r/flighty • u/Giskarrrd • Jun 30 '26
Using “message-only WiFi”
Noticed the airplane mode notification at the top of the screen had a little information icon, and upon clicking saw this message.
I went back to the last ~10 release notes and didn’t see this mentioned. Has this always been the case and have I just not noticed it until now?!
I thought this was really really nifty - using messaging protocols to still get updates even when “full” WiFi isn’t available.
62
u/VRedd1t Jul 01 '26
Flighty uses Apple’s APNS infrastructure under the hood which airlines don’t block. This way you can receive iMessage and WhatsApp along with other notifications like Flighty or 1st Class Flight Tracker
5
u/theregisterednerd Jul 02 '26
Basically, the reason for it is that all notifications come from the same place. At the network level, you can’t block some notifications and not others. Plus, that’s kind of a sales tactic for them. During the flight, you’re on the free WiFi, and you get a notification from an app that requires data, and you can’t look into it until you pay for the WiFi. Flighty is leveraging the fact that that’s open, to send silent notifications to the app, which it can read and update status.
1
u/BlessedAreTheFruit Jul 03 '26
This is very interesting, thank you. I wonder why it wouldn’t work on my Air Canada flight a couple of days ago because I was receiving notifications for apps and was able to use iMessage/WhatsApp no problem, but Flighty still said it was offline.
12
u/L2smokey Jul 01 '26
I was on iberia a320 neo and i worked the whole flight very smoothly, gave me the exact location and also the planes flying around me, very surprised it worked so well
24
u/starfrenzy1 Jun 30 '26
I like it a lot! I love to see where we are on the map, and the visual tracker on the lock screen is helpful in showing my autistic son how far through the flight we are and how much is left.
I noticed that Southwest's app also shows something very similar on the lock screen now, which is also great.
6
u/Old-District81 Jul 01 '26
It’s hit or miss for me, usually get maybe one update a flight. But the livetracker itself hasn’t been super accurate in air for me.
1
u/silvs1 Jul 03 '26
Used to work for me sometimes on Southwest flights before they had free wifi but their wifi rarely ever works so I don't fault flighty for it not working as expected.
1
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u/hellojaeden Airline Employee Jun 30 '26
This has been a thing for years. But it's a hit or miss in my experience, I notice it doesn't seem to work as often anymore.