Airplane mode disables a device’s cellular radio, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth—all the wireless transmission functions. But many airplanes now offer in-flight Wi-Fi, and cellular access may be coming to planes soon—so where does that leave airplane mode?
Even if you never fly, airplane mode offers a quick way to disable many of your device’s battery-draining radios. It can extend your device’s battery life as long as you don’t need any of those wireless radios.
What Does Airplane Mode Do?
Whatever device you’re using—an Android phone, iPhone, iPad, Windows tablet, or whatever else—airplane mode disables the same hardware functions. These include:
Cellular: Your device will stop communicating with cell towers. You won’t be able to send or receive anything that depends on cellular data, from voice calls to SMS messages to mobile data.
Wi-Fi: Your phone will stop scanning for nearby Wi-Fi networks and attempting to join them. If you’re already connected to a Wi-Fi network, you’ll be disconnected.
Bluetooth: Airplane mode disables Bluetooth, a wireless communication technology most people associate with wireless headsets. But Bluetooth can be used for many other things, including keyboards and mice.
GPS: Airplane mode also disables GPS-receiving functions, but only on some devices. This is a bit confusing and inconsistent. In theory, GPS is unlike all the other technologies here—a device with GPS turned on is only listening to GPS signals it receives, not transmitting any signals. However, some aircraft regulations do not allow the use of GPS-receiving functions for whatever reason.
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When airplane mode is enabled, you’ll often see an airplane icon in your device’s notification bar, which appears on the top bar on Android devices, iPhones, and iPads. You can still use devices on the aircraft—even during takeoff and landing—as long as airplane mode is enabled. You don’t have to power them off.
Why is Airplane Mode Necessary?
Regulations in many countries prohibit the use of devices that transmit signals on commercial aircraft. A typical phone or cellular-enabled tablet is communicating with several cell towers and attempting to maintain a connection at all times. If the towers are far away, the phone or tablet has to boost its signal so it can communicate with the towers. This sort of communication could interfere with an airplane’s sensors and potentially cause issues with sensitive navigation equipment. That’s the concern that brought these laws about, anyway. In reality, modern equipment is robust. Even if these transmissions do cause problems, your plane won’t fall out of the sky because a few people forgot to enable airplane mode!
A more demonstrable concern is that, as you’re traveling very quickly, all the phones on the plane would be constantly handing off from cell tower to cell tower. This would interfere with the cellular signals people on the ground receive. You wouldn’t want your phone to do this hard work, anyway—it would drain its battery and it wouldn’t be able to maintain a signal properly, anyway.
Use Airplane Mode to Save Battery Power
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Airplane mode is useful even when you’re on the ground, offering an excellent way to save battery power on your device. The radios on a device use a large amount of power, communicating with cell towers, scanning for and connecting to nearby Wi-Fi networks, waiting for incoming Bluetooth connections, and occasionally checking your location via GPS.
Turn airplane mode to disable all those radios. Bear in mind that this will block incoming phone calls and SMS messages on a phone, but it can be a great battery-saving tip if you really need that last bit of juice. It’s especially useful on a tablet when you’re just using your tablet as an offline eReader anyway.
You Can Enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in Airplane Mode
Wi-Fi is allowed on some airplanes. In fact, many airplanes now offer in-flight Wi-Fi. Enabling airplane mode always disables Wi-Fi. However, on most devices, you can re-enable Wi-Fi after turning on airplane mode. Other radio signals are still blocked, but you’ll at least be able to connect to Wi-Fi networks.
Some devices also allow you to enable Bluetooth when airplane mode is enabled. Whether this is allowed depends on your airline and the regulatory agency in charge. M-audio fast track usb 2 manual.
Cellular Signals May Be Offered on Airplanes Soon
Cellular signals may be coming soon to airplanes, too. The US FCC is looking at changing rules to allow cellular signals on planes flying above 10,000 feet. This is usually explained in the media as “allowing cell phone calls on planes,” but it’s more than that. The ruling would also allow texting and any service that uses cellular data. In fact, the US DOT is considering banning cell phone calls on planes. The end result is that you’d be able to text and use cellular data on a plane, but not place voice phone calls. Honestly, that would end up being pretty obnoxious to the people around you, anyway.
You wouldn’t normally be able to connect to cell towers on the ground, but an airplane that allowed cellular radios would be equipped with “picocells.” These are small cellular base stations to which phones in the plane would connect just like they would any other cell tower. The picocell then beams their signal to a communications satellite, which in turn beams the signal back to a base station on the ground where it can connect to Earth’s cellular networks.
Because the transmitter on the plane is so close to the phones on the plane, the devices can communicate at their lowest transmitting power level. Phones on the plane won’t boost their signal and attempt to contact cell towers on the ground, so this “eliminates the potential for interference,” according to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.
