Long = few hours…maybe 3 to 4 hours. This both in indoor and outdoor conditions.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
All iPads Do you go for Wi-Fi only or cellular for your iPad
- Thread starter Adeapplephone
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Just noticed your sig, do you have an iPhone or Android? Because the disconnects occur on the iPhone and I believe that's intended behavior by Apple.
Tried it with my iPhone, when I have it on automatically connected to my hotspot when theres no WiFi it was always ready when I picked it up.
Also worth noting that all cell phones are capable of calling 911 irrespective of service. Meaning, even if the cell phone has no service activated and no SIM card in it. Calling 911 will still put you through to a 911 PSAP. Even if the phone has zero signal on it due to no coverage by your carrier in an area the strongest cell signal by a nearby carrier is required to immediately allow the phone to roam onto their network and connect the 911 call.
Every time I buy new iPad I want to try cellular version and every time I go with wifi only due to price difference for the thing I will have never been using and requirement to buy extra mobile plan for this. I have Wi-Fi available at home, office, airport, cafe or via my iPhone. if I need more energy for iPhone I will buy powerbank (wasn’t required since my first iPad purchase in 2013) and it will be still cheaper than pay extra bucks for cellular version in my location. Everybody has own workflow, but nowadays I think Wi-Fi only version is suitable option for most people.
Thats exactly why I don’t understand why the cellular is useful, except to a very small niche group. Phone has hotspot, external battery addresses power. The convenience factor doesn’t even matter that much.
The convenience factor isn’t even there now that Apple gives us the option to automatically connect to the hotspot when there is no WiFi. I tried it yesterday by forgetting my home WiFi on my iPad Mini and the only time it had a delay was the first time it connected after removing the WiFi. After that every time I picked up the iPad it was already connected, didn’t have any big battery drain either ( 3-4% in 1.5 hours of being on with 15 minutes of on screen).
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I went Cell this time due to T-Mobile rebate making it a free thing to do (since I could cancel the plan after 30 days without an issue). But my previous iPad Air was a cellular version and I cancelled the plan after a year due to non-use. I immediately cancelled the plan on my 2021 IPP as it will similarly see non-use for all the reasons you cited.
Being away from WiFi is rare and in those rare situations using my iPhone to tether is a nonissue with how easy and reliable the hotspot is in iOS. My cell plan also includes 40GB of tethering and my iPhone 12 Pro is on 5G so it isn’t slow.
I don’t love my carrier enough to just give them an extra $120+ a year for no real reason.
For all those who are concerned about “battery drain” on their iPhone you can keep in mind that you can make it a lot more efficient by plugging your iPhone into the iPad. Then it can charge the iPhone and tether over the USB cable which will use less power…
Just a reminder that the decision isn't cellular vs wifi only.
It is cellular plus GPS vs wifi only.
On my iPad Pro I have the cellular model only for the GPS. I have never used the cellular on it and don't have a cellular data plan for it. The GPS is necessary for some apps and usages. Of course, many people don't care.
It is cellular plus GPS vs wifi only.
On my iPad Pro I have the cellular model only for the GPS. I have never used the cellular on it and don't have a cellular data plan for it. The GPS is necessary for some apps and usages. Of course, many people don't care.
Purchased several iPads over the years and I always got cellular. I purchased the iPad Pro 12.9 this year and decided to get wifi to save some money. I never used cellular on my previous iPads and have never needed the gps. I see no differences in the current iPad wifi in regards to location. In addition, I think the battery life is a bit better with wifi only.
Yeah, the GPS is useful when a WiFi connection is not available.
In areas with many wifi access points, location services does a good job of triangulating wifi SSIDs, combined with the inertial motion sensor. The accuracy can be judged by the size of the blue shading around the blue dot. For most people in urban areas this is more than sufficient.
Where there is no wifi, it is possible to get a position with an external GPS logger, but it is a nuisance and can cost up to $200 itself.
The battery consumption with cellular can be partially addressed by turning of cellular data (the GPS still works and uses battery).
From ForeFlight:
GaiaGPS has similar recommendations.
Another way is there are apps (which are not free) to enable a wifi-only iPad to obtain GPS position from an iPhone when connected to your iPhone hotspot or via bluetooth, but that also has some downsides (battery usage, another app to enable)
Last edited:
Good explanation of why GPS. In the clip above - what apps can do this?
Edit: More specifically, are there apps not specialized like SeaNav?
Last edited:
I have not used these apps, I just checked into them to see if there was some reasonable way to avoid getting the GPS model for what I do. I decided getting the GPS model was the easy way, these apps or GPS loggers or other workarounds were the hard way.
I also have a Garmin InReach satellite communicator (which includes GPS tracking), and apparently this can be paired with an iPad for GPS tracking, but I have not tried it. But that is a expensive way to get GPS functionality if you don't need it for the satellite texting/SOS
Last edited:
WiFi only because we are all carrying smart phones (or at least most of us are) that have WiFi Hotspot capability.
Why spend more money on the device plus a cellular plan when you don't need to?
Why spend more money on the device plus a cellular plan when you don't need to?
ah, OK. I had also looked for this functionality in the past and found it difficult and/or lacking. I ended up getting a Garmin Bluetooth GPS receiver which works quite well but it's another device to charge and haul around - why I bought the cellular Mini this go-around.
Cellular for me. Even though I have an unlimited plan with hotspot.
wifi cause it's cheaper and i'll just tether my phone if i need to use it when there's no wifi around. i don't see the point in paying a data plan for my iphone AND my ipad. i moved house and my broadband was off for about a week so was tethering. my new house has 5G so i was actually getting faster speeds than what my broadband has!
my broadband maxes out at ~230Mb/s and i've seen 5G speeds of about 300Mb/s at home and 440Mb/s in the city.
my broadband maxes out at ~230Mb/s and i've seen 5G speeds of about 300Mb/s at home and 440Mb/s in the city.
You can't get position data through a hotspot tether.