The emergency call works best if you hold the iPhone in the right direction. (Image: Apple)
The Emergency SOS feature was released this year with iOS 16.2 for the iPhone 14 series. For the first time, a case has become known in which Apple’s new emergency call service via satellite reception, in cooperation with the automatic accident detection, has ensured a successful rescue.
The stars, or rather satellites, were in the right place. The two people who died in the accident were extremely lucky to be found alive at all.
How does Apple’s SOS work via satellite?
The new emergency feature for owners of a 14th generation iPhone allows you to make an emergency call even if you are in a dead zone. The smartphones communicate via satellite reception. In addition, the Apple devices have automatic accident detection, which can autonomously make an emergency call.
The emergency call via SOS only works with the latest iPhone models with iOS 16.2
If the iPhone detects an accident, a message appears on the display. Within 10 seconds the person has to decide whether or not to send an emergency call. If you don’t respond, another 10-second countdown will appear.
If this passes without any reaction, the mobile phone independently makes an emergency call and forwards the message to the nearest rescue center. Among other things, the coordinates are transmitted and the information that the victim may be unconscious.
The two had good luck in misfortune
This is exactly what happened last week in an accident in Montrose / Black Canyon National Park in the USA. Two people drove off the road in a car and fell into a ravine. The Montrose Search & Rescue Team was contacted via Apple’s SOS service, and they were finally able to save the two with a rescue helicopter.
LASD Sergeant John Gilbert, who was also part of the rescue team, is surprised the two survived at all. Accidents like this are usually fatalbecause you cannot see the casualties from the street, the temperatures are freezing at night, it is almost impossible to climb up and because there are a lot of dead spots in this area.
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Apple’s new SOS feature was designed for just such situations, and in this case it did exactly what it was designed to do. The two victims were extremely lucky, however, because according to Sergeant John Gilbert, even satellite phone reception is limited in this area.
Apple’s emergency call service does not require cell phone reception, for this the service depends on the phone being able to find a satellite and you being outdoors. Ideally, the iPhone should still be held in the right direction. Then you write the necessary information in text form, which should be forwarded to the rescue team.
This naturally raises the question of whether the SOS service would have worked had the two of them not been conscious and the iPhone still in their pocket. In any case, the two can be happy that Apple has introduced this feature.
If you are not lost yourself, but your iPhone, then there is also a feature for finding it again quickly. You can read more about it here:
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How to locate your iPhone
The emergency call via satellite radio is now available in Europey. The life-saving function has also been expanded in Canada, France, Ireland, the USA and the UK. More countries are to follow in the future.
According to Apple, the service will be free for at least two years. What would you think if you had to pay for it afterwards? Sensible financing or an unethical business decision? Please let us know what you think about it in the comments.
