Airplane Mode... Does It Work? - General Questions and Answers

Hi all, I have a question that certainly does border on the conspiracy side but it's something I'm very interested in solving and perhaps since this forum has to do with cellular devices someone in here will have an answer. It is highly appreciated that if you answer, you answer with proof of your claim rather than any conjecture; perhaps provide a graph or a schematic.
I'm sure most of us are aware, if not all of us, that our handheld computers that we often refer to as "smartphones" have cellular, WIFI and Bluetooth capabilities. When we board a plane, we are asked to disable/turn all of that off with Airplane Mode. I'm very curious to know if this actually disables/shuts off these comms. or if there is something actually going on in the background and we don't know because it's in the background.
Is it at all, in any way, shape or form possible that even with Airplane Mode on that the comms. are still operable?
Note; I've never been on a plane of any kind, I know the procedure from videos.

Airplane Mode disables all the transmission functions of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,etc , but the related services still run in background thus draining the battery.

I see. Sounds strange.

Related

[REQUEST FOR ROM DEVS] Enable Wifi on Airplane Mode

If possible, can you guys please edit the default system.settings on your rom so Settings.System.AIRPLANE_MODE_RADIOS = 'cell, bluetooth' instead of 'cell,bluetooth,wifi'.
That way wifi works on airplane mode.
Bluetooth still doesn't work even if you did AIRPLANE_MODE_RADIOS = 'cell' or even 'cell,wifi'. For some unknown reason.
here is the source code for a program I wrote for this (its on the market), but its pretty easy to change and maybe we won't need my app for it.
Also posted on the issue tracker for android so it gets enabled & fixed for a next release. Here
crackertc said:
If possible, can you guys please edit the default system.settings on your rom so Settings.System.AIRPLANE_MODE_RADIOS = 'cell, bluetooth' instead of 'cell,bluetooth,wifi'.
That way wifi works on airplane mode.
Bluetooth still doesn't work even if you did AIRPLANE_MODE_RADIOS = 'cell' or even 'cell,wifi'. For some unknown reason.
here is the source code for a program I wrote for this (its on the market), but its pretty easy to change and maybe we won't need my app for it.
Also posted on the issue tracker for android so it gets enabled & fixed for a next release. Here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you serious??? Wifi on with Airplane Mode?.... you know what airplane mode is right?... it means no communications from or to the device so it's safe to radio frequencies used in airplanes....
For me the airplane mode is a good way not to get your device turned off while your flying, so you still can play, write docs or anything you want inside your device (listening to music too)...
I don't think that is wise to turn on wifi on airplane mode!
josevtome said:
Are you serious??? Wifi on with Airplane Mode?.... you know what airplane mode is right?... it means no communications from or to the device so it's safe to radio frequencies used in airplanes....
For me the airplane mode is a good way not to get your device turned off while your flying, so you still can play, write docs or anything you want inside your device (listening to music too)...
I don't think that is wise to turn on wifi on airplane mode!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if wi-fi on airplanes is a big deal then why do most commercial airlines have wi-fi on board now?
Well for me i would love to have wifi or bluetooth enabled when im in air plane mode. Just useing the device to listen to music or do little things would save alot of power
josevtome said:
Are you serious??? Wifi on with Airplane Mode?.... you know what airplane mode is right?... it means no communications from or to the device so it's safe to radio frequencies used in airplanes....
For me the airplane mode is a good way not to get your device turned off while your flying, so you still can play, write docs or anything you want inside your device (listening to music too)...
I don't think that is wise to turn on wifi on airplane mode!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually, when you talk about something is because you know, or because you at least researched:
- Some airlines are starting to implement Wi-Fi on some of their planes
- Some phones let you turn on wifi while on airplane mode.
- Since iPhone OS version 2.0, you can enable wifi while on airplane mode, and now, since iPhone OS version 3.0, you can enable bluetooth while on airplane mode.
- Some Nokia phones ask you what do you want to disable when you go in airplane mode, they let the user choose.
linkmaster_6 said:
Well for me i would love to have wifi or bluetooth enabled when im in air plane mode. Just useing the device to listen to music or do little things would save alot of power
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you'd like this, I wrote an app and it's on the market (Cyrket)
cyanogen's response through his twitter: @velazcod maybe it would be better to change the background sync option on the power widget to disable the radio instead?
even better.
Hope we will see it in 4.0.2
josevtome said:
Are you serious??? Wifi on with Airplane Mode?.... you know what airplane mode is right?... it means no communications from or to the device so it's safe to radio frequencies used in airplanes....
For me the airplane mode is a good way not to get your device turned off while your flying, so you still can play, write docs or anything you want inside your device (listening to music too)...
I don't think that is wise to turn on wifi on airplane mode!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Southwest, Delta, Continental and some of the smaller airlines started offering In-Flight WiFi last year. The planes that are WiFi capable are usually newer and/or have updated electrical and communications systems, not the 40 year old hub jumpers flying from Dallas to St Louis.
Normal WiFi operates on the 2500 to 5000 Mhz radio spectrum. Inflight WiFi operates on the 849 Mhz radio band, which is dedicated solely to inflight WiFi. While this is in the sub100 to 2000 Mhz radio spectrum that the airplanes communication and navigation systems operate on, the systems ignore the 849 Mhz frequency. You have to disable the cellular phone signal because it operates on the 850 and 1900 Mhz radio bands, which are also used by and could possibly interfere with the planes communication equipment. FM radios also need to be off because they operate from 76 to 108 Mhz, also in the range of the comm equipment. Even though the plane flies through radio signals in this range all the time with no ill effects, they ask that those devices be turned off as a precautionary measure, as in better safe than sorry.
BTW, me=aerospace engineer, also good at research.
thank you for a better explanation to everybody, especially mr jose. (better research next time to avoid being put in flames by your fellow friends here)
