[thanhhaimai]

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

[pluralmonad]

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]

If your threat model includes airplane mode not working as intended, you probably shouldn't carry a phone at all.

[BloodyIron]

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]

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.

[lkbm]

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

[Terretta]

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.

[SamBam]

Is that an iPhone thing? On Android airplane mode turns off both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

[stackghost]

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

[Razengan]

Certainty?