I'm using an iPhone and usually keep Wi‑Fi turned off to save battery. However, whenever I send something with AirDrop, Wi‑Fi turns itself back on, so I have to disable it again afterward. Why does AirDrop do this, and is there a way to keep Wi‑Fi off while still using AirDrop?
3 Answers
AirDrop can begin by finding nearby devices over Bluetooth, then it uses Wi‑Fi for the actual peer-to-peer transfer. So it may appear to work with Wi‑Fi off at first, but Wi‑Fi is still required behind the scenes. There isn’t really a setting to make AirDrop avoid turning it on during transfers.
AirDrop relies on a direct Wi‑Fi connection between devices, along with Bluetooth for discovery. That’s why Wi‑Fi gets enabled during the transfer. It generally doesn’t use enough battery to make leaving Wi‑Fi on a noticeable problem, and keeping it enabled can also help with location accuracy.
Turning off Wi‑Fi usually saves very little battery on a modern iPhone. Unless you’re somewhere with unusually poor Wi‑Fi coverage, leaving it enabled is normally the more convenient option.
I understand that AirDrop needs Wi‑Fi, but it seems to start working even when Wi‑Fi is disabled. I was hoping it could just enable it temporarily and then turn it back off afterward.