having WiFi greatly increases the battery drain on my iPhone 5C, so I always turn it off when I'm not using it. I'm not using the phone all the time so there are long periods where it doesn't need to be on, but I still want to receive messages etc (and hence can't use Airplane mode).

Edit: I originally said that having wifi on "at least doubles" the power drain on my phone but since I haven't actually taken hard stats on that, I'll just say "greatly increases."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by djrogers on Thursday October 05, 2017 @11:39PM (#15414251)

The WiFi radio uses less power than the LTE one, so if you’re in range of WiFi you save battery by leaving it on.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by KozmoNau7 on Friday October 06, 2017 @05:56AM (#15415582)

Not on my Android phone, a Motorola Moto X Play. Wifi is by far the largest battery hog.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by rmwaite on Friday October 06, 2017 @11:03AM (#15417312)

lol man. thats because it is used the most. in order to determine which uses more energy you would need to run a series of controlled tests where you transfer specific amounts of data over time with one radio or the other.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by KozmoNau7 on Saturday October 07, 2017 @12:20PM (#15424365)

I did do that. Using my phone normally, it uses a lot more battery to have wifi on.

I have a generous data plan, so I don't need to use wifi to preserve it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by Nition on Thursday October 05, 2017 @11:44PM (#15414273)

I don't have a data plan so I always have mobile data off.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by djrogers on Friday October 06, 2017 @12:03PM (#15417857)

That's a pretty rare use case, and not one that I expect most smartphone makers to optimize for.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by jwong_ on Thursday October 05, 2017 @11:51PM (#15414298)

That doesn't turn off your LTE radio though...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by Nition on Friday October 06, 2017 @12:06AM (#15414347)

But djrogers was saying that if I had WiFi on it'd save power because LTE would be off. Surely they only mean the data component?

I thought the basic mobile connection was active all the time (unless there was no signal). Are you saying if I turn WiFi on, and I receive an SMS (not through iMessage) or a phone call, it's actually coming through WiFi and the mobile connection is totally off? Surely not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by jsjohnst on Friday October 06, 2017 @12:31AM (#15414440)

It’s possible, depending on your carrier, that it uses Wi-Fi for calls, but doubt that’s what he meant. Either way, in your specific use case, I agree, turning off Wi-Fi would save power, I just don’t believe it’s 2x difference though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:iOS 11's Misleading "Off-Ish" Setting for Radios Is Bad f... by Nition on Friday October 06, 2017 @12:34AM (#15414447)

I just looked it up and found the official page on Wifi calling[1], but yeah, that option isn't there on my phone.

[1]https://support.apple.com/en-nz/HT203032

[ Parent | on HN ]