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Apple has just launched a brand new feature, Emergency SOS via satellite, allowing users to be able to connect to emergency services, even when they have no coverage.
Emergency SOS via satellite will be available for users in France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK. The feature will be available on all iPhone 14 models and will mean users can receive help even when they have no cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
To access the service, users will have to answer a short questionnaire. Working in conjunction with experts, Apple identified the most common reasons calls would be looking to access emergency services, and based the questions on that.
Gary Machado, the European Emergency Number Association’s CEO explained, “Emergency SOS via satellite makes emergency communications over satellite more accessible, which is very exciting. In practice, it means that many more people will be able to contact 112 when they have no mobile coverage and need urgent assistance. We are confident that this will save many lives and offer significant help to emergency services dealing with these often very complicated rescues.”
“Being able to use a satellite connection to contact 999 or 112 if there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage is a breakthrough that Apple has brought to the general public with iPhone 14,” said John Anthony, the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials’ president. “The feature will mean that emergency services can be alerted when it was not previously possible and are then able to do their jobs to better effect, in part because of the initial information that can be shared with dispatchers, such as location and essential details about the emergency. Ultimately, this will help save lives.”
