What you need to know
- Starlink's new app is now in a much more dark mode-friendly look in the new version.
- The check for obstructions tool has been refreshed to give a 3D view of obstructions and estimate the severity.
- An outage log has also been included in the app update.
The SpaceX Starlink satellite internet app was just completely overhauled this week with a new look and refreshed features. The great thing is that whether you are using one of the best mesh Wi-Fi routers or the Starlink router, all of the features are available to you.
When we first reviewed Starlink, the companion app was stark white with basic sans-serif text — very utilitarian. The refresh gives the app a fresh coat of dark mode paint throughout the app, and it has a much more polished feel to the UI overall. When opening the app, there's even a very nice animation to Dishy McFlatface — the Starlink dish's official nickname.
Outside of the visual changes, the check for obstructions tool has also gotten a refresh. While the process of using your phone's camera to scan the sky overhead where you'd like to place your dish is largely the same, it's what happens after the scan that is improved.
Once the app has processed the scan results, you are presented with a 3D view of what the app found. This gives you a better visual of what will specifically block the satellite transmission. You can also move the 3D render with your fingers to "see" what the app saw.
The other major change to the app was the inclusion of an outages log in the network statistics tab. Previously users could only see that there were outages of various types — obstructed, no satellites, other, etc. — and for how long in total per outage type. It was vaguely possible to see the time of day it occurred, but not easily.
The new outage log does a much better job of making it very easy to see when that outage happened, what the cause was, and how long — except the category "other" is still pretty vague.
Starlink has been on a pretty good run lately with its announcement of reaching 90,000 users in the "better than nothing" beta program and the upcoming improvements to the service. Giving its users a better app experience in the visual appearance and the useful data that can be found through the app is a great complement to an ever-improving internet service.
