Testing the iPhone Satellite Messenger: It’s Not Ready for Life or Death Situations in the Backcountry

I used to be stunned after I first learn reviews that Apple was teaming up with Globalstar to supply satellite tv for pc messaging companies on the iPhone 14 and newer fashions. I had final used a Globalstar-powered satellite tv for pc messenger, an earlier model of the SPOT Gen4, a decade in the past whereas climbing the Pacific Crest Path. The thought was to ship day by day check-ins to my mother and father, to allow them to know I used to be OK. However what occurred was that the gadget repeatedly didn’t ship check-ins, typically for a number of days in a row (this didn’t go over effectively with my mother). My subsequent satellite tv for pc messenger buy was a Garmin InReach Mini, which makes use of the satellite tv for pc community owned by Globalstar’s competitor, Iridium. 

My expertise was not distinctive, which is why Iridium-based Garmin and Zoleo units dominate within the backcountry at the moment. However the temptation to dump an expensive subscription plan — most satellite tv for pc messenger plans cost upwards of $100 a 12 months — is large on condition that, for now, Apple isn’t charging for its service. Backpackers and backcountry hunters carry satellite tv for pc messengers primarily to contact the frontcountry in case of an emergency, so a reliable satellite tv for pc community is important. Would Apple’s satellite tv for pc messenger service on the Globalstar community be dependable sufficient within the backcountry to warrant canceling my Garmin subscription? Would it not be dependable sufficient to wager my security on? We determined to check it.   

How We Examined the New iPhone Satellite tv for pc Messenger

In July, previous to the discharge of satellite tv for pc messaging on the iPhone, I ran a take a look at of the best satellite messengers on the Outside Life annual backpacking gear testing journey. We examined two Garmin inReaches (Iridum), a Zoleo (Iridum), an ACR Bivy (Iridium), and two SPOT fashions (Globalstar) alongside the Pacific Crest Path in Washington State’s Goat Rock Wilderness that included each forested and alpine stretches. For this take a look at, I had members of the workforce press the check-in button for every satellite tv for pc messenger on the identical time, from the identical location. This issues as a result of your means to hook up with a satellite tv for pc messenger is affected not solely by your bodily location — being below tree cowl or inside a canyon reduces the percentages of connecting to a satellite tv for pc — but in addition the situation of the satellites themselves. Not like cellphone towers and even the upper orbit satellites that energy tv broadcasts, the satellites used for messengers are consistently shifting, which helps guarantee customers are capable of join with one. 

Over 5 exams from 5 completely different places, each the Zoleo and the Garmin units efficiently transmitted their messages, with the longest lag time being 14 minutes for the Zoleo gadget. (I used to be unable to substantiate receipt of the ACR’s messages, sadly, as they had been despatched to my spam folder and subsequently deleted.) Each SPOT units — the SPOT X and the SPOT Gen4 — didn’t ship one of many messages after efficiently connecting to a satellite tv for pc. 

On the time we had been below heavy tree cowl, which may pose a problem to satellite tv for pc messengers. As a result of the SPOT Gen4 is a one-way transmitter, it might solely confirm that it had linked to the satellite tv for pc (which it did), not that the message was acquired on the opposite facet. The SPOT X, alternatively, indicated that it was unable to confirm whether or not the message had been acquired (though not that it had didn’t ship). As a way to textual content from the backcountry, that is annoying. As a way for reassuring family members that you’re OK, it’s irritating. As a probably life-saving piece of substances, it’s disqualifying. 

Globalstar owns SPOT, which made it troublesome to determine what the true subject was: the {hardware} that backpackers had been utilizing on the bottom, or the satellite tv for pc community itself. However nonetheless, the outcomes made us suspicious of the Globalstar community that Apple has now adopted.

In an effort to take a look at the reliability of Apple’s new satellite tv for pc messenger, OL govt editor Natalie Krebs headed to the Utah wilderness with a satellite-enabled iPhone 15 Professional, the SPOT Gen4, and the Garmin inReach Mini 2. Like with the unique satellite tv for pc messenger take a look at, the thought was to ship a message out from all three units on the identical time of day, from the identical location. Would the satellite tv for pc messaging on the iPhone 15 reliably ship out messages, just like the Iridium-enabled Garmin inReach Mini 2? Or wouldn’t it drop messages just like the Globalstar-owned SPOT? 

