iPhone airplane mode bug?

AmishCake wrote:

When you send pictures, this is considered MMS (multi-media service) and you'll need to turn airplane mode off in order to do it.

That has not been the case before, as I've traveled abroad with an iPhone 4 in airplane mode and was able to send picture and video via iMessage using only Wi-Fi. Granted, that was a few years ago (iOS 6) but it worked just fine, so something's changed along the way.

Thanks but that's just general information about using Wi-Fi while in airplane mode, which I think everyone here understands. The issue is not being able to send iMessages with photo content over Wi-Fi only when airplane mode is enabled ... it used to work just fine.

I had no idea it could save charging time and battery life! Do you have any articles or resources that state this? Cause I'd be interested in trying to use it too if this was true!

Edit: Hrrrrm I can find a lot of places that state this but nothing valid from Apple itself. I wonder if there's a wireless carrier website, or uh company website that outright suggests you should use airplane mode to save battery life. If not, no wonder sometimes this doesn't work as intended.

InfamousOne wrote:

There is an apparent bug somewhere in the system.

Or by design, albeit a peculiar choice when you flip the airplane mode switch on. I have tested my 6S Plus (iOS 9.1) at work and am not able to send photos in airplane mode but Wi-Fi turned on and connected. Unless it is a port-blocking issue on my work Wi-Fi, I have to wonder if the airplane mode switch is blocking multimedia iMessages intentionally.

I'll check this again at home where I have zero cellular service, so effectively "airplane mode" with Wi-Fi. I know that I can send photos via iMessage at home over Wi-Fi and no cell service, so it is not a limitation of the iMessage system. So I'm curious if the airplane mode switch overrides this and would cause this to stop working at home. If so then it is definitely a software limitation, not hardware. If there's no change with airplane mode enabled, then perhaps the issue is the router's port setting not allowing contact to the iMessage servers.

Dang, not much of a statement but you are correct sir! Pity I can't find anything on if you're having one of the issues in this thread.

I only wish there was something more for troubleshooting such an issue, cause as is the most you could do is either contact Apple directly or respond here.

Note that this applies only if you have very low cellular signal strength that drops out at times. If you have a good cellular signal have airplane mode off will not affect battery life.

And notice that it talks about battery, life, NOT charging time.

InfamousOne wrote:

Does your phone also immediately switch to text messaging, without any way to switch back to iMessage when that happens as well? That's the part that makes me think it's a bug in the system. There should be no reason for that to happen as a result of a failed iMessage, especially considering there's no way for you to manually switch back to iMessage after.

No, once I turned airplane mode off I was able to re-send the photo iMessage, and it went as an iMessage (not MMS) and subsequent messages have been iMessage. In your case I wonder if Resetting Network Settings would help get you out of SMS/MMS-only mode? Or, signing out of/ back into iMessage to reactivate it?

rockmyplimsoul wrote:

I'll check this again at home where I have zero cellular service, so effectively "airplane mode" with Wi-Fi.

As I suspected, with no cellular service (but no airplane mode) I can send photos via iMessage just fine. As soon as I flip airplane mode on, I can't.

So it would seem that having airplane mode ON overrides the ability to send photos via iMessage over Wi-Fi, and this would be a software cause since the hardware can send photos via iMessage just fine with no cellular service at all. Hopefully this is not by design and will be corrected in a future update.

I know this thread is a month old, but I have the same problem. I travel overseas a lot and enable airplane mode on my iPhone 6+ then turn on wifi to avoid roaming charges and to continue to use iMessages/Facetime. After the iOS 9.1 or 9.2 update (not sure which one), photos will no longer go through to to recipient. I get the red exclamation not delivered error and a notification to turn off airplane mode.

I know this isn't typical day to day operation for the everyday iPhone user and is more specific to travelers, but I've done this for years with no issues. I've tried logging out/in of iCloud and even completely erased all content and settings from the phone to start fresh. All with no luck. I realize this is probably software issue from the latest updates, I'm just trying to highlight this issue with more posts and wondering how many other people are dealing with the same thing.

Fyi, Ive been having the same (or very similar issue).

Prior to the 6s/6s Plus me and my wife had a 6 plus and a 5.

We used to send pics back and forth all the time in airplane mode via wifi.

HOWEVER since we switched into the new 6s and 6s plus (when they came out in SEPT).

I frequently (70% of the time) get the "message not delivered" when trying to send pics.

The interesting things I have came across are:

1. If I turn on cellular (remaining on wifi) and send 1 pic it will go through. Then I can swap back to airplane and it will continue to send pics successfully.

2. I have also noticed by testing that if it says "messaged not delivered" I can check my wifes ipad and it actually received the message even though my phone says not delivered.

This is pretty annoying.

Use Airplane Mode on your iOS device - Apple Support

Check this for further information on airplane mode.