Wi-Fi Sense in Windows 10. What is This Function and How Will It Turn It Off?

If you came to this page, you probably already know that Windows 10 has a feature called wi-fi Sense, or “wi-fi Control”. Previously, this feature was on the Windows Phone mobile system. But with the release of Windows 10, it has become available for regular computer users as well.

So what is wi-fi Sense? It’s a service that allows you to connect to those Wi-Fi networks that your friends from Skype, Facebook, or Outlook have previously connected to and shared the password to that network. This means that if you are within range of a network that your friend has connected to, and you have shared the key to that network, your laptop will connect to it without any problem, without asking for the password. Likewise, your friends will be able to connect to the hotspots that you connected to and shared the password.

By default, the “Control wi-fi” feature in Windows 10 is enabled and working. When you connect to wi-fi, when you specify the password, you will see an option like this “Allow network access for my contacts”.

If you check this box, your friends will be able to connect to this network without a password. This feature will only work if you are logged in through your Microsoft account and not through a local account.

What’s wrong with the wi-fi Sense service, and why disable it?

Actually, the thing is interesting, and I think there is nothing wrong with it. But hardly anyone would use it in practice. True, there is one point, it is “tracking”, if you can call it that. In the settings of Windows 10, and more specifically on the settings page “Control wi-fi”, it is clearly written that using “Control wi-fi”, you already agree that the system will know your location. It doesn’t say, but this information will be sent to Microsoft’s servers, just like a lot of other information.

Whether this is bad or good, no one knows what it means, but everyone is already puzzled by the fact that Windows 10 collects a lot of information about the user, and here and location through the wi-fi Sense service. So, a lot of people just turn it off. I certainly doubt that after disabling it, your location data will not be transmitted anywhere else, but this way many people feel more comfortable.

If you are interested in my opinion about the collection of different data by Windows 10 (and judging by what is written on the Internet, Microsoft knows everything about users), I think you should forget about it and just use it. Other services have been collecting different information about us for a long time, the same Apple devices, and Microsoft in the new version of its system just openly stated about it, that’s what started the noise around it. If you feel more comfortable, you can follow the recommendations to disable tracking, which are written on the Internet. But even after that there are no guarantees, you should understand that.

Still, we’re not going anywhere. Well, we will sit for another year or two on Windows 7 (and how do we know that it does not track), and what? And then we’ll switch to a new system, we’ll just be quietly forced.

Disabling wi-fi Sense in Windows 10

Open the panel with quick settings, and select All settings.

Next, go to the Network and Internet section.

Click on Manage wi-fi network settings.

You will see a page with settings for the Control wi-fi function. To disable this feature, simply set the two switches next to Connect to suggested open hot spots and Connect to networks accessed by my contacts to Off.