How to turn off WiFi or Bluetooth on iPhone and iPad in iOS 11

The new Control Center in iOS 11 came with a plethora of changes that made Control Center even more useful on your iPhone and iPad, but not all the changes are straightforward.

If you're coming from iOS 10, you may be used to using Control Center to turn off Wi-fi and Bluetooth with just a few quick taps. Unfortunately, in iOS 11 you're not able to do that. Here's a quick rundown of what Control Center actually does with Wi-fi and Bluetooth, and how to turn off completely.

What Control Center does with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

As pictured above, you can access Wi-Fi and Bluetooth through Control Center in iOS 11 and when you tap either of those buttons, it may appear as if it turned off the wireless connectivity. What those buttons actually do is more of a temporary "disable" feature that kicks off currently connected networks and devices, but keeps the connectivity active.

For example, if you have a pair of Bluetooth headphones connected to your iPhone or iPad and you want to quickly disconnect them, you can tap the Bluetooth button in the Control Center to do that. The device you had paired will become disconnected, but you could still connect another device without having to press the Bluetooth button again. The same thing goes for Wi-Fi.

If you want to completely turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth so you can't connect to anything, you'll need to go through settings.

How to turn off Wi-Fi in iOS 11

  1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
  2. Tap Wi-Fi.
  3. Tap the Wi-Fi On/Off switch. Grey means it's off.

You can follow these exact same steps whenever to turn Wi-Fi on as well.

How to turn off Bluetooth in iOS 11

  1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
  2. Tap Bluetooth.
  3. Tap the Bluetooth On/Off switch. Grey means it's off.

You can follow these exact same steps whenever to turn Bluetooth on as well.

Any other questions?

Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Luke Filipowicz
Staff Writer

Luke Filipowicz has been a writer at iMore, covering Apple for nearly a decade now. He writes a lot about Apple Watch and iPad but covers the iPhone and Mac as well. He often describes himself as an "Apple user on a budget" and firmly believes that great technology can be affordable if you know where to look. Luke also heads up the iMore Show — a weekly podcast focusing on Apple news, rumors, and products but likes to have some fun along the way. 


Luke knows he spends more time on Twitter than he probably should, so feel free to follow him or give him a shout on social media @LukeFilipowicz.