How to Social Media without Wifi
By Raizel Coiman
I do not have wifi.
Yes, you heard that right.
I’m working with a college budget, so I’m not about that $40–60 internet bill when I can just go to the library or stick around on campus to get my work done. Like most millennials, I’m active on social media, but my data plan can only last for so long.
So how do I keep up my social media queen status sans wifi?
Airplane mode.
Yep, that little airplane you’re supposed to toggle before going on a flight is my way of staying relevant.
By utilizing airplane mode strategically, you can get a lot done and then publish your posts when you’re back on wifi or when you turn cellular data back on. Before opening any of the following apps, make sure to switch your mobile device to airplane mode found in the settings menu or at the top your control center.
Snapchat
Snapchat is great for sharing a fleeting moment but by using this trick, you can save those moments to post later. Snapchat is a top priority for me and takes up the most of my data usage.
On airplane mode, you can prep and share snaps like normal, but the snap will fail to post. No worries, though, because it will be saved in a queue for you to retry later with all your filters just like Instagram. You can save multiple snaps (I’ve gone as far as 25 at a time) and review them before you decide to actually post. Once you’re all set, flip airplane mode off and then tap the snap to retry sharing it.
*Please note that geofilters won’t be available since location settings are disabled through airplane mode.
Even if you have solid wifi, you can use airplane mode to craft interesting stories. Let’s say you want to post of series of snaps to tell a story but you don’t want people to jump in and watch until you’re ready. The airplane mode hack will allow you to post the entire story all at once.
You can still post videos, photos, or status updates when you’re offline. Once you have a post ready, go ahead and post it. It will fail, and you’ll see a message that says “No Connection Available” and then it will convert to “Will Retry Later.” All failed content will automatically load and post once you’re off of airplane mode.
After you make your edits and write a caption, press “share” like you would normally do. Your photo will try to load but then show up at the top of the homepage as ‘failed”. It will sit there in limbo until you’re ready even if you close the app. Just don’t log out of your account because then the photo will disappear with all your edits. Once you’re back on wifi, or are ready to post, toggle airplane mode off and retry the upload.
If you have something super witty to say, but you can’t say it right away, save your tweets as a draft. Once you have your tweet ready, photos and all, click on the “x” as if you’re canceling the tweet. You’ll be prompted to delete or save the tweet as a draft. Save it as a draft and it will move to your draft folder which you can access whenever you’re ready to actually tweet. You can access drafts when you start to type a new tweet — it’s the little quill icon.
Using the draft option also helps out to weed out bad tweets because you can give yourself time to process whether you should actually post it or not.
Whether you can’t get a signal or you’re a poor college student with no internet connection like me, you’ll realize that having no wifi is no problem.
Originally published at knowledgejam.org, the previous home to Knowledge Jam.
