I have an iPad Air 2. It only has Wi-Fi capability and I keep it in airplane mode as I don't want it linking to my iPhone or other Apple accounts and disrupting any in progress memo recordings.
Well, the iPad has been in airplane mode for the last 1 week. This morning I saw on my iPhone that an update was available so I went ahead with that update. When I accessed my iPad to update and went into settings to turn off airplane mode I noticed that it had already detected that an update was available!
How is that even possible when it had been in airplane mode all week?
Best Answer
By default Airplane mode disables all wireless frequencies on your device so that you can comply with airline regulations. This means that any radio frequencies relating to cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are disabled.
However, when your device is in Airplane mode, it is actually possible to manually enable Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth. And, if you do, the next time you're in Airplane mode these settings remain.
So, the most likely answer is that at some point you activated Wi-Fi during Airplane mode (either intentionally or by accident) and that ever since your iPad has sill been connected via Wi-Fi whenever you've activated Airplane mode.
As per Apple:
Source: Use Airplane Mode on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch, Apple. [Bold emphasis mine, words in italics added for clarification]
The following screenshot is from an iPad in Airplane Mode and connected to Wi-Fi at the same time:
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