Does the satellite stuff work in the UK and could it be bad for privacy?

~~I'm not sure if it works in the UK,~~ (see below) but it's really only meant for emergencies. Like if you're lost in the wilderness with no cell phone signal and you've broken your leg. It really can only be activated when you dial 911 and don't have signal, so I don't expect that that's something you'd want a lot of privacy for if you wanted you be, you know, rescued and alive. I think I'd be willing to sacrifice info like my name, location, and the nature of my emergency to stay alive but that's just me. 😆

• This feature is currently available in the US only (except Hawaii and Alaska).

To contact emergency services when you don’t have a network coverage on your Pixel phone:

1. Dial 911 immediately.

• If you don’t have a mobile or Wi-Fi network, you'll find an option to use Satellite SOS in the dialer.

2. Tap Satellite SOS android satellite and then Use Satellite SOS and then Start.
3. To describe your emergency, fill out the emergency questionnaire.
4. To share your emergency with your emergency contacts, answer the on-screen questions.

• To notify your emergency contacts, tap Notify.
• If you don’t want your emergency contacts to receive your location and emergency information, tap Don’t notify.

5. To connect to the satellite, follow the on-screen prompts to correctly position your phone.

• Connection and response times vary based on location, site conditions, and other factors.

6. Once you’re connected, the emergency service provider should reply via text within a few minutes.

• To receive replies, stay outside with a clear view of the sky.
• When you would like to end the satellite text conversation, press the End button and follow the prompts.

Anyway I doubt it would be sending data to satellites without you knowing simply because that's costly and you have to align your phone properly to get signal for it to begin with.

I found this (rather toxic) thread talking about turning it off. Doesn't seem like it's possible normally, but I'll be curious how GRAPHENE IS handles it.

https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1f66bzi/how_to_disable_the_satellite_sos/

Ah it's only available in the US too

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/15254448?hl=en

Look on Starlink.com. I don't expect it's much worse than your typpical evil ISP or phone caerrier in terms of privacy. Certainly you could route everything through a VPN and that might help a little.

Edit: oh wait, I confused this thread with a different one when I looked at my inbox. Starlink is a high speed service with a roof antenna. For satellite phone stuff, look at https://skylo.tech.