[lxgr]

> Not really. The phone only appears "off" but is in-fact in a low power mode providing beacons. It won't work if the battery were removed.

Sure, how else would it work? But people usually don’t disassemble their phone before losing it on a train/in a taxi etc.

> modern iPhones use tower-assisted GNSS

Yes, but GP says they didn’t have cell coverage where they lost it, so that wouldn’t help.