Iphone Messaging w/ Satellites in the Backcountry

[bevance]

Is anyone on here been brave enough to go into the backcountry with just the new Iphone satellite messenger alone? I have a garmin inreach that works well, but with their new plan structure and all the fees I am hoping to leave it at home and just use our Iphones..

Dumb or okay idea?? Roast me if I need it haha.

I have tested it out in some remote parts of the east and got messages out to my wife in pretty short time. Connecting to the satellites to use pretty easy to do the few times I have done it.

 

[GunsAreFun]

I don’t have the iPhone 16 with the new satellite tech, but do have satellite messaging.

It is nowhere near as reliable as InReach. It can be faster WHEN it works. Often times it has been slower. It also doesn’t do well in canyons. With the inreach, you can send a message and forget about it. With the phones, you have to point at the satellite, which is annoying and means you can’t really do much else.

The big thing that inreach has is the ability to send tracking points so SAR can greatly narrow down a search area. Also, the one touch SOS is something the phones don’t really have either.

 

[rogerdoger]

Bring the Inreach, the Iphone is not reliable. Last week I was out of service for a week, I decided to play around with the messaging on both Iphone and Inreach. The Iphone I had to walk around for awhile pointing my phone in the sky to try and send a message, only one got sent and I did not receive any. My inreach I turned on, set it on my camp table, took about a minute to connect once turned on (without pointing it anywhere) and could send messaged from the app on my phone and receive pretty quick.

 

[IdahoBeav]

With the new T-mobile starlink service, there is no pointing at a satellite in the sky. The phone works for texting the same as it does in coverage areas, and it works better than In-Reach, quicker and more reliable. It also doesn't send the recipient's phone number to a bunch of spammers like In-Reach does. However, it does not send coordinates with every message like In-Reach does. If you had an accident and were injured, you would need to copy your location coordinates from OnX and paste them into a text message to send out.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

I've used it and there's some feedback in this thread.

TLDR: I don't consider it to be reliable enough at this point to ditch my dedicated satellite device.

Great for communicating with hunting partners without spending your monthly message allocations though.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

There are a few threads going over it including the one linked above. I found it not super reliable. I could get messages out but never could receive during spring bear this year.

 

[Norcal18]

I have T-mobile with Starlink and was in the beta version. I live in Northern CA and with T-mobile had lots of dead zones. Now with the satellite texting it’s just as effective as having regular service. I will be trying it out this fall. My buddy has a Zoleo as back up if we need it. I think with T-mobile it’s an extra $15 a month.

 

[ThorM465]

AST Spacemobile (via your cell provider) and Starlink have proven that they can provide data to standard smart phones. The coverage is nonexistent at this point, but we're probably only a handful of years away from this being an issue of the past. That being said, I'm probably going to pick up a messenger plus this year.

 

[rogerdoger]

Personally, even if the phones get really good I will still carry the inreach. I plug my truck waypoint in the inreach so I can navigate back to truck if phone dies, or still get help if phone dies or breaks.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

I did a 110 mile Kuskokwim River trip at the end of May. Went from Nikolai to McGrath and carried my iPhone and my inreach. I got zero messages to send via satellite messaging with my iPhone.

I want to play with the starlink messaging set up, but haven’t really looked into it yet.

I know I’ll personally use my inreach still. But am looking for the more cost effective method soon.

I’ve since moved to Dillingham and I’ll start playing with the satellite system down here soon.

 

[Natebonebusta]

I used it while prairie dog hunting in Montana. Had to position to link with the satellite and stay positioned if I wanted to receive texts back from NC. It was a fairly easy process and I’m using an iPhone 14 Pro Max.

 

[Dos Perros]

I may be retarded, but is there a way to test functionality before actually going into the backcountry?

 

[go4thegusto]

I used with mixed results on a recent mountain scouting trip. We were in and out of cell service. The satellite link turns off if the phone is detecting a cell signal. This was problematic as you cannot use the iPhone satellite feature in airplane mode is my understanding (go figure).
My wife did receive some texts but it isn't clear if they were received and I did not always get hers back.
Was hoping to get a better take on this as a test for very remote areas without any cell. So far jury is out.
Going to try again in same area this fall but can climb up to cell service if required.

 

[wapitibob]

I may be retarded, but is there a way to test functionality before actually going into the backcountry?

Yes, iphone will default the option once you have zero service. You need the sat/sos icons upper right before it'll let you start the process. Depending where you live it may be easy or hard to get to that zero service area.

 

[Ross]

Started using iPhone messaging last fall. No issues to date in many dark holes. Only reason still packing zoleo is many packer friends don’t have the iPhone messaging capability. Will say when I shot my bull and was butchering well into the night I was using both to text and for a few hours zoleo was down. Texted with the Mrs using messaging and it tended to work quicker than the zoleo when up.

 

[700MtnMan]

I have had good results with the IPhone satellite messaging as well. Still carry the In Reach for backup but I have not used it since the IPhone messaging went live.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I used it exclusively on my spring bear hunt in the frank church and it was awesome. It worked so well that I am dumping my inreach. That country is nasty and I never had a problem finding or connecting to a satellite.

 

[BBob]

It also doesn't send the recipient's phone number to a bunch of spammers like In-Reach does. However, it does not send coordinates with every message like In-Reach does.

Say what? Explain?

 

[IdahoBeav]

Say what? Explain?

Every fall when I receive texts from an in-reach, I start getting a bunch of other texts like the one shown below. I ignore and delete. They slowly become less and less over the months until I get another in-reach text the following fall. The cycle then begins again.

 

[BBob]

Okay. ^^^ I get those constantly year round with no incoming inReach messages to blame it on. I just deleted one an hour ago.