This report on Gizmodo will come as no surprise to many people. It is not necessary to put your mobile phone into airplane mode during flights.

As someone who worked in the avionics industry, where engineers expend enormous efforts to design equipment that is immune from the effects of interference from mobile phones and from other avionic systems, I have always known that it was a lie that phones and other mobile devices could interfere with the navigation and flight control systems of aircraft. That is why you have never heard an announcement from the cockpit demanding that passengers turn off the devices because interference.

Requests to turn off mobile devices or put them inti airplane mode come from the cabin staff, sometimes backed up with the statement that this is the law in whatever country (which certainly used to be true in some countries, but nowadays is generally untrue).

The report does explain why the cabin staff still make this request, even though it is unnecessary: to keep peace and quiet in the cabin during flights and to stop fights breaking out due to those people who insist on loudly using their phones all the time.

Whilst I do recommend that you comply with the request to turn off or switch to airplane mode, you do not need to worry that the plane will crash or get lost if you forget. Airplane mode uses less power, so your battery will last longer in that mode, and avoid all the shouting from bystanders and cabin staff.