Airplane Mode Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can someone still access my laptop when it’s in Airplane Mode?

Posted on March 30, 2024

Question from Lawrence: I’m getting ready to take my first trans-Atlantic flight in over 20 years to visit family in Italy.

I’m hoping to be able to use my laptop to play solitaire and Mahjongg while we’re in the air to pass the time.

My concern is this: I’ve heard that hackers can break into a laptop via WiFi and I have info on there that I need to keep private.

I know my laptop has an Airplane Mode. If I turn it on will that prevent other passengers from being able to break into my laptop? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why does my phone have an ‘Airplane Mode’?

Posted on September 25, 2022

Question from Janine: Hello, Rick. I have just finished reading an article that discussed an app that places your phone into “Airplane Mode” whenever there isn’t a cell signal available.

Please don’t think I’m a dummy because I’m not, but I had never heard the term “Airplane Mode” before reading that article.

Can you tell me what it means? What do phones have to do with airplanes?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to make your phone or tablet charge as quickly as possible

Posted on July 7, 2022

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

Do you often find that your phone’s battery is running low but you don’t have much time to charge it up?

If so, there’s an easy way to ensure that you’ll get as much charge in the short time available as possible. All you have to do is put your phone in airplane mode.

You probably know that putting any device into airplane prevents it from ringing or making other sounds, but this handy setting actually goes much further than that… [Read more…]

Prevent your Android phone’s battery from being drained by a weak cell signal with NoBars

Posted on December 23, 2013

Important update: The NoBars app is no longer supported and it doesn’t work with the latest versions of Android.

Have you ever noticed how quickly your Android phone’s battery gets depleted when you’re in an area where there’s either a very weak cell signal or no signal at all? This happens because the phone’s radio will go into overdrive while trying to locate any trace of a usable signal.

An easy way to prevent this from happening is to simply place your phone into “Airplane Mode” whenever you enter an area where you know there won’t be a usable cell signal. But if you do that, you’ll have to remember to take the phone back out of Airplane Mode later or else you won’t be able to receive any calls or text messages. [Read more…]