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No option to send messages over satellite

G

Go Amtrak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 11, 2014
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I upgraded a spare iPhone 15 Plus to iOS 18 Public Beta 3. I'm trying to test out the messaging over satellite, but I'm not being given the option to do such.

1. I've tried with both no active sim and an active sim that's temp disabled
2. wifi is turned off
3. I'm able to connect to satellites in the demo mode
4. The satellite option in the control center says unavailable, and I don't get the option to send via satellite when I open the messages app.
5. I don't get the satellite icon next to the battery icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen, only the SOS icon.

Also, Apple just told me that Satellite messages isn't available on the iPhone 15 plus. I know that's not true, is it?
 

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The service might not be available unti iOS 18 releases. The 15 has satellite connection as you found out since you tested it successfully. I am not sure if the texting will be made available for the 15, it might end up pro exclusive. Although I saw no such suggestion so likely you will be able to use it starting with iOS 18 in September when it comes out. If not, you will always be able to use it for an emergency - but please don't rely it on a beta iOS.

If you are ever outside cell reception and have an emergency and just assume the beta will work with the satellite you might end up in a bad situation if the beta broke it.

You need to have a SIM installed, active and airplane mode needs to be disabled. You might want to activate wifi too. Only in these cases can satellite be used. The reason is that Apple wants you to use this service only when you really need it and not just for fun even though you could use your SIM card.

If Apple told you messaging won't be available on the 15 then it might really be limited to the Pro. You can check it probably by watching the iOS 18 announcement video, they might have mentioned it.
 
okkibs said:
The service might not be available unti iOS 18 releases. The 15 has satellite connection as you found out since you tested it successfully. I am not sure if the texting will be made available for the 15, it might end up pro exclusive. Although I saw no such suggestion so likely you will be able to use it starting with iOS 18 in September when it comes out. If not, you will always be able to use it for an emergency - but please don't rely it on a beta iOS.

If you are ever outside cell reception and have an emergency and just assume the beta will work with the satellite you might end up in a bad situation if the beta broke it.

You need to have a SIM installed, active and airplane mode needs to be disabled. You might want to activate wifi too. Only in these cases can satellite be used. The reason is that Apple wants you to use this service only when you really need it and not just for fun even though you could use your SIM card.

If Apple told you messaging won't be available on the 15 then it might really be limited to the Pro. You can check it probably by watching the iOS 18 announcement video, they might have mentioned it.
Click to expand...

  1. Messages via satellite will be available in iOS 18 along with our existing satellite features in the United States on iPhone 14 and later.
Satellite message will be available for iPhone 14/15 as well. But probably not available until general availability.
 
I recently tried sending messages using satellite on my 15 Pro Max with the 18.1 Beta 1 update while I was camping. It worked great! The satellite icon was right next to SOS, and it was super easy to use. If you wanted to send a text message through satellite, you could just tap the bottom of the screen it text messages to enable it. It did take a bit longer to send the message than I expected, but it was still pretty quick.
 
Roll on having this in the Uk, I wanna play with it. Where I live has rubbish signal, like a dead zone, so would be handy for me.
 
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I'm 90% sure that I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure it out. I guess I’ll just wait for the full release.

Also, I realized that the large size iphone 14 and 15 aren’t listed as supported, the Plus and PriMax versions. I first didn’t notice this, so that could be the issue.
 
On my device, I required a satellite icon instead of SOS at the top. SOS allows you to still call 911 on another carrier’s signal, but it was only effective when there was no signal at all. It was only when I had no signal at all that I was able to use satellite for text messaging.
 
Duke: Are you saying that I have to be in an area where there is no service?
Meaning turning of my wifi and cellular isn't good enough?

I ask because I'm going to be in an area where there is a cell carrier, however none of the US carriers have roaming agreements with the local carrier and the rates are "Are you kidding me??!!" high.
 
Go Amtrak said:
Duke: Are you saying that I have to be in an area where there is no service?
Meaning turning of my wifi and cellular isn't good enough?

I ask because I'm going to be in an area where there is a cell carrier, however none of the US carriers have roaming agreements with the local carrier and the rates are "Are you kidding me??!!" high.
Click to expand...

That's correct. Having the possibility of sending a text message via a "land carrier" (no matter the price) disables the option to send messages via satellite.
 
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OK. That clarifies things.

Is there any way to trick the iPhone into thinking there's no service available? I'm going to assume not, but just want to make sure.
 
Go Amtrak said:
OK. That clarifies things.

Is there any way to trick the iPhone into thinking there's no service available? I'm going to assume not, but just want to make sure.
Click to expand...

I haven't found a way yet, no. Maybe it can be done with some configuration profile but I haven't seen that documented anywhere so far.
 
Satellite texting is supposed to be for emergencies, not inconveniences (cost factor or bad signal)…
 
I think this is the one singular feature I'm most excited about with this release than anything else. I just got back from a camping trip and I used up all of my allotted messages on my Satellite comms device in a matter of minutes and I couldn't get a weather report when we really needed it. I wonder if there will be a message limit with this feature but I haven't seen or heard anything saying that it's capped at all.
 
There is no way I know of to get it to work by turning cellular off etc. Apple did this to keep people from bogging down and playing with the limited satellite network. I was on the SF underground Muni where there was no reception and I got the satellite icon and options when trying to compose a message but obviously could not test it as no view of the sky. Only way to test this is to go out in the middle of no where, where there is no reception which I'm not going to do.
 
richard371 said:
Only way to test this is to go out in the middle of no where, where there is no reception which I'm not going to do.
Click to expand...
Assuming iOS 18 releases before my hiking trip in a few weeks, I'll have plenty of time out of cell service to test this out and I'm very much looking forward to it!
 
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