RIP Garmin Inreach … iPhones to allow satellite messages in ios18

[TheTone]

Elk hunted with a buddy last fall that was constantly on his inreach and iPhone satellite for texting his employees. After day 1 I was ready to throw both of them off a cliff. Sometimes people need a break from tech

 

[BobT1105]

My AT&T IPhone 17 works okay for casual satellite text messaging, I would rather have a Garmin for emergency use.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

My buddy sold his inReach on FB right before the season last year thinking that he’d cash out on the device/subscription and rely on iPhone sat msg

He has since regretted that decision. Here’s the major drawbacks:

- No group messaging
- Waiting on satellites constantly to send / receive. Lots of latency
- You have to leave your phone unlocked to message (no multitasking with OnX)
- No redundancy
- Battery draw
- Basically missed opportunities because the rest of the group was on InReach and we’d forget to text him / wait on satellites to do so