Photo: Camilo Concha (Shutterstock)
When you “turn 0ff” wifi, Bluetooth, or cellular data on your iPhone via the Control Center, they’re not actually disabled—your iPhone simply disconnects itself from current networks until until you turn those options back on. This is a conscious design choice by Apple, as it wants to ensure you can still easily connect to peripherals like your Apple Watch and your AirPods, and services like AirDrop and AirPlay active.
But what if you don’t care about all that? What if you actually want to fully shut down wifi, Bluetooth, and/or cellular data? According to Apple, you need to use the Settings app to disable each feature individually. However, there’s a better alternative. Instead of fumbling through Settings every time you want to disable those connections, you can use the built-in Shortcuts app to create a one-tap automation that will do it instantly.
How to turn off wifi, Bluetooth, and cellular data with one iPhone shortcut
Open the “Shortcuts” app on your iPhone. From the “My Shortcuts” tab, tap the Plus button to create a new shortcut. Tap the “Add Action” button and choose the “Set Wi-Fi” action. Then, switch to the “Off” option. Next, you can add the “Set Bluetooth” and “Set Cellular Data” features similarly. Again, set both features to “Off.”
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
Your shortcut is now ready. Give it a name at the top and tap the blue Menu icon. Tap the “Add to Home Screen” button, customize the icon and label if you want, then tap the “Add” button. Now, you’ll see the shortcut on your Home Screen. Simply tap it to turn off wifi, Bluetooth, and cellular data in the background (no authentication or extra taps required).
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It’s probably also worth it to create another shortcut to re-enable wifi, Bluetooth, and cellular data in one go. The steps are as outlined above, but this time, after adding the actions, choose the “On” option.
As this is a shortcut, it can be triggered in multiple ways: You can add a Shortcuts widget to the Home Screen, with multiple shortcuts in it, or you can ask Siri to do it—say “Hey Siri, (shortcut name)” to trigger the shortcut.
But what about Airplane Mode?
Putting your iPhone into Airplane Mode, also found in Control Center, is different from tapping to turn off the individual network options. When you turn on Airplane Mode, it fully disconnects from cellular data (cellular data being the connection airplanes don’t like). If you disable wifi from Control Center while in Airplane Mode, it also fully disconnects, and will fully disconnect automatically the next time you enable Airplane Mode.
However, Bluetooth never fully turns off, even in Airplane Mode. In order to completely disable all three connections at once, you’ll need to use the shortcut above.
