No SIM in iPhone 5s but still using battery looking for cell coverage

Question

Level 1

6 points

No SIM in iPhone 5s but still using battery looking for cell coverage

My daughter has an iPhone 5s with no Sim card. She’s used this phone without a SIM card as a Wi-Fi only iPod for a couple of years. Because there is no Sim card, the ”Cellular” option in settings is grayed out.

We recently traveled to a location that had no cellular service for any of the family. We noticed her battery was draining faster than normal. When we looked at the battery stats, it showed that a large percentage of her usage had been for “No Cell Coverage.”

This does not happen when we are in an area with cell phone service. She’s on iOS 11.3.1 (15E302).

Any ideas for how to stop the phone for checking for cell coverage when she doesn’t have a SIM card?

iPad Air, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on May 28, 2018 4:54 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Lawrence Finch

Level 10

202,592 points

May 29, 2018 2:55 PM in response to balithai

Put the phone in Airplane mode, then turn on Wi-Fi.

The reason it is still searching is the FCC requires all phones to be able to call emergency services, so it needs to know what networks are available.

Reply

Answer 2

balithai Author

Level 1

6 points

May 29, 2018 2:54 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you. There was no wifi where we were, so I assumed her phone would just function as a music player without pinging out for cell service. We'll have her do airplane mode next time.

Reply

No SIM in iPhone 5s but still using battery looking for cell coverage

Similar questions