Even if cellular signals were allowed on airplanes, and even if every airplane on Earth were equipped with a picocell, airplane mode would still be necessary. Airplanes that allow WI-Fi do so only above 10,000 feet, and the US FCC’s proposed regulations would only allow cellular signals above 10,000 feet, as well. Airplane mode would still be necessary during takeoff and landing—or just if you wanted to get some shut-eye and save your phone’s precious battery life.
Image Credit: Yuichi Kosio on Flickr
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I'm having the same problem as many others, and I'm getting pretty frustrated with Windows 10 overall (starting to really miss Windows 7).
I'm using a desktop computer, so obviously I have no use for airplane mode. yet the operating system forces the feature on me, and now I can't turn it off. When I slide it to off, it pops right back over to on.
I've looked at all the solutions thus far (press Fn + F2, Fn + PrintScrn, etc.). Nothing works. If I boot into safe mode with networking, I can indeed access the Internet. However, when I boot normally, no luck; airplane mode is stuck on. I've tried a selective startup and eliminated all the nonessential startup items; still no luck. My computer is now worthless from a business perspective because I can't access the Internet or my home network (no email, no nothing) -- all because of a feature that has no place in a desktop environment in the first place.
Microsoft, I really don't need a stock answer ('Go to settings,' etc.). I need a solution. And fast.
Dear Isha Soni:
Here is something to try:
1. First, you need a secure uninterruptable connection to the internet, even if it is by Ethernet cable, for a while. So, I would suggest that either purchase or borrow a long enough Ethernet cable and plug it into the back of your modem and the back of your computer.
2. Click the following buttons: left click control panel; then left click Network and Internet; then left click Internet Options; then left click Connections; then left click LAN Settings; then left click Automatically Detect Settings; then left click Use Automatic Configuration Script; then type your IP address in the white rectangular box below (if you do not know your IP address, then left click the little white window at the very bottom left of your desktop & type the question 'what is my IP address?' and push Enter. If your IP address does not come up, then repeat these steps and then click where it says 'more information on Bing.') IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE LOCATING YOUR IP ADDRESS, THEN JUST SKIP THE WHOLE STEP AND UNCHECK THAT BOX. MAKE CERTAIN YOU HAVE 'AUTOMATICALLY DETECT SETTING' BOX CHECKED. AND MAKE CERTAIN YOU CLICK OK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WINDOW YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING ON.
3. Make certain you left click Apply on the window that says 'internet properties.' Then left click OK.
4. Open This PC. If you have trouble finding that, then type This PC in the address bar at the bottom of the page near the little white window on the left. Now left click This PC and open it. Once This PC is open, find the icon that says 'System Properties' and left click it. On the window that comes up, left click the icon which says 'device manager.'
5. Find the icon that says 'Network Adapters' and left click this. A list of all the adapters on your computer will appear. Each of these adapters must be updated.
6. Update the adapters one at a time by RIGHT clicking each adapter. When you do this, a drop down window will appear. Left click where it says 'update driver software.' A new window will appear. Left click where it says 'search automatically for updated driver software.' A new window will appear which says 'searching online for software.'
THAT SHOULD DO IT! Restart your computer. Airplane mode should go off. But even if it does not, you should be able to go online wirelessly without the Ethernet cable and without interruption. Please send me a note and let me know how this turned out for you so I can share it with others and you can as well.
Jeff and Mary (*** Email address is removed for privacy ***)
***Personal information deleted by the moderator. Please see the Microsoft Community Frequently Asked Questions for more information on how you can protect your privacy.***
Hi,
Thank you for responding.
As the above troubleshooting steps couldn't resolve the issue, let us try the below steps and check if it helps.
Step 1: I recommend you to install all the pending updates on your device and check if it helps.
Steps:
Connect to the internet.
Press Windows key and type updates.
Click on Check for updates.
Under Windows Updates, click on Check for updates.
Try to install the updates being shown.
If the issue still persists,
Step 2: I suggest you to create a test user account, log-in with that account and check if this issue persists.
This will let us know if your current user account is corrupted.
Follow:
Press Windows + X keys from the keyboard, click on Control Panel.
Select User Accounts, click on Manage another account.
Select Add a new user in PC settings, click on Add someone else to this PC and follow onscreen instructions.
Refer to: Create a local user account in Windows 10
Hope it helps. Get back to us with an updated status to access the Windows Store Apps for further assistance.
Thank you.
Airplane mode is a setting on virtually all computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets that makes it easy to suspend radio-frequency transmissions. When activated it immediately disables Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and all telephone communications. There are many reasons to use this mode, but the most common is likely being instructed to do so by a flight attendant or captain or an airplane attendant.
How to Turn Off (or On) Airplane Mode In Windows
There are several ways to enable or disable Airplane mode on Windows devices.
