Apple recently rolled out Emergency SOS via Satellite feature for iPhone 14. The feature has now been put to the test as a report has come out claiming that an Alaska man was saved using the iPhone 14 SOS feature when he became stranded in a rural area.
The Alaska State Troopers received an alert on December 1 that a man traveling in a snow machine from Noorvik to Kotzebue had become stranded. The man was in a cold, remote location with no access to cellular service or Wi-Fi. To alert authorities to his situation, the man activated the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature on his iPhone 14.
As a result, Apple’s Emergency Response Center coordinated with local search and rescue teams and the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator to send volunteer searchers directly to his GPS coordinates. Fortunately, the man was rescued without injury.
The man was located in a remote area, on the fringes of satellite connectivity. While it is possible that satellite connectivity won’t work in areas above 62° latitude, like Northern Canada and Alaska, and even his location, Noorvik and Kotzebue are close to 69° latitude. Thankfully, the feature worked, and he was rescued successfully.
Those who assisted in the rescue were impressed by the accuracy and completeness of the information included in the initial alert. Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature is designed to ask several questions ahead of sending an alert.
Emergency SOS via Satellite feature is now available to all iPhone 14 users in Canada and the US. It will expand to France, Germany, Ireland, and the U.K. later this month.
