It’s not just Samsung S25 owners. Now owners of an iPhone from the past few years can satellite text, as well.
Telstra’s expansion to a satellite capable network beyond emergency SOS assistance might plug some of the gaps in the telco’s rural network, especially with the shut down 3G network, but it won’t make much of a dent unless it’s supported by more phones. At its launch, the only phone range that handled satellite messaging on the Telstra network came from the Samsung Galaxy S25 range, including the S25 Ultra and the recent S25 Edge.
However, Samsung’s range isn’t the only phone model that supports satellite connectivity, and hasn’t for years.
Ever since the iPhone 14 rolled out, Apple has technically supported satellite SOS in its phones, and all new models since then. In fact, since the iOS 18.5 update rolled out in May, the iPhone 13 models have also supported satellite communications, expanding the range of devices considerably.
And this weekend (June 7), Telstra has switched on the satellite network for supported iPhones, something we expected would happen when Telstra launched the satellite mobile messaging system earlier this week.
In that time, Telstra notes over 100,000 text messages have been sent using the system, and with the telco turning on support for iPhones over the past few years, more will likely be sent.
Powered by SpaceX satellites on Starlink, that means the Telstra satellite service is now supported by iPhones from the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, including Apple’s least expensive current model, the iPhone 16e.
Telstra customers will still need a post-paid plan in order to use the service, as well as be in a place where a phone is able to get a connection with a satellite. However, is also means more people can try out the satellite text message system, as Telstra no doubt works on getting voice and data added later on down the track.