The easy way to enable or disable Airplane mode is from the Network icon on the Taskbar (that thin strip at the bottom of your display where the Start button exists and program icons appear). Simply position the mouse over that icon and click once. From there, click Airplane mode.
Tap or click Start.
Tap or click Settings.
Select Network & Internet.
Tap or click Airplane Mode. There are also options there that let you fine-tune this and only disable Wi-Fi or Bluetooth (and not both). If you don’t use Bluetooth, you might as well turn it off to keep Windows from looking for available devices.
To perform the opposite action, follow these steps again.
In Windows 10, the Airplane mode icon is near the bottom of the list. It’s gray when you disable Airplane mode and blue when it’s turned on.
When you turn on Airplane mode you’ll also notice that the Wi-Fi icon changes from blue to gray, as does the Mobile Hotspot option, if they were enabled to begin with. This happens because starting Airplane mode disables all these features immediately. If your computer is say, a desktop PC, it might not have wireless networking hardware. In this case you won’t see these options.
How to Turn Airplane Mode On or Off in Windows 8.1
In Windows 8.1, you start Airplane mode using a similar process. You'll click the Network icon on the Taskbar. However, in this case there’s a slider for Airplane mode (and not an icon). It’s a toggle, and is either off or on. Like Windows 10, enabling this mode disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as well.
In Windows 8, follow these steps:
Swipe in from the right side of the screen to get to Settings or use Windows key + C.
Select Change PC Settings.
Click Wireless. If you don’t see Wireless, click Network.
Reasons To Enable Airplane Mode
There are many reasons to turn on Airplane mode beyond being told to by the captain of an airplane to do so. Using Airplane mode will increase the remaining battery charge of a phone, laptop or tablet. If you don’t have access to a charger and your battery is running low, this is a good place to start since only a few airplanes have power outlets.
You may also enable Airplane mode if you want do not want to be disturbed with phone calls, texts, emails, or internet notifications, but you still want to use your device. Parents often enable Airplane mode when their child is using their phone. It keeps the kids from reading incoming texts or being disrupted by internet notifications or phone calls.
Another reason to enable Airplane mode on a phone is to avoid cellular data roaming charges while in a foreign country. Just keep Wi-Fi enabled. In larger cities you’ll often find free Wi-Fi anyway, and use can message contacts over Wi-Fi using apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and email.
Finally, if you can get to Airplane mode fast enough, you might be able to stop unwanted messages from sending. Say for example that you write a text and include a picture, but just as it’s starting to send you realize it’s the wrong picture! If you can enable Airplane mode quickly enough, you might be able to stop it from sending. This is one time you’ll actually be happy to see the “Message failed to send error”!
How Airplane Mode Works
Airplane mode works because it disables the device’s data transmitters and receivers. This prevents data from coming into a phone, and thus, stops notifications and calls that would normally arrive when enabled. It keeps anything from leaving the device too. Notifications include more than phone calls and texts though; they are also announcements from Facebook activities, Instragram, Snapchat, games, and so on.
How To Turn Off The Airplane Mode In Zte
Additionally, when Airplane mode is enabled the device requires fewer resources to function. The phone or laptop stops looking for cellular towers. It stops looking for Wi-Fi hotspots or Bluetooth devices too, depending on how you’ve set it up. Without this overhead, the device’s battery can last longer.
Finally, if the phone or device isn’t transmitting its location (or even its existence), you’ll be harder to locate. If you’re feeling especially vulnerable and want to make sure your phone won’t give you away, enable Airplane mode.
Why Is Airplane Mode So Important To The FAA?
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) contends that the radio frequencies admitted by cellphones and similar devices can interfere with the airplane’s navigation and communication systems. Some pilots believe that these signals can also interfere with a plane’s collision avoidance system.
Thus, the FCC put rules into place to limit cell phone transmissions on planes, and thus the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits the use of cellular phone features during takeoff and landing, and, in flight. It is also a common belief at the FCC that lots of fast-moving cell phones may all ping several cell towers multiple times and at once, which can confuse the mobile phone network.
The reasons go far beyond science though. Most of these center around the passengers themselves. Airlines need people to pay attention to pre-flight instructions. With everyone talking on phones during take off and landing, this would be nearly impossible. Pilots and flight attendants need to be able to communicate with passengers quickly while in flight for security and safety reasons. What’s more, many people do not want to sit next to a person who talks on the phone during an entire flight, which is bound to happen if phones are allowed. Airlines want to keep as many passengers happy as possible, and keeping them off phones is one way.
Airplane Mode In Windows 10
So,take a minute now and locate the Airplane option on your favorite devices and consider when you could use that other than when on an airplane. Enable it when your kids use your device, when battery power is low and don’t need to be connected to the outside world, and when you need a moment to disconnect and unwind. When you need it again, just disable Airplane mode.