messaging onboard. Airplane mode? (confused)

[Sillysox]

I've seen a lot of people talking about how you can use i-messaging for free to communicate onboard. BUT we aren't i-people (LOL) we all have android phones. I've heard others say that they can use WhatsApp. That only partly works for our family, because a couple of us don't have whatsapp and can't/wont get it for stupid reasons. (long story, doesnt' matter) Our family generally uses the messaging app D i s c o r d to talk. Does anyone know if this is an app that can be used onboard for free?

My other question is how do you make sure that automatic app pings etc won't get you charged? do you only get charged if you purchase a plan, or do they give you access to wifi and then surprise you with charges if you use it? (not meaning intentional usage, but accidental background usage and messaging.--what if someone unknowingly sends you a photo? would that incur charges?) Does everyone go and turn off all auto updates and notifications for apps and everything like that? (i'd be surprised if a lot of people even know how to do that!)

i see the website says to put on airplane mode but how do messaging apps work if you have airplane mode on? Does the navigator app bypass airplane mode somehow?

sorry--quite confused about this.

 

[cvjw]

The navigator app works on the ships WiFi. You turn on airplane made and turn on WiFi - enables you to use the navigator app. We have iPhones and iMessage works for us with just the free ship WiFi.

 

[Mommb]

I can't speak for What's App or the other app you mentioned (which is showing with *** indicating it's not an approved link on Dis Boards). I do know that when I set my phone into airplane mode, I could see the first few lines of iMessages but couldn't open any links.

You can't access the paid ship Internet unless you purchase an account, so you won't get charged by DCL for receiving messages if you haven't bought a package. However, it is possible that your cellular service might automatically charge you for usage. You could prevent that by turning off Cellular Data. Of course, if you do want to use your phone while in a port, you would need to turn Cellular back on. (I can get "free" texting and Internet in most ports through my T-Mobile plan, but that doesn't apply while onboard.)

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

We just got off the Wonder, Whatsapp for sure does not work on there. But I hear it works on the other ships. iMessage did work on the Wonder, although my wife's iMessage stopped working in the middle of the trip. The DCL app worked great though to be honest, we just used that mostly. We bought my kids cheap android phones and they used the DCL app on those to contact us. The only issue is that all the phones will disconnect from WiFi from time to time (our iPhones included), so you have to make sure to check that you are connected.

Interestingly enough, I also got notifications for Outlook emails and Gmail emails (so I could see the subjects of my new emails as they came in), but you can't actually read them, or even see them in the Outlook/gmail app.

 

[kiford]

I was getting Whatsapp messaging on board the Wish with only being connected to the ship's wifi, no internet package, and cell service turned off. At the very least, I was able to monitor threads of activity from work but I wasn't responding myself so I have to assume that would have worked but I don't have direct experience. I was routinely getting iMessages from our friends - it actually worked better and more reliably than the app. DH occasionally got e-mails. I have a couple of work apps/systems and I would occasionally get notifications from them. Occasionally got Twitter notifications. Those latter two I also got on the Fantasy. I don't know why they work but I don't rely on having them either. I never tried iMessage on the Fantasy since it was just DH and I and I never thought to try it because why would I message him when he was sitting with me all day. I've no idea if I could message someone who wasn't on the ship with me though.