Android is preparing a hub for all your satellite-connected apps

A few years ago, taking an Android phone into an area without cell service meant you were completely cut off — unable to text friends, family, or even emergency services. Today, however, you wouldn’t be so disconnected thanks to satellite connectivity, a feature that links your phone directly to satellites orbiting Earth.

Google introduced platform support for satellite connectivity in last year’s Android release, though the feature was initially limited to emergency messaging. The technology has advanced significantly since then, however, paving the way for features like WhatsApp calling and live location sharing even without cellular coverage.

As satellite support becomes a larger part of the Android ecosystem, Google is working on new menus to help you take advantage of it in a future OS update. These changes include a Quick Settings tile that tells you if the feature is available, as well as a new page that lists every app capable of utilizing satellite networking.

While I was digging into the latest 2512 Android Canary release, I uncovered a new toggle under Settings > System > Developer Options > Quick Settings developer tiles labeled “Satellite.” Enabling this adds a dedicated Satellite tile to the Quick Settings panel with three potential states: On, Available, and Not available. Curiously, on my Pixel 9, this tile remains stuck on “Not available” despite the hardware definitely supporting satellite connectivity.

A deeper look at the code explains why: the tile specifically checks if your current cellular plan supports carrier roaming NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks). This feature allows your phone to connect to satellite networks through your standard plan, treating them essentially as roaming partners. Since my current T-Mobile plan doesn’t include satellite access, the system marks the tile as unavailable.

Fortunately, tapping the tile still works, taking me to a new “Satellite connectivity” landing page in Settings. While this page features the same “Try a demo” button and intro graphic found in the “Pixel Satellite SOS” menu (under Settings > Safety & emergency), it adds a new section listing all available “satellite apps.” On my Pixel 9, this currently includes Emergency SOS, Messages, Find Hub, Maps, and Settings. Tapping “Emergency SOS” launches the Phone app with emergency services pre-dialed, while the others open their respective applications. The “More about satellite connectivity” link at the bottom is currently broken as it points to a Settings page that isn’t live in this Canary build.

You might notice that WhatsApp is missing from that list, despite Google’s announcement that the app supports satellite voice and video calls. Curious about this omission, I examined the code and found the answer: the system displays a different app list depending on whether your device and plan support LTE-based or NB (Narrowband) NTN. NB-NTN is generally too slow for anything beyond emergency messaging and location tracking, whereas LTE-based NTN offers the bandwidth necessary for general texting and voice calls.

According to the code, if my Pixel 9 supported LTE-based NTN, the list would expand to include:

• AccuWeather
• Emergency SOS
• Google Maps
• Google Messages
• Google Weather
• Personal Safety
• Settings
• Snapchat
• WhatsApp
• X

Since we only officially know about satellite support for Google Maps, Messages, and WhatsApp, the presence of AccuWeather, Google Weather, Snapchat, and X suggests satellite support for these apps is coming in the near future. I suspect Snapchat and X will utilize satellite for calling features similar to WhatsApp, while the two weather apps will likely fetch updates over the network. Meanwhile, the inclusion of Personal Safety suggests that “Emergency Sharing” features will also work over satellite. It is unclear why Find Hub is missing from this extended list, but its absence is likely just an oversight in the current code.

Although the Satellite tile and landing page are technically functional in the latest Android Canary release, they likely won’t be available to the public for some time. Currently, the tile appears only when you enable the specific developer option. While this could imply it is intended solely for testing, the linked landing page is clearly designed for end users, so I would be surprised if it doesn’t eventually become generally available. Alternatively, Google might decide to hide the tile but make the page accessible through a different entry point in Settings. We’ll have to keep an eye on future Android Canary releases to see how the feature evolves.