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Illecors , (edited )

The article is crap, but it is correct in that you don’t need to use airplane mode. I would, however, advise to still use it purely to preserve battery life of your device as otherwise it will very aggressively keep scanning for networks and drain it.

ptz ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Yep. I do wish there was a toggle for the cellular radio by itself (rather than just mobile data). It’s annoying to have to go airplane mode then turn WiFi and BT back on.

LanternEverywhere ,

On Android you do have that toggle

ptz ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

I don’t but I’m running an older Lineage OS. Is it in the quick actions on the notifications pulldown?

neidu2 ,

Yes. It’s a simple toggle that can be added to the qyickbar: “airplane mode on/off”. And while it’s on, you can override it with individual settings, such as turning on bluetooth while everything remains off. Hazzle free and fast.

I use this feature a lot, as I fly very often, and I use bluetooth buds. I have filled my phone to the brim with various media to binge until touchdown. It helps conserve battery, as the radio doesn’t have to TX at full power while looking for a signal at FL500 in the middle of the Atlantic

Fester ,

iOS has it as well.

scytale ,

There is? I know the control center button for turning on/off mobile data, but I wasn’t aware there was a way other than airplane mode to prevent it from continuously scanning for networks.

MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown ,

That’s what airplane mode is. Try it out in the control center. It doesn't disable my WiFi unless I had WiFi disabled when I last turned airplane mode off. Similar with Bluetooth except turning airplane off turns my Bluetooth on even if I had it off before.

Of course, an OS update or a reboot might reset the value of the previous WiFi state. 🤷‍♂️

scytale , (edited )

Right, but the person I was replying to appears to be saying there is a toggle button that isn’t airplane mode to turn off the antenna, unless I’m misunderstanding.

VelociCatTurd ,

There’s a separate cellular toggle yes.

abhibeckert ,

On iPhone the airplane toggle is the cellular toggle. It leaves all your other radios active.

It also disables GPS but only because that doesn’t work anyway in a fast moving faraday cage without cell tower triangulation.

If you want to disable wifi or bluetooth, those are separate toggles… and by default they just disconnect from your current wifi network and some of your bluetooth devices (your smart watch for example, will stay connected over bluetooth). The buttons are there to use if your wifi or bluetooth aren’t working properly, which can always be fixed by just disconnecting rather than disabling the radio entirely.

VelociCatTurd ,

Airplane mode is one button. Cellular is another button.

Just pull up your control center and you should see.

TheRealKuni ,

In iOS, the cell-tower-looking button is for data, it doesn’t disable all of your cellular radios. If you hold down the button in Control Center so it pops up the larger version with descriptions, you’ll see that it says “Cellular Data.”

The Airplane Mode button disables your cellular radios but leaves WiFi and Bluetooth enabled. This is what you want for airplanes. Hence the name “Airplane Mode.”

It’s been a couple years since I had an Android phone (rest in peace, OnePlus 7T Pro 5G, you were too good for this world) but I think to accomplish the same I had to enable airplane mode and then re-enable WiFi and Bluetooth, but I could be mistaken.

scytale ,

Yes but the cellular toggle is for mobile data only. Turning it off won’t stop your phone from trying to connect to a network when there isn’t any (which drains the battery unnecessarily). Airplane mode turns off the antenna completely. The person I was replying to appears to say there is a button to do the latter without using airplane mode.

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Perhaps this is what they meant:
https://imgur.com/a/GWnP0Nw

scytale ,

Probably, but that’s android right? I’m not sure there is a similar control for IOS that isn’t airplane mode.

Fester ,

The cell data button only disables data, but the airplane button disables the cellular radio entirely and doesn’t disable WiFi or Bluetooth. If you want WiFi and BT disabled, you need to tap them separately.

However… the airplane button remembers your last preference. If you tapped airplane and then disabled WiFi and BT, it will disable them next time you turn on airplane mode. If you last used airplane mode with WiFi and/or BT enabled, it will only disable the cell antenna.

givesomefucks ,

And if you turn wifi back on once, it’ll tell you that it can remember and always leave Wi-Fi on if you want.

Don’t even have to find the setting

ramble81 ,

Weird. On iPhone it remembers if turned BT and WiFi on while Airplane mode is on and will only turn off the Cell antenna. Do that every time I travel.

xenspidey ,

Android does that too. At least the latest versions

NOT_RICK ,
@NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

The article is crap,

It is Gizmodo after all

RootBeerGuy ,
@RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

How old are your phones? I don’t notice any “aggressive scanning” when I don’t have airplane mode on. The other user is not able to switch WiFi on in airplane mode, my last two phones did that no problem and they go like 4-5 years back.

abhibeckert , (edited )

Cell towers, without mountains/buildings blocking them, reach 10+ miles and airplanes don’t fly that high… so you are within range of towers while flying unless you’re over the ocean.

