A new report from MacRumors points towards a new app that has just appeared on the iOS App Store that has some rather interesting Bluetooth functionality. The app, called ‘Bluetooth OnOff‘ appeared on the App Store last night and is priced at $0.99. As indicated by the name, the app enables users to turn Bluetooth on and off simply by launching the app which, as the report points out, is in violation of Apple’s iOS App Store guidelines.
The app, while simple, highlights an area where the Apple mobile operating system is lacking. It currently takes a user 4 steps to get to the point where they can toggle Bluetooth on and off and, as it’s going to drain power on the iOS device if left on, it would be a great advantage to quickly toggle it.
As a user who frequently toggles Bluetooth on and off to connect to various devices, mainly for playing music at home or in the car, I’d see a great advantage in Apple making a couple of small changes in Multitouch gestures that would enable the user to toggle functionality like Bluetooth and Wireless very quickly. One way to incorporate this into iOS without having to make too many changes would be to add a row of buttons to the bottom of Notification Center which itself requires a downward swipe to access. This would enable users to access a number of self designated toggles without having to navigate too many menus.
The phenomenally successful app SBSettings, which is available on the Cydia Store for jailbroken devices is one good example of how this sort of functionality could be implemented, although given that the app has been around for quite a while now and seemingly ignored by Apple tends to give the indication that it’s not a direction the company would like to move in.
Hopefully, at some point, they will think differently.
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