Q for OP out of curiosity - what over-sized device with a stylus are you issued with (corporate ?) that don't have a quick-access widget and/or on-screen button for switching Airplane Mode on/off

I've seen, used & supported a pretty broad range of popular devices from Moto, HTC, Samsung, LG and of course, pure Google ones - both stock/unmod'd and customized that have the functionality, after & before OTA updates from 2.3.1 to 4.4.3

If yours is doing so and restarting your phone, I consider those FC'd or crashed that aren't supposed to happen so time to REPLACE or trade-up your device if you can. And, unless you are hopping on & off planes all day/week long - or, going into courtrooms or health care facilities that mandate devices to be switched off, etc. - it still shouldn't be a "big" issue. Switching off your WiFi, Location Service & Google Now with active listening, and checking for Apps that wakelock are better strategies for getting more usable battery life out of your "gear"

Definitely a first world sort of problem.

Wow! Never saw so much hatred for a simple toggle! Actually, I am talking about using dual devices. Which is one of the reasons I like a quick switch - I can use that with a simple thumb swipe instead of having to use two hands for the phone (and thus have to put whatever else I am holding down).

Personally, I also use Airplane Mode for when I know I am going to be someplace where I wont get signal anyways, don't need radio functionality, and want to extend battery life. Radios hunting for signal still use up power, as do all those little behind the scenes apps that are running just o push out adds, give you useless updates, or simply track your location and usage habits. Then again there ARE some apps that I want to keep the document open in.

This is a new phone I am trying to customize. I have been a holdout for a while with my old HTC, but we all agreed that we were going to standardize on the Samsungs, so it really looked bad when I myself had an HTC. As it turns out that one bit wasn't Samsung but Android itself.

Now, if they would only allow me to change the font color on the lock screen so I could read it with the wallpaper I want to use...

See if you can find a local kid that has the same phone and give it to them. They will sort you out in about 2 minutes tops.

OP, what device are you using? And with all the responses in agreement and you still posting, it seems none of us are getting what your real issue is. Can you (given all the info in the thread) repeat your question please so we can better understand?

My question, or rather my comment, is pretty straight forward. I want to be able to put a toggle switch on my android home screen to go into Airplane mode, instead of having to go to settings, use the power switch, or combination key command to do so. In a nutshell, I want my device to allow me to work the way i want to work, and not force me to work the way that designers like to work.

Which is why I am hoping to keep this thread open - so that we can discuss how to make our devices do what we want them to, and not what other people want them to.

Unless your phone manufacturer has built specific functionality that works with the security framework introduced in Android 4.2 (or you're willing to root), you probably won't find a solution to your airplane mode toggle.

I've rooted my phone and installed a custom ROM; it works the way I like to work. It's a shame that's not an option for you.

This is just one example of many: Airplane Mode Toggle (Google Play). What phone are you using? There may even be pre-installed options based on your device and/or launcher.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason you don't like the pulldown option? Depending on how many screens you have and where you place the toggle, the pull-down may be even less time

I think you'll find that all the airplane-mode-toggling widgets widgets fail in Android 4.2 and above. I'm also curious why a button on one of seven home screens would feel more convenient than the one-handed power-switch-plus-menu-tap method I use, but as OP notes, everyone has their own ideas of how they want to use their phones.

I'm running 4.3 and just downloaded what I posted and it worked fine

Hmm, apparently it's device-dependent. I repeated received wisdom (always a dangerous practice) in my previous post. Given your results, I tried the widget myself. All it does is force close on my Motorola Droid Maxx. Recalling that other widgets have had issues until they'd been through a restart, I rebooted the phone and got the same result.

This might help.

Yeah, thanks for that. That widget hasn't been updated since January 21, 2011, though. I looked at some of the others, like this one, which are more actively supported. Its description says "***From Android 4.2 on - cannot toggle airplane mode with widget. This will now take users to the settings screen to change airplane mode. Will look into allowing this with root."

It's something Google had disabled in Android 4.2 and above. I don't know the reason - something about security but I have yet to figure out exactly what kind of security issue there is.

I am a major customizer of my devices. There are several reasons why I want a main screen switch, but an overriding design goal for me is being able to do things one handed, particularly one thumbed. Fat hands, large phone, means that holding the phone comfortably for me to use my thumbs for most things means that I have to move the phone in my hand or use my other hand to operate the side power switch. Likewise, hard to use two fingers to do something.

I did manage to get the flight mode switch to appear in my notification drop down, so while that is a bit of a thumb stretch it is doable. I am currently trying to find a radio off switch (my old, old HTC had one) which will essentially do the same thing I need to.


As for root, this is a work owned device. And our policy is to not allow users to root the phones. Hard enough supporting them stock! My personal device I would be willing to, but I have so far avoided going to 4.2 anyways and avoided the situation altogether.

Enabling airplane mode without authentication would be a great way for a thief to disable your phone's traceability. But the widget isn't available on a locked phone, so that still doesn't answer the question.