crackertc said:
thank you for a better explanation to everybody, especially mr jose. (better research next time to avoid being put in flames by your fellow friends here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha owned!
crackertc said:
thank you for a better explanation to everybody, especially mr jose. (better research next time to avoid being put in flames by your fellow friends here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oooo sick burn! lol jk =)
crackertc said:
thank you for a better explanation to everybody, especially mr jose. (better research next time to avoid being put in flames by your fellow friends here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. This is a feature I'd like to see implemented as well, because it saves having to haul out the laptop to check emails and text/chat mid-flight, only to find I'm in a row with no power outlet (this happened once on my way to Japan, worst 16 hours of my life). I just wish there was a way around the NO VoIP restriction.
this is totally a good Idea..
for the moment there is an app for that
i just love to use that line.
BTW what about disable radio, sync, and terminate all related system app/tasks/resources that relate to it. Then just leave all else functional for wifi browsing and gmail viewing.
Think someone had to already think of this I am usually slow.
I think that is what cyanogen might of meant by his tweet.
rbgmode said:
this is totally a good Idea..
for the moment there is an app for that
i just love to use that line.
BTW what about disable radio, sync, and terminate all related system app/tasks/resources that relate to it. Then just leave all else functional for wifi browsing and gmail viewing.
Think someone had to already think of this I am usually slow.
I think that is what cyanogen might of meant by his tweet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, when you go into airplane mode radio gets turned off. However, if you shutdown sync, from my understanding, you won't be able to use gmail (please correct me if I'm wrong). There might be a few processes that can be killed but I don't think it'll do that much of a difference in terms of battery life or performance since it'll only be 1 maybe 2 services.
What cyanogen meant by his tweet was that he will change the sync toggle on the donut power widget, and replace it with a radio toggle, so you can just shutdown the cellphone radio and then you won't have to worry about wifi,bluetooth, etc not working in airplane mode. So, you'll actually won't be using the "airplane mode" option, just the "radio off" option...
I think that's a great idea for his rom, however, I don't think that would be something that will be done on android donut's branch or other long term branches, we need to try to put the ability to select what you want to turn off when you go officially into airplane mode, that way it doesn't confuse people and/or people think that android phones can't go into wifi because they don't really understand what "radio off" really does.
mmMMm.... whatever I just wrote sounded complicated... sorry if nobody understands, I'm a really bad "teacher", sometimes I don't know how to explain things clearly and correct.
crackertc said:
Well, when you go into airplane mode radio gets turned off. However, if you shutdown sync, from my understanding, you won't be able to use gmail (please correct me if I'm wrong). There might be a few processes that can be killed but I don't think it'll do that much of a difference in terms of battery life or performance since it'll only be 1 maybe 2 services.
What cyanogen meant by his tweet was that he will change the sync toggle on the donut power widget, and replace it with a radio toggle, so you can just shutdown the cellphone radio and then you won't have to worry about wifi,bluetooth, etc not working in airplane mode. So, you'll actually won't be using the "airplane mode" option, just the "radio off" option...
I think that's a great idea for his rom, however, I don't think that would be something that will be done on android donut's branch or other long term branches, we need to try to put the ability to select what you want to turn off when you go officially into airplane mode, that way it doesn't confuse people and/or people think that android phones can't go into wifi because they don't really understand what "radio off" really does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you disable sync it only disables push email so you wont know you have any new mail till you check manually.
RaiderX303 said:
if you disable sync it only disables push email so you wont know you have any new mail till you check manually.
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Click to collapse
Correct. However, I never said that we will disable sync. I said that what cyanogen meant was that he will REPLACE the sync toggle on the power widget on his rom, with a toggle that turns off radio only.
crackertc said:
thank you for a better explanation to everybody, especially mr jose. (better research next time to avoid being put in flames by your fellow friends here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup... feelling kinda burned! hehehe... anyways, learning new things every day
Isn't there a way to just turn off phone functions? Some time ago I had an HP iPaq hw6945 (great phone by the way), and you have the possibility to turn off the "Phone" (kinda locks the sim card) so you could use the phone as a regular PDA. This way you could turn on the wifi and use it the way you like. In the G1 if the sim card gets locked then the lockscreen pops up and you can't use your device at all. Can be posible to lock the sim card without locking the phone? This could help this inflight-wifi request, I think.
Edit: This is just an idea, please don't burn me again!
josevtome said:
Yup... feelling kinda burned! hehehe... anyways, learning new things every day
Isn't there a way to just turn off phone functions? Some time ago I had an HP iPaq hw6945 (great phone by the way), and you have the possibility to turn off the "Phone" (kinda locks the sim card) so you could use the phone as a regular PDA. This way you could turn on the wifi and use it the way you like. In the G1 if the sim card gets locked then the lockscreen pops up and you can't use your device at all. Can be posible to lock the sim card without locking the phone? This could help this inflight-wifi request, I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is. You need to install AnyCut, free, or BetterCut, not free. And add a new application shortcut for "Phone Info".
Then open the "phone info" icon on your home screen, and go all the way down and there will be a button that says "Turn off radio"
As you can see, its a tedious process and it's why we would like options for the Airplane Mode, something like what my app does. For now, cyanogen is trying to switch the sync toggle on the power widget, and replace it with a radio toggle so you can do exactly what you want, but easy and fast.

