Details are still fuzzy, but Apple is reportedly working on an API for app developers that will enable them to use the company’s satellite services. It’s just one of several new satellite-centric features reportedly in the works for iPhone.
Since the launch of the iPhone 14 in 2022, Apple has utilized 24 satellites traveling at 16,000 miles per hour in low-Earth orbit to connect iPhones for its Emergency SOS feature. A few more features have been added over the years (more on those below), but a Bloomberg report has revealed that Apple intends to markedly ramp up the use of satellites in space for iPhone apps and tools, dramatically changing how people in remote locations (or just cell service dead zones) use their iPhones.
In development at Apple is an API (Application Programming Interface) that app developers can use to connect their apps to satellites, enabling those apps to function even when there’s no cell tower service.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that the use of this API will be down to the app developers, and not all features will work with satellite connections. Additionally, the report notes that Apple plans to integrate satellite connectivity into Apple Maps, which has the obvious benefit of allowing users to determine their location even when cellular service is unavailable. One might imagine that being stranded on a desert island is even less likely a scenario now.
Satellite features have been expanding
The add-ons are growing, and there are more to come
While the Emergency SOS feature was the first application of satellite technology on the iPhone, Apple added AAA roadside service in September 2023, regardless of whether someone was an AAA member or not. In June 2024, with the launch of iOS 18, Apple added satellite-based texting.
Three other satellite-centric upgrades are reportedly being worked on and may come to iPhones in the future:
- You may be able to send photos in addition to text messages via satellite.
- Right now, if you want to connect to the satellite network, you have to turn off your cell service, go outside and turn left and right a few times to connect. Apple is reportedly improving this process. Here’s how Gurman explains it: “The company aims to let users stay connected while their iPhone is in a pocket, car or even indoors — eliminating the need to physically point the device toward the sky.”
- According to a recent report in The Information, Apple could begin supporting 5G networks that are comprised of satellites as soon as early 2026. This means that your iPhone could access the full internet, not just texting, via a satellite-based 5G connection.
Does Apple have enough satellites to handle more features?
Enter Elon Musk
The expansion of satellite-based services on the iPhone raises the question: Will Apple increase the number of satellites it uses? It currently uses Globalstar satellites, a company that is in talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX about a potential sale.
As The Information reported earlier this year, when Emergency SOS debuted in 2022, Elon Musk pitched Apple leaders on the idea that iPhones could use SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to provide satellite connectivity. Musk, reportedly, wanted Apple to choose his company over Globalstar.
The eccentric tech billionaire reportedly gave Apple three days to decide, but Apple eventually rebuffed his offer. There is, of course, a subplot here: if Apple had said no to Musk, he would have created a phone-to-satellite service as a form of competition. That threat came to fruition when T-Mobile launched its “T-Satellite” backup, a lightweight service for mobile phones that couldn’t find a 4G or 5G signal.
In the years since Apple turned down Musk’s offer, SpaceX’s Starlink network has become an even more prominent market leader in satellite communications technology, with more than 10,000 small satellites launched into orbit. Interestingly, The Information also reports that SpaceX is adjusting its Starlink satellite designs to support the same radio spectrum that Apple uses for iPhone satellite features.
Although they were unable to form a partnership earlier this decade, it appears that Musk and Apple may be collaborating soon. The new satellite features reportedly coming to the iPhone are our biggest hint yet.