How to turn Bluetooth off on Linux
Do you find yourself not using Bluetooth on your Linux PC all that much? Want to turn it off? Follow along with this guide as we show you how to turn off Bluetooth on Linux!
Gnome Shell
Turning off Bluetooth in Gnome Shell is very quick and easy, thanks to the UI of the desktop. To do it, start by making your way to the Gnome Shell panel menu in the right-hand corner. Once there, click on it to view the options inside.
Inside the menu, there are a few options to choose from. The options are “Wired Connection” (or WiFi if you use WiFi), “Settings,” “Lock,” Power Off/Log Out, as well as the Bluetooth menu with “On” next to it. Click on the Bluetooth menu with the mouse to reveal it’s options.
Inside of the Bluetooth menu, there are two options. The options are “Turn Off” and “Bluetooth Settings.” Select the “Turn Off” button to shut off Bluetooth connectivity for Gnome Shell instantly.
Turn Bluetooth back on
To turn Bluetooth back on in Gnome Shell, do the following. First, open up the panel menu. Then, locate the “Settings” button and click on it to launch the settings window. In the settings window, look for “Bluetooth” and click on it.
Inside of the “Bluetooth” menu, you will see a message that says “Airplane Mode is on.” Click “Turn Off Airplane Mode” to re-enable Bluetooth on Gnome Shell.
KDE Plasma 5
Turning off Bluetooth in KDE Plasma 5 is done from the panel, like many other operations (WiFi, Sound, etc.) To shut off the Bluetooth on your KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment, make your way to the Bluetooth icon on the panel and click on it to open up the Bluetooth menu.
Inside of the Bluetooth menu, you will see a message that says, “No Devices Found.” In this menu, you will also see a tiny Bluetooth icon in the top-left corner with a checkbox next to it. Select this checkbox to turn off Bluetooth.
After turning off Bluetooth in KDE Plasma 5, the Bluetooth icon on the panel will go from white to grey, indicating that Bluetooth is indeed off.
Turn Bluetooth back on
Want to turn Bluetooth back on in KDE Plasma 5? Here’s how to do it. First, go to the panel menu in KDE Plasma 5, and click on the Bluetooth icon to access the Bluetooth menu.
Inside of the Bluetooth menu, you’ll see a message that says “Bluetooth is Disabled.” Click on the “Enable Bluetooth” message to instantly turn Bluetooth connectivity back on in the KDE Plasma 5 desktop.
XFCE 4
Running the XFCE 4 desktop and need to know how to shut off Bluetooth connectivity? Here’s how to do it. First, locate the Bluetooth icon on the far right section of the panel and click on it to access its options.
Inside of the Bluetooth menu, there are quite a few options to choose from. Look through for the “Turn Bluetooth Off” menu option, and click on it with the mouse. After selecting “Turn Bluetooth Off,” XFCE 4 will shut off Bluetooth connectivity.
Turn Bluetooth back on
Need to turn Bluetooth back on inside of your XFCE 4 desktop? Do the following. First, go back to the Bluetooth menu on the far right area of the panel, and click on it. Then, once inside the menu, locate the “Turn Bluetooth On” button, and select it to turn Bluetooth back on.
Mate
Are you using the Mate desktop environment and want to turn off Bluetooth connectivity? Here’s what to do. First, make your way to the top panel and click on the Bluetooth icon with the mouse to open up the Bluetooth menu.
Inside of the Bluetooth menu, there are many options to choose from. Look through to the top of the Bluetooth menu for the “Turn Bluetooth Off” button, and click it. As soon as you click this button, the Mate desktop will shut off Bluetooth connectivity.
Turn Bluetooth back on
To re-enable Bluetooth connectivity on the Mate Linux desktop environment, go back to the Bluetooth menu in the top panel. Once in the Bluetooth menu, locate the “Turn Bluetooth On” option, and select it. After you choose this menu option, Bluetooth should be back on.
Terminal
If you’re using a desktop environment not covered on this list, or prefer to use the Linux terminal, you’ll be happy to know that it is possible to turn Bluetooth off via the command-line. To shut off Bluetooth via the command-line, launch a terminal window.
Once inside of the terminal window, execute the sudo systemctl stop bluetooth.service command. This command will effectively disable the service that Bluetooth uses on Linux to run.
sudo systemctl stop bluetooth.service
Turn Bluetooth back on
Want to turn Bluetooth back on from the Linux command-line? Run the sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service command. It will start up the Bluetooth service again.
sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service
