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Burton8219

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
437
15
i dont even use airplane mode, why would anyone? except for during overnight
I don't know why people would ever put their phone in airplane mode other than places that prohibit cell phones (airplanes) or in terribly, terribly poor coverage areas. I would never put my phone in airplane overnight... God forbid someone needs me in the middle of the night they would have no way of reaching me. Seems drastic to me.
 

Burton8219

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
437
15
well some do. mines on silent when overnight
I understand that, hence why I said I don't know why anyone would... I didn't say no one uses it, just don't understand why they would in that situation. Thanks for pointing that out for me though, you're a life saver.
 
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heifetz7

macrumors member
Oct 5, 2011
87
31
Was on a plane recently, put away the phone for about 3 - 4 hours at 30% charge, but forgot to turn on plane mode. When I took it out again, battery was down to 8%! At that point, I had to turn it off just to be able to make a phone call later. Is this normal? I know it will suck the battery a bit when it's just on, but didn't realize it did so heavily when it's searching for a signal.
 

Burton8219

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
437
15
Was on a plane recently, put away the phone for about 3 - 4 hours at 30% charge, but forgot to turn on plane mode. When I took it out again, battery was down to 8%! At that point, I had to turn it off just to be able to make a phone call later. Is this normal? I know it will suck the battery a bit when it's just on, but didn't realize it did so heavily when it's searching for a signal.
Yeah that doesn't seem too terrible... You figure it's constantly sending out looking for a tower and getting nothing, so it sends out again and the cycle continues. Seems perfectly reasonable that 3-4 hrs of this would put a serious dent into your battery.
 

marc11

macrumors 68000
Mar 30, 2011
1,618
4
NY USA
I don't know why people would ever put their phone in airplane mode other than places that prohibit cell phones (airplanes) or in terribly, terribly poor coverage areas. I would never put my phone in airplane overnight... God forbid someone needs me in the middle of the night they would have no way of reaching me. Seems drastic to me.

Well maybe not for overnight, but for me my iPhone is used mainly in Japan on Softbanks network. So when I come home to the States a few times a year, I do not want to pay the huge international roaming, but want to still use the WiFi , so I put the phone into Airplane mode and then just enable the WiFi. People can reach me on my local phone here. By using Airplane mode it makes it easier for me to ensure any app or system wanting to use the cell network cannot with a single click.

Airplane mode has other uses than just being on a plane. That being said, my phone has been on Airplane mode with WiFi on for a week now, and it is still at 40% of a full charge and then is while wireless syncs, some app downloads, iMessages and lots of email. Clearly using WiFi only saves tons of power.
 

Burton8219

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
437
15
Well maybe not for overnight, but for me my iPhone is used mainly in Japan on Softbanks network. So when I come home to the States a few times a year, I do not want to pay the huge international roaming, but want to still use the WiFi , so I put the phone into Airplane mode and then just enable the WiFi. People can reach me on my local phone here. By using Airplane mode it makes it easier for me to ensure any app or system wanting to use the cell network cannot with a single click.

Airplane mode has other uses than just being on a plane. That being said, my phone has been on Airplane mode with WiFi on for a week now, and it is still at 40% of a full charge and then is while wireless syncs, some app downloads, iMessages and lots of email. Clearly using WiFi only saves tons of power.
Yes it's definitely useful in situations where it makes sense, like yours. I was speaking specifically to when people put in in airplane mode to go to sleep. Personally, I could never do that just for the off chance that someone needs to get a hold of me. God forbid there's an emergency and I can't be reached because I purposely turned off the cell data on my phone...
 
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