WiFi settings

When you have Wi-Fi set to ON, then your iPhone looks for available Wi-Fi Networks to connect to or to present you options if you need them. The iPhone is designed to perform this task efficiently. This is one of the several core functions of the iPhone. If you are interested in saving battery power and find yourself obsessed about it, then you can turn Wi-Fi ON and OFF manually.

My opinion? I’d rather focus on enjoying the use of the iPhone then worry about background Wi-Fi activities. I’d rather let the iPhone worry about because it is designed to do so.

Axel F.

Another reason to leave Wi-Fi on; it is essential for navigation apps and for Find My to work correctly. GPS only works outdoors with a clear view of the sky. So thick tree cover or tall buildings can block the phone’s “view” of the 4 (out of 30 satellites necessary for accurate positioning. Apple (and other manufacturers) have mapped the locations of hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, and use the nearby ones to make identifying your position much more accurate. It doesn’t connect to any of these networks, it just receives their broadcast to triangulate your position accurately; this is called aGPS, or Assisted GPS. And it works indoors, not just outside. So if you go, say, to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC you can search for “T-REX” and it will give you directions to the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs. Or at the Louvre in Paris, to Mona Lisa. Or you could just ask a guide or guard 😈

You are welcome.

Axel F.