Apple last year launched its Roadside Assistance via satellite feature in the US, intended to provide help to those stranded by car trouble in areas without mobile coverage. That service has now been quietly extended to the UK.
You’ll need an iPhone 14 or later to use the service, and you’ll need to know ahead of time how to use the feature to summon help …
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Apple’s Emergency SOS iPhone via satellite feature is available in 17 countries. Read on for how to test iPhone Emergency SOS messages via satellite to learn how it works and how to use it in a real emergency when there’s no cellular service or WiFi.
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With iPhone 14 and later, users can contact emergency services even when there’s no Wi-Fi or cellular signal thanks to the Emergency SOS via satellite feature. This feature was first launched in the US and Canada and has since been slowly expanded to more countries. Today, Apple confirmed the expansion of Emergency SOS via satellite to one more country.
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One of the features Apple announced for iOS 18 at WWDC was Emergency SOS Live Video – a way to share live or recorded video with 911 operators so they can get a better sense of what’s happening on the scene.
Two of the companies that provide connectivity to 911 services say they will be supporting the feature from this fall …
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Apple has added satellite capabilities to the iPhone 14 models in 2022 to enable a new feature called Emergency SOS via Satellite, which lets users contact emergency services in areas with no cellular service. At the time, the company said that customers could try the service for free for two years – but the trial period was later extended to 2025.
Now with iOS 18, iPhone users can even send SMS via satellite. But will Apple keep this service free forever?
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An upcoming AT&T satellite service promises to bring satellite comms to the iPhone 12 and 13 for the first time. Unlike Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite service, it will support phone calls as well as text messages.
As such, it will offer more functionality to more people than the Apple satellite comms feature, but there are a number of unanswered questions …
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A potential new Apple Watch emergency SOS feature described in a new patent application could help save some swimmers from drowning.
The patent describes how the Watch could detect “irregular behaviour” and automatically transmit a call for help …
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When Apple announced the Emergency SOS via Satellite service with the iPhone 14 line-up, it said at the time it would be free for the first two years – implying that it would require a paid subscription after that.
Earlier this month, Apple gave iPhone 14 owners an extra year. As things stand, then, both iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 owners will get free service until September 2025. After that, though, Apple has a problem …
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Sure, current iPhones can send data via satellites in emergencies, but two new demonstrations show that we might soon be able to routinely make voice phone calls via satellite connectivity. You can watch the call and 5G demo in the video below.
The test phone call – along with a separate 5G data download – was made from Maui, Hawaii, to Madrid using a new low Earth orbit satellite …
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Nearly a year has passed since Apple introduced the iPhone 14 featuring Emergency SOS via Satellite, allowing users to reach out to emergency services even in areas without cellular coverage. And Globalstar, Apple’s partner in providing satellites for this technology, could soon expand its coverage thanks to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
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With iPhone 14, Apple introduced Emergency SOS via Satellite, which lets users contact emergency services in places where there’s no cellular connection. This feature has already proven to save lives since its launch, and it continues to do so. Earlier this week, a family was rescued from wildfires in Maui thanks to the iPhone’s Emergency SOS via Satellite.
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Last year SpaceX and T-Mobile announced somewhat vague plans to turn Starlink into cell service for dead zones. A new filing with the FCC provides an update on the state of play so far.
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Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature is set to expand to six new countries later this month. This expansion follows Apple’s initial launch in the United States and Canada, and its first expansion to the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Ireland.
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Android Emergency SOS via Satellite equivalent services look set to become the norm on higher-end phones, within a few months of Apple first activating the service late last year.
MediaTek is the latest company to offer a radio chip with support for satellite comms, following earlier announcements by Qualcomm and Samsung …
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Last year saw rumors of Samsung satellite comms connectivity in the Galaxy S23, following the launch of Emergency SOS via Satellite in the iPhone 14 lineup. That didn’t happen, but the company has now announced its own modem chip that includes the feature.
The company apparently plans to try to leapfrog Apple, however, by beating the company to photo and video sharing via satellite …
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A couple of days ago, we saw video footage of a helicopter rescue of the occupants of a car that went off the road and plunged to the bottom of a ravine. The occupants were rescued thanks to a combination of Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite on an iPhone 14.
More video has now been posted, and it shows just how incredibly lucky the pair was to survive …
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Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite service got a lot of time in the keynote, with the company proudly announcing that the service is free for the first two years.
What Apple hasn’t told us is what happens at the end of those two years. There’s one obvious answer, of course, but there are other possibilities …
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The Emergency SOS via Satellite feature rolled out to four new countries yesterday, but a patent granted the same day suggests that Apple satellite plans may extend much further than getting help in an emergency.
While the emergency service is limited to text-based communications, Apple’s patent describes how it could use satellite comms for voice, video, and more …
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In what appears to be the first reported use of Emergency SOS via Satellite, a snowmobiler in Alaska was successfully rescued when he became stranded in an extremely isolated area.
Alaska State Troopers received an alert from the Apple Emergency Response Center in the early hours of yesterday morning …
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When Apple announced the iPhone 14 line-up, it said that the Emergency SOS via satellite service would be launching in November. It last week reiterated that, providing a little more information. Today, the service is live in the US and Canada.
Additionally, Apple has also revealed that the feature will go live in four more countries sometime next month …
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At their Far Out event, Apple announced that satellite connectivity will be available on the iPhone 14 lineup. But a few weeks earlier, SpaceX and T-Mobile made an announcement that they will be bringing satellite-based connectivity to basically any 5G phone. So, how do these two services compare, is one better than the other, and should it affect your decision on which phone to go with?
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*Content Warning: This article contains information that may not be suitable for all readers.
One woman credits iPhone SOS with saving her life after a terrifying night at the beach, according to Wavy.
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iOS 15.4 is certainly a big update ,as it brings features like Face ID while wearing a mask and Universal Control, but it seems there’s more to come. Following the release of iOS 15.4 beta 3 to developers on Tuesday, some people have noticed that the system now prompts users to review their Emergency SOS settings after the update.
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iOS includes a feature called Emergency SOS that makes it easy to call 911 in times of need, but the feature has also reportedly led to a slew of accidental phone calls to emergency officials.
A report from CBS Sacramento says that emergency dispatchers in Elk Grove and Sacramento County in California have seen an influx of false alarm calls that appear to be originating from an Apple repair and refurbishing center in the area…
