Apple Intentionally Makes iPhones Vulnerable To Hacking With iOS 11

With the tech world constantly being besieged by hacking threats at every single moment of every day, users expect companies like Apple to make them safer, not more vulnerable. However, it would seem that the Cupertino firm is doing the exact opposite with the new iOS 11. Apparently, users will no longer be able to completely turn off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi on their devices via the Control Center.

With the iOS 10 and below for the iPhone and iPad, simply bringing up the Control Center allows users to toggle the wireless connection features on and off. This gives them a considerable amount of control over their notifications, not to mention allows them to avoid unnecessary security risks. Unfortunately, instead of disabling the features, the iOS 11 Control Center only puts them in the background, Motherboard reports.

This is the kind of thing that a lot of users might attribute to a software problem, perhaps even a bug, but it’s not. Apple implemented these changes intentionally, with the full understanding of what it could mean.

For some context of the possible consequences, security experts warn that users might not know that their Wi-Fi or Bluetooth features are still turned on even after toggling them via the Control Center. As a result, they could become at risk of being hacked or get sent unwanted messages as the recent Bluetooth vulnerability that affects over 5 billion devices has shown.

As The Verge reports, this decision by Apple is likely intended to make sure that accidental disconnection of the Apple Watch from the iPhone is minimized. Unfortunately, this move trades inconvenience with making users vulnerable potentially devastating security risks.

Security experts generally agree that one of the safest methods of preventing hackers from gaining access to devices is to regularly turn the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth features off when not in use. Apple just made this more difficult.