However, connecting to a tower that far away requires running the radio at maximum transmission power which absolutely kills your battery. Also the towers reject your phone’s attempt to connect because they are programmed to ignore distant connections when they know a dozen other towers are within a few miles of that tower. If you’re flying over remote areas where towers will accept any connection you might occasionally get enough signal to call 911 but i likely won’t be a usable data connection due to how far away you are.

Wether it shows a connection or not, your phone is still reaching out trying to connect and doing handshakes with towers on the ground.

agent_flounder ,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

Being inside a metal tube doesn’t help reception either.

abhibeckert ,

Meh - flights have USB ports now if your battery is low.

cm0002 ,

USB ports and outlets lol I haven’t been concerned about preserving my phone’s battery life while flying in a long time now lmao

Mad_Punda ,

But that’s just a waste of electricity then? And battery health?

Kusimulkku ,

Unless you’re really into flying the effect is minimal

Mad_Punda ,

It also costs you nothing to disable it. And if everyone keeps it disabled for all their flights, it’s not minimal anymore. So I don’t really see the problem here.

Kusimulkku ,

Imagine the savings if all of those people just didn’t fly! lol

Mad_Punda ,

That doesn’t change that disabling cellular makes a difference, so I don’t see your point. Just because something’s not perfect, doesn’t mean it can’t make a difference.

Kusimulkku ,

It just makes such a tiny, insignificant difference that it really doesn’t matter one way or the other.

atrielienz ,

www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-statements-5g

abhibeckert ,

That problem relates to landing an airplane with a 5G tower near the airport. Nothing to do with passenger phones.

And honestly it’s a faulty radio in the airplane. They shouldn’t be disrupted by 5G towers at all… but Boeing doesn’t want to pay for replacement parts and neither do the airlines.

atrielienz ,

I didn’t make any claims to the effect. In fact, I wanted to make it clear that even these worries over 5G towers aren’t really relevant or a reason to keep such a claim alive. There is no need to take my word for it. The FAA has already covered it.

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

How to use WiFi in plane if you put your phone in airplane mode? nonsense.

henfredemars ,

My phone allows me to independently choose Wi-Fi and Bluetooth state separately from the cellular state.

catculation OP ,
@catculation@lemmy.zip avatar

Almost every android phone. Not sure about iPhone though.

thejml ,

It’s the same on iOS. They’re separate toggles.

abhibeckert , (edited )

iPhones don’t even turn wifi/bluetooth off when you toggle them specifically. They certainly don’t disconnect in airplane mode.

The quick wifi/bluetooth buttons are to disconnect temporarily when you’ve got a bad connection. Or if your husband started the car but you’re not in it, you’re just nearby. They’re not to turn the radios off.

henfredemars ,

Devices are so smart these days that the difference is often lost on users. As you wrote, the button is merely interpreted as a request to not initiate connections. It doesn’t actually affect the radio power state and is interpreted quite loosely on both Android and iOS.

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

When I turn on airplane mode it turns off everything but of course I can turn wifi on just after. But all the phones I have seen when you set in airplane mode it turns off cell wifi BT even nfc

erwan ,

Airplane mode is no longer about shutting down all wireless communication. It’s been for some time.

Now it’s shutting down the cellular connection only, wifi and bluetooth stay on.

ivanafterall ,
@ivanafterall@kbin.social avatar

Thanks for rendering my little private rebellion worthless. It's all I had left.

kbal ,
@kbal@kbin.melroy.org avatar

More importantly, you don't need to be on an airplane to use airplane mode.

finthechat ,
@finthechat@kbin.social avatar

Why don't they just call it "avoiding people" mode instead

PrettyLights ,

I think it’s still worth doing so your phone isn’t rapidly trying to connect and disconnect from nearby cell towers as you ascend and descend. Maybe there’s already protections in place for this case but it makes sense that it could add a lot of unnecessary strain on certain cell towers.

SpaceNoodle ,

Not to mention the battery drain.

cm0002 ,

It’s been a long time since I’ve flown on a plane without at least a USB port to plug into, most have had full outlets to plug into lmao

SpaceNoodle ,

It’s been a long time since my charger has actually stayed plugged into one of those worn-ass outlets in a plane.

Also, I don’t want to have to juggle multiple charging devices in the tiny cramped space where I’m already stressed and miserable.

pycorax ,

Budget flights don’t have that kind of luxury.

PeroBasta ,

I take short flights the whole year (like 6-10 per month) and I never had the USB chargers.

Those are like 1h flights tho

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Nighed ,
    @Nighed@sffa.community avatar

    I thought that’s what the Pico cells are for - each plane has a mini phone tower in it so phones happily connect to that instead of looking for ground stations

    thesmokingman ,

    This is the primary reason I do it, although more for my battery life than the cell towers.

    dhork ,

    “You have a reminder set for 5pm today,” my phone said.

