How to Turn Bluetooth On or Off With Your iPhone or iPad

There are two ways to turn Bluetooth on or off on your iPhone or iPad. The quickest way is to use the Control Center, but this is only a temporary solution. When you turn Bluetooth on or off via the Settings app, Bluetooth's status will remain until you change it again.

How to Turn Bluetooth On or Off Using Control Center

The Control Center method is a quick solution because you don't need to hunt for the Settings app. However, this method only turns off Bluetooth until 5 a.m. local time the next day.

Using this method, Apple Watch, Apple Pencil, AirPlay services, and AirDrop services will work even though they use Bluetooth to communicate.

1. Open Control Center on your iOS device.

   If you have an iPhone X or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen. With older iPhone models, swipe up. On iPads, swipe down from the upper-right corner.

2. Tap the Bluetooth icon to turn off Bluetooth.

3. You'll see a message that Bluetooth is being disconnected until tomorrow. Tap the Bluetooth icon to turn Bluetooth back on at any time.

How to Turn Bluetooth On or Off Indefinitely

You may want to turn Bluetooth off for a longer period of time. For example, you might have Bluetooth speakers you occasionally use with your iPhone when at home, but you don't need them all the time. Here's how to turn Bluetooth on or off indefinitely.

1. Launch the Settings app and tap Bluetooth.

2. When Bluetooth is on, you'll see a list of devices that can be connected under My Devices or Other Devices. Tap a device to connect it.

3. Tap the slider to toggle off Bluetooth. When you turn off Bluetooth, you'll no longer see your available Bluetooth devices.