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I took a trip to Iceland recently and had my iPhone 6 in airplane mode the entire trip. I had downloaded maps for offline use on the Google Maps app. I figured it would be useful for walking directions.

What I did not expect was the app was tracking my location. I was not connected to wifi when this happened. It occurred in remote rural areas and in the city.

I know the iPhone has a gps chip. Does the iPhone talk to satellites? In airplane mode, I would think it would be unable to communicate with towers.