Android - Can I permanently disable the cell/radio of my phone?
Looks like someone already figured this out and made a script using Script Manager that runs the script on boot. It turns the radio (cell) off, just the same as activating airplane mode, except that it leaves all other wireless settings alone (that is, bluetooth, wifi, etc).
Or you can install a flashable zip described in this forum that you load in recovery mode.
- Removes unnecessary apps (Messaging.apk, Phone.apk, TelephonyProvider.apk, Mms.apk, TelocationProvider.apk)
- Completely turns off cell radio on bootup
- Installs the radiooptions binary in case your ROM does not include it
- Prevents emergency calls and 911 calls (good for giving your kids your old phone to play with)
You could use some automation app to do this, having two steps in its task: Switch to airplane mode, and then enable WiFi. Tasker is one app that can handle this, but I'm pretty sure some of the free profile-switchers are also capable of this. With Tasker you could place this with a profile executing as soon as Tasker is started -- other apps might provide "default/base profiles" for this (like Locale does), or you might have to add it to each profile you create to make sure it always works.
Depending on your device, you could also use Dazzle Configurable Switcher (which comes free). As the name suggests, it offers a bar with "toggle switches" which you can configure freely. One of the toggles is for the (cell) Radio. But not all devices support this: it worked fine on my HTC Wildfire, but my Motorola Milestone 2 won't let me switch that separately. Here the state should be remembered even after reboot -- but again that might depend on the device.
Searching 'the Google', I found this simple and free app called Cell Radio ShutOff. Seems to work fine. Here is what the dev wrote in Google Play (as of 2013-10-07):
Description There are 4 radios in a typical device: cell, bluetooth, wifi, nfc. This app allows you to just shut off the cell radio while leaving everything else on. Airplane mode shuts off all radios and there is no built in method to disable just the cell radio. Why to disable it? 1. When your cell radio can't access a tower it will drain your battery 2. Your location is tracked by carriers using your cell radio (This is necessary so people can call you.. it's not that they are evil) This app has been tested and works on the HTC Dream. Send an email if it doesn't work on your phone. This does not work on the nexus 4 or the galaxy nexus. I will fix it in the future.