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Samsung is prepping its phones for satellite communication (APK teardown)

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5 months ago

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Samsung is prepping its phones for satellite communication (APK teardown)

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Samsung Android apps show early signs of preparing for satellite communications.
  • Not all Samsung apps will support satellites, and you may be pointed to alternatives.
  • Evidence suggests communications may not be limited to emergencies only.

Satellite connectivity is coming to smartphones. Recent iPhones already have it for emergency services, and over the last few months we’ve been tracking the progress that Android 15 has been making towards getting it ready for our favorite platform. As we wait to see how the plans of Google and carriers alike end up coming together, we’re checking out some of the preparations one OEM has been making to get its own devices ready for the age of smartphones talking to satellites.

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.

We’ve been looking through a bunch of Samsung apps, hoping to spot any promising changes, when some text strings clearly related to supporting communication over satellite links caught our eye:

Emergency SOS | 15.5.00.14

Code

Emergency texts via satellite
If you call emergency services when you’re out of range or not connected to a mobile network, we’ll connect you via satellite so you can send an emergency text

Samsung Messages | 15.5.10.39

Code

Satellite mode not supported
Samsung Messages doesn't support satellite messaging. To send and receive texts via satellite, you need to make Google Messages your default messaging app.

Code

You're in satellite mode. You can send text messages, including to 911. Emergency calls may still connect if a mobile network is available near you.
Send message
You can send and receive text messages in Satellite mode. Emergency calls may still connect if a mobile network is available near you.

It’s interesting to see that Samsung’s approach is split between support and awareness; while the company appears to be building satellite support directly into some of its apps, others — like Messages — are preparing to redirect users to Google’s own solutions. That’s an interesting divide, and we’re curious if this is something of Samsung’s choosing, or an unavoidable consequence of Google’s implementation of satellite messaging in Android 15.

Samsung has long been enthusiastic about satellite communication for Galaxy phones, but actually delivering on that enthusiasm has been a tougher ask. Hopes for Galaxy S23 satellite support failed to materialize, and while things were sounding good for satellite on the Galaxy S24, we’ve similarly been left waiting.

While that’s definitely been disappointing, the work on software development we’re seeing today absolutely suggests that Samsung has not given up on those dreams, and that satellite connectivity is coming to Galaxy phones. Which Galaxy phones, and when — both very, very good questions, and ones we expect to start getting answers to as Android 15 formally lands in just a few more weeks.

What we can see here gives us reason to be hopeful, already. Some of the text strings appear to reinforce the idea we’ve looked at before that satellite messaging on Android won’t be limited to one-way emergency communication, and could even work largely like regular text messaging — that happens to travel through space.

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