LookinforDirt
WKR
For those that have access and have used it, what’s been your experience?
I used mine for the first time yesterday and it was meh. I had to follow the satellite around with my phone to get one message to send. Took awhile to send it, approximately 5 minutes. If I didn’t regularly adjust my phone to point at the satellite it would disconnect. This was while I was 20 feet up in a tree. I gave up on the second message I tried to send while in the tree because I got tired of doing circles following the satellite. On the ground with very little tree cover overhead I tried for a number of minutes and gave up. It was connecting to the satellite but the message never sent. By comparison, my InReach Mini sent messages on the ground, in the tree, and no aiming it all over the sky. Just pressed Send and got back to hiking or hunting. It may have taken just as long to send but I didn’t have to do circles. It was an overcast day but it was overcast for both devices.
I’m glad iPhone/iOS 18 have this feature and it might come in handy at times. But in my limited experience with it, the satellite connection is weak and needing to follow the satellite around with your phone to stay connected is a real pain. Maybe if I just let the phone sit it would have eventually sent as the satellite passed by. Apple will likely improve it over time too. I think many people are hoping to ditch their standalone satellite messaging/emergency device with this feature now available on an iPhone. In its current state though I don’t see the iPhone ready for that responsibility.
I used mine for the first time yesterday and it was meh. I had to follow the satellite around with my phone to get one message to send. Took awhile to send it, approximately 5 minutes. If I didn’t regularly adjust my phone to point at the satellite it would disconnect. This was while I was 20 feet up in a tree. I gave up on the second message I tried to send while in the tree because I got tired of doing circles following the satellite. On the ground with very little tree cover overhead I tried for a number of minutes and gave up. It was connecting to the satellite but the message never sent. By comparison, my InReach Mini sent messages on the ground, in the tree, and no aiming it all over the sky. Just pressed Send and got back to hiking or hunting. It may have taken just as long to send but I didn’t have to do circles. It was an overcast day but it was overcast for both devices.
I’m glad iPhone/iOS 18 have this feature and it might come in handy at times. But in my limited experience with it, the satellite connection is weak and needing to follow the satellite around with your phone to stay connected is a real pain. Maybe if I just let the phone sit it would have eventually sent as the satellite passed by. Apple will likely improve it over time too. I think many people are hoping to ditch their standalone satellite messaging/emergency device with this feature now available on an iPhone. In its current state though I don’t see the iPhone ready for that responsibility.
