The ship "servers" don't have the app, only the Play store (or App store in case of iPhone) has the app. What you experienced is an update in the underlying data within the app - that gets updated all the time, but the app itself stays the same version and doesn't change.
FYI - much/all of what you posed could have been abbreviated and is known by frequent users for years. Also, none of this depends on Starlink - the same is true regardless of the kind of internet connection the ship has.
P.S. Only a limited number of phones can hot spot a wifi signal - yours just happens to be one of them.
P.P.S. A real useful trick is to get 15 minutes of free Stream by clicking on the Play store link.