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Comment by seppel | Hacker News Reader

> Being able to temporarily “unplug the cable” from a wireless device is a valuable feature, even if it’s no longer required by regulation.

But airplane mode means that wifi is still enabled/possible for quite some time.

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On every phone I've used "airplane mode" turns off all wireless functionality, and then you can optionally turn Wi-Fi back on while remaining in airplane mode. Are there devices that don't work this way?

iPhones since about 2015

I just checked, on my iphone airplane mode turns off wifi. Doesnt turn off bluetooth though.

My Samsung turns off bluetooth if nothing is connected to it but doesn't if something is. Pretty hand for when you're listening to music on your flight and you turn on airplane mode.

The precise behavior of Airplane mode on iOS / WatchOS is dependent on the user’s interactions. The default is to turn off everything but Bluetooth. But, if you turn Airplane mode ON and then turn Wi-Fi on, iOS will remember this preference.

You can learn more about Airplane mode on Apple’s website:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204234

It doesn't completely turn off Wi-Fi either, it just disconnects from the current network.

Switching on airplane mode might switch off wifi, but "being in airplane mode" does not mean wifi is off, because wifi is still allowed in airplane mode.

I'm just saying this here because I thought for quite some time that airplane mode means no radio signals from the phone.

But Wifi is radio signals?

Just wait until iPhone 20 removes the consumer option to power off your phone and starts to send you panic notifications that you are near 20% battery! And we might lose our valuable tracking information!

Or even better, failing to have consistant location data is a violation of warranty!

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