6 ms·

I don't understand the use case. What would this provides that Airplane Mode doesn't?

Razengan 8mo ago
Certainty?
stackghost 8mo ago
In theory, an APT-type implant could keep transmitting even when airplane mode is engaged. This is what Faraday enclosures purportedly defeat.
lkbm 8mo ago
Airplane mode doesn't turn off wifi or Bluetooth, though obviously you can do that in addition to airplane mode.
- SamBam 8mo ago
  Is that an iPhone thing? On Android airplane mode turns off both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
  - ravenstine 8mo ago
    Not for my Android phone, at least not by default (Pixel 9a a/ GrapheneOS). It leaves Bluetooth and WiFi on in airplane mode. I doubt this is specific to GrapheneOS and may say more about AOSP.
    - dataflow 8mo ago
      That's a setting you can tweak with various software.
  - Arainach 8mo ago
    Not if you were connected to either when turning on airplane mode. Both can also be turned on manually in airplane mode. A physical block avoids any uncertainty or mistakes.
  - al_borland 8mo ago
    It used to turn them off on the iPhone, but not these days. A lot of planes have WiFi, and people are also using Bluetooth headphones. So when talking about being a passenger on an airplane, this seems like a rather practical choice.
- Terretta 8mo ago
  Right, the airplane icon does not necessarily. Settings for WiFi, turn off; settings for Bluetooth, turn off; does turn them off. This change was the result of years of supporting people meaning to turn it off in one place or one day, then confused it didn't work at home or the next day. So now airplane mode is a conditional off (the state machine across cellular, wifi, and bluetooth is pretty decent at doing a reasonable set of toggles), while the settings are off off. The near field stuff seems to remain available; full shutdown turns that off too.
pluralmonad 8mo ago
The difference between physical and software controls is pretty straightforward. (Closed source) software controls are just asking politely. Physical controls are making it so.
- pibaker 8mo ago
  If your threat model includes airplane mode not working as intended, you probably shouldn't carry a phone at all.
  - pluralmonad 8mo ago
    Comes down to the model of trust as much as any threat model. I don't need to perceive or even conceive of a specific threat to want to safeguard my privacy, even aggressively if I so desire.
    - hedora 8mo ago
      If the threat model includes surveillance capitalism, then the faraday cage is actually a pretty reasonable counter measure. It blocks nfc, bluetooth and wifi. The last time I checked, airplane mode left those on, and so did the toplevel “turn this radio off” buttons in iOS.
  - devsda 8mo ago
    May be but corporate greed for data surveillance occasionally surpasses the needs of state actors so much that they'll voluntarily invent features on the same level. Google/Apple can in the future announce a "safety" feature that periodically announce Airtag'ish Bluetooth beacons even when in Airplane or powered off mode.
BloodyIron 8mo ago
Airplane mode doesn't actually turn everything off, and it's not a guarantee like a faraday cage is. There are instances of devices still actually transmitting "stuff" in airplane mode, or having airplane mode silently disabled. A faraday cage is absolute, assuming correctly constructed, in that it guarantees zero signal can get in AND out. There's no ambiguity (again, assuming correct construction).
- al_borland 8mo ago
  Wouldn’t turning the phone off accomplish the same thing? All of the bags and boxes others have posted make the phone unusable, so turning it off seems just as well. Plus, if you leave the phone on, without airplane mode, in a faraday cage, it’s going to die rather quickly while it searches for a signal.
  - roughly 8mo ago
    Believe it or not, no - modern phones are rarely genuinely “off.” iOS has some form of “find my” that still works, I’m not sure where android’s at with it, but “off” and “not transmitting” are genuinely not the same thing at this point.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]

Certainty?

In theory, an APT-type implant could keep transmitting even when airplane mode is engaged. This is what Faraday enclosures purportedly defeat.

lkbm 8mo ago

Airplane mode doesn't turn off wifi or Bluetooth, though obviously you can do that in addition to airplane mode.

SamBam 8mo ago
Is that an iPhone thing? On Android airplane mode turns off both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
- ravenstine 8mo ago
  Not for my Android phone, at least not by default (Pixel 9a a/ GrapheneOS). It leaves Bluetooth and WiFi on in airplane mode. I doubt this is specific to GrapheneOS and may say more about AOSP.
  - dataflow 8mo ago
    That's a setting you can tweak with various software.
- Arainach 8mo ago
  Not if you were connected to either when turning on airplane mode. Both can also be turned on manually in airplane mode. A physical block avoids any uncertainty or mistakes.
- al_borland 8mo ago
  It used to turn them off on the iPhone, but not these days. A lot of planes have WiFi, and people are also using Bluetooth headphones. So when talking about being a passenger on an airplane, this seems like a rather practical choice.
Terretta 8mo ago
Right, the airplane icon does not necessarily. Settings for WiFi, turn off; settings for Bluetooth, turn off; does turn them off. This change was the result of years of supporting people meaning to turn it off in one place or one day, then confused it didn't work at home or the next day. So now airplane mode is a conditional off (the state machine across cellular, wifi, and bluetooth is pretty decent at doing a reasonable set of toggles), while the settings are off off. The near field stuff seems to remain available; full shutdown turns that off too.

pluralmonad 8mo ago

The difference between physical and software controls is pretty straightforward. (Closed source) software controls are just asking politely. Physical controls are making it so.

pibaker 8mo ago
If your threat model includes airplane mode not working as intended, you probably shouldn't carry a phone at all.
- pluralmonad 8mo ago
  Comes down to the model of trust as much as any threat model. I don't need to perceive or even conceive of a specific threat to want to safeguard my privacy, even aggressively if I so desire.
  - hedora 8mo ago
    If the threat model includes surveillance capitalism, then the faraday cage is actually a pretty reasonable counter measure. It blocks nfc, bluetooth and wifi. The last time I checked, airplane mode left those on, and so did the toplevel “turn this radio off” buttons in iOS.
- devsda 8mo ago
  May be but corporate greed for data surveillance occasionally surpasses the needs of state actors so much that they'll voluntarily invent features on the same level. Google/Apple can in the future announce a "safety" feature that periodically announce Airtag'ish Bluetooth beacons even when in Airplane or powered off mode.

BloodyIron 8mo ago

Airplane mode doesn't actually turn everything off, and it's not a guarantee like a faraday cage is. There are instances of devices still actually transmitting "stuff" in airplane mode, or having airplane mode silently disabled. A faraday cage is absolute, assuming correctly constructed, in that it guarantees zero signal can get in AND out. There's no ambiguity (again, assuming correct construction).

al_borland 8mo ago
Wouldn’t turning the phone off accomplish the same thing? All of the bags and boxes others have posted make the phone unusable, so turning it off seems just as well. Plus, if you leave the phone on, without airplane mode, in a faraday cage, it’s going to die rather quickly while it searches for a signal.
- roughly 8mo ago
  Believe it or not, no - modern phones are rarely genuinely “off.” iOS has some form of “find my” that still works, I’m not sure where android’s at with it, but “off” and “not transmitting” are genuinely not the same thing at this point.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]