iFly GPS Forum

My apologies if this has been asked before. It seems that the Android iFlyGPS receives some digital data over the internet each time the app is turned on. Data such as current weather and current fuel prices. In itself, a great feature. However, whenever an app calls for an internet connection on my Android smart phone, if it is not already connected to wifi, the phone will connect to the internet thru my G3 connection. Since I only have a limited data plan on this phone, I try to be careful using my limited allotted mb. My question, then, is, when I turn iFly on, will the app connect onto the internet thru my G3 connection without letting me know? If so, I would like the option of not allowing the connection - sort of like the option of whether or not to turn on the GPS. - Thanks, Jim Williams

Jim,

You can also touch Setup and uncheck the "Attempt Internet Weather while in flight". This will stop the 3G/LTE data usage when we sense you are moving and off the ground. It also uses very little data. When the app closes or is idle in the background, it terminates the data usage.

We ran some estimated numbers and you'd have to leave it open and running the majority of a day, everyday to make a substantial impact on a data plan.

If you turn Airplane mode on, you'll lose the GPS signal from some tablets. I know this loses GPS signal on an iPad and some Android phones. I hope this helps.

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Shane Woodson
Vice President | Adventure Pilot LLC.

Jim,

Yep. I'll give you some ranges because it really depends on the Weather, TFRs, and Nexrad activity. Basically, the iFly GPS can use as low as approximately 2mb of data per hour of continuous use, and as high as 10mb of data per hour. The higher range is if you are on Weather Mode as it is pulling NexRad data more often. That 10mb would also be if there was a huge amount of nexrad across the country. It would be toward the lower end if you used Sectional, or other mode than Weather.

These numbers are when the app in communicating to the WiFi, 3G or LTE provider and the App is in the active foreground of the device. If it is in the background "multi-task mode" of the device, it is not using any data.

If you want to limit the data usage, just uncheck the "Attempt Weather Update during flight", located in the Setup menu. This will stop data usage when in flight and on the data network. Also keep in mind, if you launch the App on a Wi-Fi network, it will pull all the data in and cache it on the device for several hours. I hope this helps.

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Shane Woodson
Vice President | Adventure Pilot LLC.