# Faraday cage for my iPhone. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835 "2014-04-24T02:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/21 "2014-04-24T03:41:05Z")
So how does the phone respond to a press of the “power on” button without keeping some electronics activated to monitor the status of the button? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/22 "2014-04-24T04:03:27Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > So how does the phone respond to a press of the “power on” button without keeping some electronics activated to monitor the status of the button? Typically, the button is monitored by a very low-power circuit that detects the power-on signal, and then sequences the rest of the phone circuitry. So, strictly speaking, part of the phone is always “on”, but it’s not a part that does anything significant. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/23 "2014-04-24T04:13:13Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > No you just aren’t turning the phone off. You are probably just turning off the screen. Hold down the top button till you get “a slide to power off” screen and slide the button. Now it is actually off. DOH! :smack::smack::smack: I knew I should have read the manual. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/24 "2014-04-24T04:20:44Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Typically, the button is monitored by a very low-power circuit that detects the power-on signal, and then sequences the rest of the phone circuitry. So, strictly speaking, part of the phone is always “on”, but it’s not a part that does anything significant. beowulff, the phone is neither transmitting or receiving in this state, correct? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/25 "2014-04-24T04:27:40Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > beowulff, the phone is neither transmitting or receiving in this state, correct? Correct. An iPhone can stay power-off for many months, and still turn on. There’s no way that this would be possible if the radio was active. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/26 "2014-04-24T04:54:03Z")
Got it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/27 "2014-04-24T13:05:41Z")
Airplane mode should do what you need and is easier / faster then the powerdown/up sequence. You can verify that your phone is totally silent by going to the Apple ‘find my iPhone’ desktop app and see if it can find it. Also a side note about the power usage. While it is true that the phone will vary the power output, using just enough to reach the cell tower, the most power is used when the phone is just short of communications with the tower, causing it to ‘shout’ as loud as it can and do other tricks to get heard - like shout to other towers. But if there is no signal at all the phone is ‘listening’ but not transmitting. So it would depend on how well those cages work, if well enough that it is silent in there I would not expect such a drain on battery life, but if it was able to detect the signal it might drain the battery fast. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Bragg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stealth\_Bragg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Bragg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/28 "2014-04-24T13:29:11Z")
How about a small biscuit tin or a tobacco tin? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/29 "2014-04-24T13:38:29Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > But if there is no signal at all the phone is ‘listening’ but not transmitting. I’m pretty sure the antenna gain is still cranked right up, even if that is true . ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/30 "2014-04-24T14:47:36Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Sorry about that. Let me try again: > > [Try this.](http://www.amazon.com/Reynolds-Wrap-Heavy-Duty-Aluminum/dp/B0014D0TB2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398308843&sr=8-2&keywords=aluminum+foil) I like the comments and would recommend this product. > [@](#): > > After purchasing this fine product, I noticed that I was no longer receiving signals from the mothership, black vans were no longer parked in front of my house, and that it also covered my casserole dish quite nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835/31 "2014-04-24T15:06:34Z")
I think it would just be cheaper to just turn the sucker off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faraday-cage-for-my-iphone/686835.md?page=1)