You can now keep your Wi-Fi on with Airplane Mode on Pixels

The Pixel December software update and Feature Drop graced our Pixel devices earlier this week and with it came an assortment of features to make our Pixels more helpful than ever. However, as impressive as the changelog of all the newly introduced features is, there was one more feature introduced that did not receive a lot of fanfare.

Spotted by 9to5Google, the December update also expanded on an Android 11 feature in which you had the option to keep Bluetooth on even after turning on Airplane mode, except this time, the feature you have the option to keep turned on is none other than WiFi. This was caught when Pixel owners started to notice an Android System notification that read “Wi-Fi on in airplane mode / If you keep Wi-Fi on, it will stay on the next time you’re in airplane mode.” Furthermore, the next time you go into Airplane Mode, your device will reiterate that it knows your preference is to keep Wi-Fi own and that you have the option to return to the default setting by manually turning Wi-Fi off.

According to Google’s help article on this, the default behavior when you first turn on Airplane mode is to turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, but the option to change this behavior was introduced in order to give users a way to stay connected to their smartwatches and earbuds/headphones. This only works on Android devices running version 11 and newer.

This brings up a good point as to why passengers are still asked to turn on Airplane Mode while in an aircraft, at least in the U.S. With all these options to keep Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on, the only function of Airplane Mode — at least that I can think of — is to turn off mobile data. Meanwhile, in the E.U, airlines will now be able to provide 5G connectivity on planes and the latest ruling by the European Commission has reserved specific frequencies to enable in-flight communications. It certainly feels like the days of having to use Airplane Mode might soon be over.

Featured image by Skitterphoto