They mention android for this risk factor specifically-does android not have an "airplane mode" equivalent? I would assume it disables NFC also on iOS, but I guess I don't know —no mention of NFC on Apple's support page.
On the Pixel 7, Airplane mode absolutely did not disable those frequency spikes upon screen unlock. Only disabling NFC through the dedicated setting in the phone’s parameters did (Settings > Connected devices > Connection Preferences > NFC). This theoretically puts Android users at greater risk, since on iOS, Airplane mode does disable those polling signals.
It’s easy to see how an average user might assume they’ve gone completely dark by enabling Airplane mode on an Android device—when in fact, they haven’t.
I’ll update the original post with this information, and thank you for pointing it out.
NFC however isn't touched by the airplane mode
...At least it was like that on the android phones I owned