Apple's adding a new tool to iOS 6 that lets your iPhone or iPad use 3G signal automatically when the Wi-Fi has slowed to a crawl or isn't working properly, potentially lowering the collective blood pressure of iOS customers everywhere.
The handy feature has been inserted into the latest beta version of iOS 6, MacRumours reports, and exists in the form of a toggle switch inside the iPhone's settings menu.
Switching on 'Wi-Fi Plus Cellular' (I'd hazard it'll be called 'Wi-Fi Plus Network' here in the UK) means that if an app is failing to connect over your Internet connection, it'll fall back to your data connection to get the job done.
That could mean a lot less faffing around in the settings menu when the Internet isn't playing ball. Wi-Fi connections are notoriously unreliable and often break or slow to a crawl for no discernible reason, but currently the iPhone will cling to any active Wi-Fi like Leonardo DiCaprio clutching a floating door in the frozen Atlantic.
That prompts a frustrated dive into the iOS settings to turn off a Wi-Fi connection that's playing up, only to have to switch it back on a minute later. The new option lets you release the frozen corpse of your connection, Kate Winslet-style, in a move that cements your eternal love and symbolises the beginning of a new, independent life in 1920s America.
The confusing settings menu is a place where iOS needs serious work, as navigating the host of options often proves tricky, leaving even the most placid Apple fan fuming.
The ability to control Wi-Fi settings from the pull-down notification menu, Android-style, would be a welcome move, though I suspect this new option will be as close as iOS fans get for now.
iOS 6 brings a renovated Maps app, Siri improvements and Facebook integration, and ditches the native YouTube app. It's arriving in the autumn, likely alongside a new iPhone and possibly even a tiny version of the iPad.
How would you change iOS? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
Image credit: Macrumours
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anonymous 10 August, 2012 10:29
Since when has wi fi been unreliable? all my connections to my wi fi are fine, with my computer ipod and phone never losing the connection.
Rich Trenholm 10 August, 2012 10:57
Good for you. I've always found Wi-Fi flakey any time I'm outside my own network, even our work Wi-Fi occasionally kicks me off
anonymous 10 August, 2012 10:58
YOUR wifi might be fine but that doesn't man ALL wifi is fine. E.g. public wifi hotspots are often troublesome. You connect to the wifi with no problems but then there's not internet connection at that particular time. At present you'd need to either turn off wifi or 'forget' the network then use mobile data. This option means that as soon as the phone realises there's no actual data transfer through wifi then it lets you use mobile data without having to mess about turning off wifi (and having to turn it back on later) or forgetting the network (and having to reconnect it all next time you visit).
anonymous 10 August, 2012 13:21
Good deal - and the Titanic jokes were well crafted IMHO!
anonymous 10 August, 2012 13:43
Since when has wi fi been unreliable? all my connections to my wi fi are fine, with my computer ipod and phone never losing the connection.
your a nerd that stays at home all day!
anonymous 10 August, 2012 15:34
Doesn't Android already sort of do this for you?
If your wi-fi is very weak to the point it stops working, then it reverts to your mobile data?
How does this differ?
ps. Vanilla Android does not come with any toggle buttons such as wi-fi in the pull-down notification bar, these are add-ons by Samsung's TouchWiz and other Apps from Google Play.
anonymous 10 August, 2012 19:18
Yet again.. Apple does it right with seamless switching than for the user to fiddle around with switches in notification bar or settings app..
xtreemneo 10 August, 2012 19:20
Lolled at collective blood pressure..
anonymous 12 August, 2012 14:39
@anonymous It doesn't differ but cos it's Apple we have to have a fanfare about it! Android just does it and Android users think "so what". Had it been the other way around Apple would be suing! :o)