Those of us with tiny T-Rex arms will have to hope the smaller Watch still has enough power to use Starlink direct-to-cell
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Apple Watch Ultra 3 Will Support Texting via Satellite
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It's a feature I hope to never use on my iPhone.
Nevertheless, it's good to know it's there when I leave city limits.
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Please tell me how to enable Satellite messaging on my S10 Apple Watch or iPhone 13 mini.
I’ll probably never be anywhere without cell service AND without my iPhone. I often use my cellular watch without my iPhone, but not when I go hiking or jogging in the middle of nowhere.
This is a little morbid, but one nice feature of that could be the watch could detect your heart stopped and alert authorities to where you are. There are a lot of people who die in accidents (e.g. hiking) whose bodies are never found. We have a local case now of a Canadian who went hiking in the Adirondack Mountains over ten days ago and disappeared. He probably is deceased, but it could take a long long time to find his body with conditions like four feet of snow on the ground. It would save the family a lot of anguish and forest rangers a lot of risk to know where he was.
I just replaced my Series 6 with an Ultra 2 within the last month. Ultra 2 is supposed to give 36 hours battery life. I'm getting 48+ so far without using cellular. The larger size is perfect for my aging eyes.
I traded my Ultra in when I got my phone this go around, but I picked up a S10 as a potential holdover candidate until Ultra 3. It’s nice going back to a slimmer model after two years of the bulk, although I appreciate the bulky design too. Rocking jet black with my orange alpine loop 😎
I actually used this camping a few times already and it wasn’t on a cellular plan for me. I’m happy they got in early on it.
That can't be the only improvement. Maybe more details will emerge. Why not throw in the newest SOC (S10)? If it's only satellite texting, not really much of an upgrade IMO.
A lot of places I trail run have no cell reception, so this would be a nice feature to have in case of emergencies. There are plenty of places nearby civilization with spotty cell reception.
I'm confused -- why would you bother to bring your phone if there is no cell service??
I'm confused -- why would you bother to bring your phone if there is no cell service??
Which carriers are using SpaceX?
i can use SpaceX for cell phone now ? don't need local towers ?
You don't have to do anything at all as long as your device has LTE. Your carrier just signs an agreement with SpaceX. T-Mobile already has within the US. Other carriers are signed on in other parts of the world. Part of the agreement is that carriers make it available to all their customers at no extra cost to them.
T-Mobile is signed on in the US.
No need for local towers.
SpaceX isn't offering their satellite-to-existing-LTE-devices capability direct to consumers yet. You could buy one of their satellite dishes and sign up for a plan with them, but that hardware is bulky and meant to be an alternative to cable or competing satellite internet.
I was planning to replace with ultra 2, but the S6 display popped up and Apple replaced it under AC. My next AW is Definetly ultra. Enjoy your ultra. 2.
I do too, but my point is I think the cross section of wilderness where satellite is needed and those who go there is small, and if you are that far out you are probably bringing an an actual satellite device. If your not and you already have an iPhone with the capability it seems more like a redundancy more than anything else. Maybe there are special cases where you can go frequently to areas that are near enough that it doesn't warrant a separate dependable device but far enough to not have cell service? Idk why anyone would risk going to such a place without a (presumably) iPhone and again then it would be a redundancy. It might be a different case if the watch had a battery with cell service that lasted a much longer time but thats not the case. For example if im out running or even camping on trail with my ultra alone I think thats a risk as it stand right now, even it they add satellite I think its a bad idea idea to rely on it. Not trying to diminish the use case because I welcome more capability but I don't see the huge value add others do I guess.
On a more personal note; during those multi day ultra marathons in the wilderness there is a reason they use mostly a garmin or Coros with a live track feature, a cellphone and battery packs. It's simply more dependable. I (and im sure most athletes0 would never look at a garmin again if the AWU could though something like that, with or without the need for a tethered phone and cell/satellite service.
But maybe im being pessimistic, Apple usually has their own spin on things. maybe they implement a super efficient live track like feature. use some sort of AI to efficiently send receive certain types of prioritized messages and choose the right communication tech to send/receive. Maybe the chipset I the AWU3 is 2nm and super efficient with battery. I hope they get better and better because honestly the other manufactures of fitness and smartwatches are pretty terrible by comparison (and I have and use some of them).
iPhone 13 and earlier doesn’t have the satellite. I use a 13 PM, and probably wont upgrade till IPhone 19. I am looking for upgrading my S6 to AW ultra. Not every one has latest iPhones, and AW would be great. You don’t need to go in to wilderness far out to lose cell coverage. I lose cell coverage in the mountains 30 mins from my home.
You are in Apple Watch engineering and know all the details about it.. 👍 right..