iOS 18 is the next major version of the iPhone operating system which will officially arrive in September with some great new features that we already know about. However, in the first developer beta, there is still no feature shown during last Monday’s keynote. One of the new features that will be available from the launch of iOS 18 is the expansion of Apple’s Satellite technology for sending messages through the Apple Messages app. That is, we can send messages and other content directly from the Messages application even when we don’t have an active Internet connection or mobile data.
Apple’s satellite technology evolves in iOS 18
All iPhones starting with iPhone 14 satellite functions included. Additionally, for the first two years after purchase, Apple offered these features for free and a third year was added a few months later. So, if you buy a new iPhone, you will ensure that you have this technology free for several years. In addition, at the moment Apple has not published information on the prices for using its functions with satellite connectivity, which suggests that it could consider the possibility of keeping the service free.
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These new iOS 18 features are not available in Developer Beta 1
In iOS 17 we already had the possibility to connect to emergency services thanks to the Emergency SOS function via satellite, connect to roadside assistance and even send our location when we didn’t have an internet connection via Wi-Fi or mobile data. Apple wanted to go further in the launch of iOS 18 and extended the satellite function to send messages via iMessage:
With the satellite capabilities of iPhone 14 or later, you can stay connected with friends and family via iMessage or text even without cell service or Wi-Fi. When you text people in iMessage, you’ll also be able to use key features like sending and receiving messages, emoji and Tapbacks. And all your iMessages sent via satellite are end-to-end encrypted.
Like the rest of the satellite functions, They will be available from iPhone 14 as long as you have iOS 18. In addition, thanks to iMessage you can not only send messages but also other types of content such as Emojis or Tapbacks (reactions). Of course, the site does not specify whether this new function will have an additional cost, although everything seems to think that it will continue to be free, at least for the first three years from the purchase of an iPhone 14 or above late. On another side, It is also not confirmed that the function reaches more countries than the United States, as we read on Apple’s official website, although the so-called Emergency SOS via satellite reaches more countries around the world.
