Android is known and appreciated for the large amount of automation and customization that can be obtained through its APIs. One of these options is to give applications the ability to turn on and off Wi-Fi without user intervention. Tasker and IFTTT are the main beneficiaries of this feature, but there is still malware that can misuse access to this feature of the system. To avoid this, Android Q will cut apps access to Wi-Fi settings.

This change is already alive and well in the first preview of the developer. When I tried setting up a new device on Google's Home app with Wi-Fi turned off on Android Q, an error message stating other issues was displayed. :

Google recommends developers use the new settings panel prompt and switch themselves to Wi-Fi. Although this is a viable solution for Google Home, it will paralyze applications like Tasker and IFTTT because they aim to automate exactly that for the users.

Apps running Android Q can not turn Wi-Fi on or off. The WifiManager.setWifiEnabled () method always returns false.

If necessary, use a settings pane to prompt users to turn Wi-Fi on and off.