Is an iPhone really off when it's off?
 

I have a relatively new iPhone 3GS which appears not always to be off after it has been switched off.

During the past two months there have been a number of occasions when I have switched the phone off before a flight - I depress the OFF button, slide the Power Off slide, watch the whirly wheel spin and fade and then press the HOME button to confirm that the phone is indeed dead.

On some occasions, on switching the phone on again after arrival, I have found it to already be on (no boot-up cycle); on two occasions I have received a text message whilst taxiing within minutes of switch-off and on one occasion I received a text message at cruise altitude somewhere well north of Moscow.

I have not managed to replicate this outside an aircraft environment.

Has anyone any similar experience or rational explanation for this behaviour?

Why not just switch it to flight mode? That way the cell phone module is off (which includes GPS by the way) and nothing is being send or received.

Mach Tuck:

Like Denti I use the Airplane Mode. It is foolproof.

Ahhh, Apple marking strikes again!!! ;)

Haha that made me laugh and I'm not even sure why :D

I have two iphone devices and I have not noticed this behavior. To get them
to turn on one must hold the on switch for a significant time to get them to
boot.

Is there a chance you have the device in a case that presses on the
master button?

The iPhone goes into hibernate mode rather than a full shutdown. Thus when powering up, it simply loads it's previous state from flash memory into working memory - Just like using the hibernate feature on a PC/laptop. It will be much quicker but doesn't help if you want to clear out the gremlins. It's another example of Apple deciding what's best for you no matter what it is you think you are doing.

Having said that, what you are describing with the text messages is a little weird.

Is " flight mode" always ok? I've heard some Cabin Crew argue with PAX about this. They insisted that any device with an Off button has to be Off.

Not sure who is right by the rulebook.

Will this apply to a Kindle too? That does not power off in the accepted sense, merely power down or sleep/wake as Kindle put it. The wifi is switched by software.

I am more likely now to be reading a kindle on an aeroplane, than a real book. After all, I can take a barrow full of books and carry it in my pocket, if necesasary. :ok:

Roger.

The cabin crew or their training manuals need to be updated then. I can't remember the last time I flew with an airline which stated that Flight Mode wasn't OK.

Flight mode switches off any feature that transmits or receives using a radio signal (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GSM/3G/GPRS/Edge, GPS). In the case of smart phones which mostly double up as music players in the air, you cannot force people to turn them off simply because they have an off button and look like a phones!

Flybe here in the UK say engage flight mode then switch off for TO and landing.

I can use my iphone's Wifi when it's in Airplane Mode.

In flight mode it is possible to turn on Wifi but that takes action from the user. It switches off by default when Airplane mode is selected.

My company allows flight mode during the whole flight for any kind of smartphone, pda or similar device, which covers the iPhone or even the aircraft mobile phone. Therefore it is fine to use just that. As FE Hoppy said it needs active user action to power on WLAN, it is off by default when switching to flight mode.

I always put my kindle just to the normal sleep mode, not completely off, no interference actually if you switched off the network services (3g only in my case) since the device is basicly doing nothing.

iPhone
 

Hi,

If (unlikely from what you describe) there's absolutely no way the device is pressed against something that could power it up then you have a faulty iPhone. As a veteran of faulty iProducts I am sadly familiar with the frailties of anything made by Apple. Incidentally, the whirling kaleidoscope is known as a SPOD (Spinning Pizza of Death) in the trade as it usually signals expensive grief or at the very least a need to reboot.

You mention your 'phone is fairly new so it should be covered by at the very least the statutory guarantee. Try and steer clear of going to an Apple outlet and the comedy 'Genius Bar'.

Good luck.

Marc

If you hold down the power button and the home button at the same time for about 5 seconds until the screen goes black, it will be really shut off. If you just use the power button and swipe, it goes into the hibernate mode. Even in this mode it uses battery power, and your phone can be tracked/exploited if the sim card is still in.

it's all a load of bollocks anyway, i am yet to see the wings fall off because someone was using their iphone.

iPhone
 

In his post he states that he presses the 'Home' button after powering off - and the 'phone does not illuminate. Therefore he has clearly powered off properly.

We're about to have technology fitted to the a/c to allow mobiles and wifi to be used in flight. I therefore have serious doubts that any phones on/in use whilst an a/c is airborne makes bu@@er all difference to the a/c or its systems.

Try Sunexpress. If you are stupid enough (like me) to let them see your are listening to music on your iphone, you can spend the next 4 hours looking at the ceiling or enjoying the non-extisting service...

I had multiple occurrences of Easyjet flight attendants insisting the the phone be completely turned off during take off and landing. Most of the time they satisfied with flight mode, though.

With some devices you can set an alarm that will wake up the device when it's in sleep mode, and perhaps even when "off".

General rule is that once the seatbelt sign is switched off, moblies can be used in flight mode.
However on descent, when seatbelt sign is switched on, ALL electronic devices are supposed to be turned off.

I've had similar experience to Mach Tuck, and text messages were from Russian service providers, too :rolleyes:

That was my 'old' 3G unit, but no repeat with iPhone 4. Be careful with the previous advice about holding both buttons, that is the Apple shortcut to a master reset..... :ooh:


:8

All electronic devices that do not have a physically moving on/off switch which sits in different positions when on or off, not just a button, are never truly off. They have to have residual circuits on to recognise the button press to turn them on.

The only way to truly turn off any mobile is to remove the battery, and this is not possible to do with an iphone.

tourist:

Apple tech support would beg to differ with you. If you hold the power button down long enough to get the red slider, then slide it, the unit is indeed fully powered down at that point.

No, otherwise, how would it know to turn on when you press the button.
The button you press is a "soft" switch, not an actual switch.
If the switch physically moves contacts that either remain closed in one position, or open in the other, then it is "off"
Otherwise it is just mostly off, and an iphone is less off than most.

A very short google will explain most of it. When you see bad guys in movies remove the batteries from their phones, they are not just making it up. They really have to do it.

Something to think about:

To turn an iphone on, you have to hold the switch in for a certain amount of time.

If the phone is completely off, what is monitoring how long you press the button?

Are you charging it in the flightdeck?

the reason i ask is that the iphone will power up when connected to a charger.

kijangnim

Absolute b@llocks

Unless your E-mail providers are absolute retards any connection you make to your IMAP server is an SSL/TLS encrypted tunnel which is unreadable by 3rd parties.

An iPhone, just like every computer, is never truly off. Certain components are going to remain battery powered so things like a BIOS clock remain active and correct.

d1o5
 

We had an experimental automated dispatching system for we Field Engineers last year. We were all issued with Blackberrys and they became a real PitA. Apart from the fact that the dispatching application couldn't find its way out of a paper bag unless someone shone a light, the email application was quite useful. Given that our server is so anal it won't allow mention of a well known North East coast fishing port, it will only allow public key encrypted email transmission.

When the experiment ended, after six months of pain and irritation, it was, needless to say, declared a success. :ugh: The Blackberry's were collected and there was talk of us being issued iPhones - until it was found the iPhone will not support any form of encryption. If you use iPhone with your email, it is, by definition, unsecured.

Roger.