    “A reminder? What is it?” I asked.

    “It’s a notification to ensure you don’t forget something, but that’s not important right now,” the phone replied.

    Then I remembered I’d left it in Airplane! mode.

    Murdoc ,

    😆 It might be nice to have a phone that tells me “Remember, we’re all counting on you. Good luck.” Otoh it would probably keep calling me Shirley.

    Kbin_space_program ,

    You can absolutely do that with a text to speech app and the app Tasker on Android.

    Murdoc ,

    It would have to be Leslie Neilson’s voice though.

    ShepherdPie ,

    Just have it play an mp3 clip of that scene in the movie.

    realharo ,

    “5pm today” can also get ambiguous if you’re flying across time zones.

    Hamartiogonic ,
    @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz avatar

    If you keep in flying in the right direction, it could take more that 24 hours until you finally catch 5pm.

    Railison ,

    In my country, 2G phones could interfere with radios with that da-dada-da-dada sound. I know people who have personally had that happen to them while trying to land airliners and it made listening to ATC more difficult.

    I don’t think it’s an issue anymore though.

    xthexder ,
    @xthexder@l.sw0.com avatar

    Definitely not an issue in the US anymore. T-Mobile is the last carrier to support 2G and they’re shutting that down in April this year. I think most Android phones explicitly disable 2G now too because it’s not secure.

    AtmaJnana , (edited )

    Mine has it disabled, but available if I want to enable it (with a security warning.)

    JackGreenEarth ,

    Mine had it disabled by default, but still available for emergency calls, and the option to enable it.

    abhibeckert ,

    That’s because phones and airplanes were operating on the same frequency. They don’t do that anymore… in part because there’s a dozen phones on every flight that haven’t been put in airplane mode.

    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    No they don’t. GSM is all over the place with frequency, but it never goes down to 118-137 MHz which is where air traffic sits. It’s just that mobile phones will increase transmission power to reach cell towers and that can produce that annoying disturbance. Phone won’t mess up instruments, just annoy people trying to talk and get your ass safely from the ground.

    Fiivemacs ,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    cm0002 ,

    Same, there’s not even a battery saving aspect to it anymore now that planes have at least USB ports to charge from if not full blown outlets lol

    ShepherdPie ,

    I think it was just more protecting against the one in a billion chance of interference that could potentially take down a plane full of people. Why risk it if the alternative is something as basic as tapping a setting on your phone during takeoff and landing?

    MeanEYE ,
    @MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

    You are one of those people who should be forced to do something very sensitive with high responsibility and have someone sit next to you and slap you randomly in the face while expecting you to do your job. That’s essentially the same thing you are doing to pilots while they try to keep your ass safe and alive.

    drasglaf ,
    @drasglaf@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I used to turn Airplane Mode on during my LSD trips many years ago, pretty useful.

    Joelk111 ,

    I haven’t heard drifting referred to as limited slip differential trips before, but that’s good that you aren’t texting and drifting.

    ferralcat ,

    Ive always forgotten to set this anyway. No planes taken down so far (but it will drain your battery)

    Pantherina ,

    Airplane mode is a blessing. If the OS is trustworthy (i.e. FOSS Android) then it actually works, it turns off that crappy unprivate cell connection and you have anonymous Wifi only.

    It saves battery and you can use your phone without anyone being able to track you easily.

    Btw Google hides the GPS quicksettings toggle for a reason, edit the shortcuts and add it.

    Tattorack ,
    @Tattorack@lemmy.world avatar

    … What? You think WiFi is anonymous?

    filcuk ,

    It can sometimes triangulate you better than the cell towers.

    Cqrd ,

    WiFi isn’t as safe as they apparently think it is lol

    If the SSID you connect to is unique enough, there’s a site that can literally pinpoint your location. If you have any other SSIDs around you, it’s basically guaranteed. That’s why there’s a bunch of apps that log the SSIDs around you, to get your location without having to ask.

    That’s not even considering the entire rest of WiFi that’s not anonymous

    Pantherina ,

    If you randomize your Mac address (which is default on GrapheneOS and Fedora now) you are pretty anonymous to the wifi network.

    Of course websites see where you are, they always do that. Use Tor or a VPN.

    palarith ,

    Last time i forgot and the phone connected to “aeromobile”. Would have cost me a packet if i had left roaming data on

    michael_palmer ,

    Then why flight attendant says “switch your devices to flight mode”? It was a week ago in domestic european flight.

    cali_ash , (edited )

    I was on a domestic flight in Europe two months ago and there was no such announcement. They were probably just being nice and saving you some battery.

    But there is absolutly no reason to turn it off because of any saftey concerns with the plane.

    cosmicrookie ,
    @cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

    They usually only ask you to do so for take off and landing. Also based on experience from a European flight

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