Turning on airplane mode can help your phone charge a little faster

Using cellular service on phones while airborne on a plane is prohibited, so many devices come with an airplane mode setting to help airline passengers comply. This feature works by shutting off all wireless functions while on an airplane. With airplane mode enabled, you won’t receive any wireless communication like texts or calls. 

Viral videos online often share that a “phone charging hack” is to put the device on airplane mode for quicker charging. VERIFY viewer Michelle reached out to ask if putting your phone on airplane mode actually makes it charge faster. 

THE QUESTION

Can enabling airplane mode help a phone charge faster? 

THE SOURCES

• Sukaina Yacoob, senior quality assurance engineer at Batteries Plus

• Casey Profita, founder of Gophermods

• Samsung

• Apple 

• An Xfinity article

• A Google Android article

THE ANSWER

Yes, enabling airplane mode can help a phone charge faster, but not by much. Other factors, like battery health and the cable used, can also impact charging speed.

Sign up for the VERIFY Fast Facts newsletter here.  

WHAT WE FOUND

Enabling airplane mode can preserve battery life by causing the phone to use less energy on battery-draining apps. If your phone uses less energy when charging, it can charge faster. This is because all of the energy of your phone is going to your battery, rather than additional applications running in the background.

Apple, Samsung, and Google Android all say putting your phone on airplane mode can help preserve a phone’s battery. In an article about maximizing battery life, Apple says that “you can optimize your battery life by turning on Airplane mode.” Samsung also adds that a good battery-saving method is to deactivate features you aren’t currently using. They recommend doing this by activating its Flight Mode if you aren’t using the phone’s wireless features.   

Certain apps can also cause your phone to work harder. These apps can include anything that tracks your location, has a high refresh rate, or has notifications from emails, texts, or social media, according to Sukaina Yacoob, senior quality assurance engineer at Batteries Plus.

With airplane mode on, “your phone’s not checking for cellular service, it’s not tracking your location, also your apps that are running in the background are being updated, so that saves your battery,” Yacoob explains. This can then have an impact on how fast your phone is able to be charged since all of its energy is going towards charging, and not to other apps.

Both Xfinity and Casey Profita, founder of tech repair company Gophermods, also say airplane mode can help charge a phone faster. Xfinity says “the connectivity of your phone is the other big drain on your battery reserves” so switching on airplane mode can help with charging speed because the phone will end up using less energy. 

With airplane mode on, “the phone isn't using up power searching for signals or getting those constant notifications,” Profita says. This can help to speed up the charging process.

Gophermods conducted its own charging test using an iPhone 12 Mini with 100% battery health and 0 charge cycles. In 15 minutes, the iPhone charged from 24% to 43% with airplane mode turned on. The phone was drained back down to 24% and without airplane mode on, the phone charged to 41% in the 15 minutes. 

In this case, charging the phone with airplane mode turned on was slightly faster than charging the device without airplane mode enabled.

VERIFY also conducted its own charging test to charge an iPhone 13 Pro Max with and without airplane mode. In both charging scenarios, all apps on the phone were closed and the device was left untouched to charge out of the same outlet with the same charging cable. 

First, the phone was plugged in without airplane mode on at 75% battery at 11:15 a.m. It took until 12:32 p.m., 1 hour and 17 minutes later, to charge to 100%. The phone battery was drained again back to 75% and began charging at 2:59 p.m. with airplane mode turned on. It took until 4:20 p.m., 1 hour and 21 minutes later to reach 100%. 

In this case, charging the phone without airplane mode turned on was slightly faster than charging the device with airplane mode setting selected.

“If you're really aiming to speed up charging, airplane mode can be one tool in the toolbox, but don't expect miracles,” Profita says. 

It's important to note that many elements can impact how quickly a phone will charge. 

The battery health of a device can deteriorate, causing different results in charging capabilities. Phone companies like Apple also note that different elements, like the cable used and the temperature of the device, can impact how fast a device charges. It can also depend on the device, as some Samsung phones have fast charging settings, for example. 

Yacoob also recommends making sure your charge port is clear of debris as “sometimes when debris and dust is collected in the charge port, it might seem like your battery’s not being charged quickly, or it’s not being charged at all.”

Other recommendations Xfinity and Google Android share for faster charging include to:

• Turn the phone off or don’t use it while it's charging

• Plug the phone into the wall, not a computer

• Use the power adapter that came with the phone

To preserve battery life, Apple, Samsung and Google Android’s recommendations include to:

• Dim the phone screen or turn on auto-brightness

• Switch on battery saving settings like Apple’s low power mode or Samsung’s power saving mode 

• Avoid constant internet connection, such as making phone calls on the move