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TechRadar

Alex Blake

T-Mobile boosts its Starlink satellite service with support for more apps and phones, but quietly loses a Google Photos perk

Google Mobile (Organization) Google Photos Samsung TMobile Google One Apple

A man typing a message into a phone, next to a woman walking in the wilderness talking on her phone, next to a Starlink Mini.

T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service is now available for more apps
It lets you use some major apps when connected to a satellite
T-Mobile has also shuttered its exclusive Google One storage deals

T-Mobile has been offering Starlink connectivity to its customers for a few months now, and the T-Satellite service gives you a way to contact people and connect to the internet when mobile data isn’t available. It’s just been updated to add satellite connectivity to a suite of popular apps, making them more useable when you’re off the grid and away from cell towers.

Posting on its blog, T-Mobile announced that multiple apps will feel the benefits. That includes AllTrails, AccuWeather, CalTopo, Google Maps, onX, T-Life, WhatsApp and X. That expands the number of apps that can tap into satellite service, and those options join several device-native apps – like Apple Music, Google Messages, Pixel Weather and more – that were already compatible.

And improvements haven’t just come on the software side, as T-Mobile has added 17 more phones that will now work with T-Satellite. That includes Apple’s iPhone Air and third-generation iPhone SE, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and more. There’s a full list on T-Mobile’s support page, but you can scroll down to the end of this story for the full list of new models.

Note that when you’re hooked up to a satellite, you’re unlikely to get the full-fat experience that you’re used to with these apps. In most cases, your connection will likely be slower than when you’re on mobile data or Wi-Fi, and certain features might be unavailable.

T-Satellite is included in T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond and Go5G Next plans. If you’re on a different plan or are a customer of a rival cell provider, you can still sign up for $10 a month. You also need to have a smartphone that is capable of connecting to satellites, which includes the iPhone 13 or later, the Samsung Galaxy S21 or later, and the Google Pixel 9a or later (support for the Pixel 9 is “coming soon,” T-Mobile says).

Something gained, something lost

It’s not all good news for T-Mobile customers, though. At the same time as it was expanding its T-Satellite offering, T-Mobile and Google have quietly ditched an exclusive Google One membership tier that included unlimited full-resolution image storage in Google Photos.

This deal allowed T-Mobile customers to access a special Google Photos perk when subscribing to a Google One membership through their cell provider. Ordinarily, paying $9.99 a month would get you 2TB of total storage on Google’s servers.

If you signed up through T-Mobile, however, this would be supplemented with unlimited Google Photos storage – at full resolution, no less. There were also lower tiers that came with additional storage compared to the regular Google One offering.

Sadly, those deals are no longer available to new customers, as of September 30. If you’re a current user of this service, though, you can keep using it, providing you don’t cancel it.

If you’re looking for a new place to store your photos, you still have other options, from the best Google Photos alternatives to the best cloud storage for photos. Make a good choice and your images will be safe and sound, even without T-Mobile’s Google One storage tier.

And if you're interesting in trying that Starlink connectivity from T-Mobile, here's that full list of the new phones that are supported: