[FEATURE PROPOSAL] Airplane mode and do not disturb

Hello !

Here’s a feature I would really appreciate as a user (the kind of very small features that, in large numbers, can make the difference in quality between one OS and another).


The parameter

In the system preferences, in the battery management section, notifications and/or network management:

Airplane mode as soon as possible

If this setting is enabled, when ‘do not disturb’ mode is active, the aircraft mode is enabled when the device is in standby and network communications resume as soon as the screen is turned on.

A few years ago (perhaps still today) some manufacturers proposed a setting to disable Wi-Fi when not using the phone, to save battery power. Here it’s the same idea but for all network communications.

Of course, the ‘do not disturb’ condition means that you only miss calls that you would have missed in any case :wink:
If the user wishes to use his phone, the mobile communications restart and finds network while he enters his password. It’s transparent to him. Magic.

Example of concrete use

This feature would be used by people who regularly spend hours with “not to disturb” on, without consulting their phone.

The textbook case - if I may say so - is the student. He spends his days in class, where the phone has no place. During these hours when the device is not consulted, GSM standby represents a significant consumption, which would be avoided with such a feature.

To go further

The search for a network also consumes a significant amount of energy. (Wikipedia)
Therefore, it would be interesting to add some advanced parameters regarding the delays before activating the aircraft mode and switching to the active state of the GSM; while offering an intuitive default functionality that best corresponds to the “non-advanced” user

To go even further, additional conditions could be considered.
For example, a condition possibility for the transition to the active state:

  • Enter the password (otherwise the user cannot send anything anyway);
    or
  • Scroll through the notification menu (shows that the user wants to receive notifications just at this moment. This method avoids having to enter the password, or placing a button in the middle of the screen to activate the network connection for searching for notifications).

This example of a condition would prevent network search from occurring when the user is only reading the time, but would make the device less efficient to use because it will only start searching for network and therefore will not be ready for use for a longer period of time.

What do you think of that?

Personally, I think this functionality should be proposed but inactive by default, and thus give a potential of functionality to the new user without destabilizing him because it is naturally up to the OS to adapt to the user and not the other way around.
Once activated, keep it simple: always with the condition of the do not disturb mode, synchronize the aircraft mode with the user’s screen shutdowns.
Then, eventually, add advanced settings so that the experienced user can customize their experience.

Thanks for your feedback,

Côme


French version here

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Hi!

Now I am a /e/ user, I confirm my interest in this feature, with one more argument: even if activating manually plane mode each time I activate do not disturb mode is not too much work, it is not possible when do not disturb is activated automatically.

For instance, I configured /e/ to have do not disturb mode active:

  • by night (scheduled) and
  • in class (according to the events of a calendar; and I am impatient to test it!).

Therefore, I would like plane mode to be active during these periods of time, unless I am using the phone, to save battery.

Thanks for your attention,

Côme

I also use DND with scheduled period during the night and is very useful, and of course your improvements should be even more useful!!!
By the way I tried to go offline during a scheduled DND and it goes without problems

Does it work well? I realize it remains off until I tap the arrow (as if I wanted to activate it with one of the three levels) and then come back. So it is not enabled automatically… So it does not work… :thinking:

Edit: tapping the arrow (as if I wanted to activate it with one of the three levels) and then coming back activates DND anyway so there is no link with schedule. Let’s reboot the phone to see if it changes something.

Re-edit: OK after reboot (2nd bug solved with a reboot, first was Cannot disable Wi-Fi )

Re-re-edit: it seems it stops working if I do not reboot the phone often and works after reboot. To be continued…

Mmmhhh, I don’t know, it’s very strange.
Wait some days for other answers from community, and in case no one respond that has your problem, you could try to delete data partition, and maybe also to reinstall the build with twrp.
I know, a little bit extreme, but if you don’t resolve and you need absolutely this feature, I think is the only way…

It seems I do not need to reboot to keep scheduled DND active since I deleted the schedule and re-created it. Previously, it was a modified version of the default “week night” schedule.

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