[Q] Remote Microphone operation for spying

I couldn't find a discussion for this subject around, but we have a situation in our country at the moment where we would really be worried of phone bugging, so please help with an advice.
Is there a way for the government or cellular phone providers to listen to the mobile phone microphone when not in a call?? (in standby)
i read a lot about this, some they it's possible, and some say it's impossible.
and if it's possible, is it so for all phone brands? I am sure that the manufacturer can easily inset an electronic relay to physically disconnect the phone microphone, but do they do it? or not? or they don't need to do it as it's impossible to use the microphone for spying by the government?
please excuse my caution, as we do have a critical situation around here.
No it wouldn't be possible I presume. None of the phone manufacturers would allow that sort of thing. Even if they did I don't think it would be possible unless you were to allow it.
Sure, you don't even see that sort of spying in movies!
Well, they might hide the real technologies in movies to hide it, and put some fiction technologies
Any other ideas regarding this issue?
I say its completely possible. As long as your phone is connected to a cell tower. "Whoever" could very well have access to your phone. For example, internet companies can access your computer remotely and browse inside your computer. I know this for a fact, I got in trouble for downloading movies. Same situation with your phone all it is software, a flip of the switch. But they wont be spying on you unless they have a reason to.
so it is possible to turn the microphone ON remotely, this is bad new.
and in these countries, they don't need good reasons to do so

I want to create an unstealable phone.