Take a look at Outcomes

Just like the backpacking gear take a look at, Krebs despatched messages from a variety of places, together with BLM, NPS, USFS, and nationwide monument land. And like with the backpacking gear take a look at, there was one missed message from the units utilizing the Globalstar community, and none from the Iridium community. In that occasion, the iPhone acquired via 90 p.c of the loading course of earlier than making an attempt to modify to an SMS message and offering a “Not Delivered” failed notification. Krebs reported that throughout the third take a look at, when the Globalstar community appeared to falter, she was positioned within a shallow canyon. 

Krebs adopted up this testing on the finish of her searching journey by sending a message from each a deeper canyon (Examine-In 15), in addition to a second stab on the shallow canyon (Examine-In 16). The Garmin inReach Mini 2 efficiently despatched messages from each places. Each messages from the SPOT Gen4 had been delayed by 10 minutes. The iPhone satellite tv for pc message took 70 minutes to ship its message from the deep canyon, and 20 minutes to ship its message from the shallow canyon (in comparison with the Garmin InReach). The timestamps and loading bars from Krebs’ iPhone gave no indication that there had been any sort of delay.

Right here’s a full breakdown of the testing outcomes with the iPhone satellite tv for pc messenger.

Globalstar investigated the dropped messages and says the lacking SPOT X message from our backpacking gear take a look at truly despatched efficiently (though we by no means acquired it). Whether or not this occasion represents an anomaly or there’s one thing interfering with Globalstar’s floor stations and the ultimate recipient is unclear. They did verify that Krebs’ message from the SPOT Gen4 didn’t transmit. Past that, Globalstar didn’t reply to questions for this story as of press time.

How Satellite tv for pc Networks Work

The satellites maintained by Globalstar and Iridium are low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. These satellites aren’t any increased up than 1500 kilometers (930 miles) above Earth’s floor, and usually nearer to 500 miles. The benefit to having satellites this low is that it permits units with smaller antennas, comparable to satellite tv for pc messengers or smartphones, to achieve them. The drawback is that there shall be occasions when your satellite tv for pc messenger doesn’t have a transparent line of sight with the satellite tv for pc — assume canyons or mountainous areas. Tree cowl additionally poses a problem to satellite tv for pc messengers.

In fact, mountains and canyons and forests are the place Outside Life readers would most like their satellite tv for pc messengers to work. To resolve for this drawback, Globalstar and Iridium each designed their satellites as a shifting array. However that’s the place their similarities finish. 

How the Iridium Community Works

Iridium designed their community with 66 satellites in concentric orbits across the poles, touring at speeds of 17,000 miles per hour. As a result of the satellites are at all times shifting, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than they become visible on the opposite facet of the mountain or overhead the place you’re trekking via a canyon. As soon as your gadget connects to the satellite tv for pc, it could actually transmit a message.

However that’s simply step one within the course of; the second is getting your message to a floor station the place it may be routed to the proper recipient, whether or not that’s your partner or emergency companies. Identical to sending a message as much as a satellite tv for pc, the satellite tv for pc will need to have line of sight with a floor station to finish the message ship. Iridium has 4 floor stations, in Tempe, Arizona; Fairbanks, Alaska; Svalbard, Norway; and Punta Arenas, Chile. Satellites which can be too distant to rapidly join with a floor station will relay their messages to different satellites as a substitute — typically hopscotching to as many as six completely different satellites earlier than reaching line of sight with a floor station. 

How the Globalstar Community Works

Globalstar makes use of a unique design fully. Their array is ready at a slant across the earth, in order that their 24 satellites can nonetheless cowl 80 p.c of the globe. Not like Iridium, these satellites can’t talk with one another. Globalstar, nevertheless, has considerably extra floor stations than Iridium — 28 in complete — such that, in accordance with Globalstar, there may be primarily no delay in getting the messages again to the bottom.

One thing to remember about these satellite tv for pc arrays is that they don’t seem to be simple to vary. Chirag Patel, director of undertaking administration for Globalstar, instructed me that their satellites are designed to final a minimal of 10 years, with some which were in orbit for so long as 18 years. Iridium shared that they’ve 9 spares at the moment in orbit, in order that if one of many satellites of their array breaks down, they will swap in a backup with out the necessity to launch new satellites into orbit. 

