Very important iPhone note:
Don't think this rates being put in "announcements" because it only applies to a few of us (perhaps "the rest of us" to quote an ancient Apple advertisement, LOL), but the behavior of the GPS in Verizon iPhones has changed fundamentally with the latest release of iOS, iOS 8.3. It used to be that, at least with the Verizon version of the iPhone, it was not possible to have the GPS switched on without the cellular transceiver also on. In other words, putting the phone in Airplane Mode unconditionally switched off the GPS. There are numerous hacks floating around about how to get around this, but none seemed to work on my Verizon iPhone. (Perhaps fiddling with the SIM card would have worked, but I didn't want to try that.)
With iOS 8.3, the GPS now works in Airplane Mode on Verizon iPhones.
![thumbsup :thumbsup:](./images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
This has two implications, the first obvious and excellent, the second less obvious and potentially a bit insidious. The first, of course, is that we can now use all our location-dependent apps in the back country without draining the battery so fast, since in Airplane mode the phone isn't looking for a cell signal it will never find—your favorite navigation apps (mine is iHike GPS) PeakFinder, and so on. Sweet!
![smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)
The potentially insidious part is that it's now necessary to shut down each of these apps explicitly after using them, because many location-using apps are automatically set up to update the location continuously (or at least frequently), even when the app is in the background. Perhaps users more meticulous than I will find ways to make their apps stop asking for locations when they're not in the foreground, but I find it easier either to flick them off the screen or even to turn the iPhone completely off (I typically use such apps only a couple of times each day, so YMMV).