I want to create an "un-steal-able" phone.
Of course this is impossible, but I want to make it as difficult as possible for thieves to get away with it, and as easy as possible for me to find it.
Assumptions:
Phone has available call and text messaging service.
Phone has internet capabilities and "permanent" Internet access. (We will consider 2G, 3G, or 4G cellular access with a data plan to be permanent. Depending on an open WiFi network to be available at all times is unreliable).
Phone is on and has some charge in its battery. (If the phone is off, we can't do anything).
Phone has an accurate GPS receiver.
Requirements:
Software that relays GPS coordinates via an Internet connection. As a backup for when there is no cellular data signal, software that relay GPS coordinates via SMS
Software cannot be disabled or removed without authentication.
GPS on phone cannot be turned off without authentication (alternative: remote activation of GPS receiver via Internet or SMS)
Cellular data and/or WiFi cannot be turned off without authentication (alternative: remote activation of cellular data via SMS)
Where GPS signal can be used for macro location (within 10 to 30 meters), there must be some method of micro location (within a few feet).
Phone cannot be powered off via any button press, on-screen menu, or removal of battery
Phone cannot be wiped by on-screen menu or by computer cable connection
Now I have approached this solution from two starting points: the iPhone running iOS, or an Android-based smartphone. Both have different advantages and technical details. Let's look at how we can meet each of these requirements one by one.
iOS solution:
Unfortunately, if your iPhone is not jailbroken, your choices are not so great. But FindMyiPhone does do the basic job of relaying GPS coordinates. For a jailbroken iPhone, iCaughtu seems to be the best of the bunch from the research I have done and gives you a bunch of cool anti-theft features.
and
Using the options under Settings -> General -> Restrictions, you can disallow users from deleting apps AND from turning off location services. Of course, you can accomplish something similar by simple setting a password to access your phone. Unfortunately I haven't yet seen any program that allows you to remotely activate the GPS receiver on an iPhone.
Unfortunately I don't think there is anyway to prevent a thief from disabling your cellular connection other than setting a password on the whole phone. This has its advantages and disadvantages.* Similarly, I don't see any way to remotely activate the Cellular Data on an iPhone via SMS.
This is where things start to get more complex and we need to start thinking of actually modding the phone. So far the best RF tracking solution I have found (in terms of size, cost, and effectiveness) is a cheap chinese-made product that I picked up in Asia and cannot find a link to. This one is very similar http://www.amazon.com/Loc8tor-LTD-Loc8torLite-LOC8TOR-Lite/dp/B0012GMDC4/ but the reviews are meh. It is RF-based but does not really give any directional information. Once you are close to the RF transmitter (using the GPS coordinates), you can use the RF receiver to basically play a little game of hot and cold and walk in different directions all while watching if the signal gets stronger or weaker. I've done two real world field test with the similar device and was able to successfully find a purposely concealed bag in a slum twice.
But how do we get this into the phone? If you disassemble the transmitter, it is a very small circuit board, but most phones these days are already packed to the brim. Additionally, these units need power, so you would need to solder it into the phone's power system.
For the iPhone, concerns about a battery-based shutdown are reduced by its "sealed" battery compartment. Of course, with the right tools, someone can get to the battery. But this is not likely to happen quickly and will likely occur in a specific home or shop, from which we can get coordinate data. We only need to delay the thieves long enough to track them. The bad news is that preventing an iPhone from being shutdown via button press is much more difficult. Even with a lockscreen password, anyone can turn off an iPhone with a long power/sleep button press. I found a mod on Cydia that required a password before any shutdown, but it seemed it was only compatible with iOS 5 and I am running iOS 6.
This is the most challenging problem, as the most common method for any experienced phone thief to avoid detection is simply to power off the phone (or disable internet/3G) and as quickly as possible get to a computer and perform a complete wipe using any number of computer programs. A password on the phone can prevent access to the menu options for resetting factory default, but very little can prevent a thief from physically connecting the phone to a computer and wiping it.
Again I turn to physical modding. Would it be possible to modify the iPhone connector in such a way that the pins for power and charging would still work, but the pins for a data connection would require a specially modified cable to conect to the computer? Once my phone is through its initial setup and/or, most anything I need to do as far as data can be accomplished via WiFi. If needed, I would keep my special data cable at my home only and never take it out. But losing the ability to charge from any iPhone cable would be too debilitating to daily usage.
So I ask the experts: how can I improve on or solve these ideas? Is there software out there that I don't know about, either on the App Store or the Cydia Store? Are there ways to remotely control the iPhone's wireless and GPS functions via text? There should be. Any ideas on incorporating a tiny RF transmitter into the iPhone? Is there any way to prevent an iPhone from being shut down via the sleep button? Is there anyway to sabotage the lightning connector in an intelligent way to prevent a computer-based wipe?
*Advantages and Disadvantage of a phone-wide password. Honestly, I would rather not have a lockscreen password on my phone. I'm not a privacy freak and I don't care if a thief sees my pictures of e-mails or Facebook. If my phone is stolen, I'm hoping it is stolen by an idiot and that they WON'T try to wipe the phone. None of my solutions are foolproof. Everything in here is about delaying the thief long enough to track them. If an idiot steals a phone without a password, he MIGHT just use it as is. But if an idiot steals a phone and can't doing ANYTHING with it, he is going to take it to someone who will be smart enough to wipe it MUCH SOONER. Of course, the disadvantage is a loss of privacy, but iCaughtu has a cool solution for that too.
Android solution:
Android phones are much easier to root, and software solutions exist that will work reasonably well even for nonrooted phones. The best software I have seen is Avast! Anti-theft (part of Mobile Security), AndroidLost, and Cerebrus. All of these can report GPS coordinates, and with Avast! at least, you can also see coordinate history online and actually follow the path of your phone through the minutes, hours, and/or days. AndroidLost can report GPS coordinates online OR via SMS!
,
and
Avast! cannot be removed without a pin code. It can also prevent the user from during off Cellular Data and GPS. AndroidLost can be used to activate WiFi, Cellular Data and/or GPS via internet command OR via SMS. There are a ton of other internet-based and SMS commands in AndroidLost as well. Even without an active lockscreen password, a thief would be powerless to disable communication between the tracking software and you. In this department, Android truly outshines the iOS solution.
Getting an RF tracker into an Android-based phone has the same challenges as an iPhone.
I haven't found ANY glimmer of hope for a mode to disable shutdown via a long-button-press on Android. At least I found one mod for iPhone, even if it was the wrong iOS version. This is a huge gap in the goal of building an "unstealable" phone for both operating systems. As for the battery: Android phones come in many flavors. Many have removable batteries, so if you want to make life more difficult for thieves you'll have to limit yourself to a phone with a "sealed" battery compartment such as the HTC One.
A computer-based wipe via USB cable presents the same challenges as an iPhone EXCEPT that we're dealing with a more standard interface so that MIGHT make modding an easier task. Is there any way to make the microUSB jack more "proprietary" so that any normal USB cable can charge it but only a specially one can transmit data?
There is one other detailed I am interested in, but which is, I believe, currently impossible since it would require modifications to the lowest level of the phone's software, and that would be an auto-on feature. If the phone's battery dies for any reason (or any other shutdown that is not user-initiated), I would love for the phone to automatically power back on whenever it receives a new power source (either being plugged into the wall or getting a fresh battery).
Why am I so interested in doing this? I live in a third-world country and I travel to many other third-world countries. For 3 years, I guess I had good luck, but in the past year I have had three phones and a laptop stolen from me on the street and I have been punched in the face. Several of my friends have also had phones stolen during that time, and one friend was even kidnapped and robbed. Maybe crime is getting worse or maybe it is just coincidence. I have tried to be more careful each time, but one should not live life in fear or blame ones carelessness alone. It is time to fight back. Money, time, memories, self-respect, and peace of mind have been taken away from me and from people I care about. These thieves bear the real responsibility for these crimes. And the police and government here is largely unwilling, incapable, uncaring, and/or corrupt. Maybe I can help others as well.
Thanks for your suggestions and input.
Your thoughts are well expressed.
Hopefully something is coming fast to consumers.:good:

