Apple's iPhones have been able to send emergency messages through satellites for years. Last year the service expanded to support regular iMessages but they may not hold their space-texting monopoly for long. Carriers and satellite network providers have successfully tested their own respective phone-to-space setups, bringing Android phone owners that much closer to potentially linking up to satellites in 2025.Using satellites to send messages (and eventually video and voice calls) keeps phone owners connected beyond the range of terrestrial mobile networks, and Apple has trumpeted success stories for how Emergency SOS has secured rescues and likely saved lives for years.Apple's service through partner Globalstar's network of satellites is already available in a number of countries, though it isn't available worldwide (contrary to prior reports, Apple isn'tintegrating SpaceX's Starlink satellite network directly -- instead, T-Mobile's partnership with Starlink will let iPhone-owning customers access that satellite connectivity). On the other hand, Apple's service is free for now and has a concierge-like Earth-based network that triages SOS messages to direct emergency responders to user locations. It's a bespoke service that's set a standard for how smartphone owners connect using satellites, something that we've seen Android phone-makers slowly copy, most notably Google with its Pixel 9 series.Read more: I Visited Google for an Inside Look at the Pixel 9's Satellite SOS Tool Using Emergency SOS on iPhone to message for help using satellites. Kevin Heinz/CNETThe big change in 2025 could be carriers finally seeing a payoff from years-long partnerships with satellite network providers, more of which are testing their phone-to-satellite services. Unlike Apple or Google's solutions, these aim to bring satellite connectivity to users across a broad range of smartphones and should function like your regular cellular serviceSeveral players in the space are at varying stages of readiness to deliver connectivity -- which at the moment only allows sending casual texts as well as SOS messages to emergency responders. While providers all intend to offer even more services, including letting users send data as well as voice and video calls, there are some roadblocks to getting there, like needing to build out more robust satellite networks that can handle those larger bandwidth requirements. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in August 2022 when the company partnership was first announced. T-MobileCarriers and satellite network provider partnerships lighting up service in 2025The major US carriers announced partnerships with satellite network companies starting in 2021, with sporadic news of testing phone-to-satellite connections since. The furthest along seems to be T-Mobile and its partnership with SpaceX's Starlink, which got approval in November from the Federal Communications Commission to start enabling the carrier's customers to text using SpaceX's thousands of microsatellites. In December, the carrier started letting customers register for a free open beta to text using Starlink satellites, which will start "in early 2025."When Starlink service will be fully turned on for T-Mobile users is uncertain, but the company got emergency approval to activate it for victims of Hurricanes Milton and Helene last year as well as those suffering from the Los Angeles wildfires in January. Neither the carrier nor Starlink has announced service for customers beyond these emergency allocations, but the capability of switching it on and off for specific regions is promising.SpaceX is also asking the FCC to build its future satellites with "direct-to-cellular" hardware, which would enable voice calls, messaging and basic web browsing "at theoretical peak speeds of up to either 3.0 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps peak upload... and up to either 4.4 Mbps or 18.3Mbps on the downlink," according to the filing. Starlink fields a massive network of thousands of micro-satellites operating in low-earth orbit to deliver service. SOPA Images/Getty ImagesVerizon and AT&T are both partnering with AST SpaceMobile, a satellite network company that announced at the end of January that it was granted FCC approval to start testing satellite-to-phone service. This enables the company to start using its first five satellites operating in low Earth orbit to test connecting with carrier customers' devices at an unspecified date.AST SpaceMobile hasn't given a timeline for when it will move from tests to connecting carrier customers to its network. The company also didn't clarify whether its five satellites will be restricted to text and emergency messages or if its BlueBird satellites will be capable of sending more bandwidth-heavy messages with data, voice or video.AT&T has an agreement with AST SpaceMobile to lease certain 850 MHz and 700 MHz spectrum to use with their satellite service. While the carrier doesn't have a specific date for when its customers will be able to use that service, it's working toward a commercial launch when "all devices will have access to satellite based voice, data, and text services," AT&T associate vice president of tower strategy and roaming John Wojewoda said in a statement. When the service launches with voice capabilities, the emergency 911 response is expected to be supported.Presumably, AST SpaceMobile will provide the same service to both AT&T and Verizon, which the former signed up with in Dec. 2022 and the latter partnered with last May. Verizon had led the charge among carriers to link with a satellite network provider when it announced a partnership with Amazon's Project Kuiper in Oct. 2021, though that effort has thus far resulted in a pair of test satellites that launched last October -- the first two of a planned 3,200-plus satellite constellation the tech company plans to launch in the next six years.Verizon retains that partnership to provide backhaul for its cellular network and exploration of possible future work together, the carrier noted.But that's not all for Verizon. The carrier also announced back in August it partnered with satellite network provider Skylo as another way for customers to send messages through satellites.Google Pixel 9 phones were the first to use this service with iPhones quickly following, and the Galaxy S25 will use Skylo's satellites for emergency communications. Verizon hasn't confirmed any other phones that will get this functionality or when it will move beyond emergency messages, though they had been targeting early 2025 to allow social texts, too.Verizon also hasn't shared a timeline for when any of its satellite network partners will be able to carry data, voice or video messaging.Carriers will likely offer the easiest way for everyday phone owners to send messages over satellite in 2025. Similar to seamlessly switching over to partner carriers to get service abroad, it's likely that texting through satellites will be easy and intuitive: Verizon confirmed that it will be usable through a customer's native messaging app, automatically accessing a satellite whenever terrestrial signal is lost. Yet, for now, no carrier is far enough along to offer satellite messaging to its customer base across all phones. Watch this: In-Depth Hands-On: I Tried Google's Pixel 9 Satellite SOS 06:25