Iphone - Airplane Mode Vs Turning Cellular Off?

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  Posted by Guest - Iphone - Airplane Mode Vs Turning Cellular Off? :
On my iphone I don't get what the difference is between putting my iphone in airplane mode and having wifi on or just turning off cellular data off.  

Aren't these the same thing?  Neither one of them use data and I can use wifi only regardless of whether it is in airplane mode or not (assuming I turn wifi on after putting the iphone in airplane mode first).

Can someone explain these differences?

Guest Says:
Hi,

No they are not the same thing. If I just turn off my cellular data, then that means typically that I don't want to go over my data limit and be charged more. This stops that so it means that only wifi will be used or I won't be able to get to the internet without wifi.  I CAN STILL MAKE PHONE CALLS .... key point.

If I put the iphone into airplane mode and then turn on wifi after that, I can NOT make any phone calls incoming or outgoing.  Yes I can still access the internet with wifi to use any apps or download apps, use camera, use anything else on the phone, etc.  

This is why when traveling in another country most like to use airplane mode, it guarantees no phone calling but you can access the internet.  You can also use facetime to talk to people in another country and also send and receive imessages because imessages use wifi or celltower, whichever is available, so in your case wifi is available.  This means facetime and imessage are completely FREE, even if sending and receiving in other countries internationally.

Guest Says:

Here is a very simple explanation of this:

When you turn airplane mode on with your iphone, this means it shuts off ALL antenna, so no cellular, gps, wifi, bluetooth, etc, however you can turn wifi on AFTER this.  In this case:

1) When the iphone is in airplane mode:

You can use wifi, nothing else.  (But imessage will use wifi, so you can send those).

2) When the iphone has cellular data off:

You can use wifi and make phone calls and send texts, nothing else.  If no wifi, you can browse anything on the internet.

That's the simplest way to view it when it comes to text messages, phone calls, and browsing any internet related data.


Guest Says:
Sorry thats a typo, I meant:

When cellular data is turned off, you can use wifi and make phone calls and send texts, nothing else.  If NO wifi available, you can NOT browse anything on the internet with cellular data turned off.

Guest Says:
The only time I ever use airplane mode is flying on airplane, never turned it on anywhere else


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