When you open Control Center in iOS 11, you’ll see a wide variety of new icons, and depending on how you tap them, they can change from blue or green to white or gray or even a strikethrough symbol. This is standard on the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, and you’ll see it on all iPhones running iOS 11 or later. It’s confusing at first, especially now that tapping WiFi or Bluetooth doesn’t actually turn either of them off, but it’s easy to understand once you know what each of these means.
There are only three different options for your WiFi, Bluetooth and Cellular options in the iOS 11 Control Center. When fully closed they are indicated by color and a strikethrough line, Here are the options and what they mean.
What do the Blue, Gray and Green icons in Control Center mean?
You may also see a green icon that means Cellular is turned on. You want it to be green so you can receive calls, texts and use your data to get online without WiFi. If Airplane is orange, Airplane mode is on and Cellular is off. You can use WiFi or Bluetooth while in airplane mode.
Apple changed the feature to only turn it off for now, by tapping WiFi or Bluetooth in the Control Center in iOS 11. This was very confusing, but they’ve added more to the software, so it’s telling you this will only last until tomorrow. This means that tapping on WiFi will cut you off from nearby networks for a day. If you leave your home and go to a cafe you previously connected to, the phone will still connect.
Open and connected.
When you see the blue icons like above, it means your iPhone is connected to a Bluetooth device and connected to WiFi. It can also mean that both are turned on, even if they are not connected to anything. This allows you to take a quick glance and know if you can connect to WiFi or Bluetooth devices.
Disconnected for now or until tomorrow.
Tap on WiFi or Bluetooth in Control Center and they will turn gray or white. This means that the WiFi is disconnected from the current network and will not connect until tomorrow. If you leave and go near another known WiFi network, it will still connect. The same goes for Bluetooth. This means it continues to scan for WiFi networks or Bluetooth devices, both of which may use little battery life.
It’s completely shut down.
If you look in the Control Center and see a slash that means the WiFi or Bluetooth icons are completely off. To actually turn off WiFi or Bluetooth in iOS 11, you have to go to Settings. This means your phone won’t start connecting to either of them tomorrow and will not connect to any new devices or networks until you turn them on. This can help save battery life, but the benefits of Bluetooth and WiFi outweigh the battery savings. If your iPhone battery life is very bad due to Bluetooth or WiFi, you may have a software problem or a broken device. The video below shows you how to turn off WiFi completely in iOS 11.
To turn WiFi or Bluetooth on or off completely, you have to go to or. This can also be used to turn it on so you can connect and don’t see the strikethrough icon in Control Center.
If you 3D Touch the Control Center area for WiFi and Bluetooth, you can open other options within Control Center. You can’t get into WiFi or Bluetooth settings from the Control Center, which is still a pain. The video below shows you how to use and customize Control Center in iOS 11.
Keep reading these iOS 11 tips and tricks to learn more about what you can do with your iPhone or iPad in iOS 11.
