IOS 18 is available

[180ls1]

Does anyone know if my wife, who has an iphone 13 but with ios18 will be able to receive my satellite texts?

She would be in a big city (San Diego) and I would be the one in the woods with my iphone 14.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I pushed from a iPhone 14 with ios18 to iPhone 12 with old IOS last week. No issues. Didn’t work the other way even after downloading 18 fwiw.

 

[2buffalo]

Is there an sos button?

 

[98XJRC]

Is there an sos button?

From what I remember starting with the iPhone 14 the SOS via satellite was available.

 

[fngTony]

Does anyone know if my wife, who has an iphone 13 but with ios18 will be able to receive my satellite texts?

She would be in a big city (San Diego) and I would be the one in the woods with my iphone 14.

The way I understand it is that her phone can receive your satellite message but can’t send a satellite message back.

 

[swavescatter]

I just texted my wife today from a dead zone in a canyon. She got the text and responded.

We're both 14 Pro. I'm on 18.0 and she is 17.XX

Works way better than my Garmin IMO. I usually carry my work iphone as well so I'll have a backup there too.

 

[BBob]

• Encourage your contacts to update their iPhone — To receive iMessages via satellite, your contact needs to have iOS 18 or later. To reply to SMS messages via satellite, your contact needs to have iOS 17.6 or later or a non-Apple device.

About Messages via satellite on your iPhone - Apple Support

With iPhone 14 or later, you can send iMessages or SMS messages via satellite when you’re off the grid with no cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

support.apple.com

 

[Ross]

I compared my zoleo time to my iPhone sat last weekend. Sat was maybe 10% faster over zoleo. Have been using the sat in some dark holes zero issues so far. The zoleo not getting much use as it has been so efficient.

 

[wyosteve]

Appreciate all the information in this thread. Decided to trade my iPhone 13 for a 16 to try the satellite capability. New phone will be here in a few days.

 

[swavescatter]

I don't know what's going on but I'm in TMobile and started getting starlink wifi out here in the woods. No clue how I'm browsing internet but it appears direct to cell has started...

 

[fngTony]

I don't know what's going on but I'm in TMobile and started getting starlink wifi out here in the woods. No clue how I'm browsing internet but it appears direct to cell has started...

Starlink is about the only thing that can fix T-mobile’s service

 

[180ls1]

I don't know what's going on but I'm in TMobile and started getting starlink wifi out here in the woods. No clue how I'm browsing internet but it appears direct to cell has started...

Sweet. Please keep us updated.

I'm *planning* on switching to them when its fully up to speed but keeping Verizon for the time being.

 

[Muskykris]

I'm excited to try this, update dropped the day after i went moose hunting.
I'm without cell service about 3 weeks a year.
It not bad enough to want to pay an inreach sub.
if i lived year round in a remote area id have inreach on me at all times.
No cell service is nice, but its also nice to contact your loved ones, i think this will work great...even if its a bit glitchy at first.

 

[swavescatter]

I wasn't hallucinating.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1842988427777605683

 

[CJ19]

I just texted my wife today from a dead zone in a canyon. She got the text and responded.

We're both 14 Pro. I'm on 18.0 and she is 17.XX

Works way better than my Garmin IMO. I usually carry my work iphone as well so I'll have a backup there too.

have you tried to message from the iphone to the garmin inreach? when my group tried to go between the difference devices, we were not able to get the apple device to receive the inreach msg and vice versa. However inreach to inreach and apple to apple satellite worked fine.

 

[swavescatter]

have you tried to message from the iphone to the garmin inreach? when my group tried to go between the difference devices, we were not able to get the apple device to receive the inreach msg and vice versa. However inreach to inreach and apple to apple satellite worked fine.

No I dumped my Garmin. All in on free satellite communication. The starlink direct that's coming to Tmobile iphones that I previewed this weekend is the nail in the coffin. only exception is that GPS MIGHT be a little more reliable seeing as how it's a US DoD asset.

 

[ODB]

No I dumped my Garmin. All in on free satellite communication. The starlink direct that's coming to Tmobile iphones that I previewed this weekend is the nail in the coffin. only exception is that GPS MIGHT be a little more reliable seeing as how it's a US DoD asset.

I dont think that's going to be free forever.

 

[swavescatter]

I dont think that's going to be free forever.

Correct, but my guess is that it will be cost competitive with Garmin without the need for a dedicated device. Saving $20/month for a couple years will add up as well.

 

[nphunter]

Just getting ready to upgrade to a new iPhone 16 through work. This will be great to complement my mini, I keep the minimum plan year-round on my inreach but this year during Sept. my buddy ended up forgetting to update his onX and walked like 3 miles past our camp. We were in the wilderness and sent a bunch of messages back and forth figuring out where he ended up. Between that and checking in with the wife about kids sports stuff I ended up with a $80 bill for Sept.
IMO the $80 was well worth it but in the future, it will be nice just to use the messenger for emergencies and use the phone for texting back and forth with the wife about the kids or even searching for a lost buddy. I'll probably drop the year round plan with garmin as well and just activate it in the fall for emergencies. A couple of years of not paying for the inreach will add up.

 

[mtwarden]

A couple of years of not paying for the inreach will add up.

I hope I’m wrong, but I’m expecting satellite texting via cell phones won’t be free for very long.

Sending data via satellite costs $, can’t see cell companies not wanting to recoup those costs.