Globalstar’s view is that by placing a larger emphasis on their floor stations the corporate will be extra nimble within the face of technological modifications. 

“If the know-how modifications tomorrow, you’re not going to have the ability to launch a brand new satellite tv for pc tomorrow,” Patel says, explaining Globalstar’s option to comparatively deemphasize the satellite tv for pc portion of its satellite tv for pc community. “So as a substitute of me altering a satellite tv for pc, I might change the infrastructure on the bottom to include the newest and biggest [technological advantages] … The satellite tv for pc turns into extra of a mirror that simply sends and receives the knowledge. It’s a dumb pipe, is one other method of taking a look at it.” 

In accordance with Globalstar, eliminating the necessity for a message to hop round to completely different satellites signifies that the message will get to its supposed recipient sooner. In our testing, Apple’s messages did usually land at their vacation spot a minute or two earlier than Garmin’s.

World Protection

For Iridium, the purpose is full protection. 

“Most individuals don’t cowl the poles as a result of they don’t assume there’s a lot enterprise there available,” Tim Final, senior vice chairman for Iridium, tells me. “We do due to the character of what we do and the forms of prospects we serve.” 

Iridium’s view that its community was more practical at world protection was shared by Globalstar. 

“The one factor we don’t cowl is the North Pole and the South Pole,” Patel says. “[Our network] covers greater than 99 p.c of the worldwide inhabitants.” 

Apple, in contrast, states on its web site that its “satellite tv for pc connectivity won’t work in locations above 62-degree latitude, comparable to northern components of Alaska.” 

Due to its community design, Iridium is ready to present higher protection to extra distant components of the world. 

“We’ve misplaced rely of the variety of partnerships and sponsorships and nice tales we’ve had from the worldwide exploration group. Folks rowing throughout the Atlantic, strolling to the South Pole,” says Final. “That is the bread and butter of Iridium’s community.” 

The skilled hunters and adventurers we all know in Alaska nearly universally go for messenger units on the Iridium community, as a result of problem in connecting to Globalstar’s satellites. 

Different Points with the iPhone Satellite tv for pc Messenger

Krebs famous throughout her testing that when she had even one bar of service, even when it wasn’t enough to ship a traditional textual content message, the satellite tv for pc messenger choice was not out there. Switching to airplane mode on this occasion didn’t assist, because the satellite tv for pc messenger doesn’t work in airplane mode. One other quirk is that the iPhone directs you to orient the gadget in a selected course towards the sky when in use, possible because of the smaller measurement of its inner antenna. (Apple despatched me a press launch in response to my request for an interview, however didn’t reply to follow-up questions. Globalstar additionally declined to debate its partnership with Apple.)

In a single disturbing occasion that was not part of our official testing protocol, Krebs tried to resend two messages via her iPhone satellite tv for pc messenger {that a} contact hadn’t responded to. After copying and pasting the primary one, she went again to her message historical past and located that each of the unique messages had vanished. 

When Krebs initially arrange satellite tv for pc messaging on her iPhone, we had been each stunned to find that whereas she might ship a message to my cellphone — a Google Pixel — I might not be capable of reply to her. That is in distinction to present two-way satellite tv for pc messengers, together with all Garmin units and the SPOT X, the place a frontcountry recipient can reply through textual content or electronic mail from any gadget. This can be partly as a result of Apple has determined to not go for a standards-based know-how. 

Whereas previously, satellite tv for pc messaging was enabled by completely different and proprietary satellite tv for pc know-how, Final, the Iridium govt, says that lately satellite tv for pc and mobile corporations have agreed on a regular that permits their tech to be appropriate. Final says that after a cope with Qualcomm for a proprietary service failed to achieve traction, Iridium moved towards a standards-based strategy that will allow its satellites to hook up with a wide range of units. 

“What Apple is doing with Globalstar is definitely proprietary,” Final says. “The explanation they partnered with Globalstar, frankly, is that Globalstar was an organization that was determined to make a cope with Apple.” 

