Wandering around without cell service? HMD’s new OffGrid hotspot accessory, launching at CES 2025, is designed to let smartphones send texts using satellites.
Technically, the palm-sized OffGrid is a rebadged version of the similar-looking Motorola Defy Satellite Link, which was introduced at CES 2024 and limited to only sending emergency messages. That product was developed by rugged phone maker Bullitt, which was acquired by RCD 2023 last year (made up of Bullitt’s founders), which HMD partnered with to release the OffGrid. Both devices are designed for travelers who leave coverage of conventional cell networks or as a backup during disasters when those networks go down.
In contrast, the OffGrid is designed to enable regular text messaging, much like the current functionality in some premium phones like the Google Pixel 9 series and Apple’s Messages via Satellite feature for iPhone 16, iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 owners. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra released last year can also send images to contacts in an emergency.
Read more: I Visited Google for an Inside Look at the Pixel 9’s Satellite SOS Tool
The advantage of the OffGrid is that it can be used with Android and iOS phones (HMD didn’t specify device compatibility), though they’ll connect using OffGrid’s proprietary app to message others. It’s able to contact emergency services and can share the user’s live location with up to five people in intervals from every 4 hours to every 3 minutes, though greater frequency will drain the battery faster.
Using the OffGrid requires a subscription to one of two subscription tiers. HMD Unlimited, priced at $15 per month (or $140 for a year) after a $10 activation fee, grants unlimited texts, check-in messages and SOS services. The cheaper HMD Freedom plan is $80 a year (broken down to $6.67 per month) after a $20 activation fee, which offers 350 text and check-in messages to use through the year, while live tracking pings cost 10 cents apiece. Both plans also have the option for unlimited live-tracking for $5 per month extra.
The OffGrid packs a 600-mAh battery, which HMD says will last 10 days, though usage (including live location tracking) will drain it faster — if you’re pinging your location every half hour, for instance, it should last around three to four days. It weighs 60 grams, which is slightly lighter than the 70-gram Motorola Defy Satellite Link, but the OffGrid looks extremely similar in design with a big, brightly colored SOS button on the right side and other buttons on the left, one of which lets you send prewritten check-in messages to selected contacts to let them know you’re OK. The OffGrid also has a small speaker to warn you when the battery is low.
HMD plans to expand the OffGrid’s functionality with more features, and though the company hasn’t detailed which will be added, representatives described an upcoming enterprise SDK and potential features like voice clips and imaging that could come later. The accessory doesn’t support satellite calls, though it uses a third-party service to coordinate contacting emergency services, much like Apple does with Emergency SOS.
HMD’s OffGrid services run on the satellite networks of providers Viasat and Skylo, and service areas are limited to the US (including Alaska and Hawaii) at launch. These will be expanded to Canada, Mexico and Brazil in the first quarter of 2025, with further expansion to the rest of the Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand coming later.
While specific phones have started to launch with satellite connectivity features, it’s still early days for the technology; services enabling a broad range of phones to link to satellites still haven’t debuted. Late last year, Verizon switched away from its prior partnership with Amazon’s slow-going Project Kuiper to sign up with both AST SpaceMobile and satellite network company Skylo, while T-Mobile announced that it was ready to beta test connecting phones to SpaceX’s Starlink network of micro-satellites just before the end of 2024. AT&T announced in 2022 that it would be working with AST SpaceMobile to bring connectivity to its customers.
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