Flight mode not really what we think it is?

I happened to watch hacker Samy Kamkar breakdown of hacking techniques used in the recent Oceans 13 film.
https://youtu.be/vycRkEk1384
He explicitly says at one point that flight mode on mobile devices don't really completely shut down radios and still will continue to send send and receive data. This is due to 'relaxed' legislation around the definition of flight mode apparently.
Can anyone here confirm what Samy has stated? And if it's true is there an app that someone can use to actually completely shut down the radios on their phone?
Samy recommends just shutting down the phone is the only solution.. but for me I put my phone in flight mode at night and use the alarm feature of my device.. so this solution is not the best for me.
Thanks
J

Broken airplane mode

Hey guys, I have one of these Chinese Kospet smartwatches that runs Android 10 (10.7 it says). I really like this watch, except the airplane mode doesn't work as it should. I checked the watch against an EMF meter and discovered that unknown radio(s) were still active in Airplane mode. Is there any way to discover the culprit radios, and force Airplane to disable these radios with ADB??
It puts off pretty hard too.. almost every 1/2 second it seems like dam, wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to blast everyone's junk with it :/
kingbooba said:
Hey guys, I have one of these Chinese Kospet smartwatches that runs Android 10 (10.7 it says). I really like this watch, except the airplane mode doesn't work as it should. I checked the watch against an EMF meter and discovered that unknown radio(s) were still active in Airplane mode. Is there any way to discover the culprit radios, and force Airplane to disable these radios with ADB??
It puts off pretty hard too.. almost every 1/2 second it seems like dam, wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to blast everyone's junk with it :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are underlying parts of the radio that are always active, for example, emergency location services to find the device/you in emergency situations, there are other reasons as well. You will not be able to disable these parts of the radio, even if you did find a way to disable them, you would probably render the device unusable.
I was actually able to turn off the Emergency Location Service from Settings, but something is still active in the watch.

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