Expansion of Telstra's mobile-to-satellite services means you can now use popular messaging apps in the remotest corners of Australia. Source: GeminiTelstra has allowed multiple navigation, messaging, weather and fitness apps to access the Starlink mobile-to-satellite service it debuted last year, enabling travellers and residents of remote parts of Australia to use full-featured apps in areas where there is no mobile network. Piggybacking on Starlink’s Direct to Cell service, Telstra is among the world’s first telcos to allow commonly used apps run across mobile-to-satellite connections, with its Select Satellite Apps using Starlink’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to connect from anywhere on land or at sea. Select Satellite Apps – which supports iPhone 13 to 17 and Samsung S26 phones – is a step up from Telstra Satellite Messaging (TSM), which debuted last June but was limited to sending text messages only. Fixing the holes in mobile coverage mapsTelstra is still righting itself after its own emergency, a major outage that affected 8.8 million people, stopped trains and paralysed payment systems nationwide.