This could be useful around Los Angeles where AT&T has no signal whatsoever.
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iOS 18: Send Messages Without a Wi-Fi or Cellular Connection
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Apple already extended that two years an additional year to three years on iPhone 14, and could continue to offer it for "free" indefinitely. When and if they start charging for it will depend on costs, competition, government requirements, etc.
Musk has stated that Starlink will provide free emergency satellite services for all phones, pending government approvals. If that happens and/or others do similar, it can make it less likely Apple will end up charging for the service.
Am in Washington, with T-Mobile. I was recently out remote with no cell.. and was quite surprised when it asked me if i wanted to send/receive messages via satellite. It directed me which way to pin the phone… toon a minute. I successfully sent and received to both my wife who has an iPhone and to a friend that has android. Quite easy really.
I wouldn’t be to upset if Apple offered a mini every 3 years or so. I know that mini is a very niche phone. But, a 3 year cycle would fit right into my upgrade plans.
I am in Cornwall using EE and there are definitely places where reception disappears completely; particularly in woodlands or some harbours. I'm wondering if your message was held in a queue and then released the moment you had tiny bit of signal. It's actually improved recently since they switched off 3G, but having satellite for situations like this would certainly be welcome.
I’m so glad this feature was available for me.
I was stuck in Asheville, North Carolina during hurricane Helene.
We had no power, no internet, no landline phones, and no cell service in most of the County and counties around as well.
I was able to connect to a satellite on multiple occasions to send messages to loved ones to let them know I was alive.
You have to be outside and you have to be pointing your phone at a satellite and keep adjusting your position as the satellite moves across the sky. Also there has to be a clear line of sight. Even a window will block the satellite connection. I couldn’t connect thru my hotel window but I could once I went outside.
I was stuck in Asheville, North Carolina during hurricane Helene.
We had no power, no internet, no landline phones, and no cell service in most of the County and counties around as well.
I was able to connect to a satellite on multiple occasions to send messages to loved ones to let them know I was alive.
You have to be outside and you have to be pointing your phone at a satellite and keep adjusting your position as the satellite moves across the sky. Also there has to be a clear line of sight. Even a window will block the satellite connection. I couldn’t connect thru my hotel window but I could once I went outside.
The satellite feature will tell you when it’s connected to a satellite.
It will also tell you if the message has been delivered.
So there really isn’t any ambiguity. Either you’re connected and the message goes thru OR you cannot connect to the satellite in the first place which the phone will tell you.
I used it in an emergency just a week and a half ago after a hurricane where there was no power, no internet, no landline phone service, and the cellular service was knocked out.
I think it comes down to if someone like apple is willing to invest the billions upon billions of dollars to achieve something like this. In the long run it could be quite profitable for someone like apple to make an exclusive network for their devices. They won’t have to worry about Qualcomm modems any more and they can market connectivity anywhere. You could even visit other countries and your service wouldn’t need to change. They could get rid of SIM cards and not even worry about eSIM. They wouldn’t have to deal with other carriers and can just get the monthly service charge themselves. And we all know apple wants to get into monthly subscription more and more. It’s a high risk move with the cost but if done right could be super prosperous for them
AST SpaceMobile recently launched their own Bluebird satellites - they have contracts with several cell providers; operational soon I'm sure... at least in limited capacity. They and Globalstar seem to be leading the effort in the US, anyway. Judging from AST's stock price jump in recent months, I think there is a lot of attention in getting space-supplied cell service moving, for all of the above reasons. Globalstar must have something up their sleeve and Apple must like it. Will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Perhaps Apple will go full-partner with GSAT and offer space-based connection plans in the future. While Starlink certainly has more birds up there, there doesn't seem to be any love lost between T.Cook and E.Musk, so I wouldn't watch for a partnership there.
It sounds like its a weak transmitter if there can’t be any obstruction apart from (don’t actually know) hundreds maybe thousands of miles of nothing, I bet one day we will only do it that way……..?
There wouldn't necessarily have to be a formal partnership. Pending government approvals, Starlink (Musk) reportedly plans to provide free emergency satellite service for all phones. It would presumably function through an app. Unless Starlink (Musk) doesn't make the app available for iOS or Apple (Cook) blocks it from the App Store or in other ways, it should work on iPhones. It could also be made available through alternative iOS app stores but only in the EU at this point.
I'm not sure of that.
First of all maybe the hardware in iPhones is specific to a certain type of satellites (i.e: works with Globalstar but isn't compatible with whatever Starlink uses).
Second, I don't believe Apple has any kind of existing API for the Satellite texting/comm feature in iOS. So a third party App is out of the question at the moment. And I'm not sure it's the type of thing even the EU could pressure Apple to open-up in iOS 19 or later given the niche that this is.
I understand what Starlink is developing instead is a direct-to-cell method, that will allow its satellites to 'beam' a 4G LTE signal, therefore compatible with any smartphone out there and which doesn't rely on 'satellite' features. But it needs to partner up with a traditional land carrier to 'authorise' the customer SIM to hook up on the signal. (T-Mobile in the US I believe).
They already have. People impacted by Hurricane Helene were given temporary access to Starlink emergency satellite service without need for any special hardware, as long as the phone was at least LTE. This was extended to T-Mobile customers with some services to non-T-Mobile customers. Similar is/will be true for those impacted by Hurricane Milton.
How emergency or non-emergency (discussed in this article) satellite communication technologies operate in the future remains to be seen. Some of it will depend on government regulations/approvals.
if i get a used iPhone 14 from someone else, say bought used or given to me as a hand-me-down, does the free 2 years emergency SOS feature (or satellite messaging) start a new 2 year cycle the day i activate my used iPhone or does it retain and depend on the first original owner’s date of activation? considering Apple has left the feature working for those who have had it for more than 2 years, perhaps there’s no way to know?
2y from date of first activation would make more sense.
Same as you don't get new year of guarantee when you buy second hand.
Three years from first/original activation if it was before November 15, 2023. Two years from first/original activation if it was November 15, 2023 or later. However, it wouldn't surprise me if Apple extends it longer.
Not completely. There are gps sats that work just fine on both poles. It's just a matter of time before sats are everywhere. Tmobile will be working on starlink soon and there are a lot of starlink sats.
I was just using this on a remote trip. Super cool. Worked great. Btw I was in northern Canada off the grid.
One problem with this feature is that if you have any cell signal at all - even if it's not strong enough to get a message through, even if you've turned off cellular data on your iPhone - then sending messages by satellite won't be available to you.
A coworker's sister didn't check in after the hurricane, so he went to her house. She had one or two bars of cell service, but she couldn't send or receive texts or calls, and the satellite feature said "Not Available."
A coworker's sister didn't check in after the hurricane, so he went to her house. She had one or two bars of cell service, but she couldn't send or receive texts or calls, and the satellite feature said "Not Available."