How to Turn Bluetooth On or Off with the iPhone or iPad

Bluetooth is great since it allows for anyone to wirelessly sync hardware together. It’s typically turned off by default in iOS, so you’ll want to turn it on first if you intend to use the Bluetooth connectivity options. On the other hand, if you don’t use bluetooth on your iPhone or iPad there’s little reason to keep it turned on, because having it on and discoverable can needlessly reduce your iPhone battery life while it searches out for bluetooth devices that don’t exist or that you just don’t want to connect to at all. In that case, save your battery life and disable it when not in use.

Disable or Enable Bluetooth in iOS for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

The settings will remain the same across all iOS devices:

• Tap on Settings
• Select “General”
• Tap on “Bluetooth”
• Flip the On/Off button to toggle Bluetooth on or off
• Close out of Settings and you’re on your way

Keep in mind that after Bluetooth is enabled you will need to pair the intended device, computer, or accessory with the iOS device, that is done just by tapping on it in the devices list that will appear after it has been turned on. If there is nothing showing up in that list, the other accessory may not be turned on, could have low batteries, or Bluetooth may not be enabled on it.

If you’re unfamiliar, there are tons of purposes for Bluetooth. From wireless hands-free headsets that let you talk without having phone up to your ear, to use a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad, which in my view is better than the iPad dock keyboard since it’s wireless, or even connecting a wireless keyboard to an iPhone or iPod touch and setting up the worlds tiniest workstation, there are no shortage of devices that use Bluetooth. Even some newer car stereos use the protocol to allow wireless configuration and streaming of things like an iTunes library and Pandora between the iPhone in your pocket and the console controller or steering wheel controls while driving.