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

As opposed to Google's dark patterns that make maps unusable with location tracking off.

Well this finally explains why Bluetooth kept re-enabling itself seemingly at random after I turned it off in iOS 11...

I agree with the EFF on this one, at no time was any of how this works communicated, particularly not the "turns back on at 5 am" quirk. These features aren't inherently bad, but lack of communication is bad.

> In an attempt to keep you connected to Apple devices and services, iOS 11 compromises users' security.

No. It is in an attempt to resolve the real loss of money experienced by everyday users who turn off WiFi when it’s flakey and then forget to turn it back on, costing them cash on their cellular data plan. (And the very real frustration when things don’t work they expect to work, and they don’t know why.)

Meanwhile, the security motivated user will figure out she can 3D Touch or go into settings and meet her more sophisticated use cases.

Consider the normal user’s scenarios and do the math. This saves more users from more loss.

Not sure if this is new in the ios world, but I discovered this 'feature' in Android years ago. Turns out Beacon Requests are very important to location services, especially where gps doesn't work (like in any indoor location).

This has bugged me too since upgrading to iOS 11. I understand the motivation for the change, but it was not necessary to make the UI misleading. It should very clearly indicate between "off" and "off-ish," and allow switching to a true off state, perhaps by long-pressing the icon to get additional options, like how several other control center panels work.