How to Use the iPhone 14’s Emergency Satellite SOS

One of the new options that arrived alongside the iPhone 14 handsets in September 2022 was a function that Apple calls “Emergency SOS via satellite”—and the identify tells you just about all you want to know.

Apple says it is meant for “exceptional circumstances when no other means of reaching the emergency services are available.” When you are in hassle and you’ll’t get a Wi-Fi sign or a lock on a cell tower, your iPhone 14 will make contact with a satellite tv for pc and ship out your plea for assist that means.

Be warned, although, this is not a backup web connection for private use. The satellite tv for pc connection is sluggish and restricted, and it is actually solely appropriate for transmitting key details about your state of affairs: the place you’re, what situation you are in, and what you need assistance with.

To use the Emergency SOS through satellite tv for pc operate, you want an iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, or an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Apple hasn’t mentioned long-term pricing but, nevertheless it has made the service free for 2 years while you purchase a appropriate machine.

How Emergency SOS through Satellite Works

Emergency SOS through satellite tv for pc turns into accessible solely while you’re in an space with none Wi-Fi or mobile protection—in any other case it is anticipated which you could get in contact with emergency companies or your trusted contacts in the regular means. Ideally, you want a transparent view of the sky and the horizon, as obstructions like foliage and mountains can sluggish and even block your satellite tv for pc connection.

Even in good circumstances with the finest satellite tv for pc lock, messages can take 15 seconds to ship. That may appear primitive, however there’s plenty of spectacular know-how right here—not least the means that Apple has fitted satellite tv for pc connectivity into one thing as svelte as the iPhone 14. (Check out the dimension of an everyday satellite tv for pc cellphone to see what we imply.)

As you’d need in a irritating emergency state of affairs, your cellphone will information you thru every little thing you want to do, and that features transferring the iPhone to keep locked to a satellite tv for pc. (This will be executed even when the handset itself is locked.) The function works together with the different security choices on the iPhone, so you’ll be able to ship emergency responders data from the Medical ID part of the Health app, for instance.