the iPhone still does bluetooth transmissions/pings even in airplane mode (the find my device thing) and no way to disable
the only way to disable any transmissions is to turn off the device
the only way to disable any transmissions is to turn off the device
I used to be under the impression that:
- Airplane Mode via Control Center icon, true.
- Cellular, WiFi, and Bluetooth off, via Settings, not true.
Meaning, if you turn those off specifically, you are not talking to towers or access points or broadcasting a persistent bluetooth ID.
Having Kagi'd a bit just now, maybe the thing that can't be turned off is NFC?
https://www.simplymac.com/ios/can-you-turn-off-nfc-iphone
If that's the case, then I'd hold this as a different threat model than not being able to turn off WiFi and Cellular.
Very curious if an iPhone or iPad with all accessible settings off, including for NFC turning off Apple Pay, NFC tag reading, etc., leaving only this background NFC on, if there are still persistent identifiers being broadcast.
Although, I am still using 17.7.2 that won't stop nagging me to upgrade to iOS 26.2.
I don't want to because I know I'll hate it.
Also found out that the profiles also expire, so you need to update those in order to skip the update nagging. Apple's lolling all the way.