Turn off WiFi radio when interface is down

[icvidal]

Checklist

• Checked the issue tracker for similar issues to ensure this is not a duplicate.
• Described the feature in detail and justified the reason for the request.
• Provided specific use cases and examples.

Feature description

When issuing ip link set dev wlan0 down, the ESP32S3 does not trigger wifi_stop(), leaving the WiFi radio active. This creates an gap for important business scenarios—such as compliance in no-WiFi zones, meeting privacy commitments, and minimizing power consumption—where the expectation is that bringing the interface down fully disables the radio.

Use cases

Airplane mode.

Alternatives

No response

Additional context

No response

[mantriyogesh]

@icvidal , May I ask if your are using ESP-Hosted-FG or ESP-Hosted-NG ?

[icvidal]

Hi @mantriyogesh, we are using ESP-Hosted-NG

[mantriyogesh]

This is problem from network link to wifi (wpa_supplicant). Can you please check if wpa_supplicant has been instructed from network layer? in general , esp-hosted solutions work till wi-fi. network manager etc are high level.

@kapilkedawat Can you please confirm on this?

[icvidal]

Hi @mantriyogesh, we are using wpa_supplicant and we of course see the interface going up/down if we manually request it. But there is no call on the ESP32's side source code to turn the radio circuitry off. I'd expect a call to stop_wifi or similar but those only happen when changing modes (client to station or vice-versa).

[kapilkedawat]

@Shreyas0-7 please address this.