Wi-Fi Aware behavior when Wi-Fi is off [iOS 26.6]

Hello,

QQ for the Wi-Fi/Accessories team. Is the expectation that Wi-Fi Aware will work properly when the iPhone has Wi-Fi off either in settings or control center? I am able to reproduce errors where it does not work properly if the Wi-Fi on the phone is turned off. Please let me know best practices

Using iPhone 17 pro on iOS 26.6

Answered by DTS Engineer in 900461022

The behaviour I’d expect is:

  • Disabling Wi-Fi in Control Centre should have no effect on Wi-Fi Aware.
  • Turning Wi-Fi off in Settings should disable Wi-Fi Aware.

Likewise for Apple peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.

That’s based the user-level behaviour described in Use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in Control Center. Please rerun your tests with this in mind, and then reply back here with the results, because I’m curious as to whether my expectations match your reality.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

The behaviour I’d expect is:

  • Disabling Wi-Fi in Control Centre should have no effect on Wi-Fi Aware.
  • Turning Wi-Fi off in Settings should disable Wi-Fi Aware.

Likewise for Apple peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.

That’s based the user-level behaviour described in Use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in Control Center. Please rerun your tests with this in mind, and then reply back here with the results, because I’m curious as to whether my expectations match your reality.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Wi-Fi Aware behavior when Wi-Fi is off [iOS 26.6]
 
 
Q