Whereas Globalstar is Iridium’s solely actual competitor in LEO satellites, Final was dismissive of their partnership with Apple. 

“[Globalstar] would comply with bend their satellite tv for pc community to something that Apple wished,” Final says. “It’s not as a result of [Globalstar was] probably the most dependable community. It’s not as a result of they’re the market chief. It’s as a result of [Apple] noticed a chance to trial and take a look at this know-how and to take action with any person that had the proper of spectrums, an L-band and S-band spectrum, and had some satellites up there.” 

Globalstar lately acquired approval from the FCC to launch an up to date satellite tv for pc array into area (this despite an attempt on SpaceX’s part to delay it). It will add further capabilities to Globalstar’s community, and in addition develop the community to 32 satellites. Apple is lending Globalstar $252 million to assist in making this happen, however that doesn’t imply Globalstar is abandoning the SPOT units. 

“Our final set of satellites had been launched in 2010,” Patel instructed me. “Timing-wise, it sort of labored out. We’re about to launch our subsequent era of satellites right here quickly. We’ve our spectrum, it’s an incredible spectrum, and on the identical time we’ve got our present prospects … so we’ve got to take care of backwards compatibility.” (Patel instructed me he couldn’t discuss who Globalstar’s different partnerships had been with.)

We’ll be watching to see how Globalstar’s satellite tv for pc refresh, or different updates from Apple sooner or later, assist to convey Globalstar-powered satellite tv for pc messengers, together with the iPhone, as much as the identical commonplace of reliability because the Iridium-based ones. Final, nevertheless, was not involved in regards to the competitors posed by the iPhone for Iridium-enabled satellite tv for pc messengers. 

“At this time they’re providing the service principally freed from cost. Whether or not anyone will ever pay for that form of functionality on Apple is anybody’s guess. We’re thinking about prospects that truly pay us for the service, whether or not they be on Android, iPhone, or anyplace else for that matter.”

Closing Ideas

Based mostly on our testing and analysis, outdoorsmen and ladies who’re headed into the backcountry mustn’t cancel their inReach or Zoleo subscriptions. When you get misplaced or injured past cell service, a satellite tv for pc messenger on the Iridium community is what you need. It might save your life, or one in all your buddy’s lives. Nevertheless, Apple’s iPhone satellite tv for pc messenger is healthier than nothing and it’s price putting in as a backup or for informal outings if you unexpectedly end up with out cell service. 

I wouldn’t be stunned if among the points with Apple iPhone’s satellite tv for pc messenger, comparable to its failure to activate except you’re in an entire useless zone, are resolved in future iOS updates or newer fashions of the iPhone. Globalstar’s community is one other subject. The first function of a satellite tv for pc messenger is to ship your GPS location within the occasion you want rescuing. All the remainder of it — climate forecasts or sending voice memos or facilitating group chats — is window dressing. 

That being stated, as a non-lifesaving piece of substances, Krebs did recognize having satellite tv for pc messenger capabilities on her iPhone. “Total, I used to be impressed with the iPhone sat messaging,” she instructed me. “It gave me a whole lot of suggestions about use it and labored as anticipated more often than not.” (Krebs did word that, as a result of she was additionally utilizing her iPhone for onX monitoring, topo maps, and photographs, the battery depleted far more rapidly than her inReach Mini 2, which stayed above 50 p.c for your complete week.) If in case you have an iPhone 14 or a more recent mannequin, it’s best to completely do this tech out. 

And if you happen to don’t, there shall be loads of competitors to Apple’s satellite tv for pc messaging capabilities within the close to future.

“There are going to be numerous new era satellite tv for pc applications over the following ten years,” says Final. “You’re going to see standards-based telephones, monitoring units all be capable of use satellites.”

Garmin is already providing Iridum-powered SOS companies on Google’s newest Pixel cellphone. Starlink is slated to supply T-Cellular prospects with satellite tv for pc messaging entry within the very close to future. AT&T is partnering with AST SpaceMobile to construct out their very own space-based broadband community. Even Iridium itself is growing a product for this area, which it expects to be out there by the top of subsequent 12 months. Regardless of the present points with the iPhone’s satellite tv for pc messaging capabilities, “off-grid” is effectively on its strategy to turning into an anachronism.