Blocking Starlink access in iOS 18.3

xrayman394 wrote:

Thanks!

I strongly suggest NOT updating to 18.3 until we know more, we must try and learn more about this before upgrading.

That's not something you should be recommending to others. Are you a T-Mobile customer who has joined the beta testing for Starlink? If no, I'm not sure why you are concerned at the moment?

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” - Ben Franklin

Leon didn’t invent satellite technology or SAT phones. There are better choices out there that Apple can pick, and using fear and putting families up against our freedom to choose just to bully us into submission is gross.

I am extremely unhappy that Apple or any of the carriers would have anything to do with Musk and Starling, extremely unhappy.

StarLink is not a feature of your phone. It is a feature offered for beta testing by T-Mobile in the US.

• If you don’t have T-Mobile you don’t have it on your phone.
• If you do have T-Mobile and you don’t sign up for the beta test you don’t have it on your phone.
• And, if it ever goes live and you have T-Mobile, you STILL won’t have it on your phone unless you turn it on, as it is a feature of the carrier, not of the iPhone; sort of like switching between LTE and 5G, except there will be an option to chose band N51, which is what StarLink uses, and you don’t have to choose it.
• The above information applies to Android phones, where T-Mobile is also beta testing StarLink.

The satellite emergency service on iPhone 14 and later does NOT use StarLink; it uses a different satellite service.

Kurtosis12 wrote:

The world has only had Cell phones the last few years.

Motorola released their brick cell phone 42 years ago in 1983.

I had my first handheld Motorola flip phone in 1988.

Just turned off my automatic updates…not doing this one until I know I can block starlink access.

If they proceed with this, then we as a family wont be replacing any of out devices with apple. Sad times ! Apple should be actively distancing themselves from musk not getting into bed with him. Given the scale of apple the could and should develop their own technology to do the same job

Incorrect!! - otherwise in my LOCATION SERVICES -> SYSTEM SERVICES -> SATTELITE CONNECTION why do I see the grey arrow? “A grey arrow indicates that an item has used your location in the last 24 hours”

[edit: this is in response to the person who claimed “it doesn’t connect unless you send an sos” - so you can at least turn off location services for satellite]

I find this to be very misleading. It’s T-Mobile and Apple, working together. Apple announced with the most recent iPhone that they would be bringing a satellite feature to their iPhones “in future updates”. T-Mobile has partnered with Apple to beta test the carrier provided option. Apple has already implemented sat access for iphone 14 and later phones. Currently Apple’s sat option is powered by Globalstar. But there is a whole section dedicated to “carrier provided satellite features” on apple support. It makes the most since that Verizon and T-Mobile would follow suit and offer the Sat option, and Starlink is a major powerhouse in that field. But, if Verizon and AT&T see that there’s a major pushback, there is a chance they may not partner with Starlink to avoid alienating customers. There is also a chance that T-Mobile may decide to roll back the feature if enough people refuse it. Based upon what I found in Apple Support though, its very likely Starlink will partner with carriers across the board. And Apple is responsible for allowing T-mobile to partner with Starlink, because they have allowed the software to be implemented on the phone. This isnt an app people download with permissions, although I wish it was. I don’t believe that we can say with any certainty that this isn’t going to happen with other carriers.

KidRockYou wrote:

Just stop. Every internet connection has a modem in between, a cable modem, a telephone modem, a cell modem. All of a sudden, you don’t think Elon is a brilliant guy, and now the fact that three years ago when you liked him, T-Mobile and him collaborated to set a certain hardware standard for cellular modems so they could pick up satellite signals, Which you are definitely Not paying the service for even if Apple iPhones support it, if you want it, you have to go to T-Mobile to pay for it, and since T-Mobile isn’t selling it to anyone but T-Mobile customers right now I really don’t think you have to worry about your day to day data switching to A paid service that currently only T-Mobile has and future companies may provide the service at an even higher price, and if your service provides it, then Apple will give you a way to turn it off, but there’s no activating it unless you have T-Mobile, stop freaking out about someone who decided to give Internet to the entire planet and a cell company that help them do it.

That run on sentence is very hard to parse.

The chance of your Mac connecting to starLink is even lower than the chance of your toaster connecting to StarLink.

jagaird233 wrote:

I don't want my iPhone connected to Musk and anything he is connected to. Will not update. Apple better realign it's priorities.

Since you're not on iOS 18.3, you can't be in the T-Mobile Direct-to-Satellite / Direct-to-Cell beta, which means you're not using SpaceX Starlink.

f you are using iOS 18.3 and are not in the T-Mobile beta, you're not using SpaceX Starlink.

If you are using iOS 18.3 and joined the T-Mobile beta, follow the instructions for exiting the T-Mobile beta.

If you are a T-Mobile customer, discuss your preferences around not using SpaceX Starlink with them.

iOS 18.3 adds the ability to join the T-Mobile beta, something which was previously only open to Android phones.

I'd also suggest reading the previous replies here, but then this repetitive thread is repetitive.

Starlink has partnered with a small group of select cellular carriers worldwide. Here’s the list,

T-Mobile — USA

KDDI — Japan

OPTUS — Australia

One BZ — New Zealand

Salt — Switzerland

Entel — Chile and Peru

Rodgers — Canada

Now what country are you in and who’s your carrier? If it’s not one of the above then you wont be able to connect to Starlink and Starlink can’t connect to your iPhone. The vast majority of the major carriers have already partnered with other satellite services. AT&T and Verizon have partnered with other services. On the odd chance you are subscribing to one of the above carriers, switch carriers.

From T-Mobile:

Please follow these steps to disable Starlink on your device.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone after updating to iOS 18.3.

Visit Cellular > T-Mobile (or other carriers if added in the future)

Toggle off satellite support.

Adrieeee wrote:

I feel Apple sold out. Anyone know anything about Android? We are thinking of moving over to Androids. Any thoughts? Pros and cons?

Read this, then come back and tell us you think Apple sold out or going to Android will accomplish anything --> The Completely Wrong Belief Apple Partner… - Apple Community