Blocking Starlink access in iOS 18.3

First few posts, let me get the hang of how it works. I’ll even parse it, however I’m used to commenting on articles with limited characters.

Hence, madness occurs as you figure out how to get your point across and periods, spaces, and blank lines use characters.

See, happy now? I knew nothing of this. Someone came up with the idea years ago and has worked to incorporate it into I’m guessing the cellular modem.

I researched it. At first T-Mobile was going to keep it to themselves but decided that Verizon was claiming it could do the same thing, therefore, the CEO of T-Mobile, decided to allow the service to come to other cell carriers for a higher fee. It’s in android, it’s an iPhones, and it could save your life.

However, if your carrier decides to team up with T-Mobile, you will then get the option to disable satellite service just the same as you can turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, roaming, now satellite service too.

This is Political blowback against a man who gave Starlink for free to Ukrainians so they had a fighting chance against Russia in the first months of the war, uncompensated and free, until if memory serves me right, the US government now pays for Ukraine to use it.

Because Apple added support in iOS 18.3, doesn’t mean you get the service. In fact, you’ll have to pay for the service and if all the paranoid people out there who think Elon has time to read their data, such as, “help I’m stranded on a desert Island!“, then you just disable it if your carrier offers it.

QUALCOMM doesn’t spy on your data, when you log into the bank it’s over an encrypted link, and for all I know, this service may be over an encrypted link. Besides, SMS hasn’t had encryption ever. Anyone sending a green message to an android user, should now be aware that message can be read by the cell phone company, or intercepted by the police? Should you be under investigation. Even a bad guy can do it.

This is much about ado. Hope that clears things up a bit, in the future things will be more legible.

Thank you for your input!

Good grief, how about doing some reading before posting your nonsense.

It is not being pushed out to all T-Mobile customers, you have to sign up for the beta version of it.

Letting Apple know accomplishes nothing as they have nothing to do with it.

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]

Hello~ Just to make it clear …Android devices are and have been long capable of this as well. No one’s privacy has been unapologetically violated in any case. You must be with T-Mobile and have signed up. Take care.

~Katana-San~

And you can’t even use it, unless your provider is T-Mobile and you pay a fee.

If you are really that suspicious, Apple gives you the option to turn it off, but only if your carrier Teams up with T-Mobile. That will cost even more hould Verizon offer it.

RFguyTN wrote:

A simple connection to a service doesn’t grant access to the phone’s data. Think about that. Every time you go overseas for travel you are on someone else’s network. Do they steal your data??

You are being perfectly logical; unfortunately, many of the users in this thread have long given up on logical thinking.

How is your privacy violated?

StarLink isn't looking at your data and you have to sign up for it and be using T-Mobile service.

As a data security professional, I have blocked iOS updates on my phone until there’s a way to opt out or block Starlink on my phone. That is not a company who has any respect for data privacy and protection

What on earth are you talking about? StarLink has absolutely nothing to do with tracking. And StarLink is a feature from T-Mobile, of course it wouldn't be listed in an Apple update.

I feel morally obligated to be responsible with who I allow to make a profit off of me. I refuse to allow Elon Musk to make a profit. He profits because he is a major shareholder of SpaceX, who owns Starlink. My morals do not align with Elon Musks behavior and business practices. If many of us refuse to download 18.3, it sends a powerful message to Apple. Apple could possibly then reevaluate if it would continue to be profitable to partner with Starlink. I’m not super concerned about data privacy, thats long gone, but I am concerned about who uses said data for a profit. Sadly, we don’t have much control over that either, but this action makes me feel a little bit more in control over my personal life and boundaries. Simply said, I don't want anything this person has created sitting in my pocket. We pay a lot for our phones, and I think we should have the option to permanently opt out. Ive lived this long without satellite on my phone, and honestly just getting a sat phone and paying for that plan sounds so much more reliable to me.

Hope this helps you understand where I am coming from ☺️

just blessedly happened across a Facebook post

Facebook? You can find posts there that "prove" that the earth is flat, among other ridiculous tales.

Please think about the source of your "information" if you want to make any kind of informed decisions.

Jeff Donald wrote:

Your iPhone has a radio/modem that’s a chip inside your iPhone. It receives specific channels or wavelengths. This is just like the FM radio in your car.

The radio in an iPhone is completely different than the FM radio in your car. For one thing, the iPhone can transmit. So there's that. For another, you can (in theory at least) roll up your windows and listen to the radio in private. No one will ever know what station you are listening to.

The radio connections made by your iPhone are completely different. Every packet of data is tracked from point A to point B, both receiving and transmitting. Your location is tracked too. Someone always knows what data you are sending and what data you are receiving. So the key question here is "who knows"?

T-Mobile has the exclusive rights to the 1900 MHz frequencies. The FCC HAS granted Space X (Starlink) to use that band for direct to cellular service.

What's this obsession with T-Mobile all about anyway? Has no one ever heard of cellular roaming? Unless someone configures their phone in a very specific way, they really have no choice about which cellular data providers their phone is going to communicate with. It's all based on peering agreements, your data plan, distance from towers, over-subscriptions, etc.

Granted, I doubt many people are going to be roaming on T-Mobile. That was always my service of choice when I lived in the US. And boy was it bad. I just didn't need to make a lot of phone calls so I didn't want to pay AT&T prices. But it was annoying to be constantly surrounded by annoying people talking loudly on their cell phones when I could never make a call on my T-Mobile. 😄

If you don’t want Starlink, don’t subscribe to T-Mobile.

What if someone is already 3 months into a 4 year contract? If they're locked into T-Mobile, but want a new phone, and don't want any Starlink connection, then they might need to go Android shopping.

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

Lawrence Finch wrote:

What part of APPLE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH T-MOBILE OFFERING STARLINK don’t you understand?

Apparently the parts that have to do with reality....

If only you had read any of the answers in this 16 page post. You would realize that it's not a Apple who is partnering with Starlink.

But alas, you didn't.