This New IPhone 14 Feature Could Save Your Life in an Emergency
One of the new features of the upcoming iPhone 14 is satellite communications, a feature that could just save your life. Earlier this week, Apple showed off the new phone during a live broadcast of the “Far Out” event and explained how the new feature can help you communicate with emergency contacts in a variety of life-threatening scenarios, even when you don’t have a signal.
For example, if you’re hiking in a remote location and get injured or lost, your iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS feature allows you to call or text emergency responders or send alerts to contacts on your phone, even if you don’t have a cell phone. or Wi-Fi connections.
Making satellite calls on the iPhone 14 is easy: just hold your phone as you normally would (it won’t work if it’s in your pocket or backpack) and try calling an emergency contact. If your phone can connect to the satellite, the call will go through. If not, your phone will help you find the nearest place with better access. The best places are uplands with minimal overhead foliage and no nearby hills or mountains.
If the call still doesn’t connect, you can try sending text messages to emergency services via satellite. Tap Emergency Text via Satellite when prompted after trying to call, or go to your messages and send a text message to 911 or SOS . Then select “Emergency Services” and click “Report an emergency”.
Because satellite is slower and has less bandwidth than regular mobile data or Wi-Fi, the iPhone 14 Emergency SOS also includes a step-by-step questionnaire so you can send your status information to emergency services without wasting time or having to message them there. and back. Apple has also created a new compression algorithm to reduce the size of satellite messages so they can be sent faster over satellite connections.
Along with managed messaging, you can also share your location via satellite with your contacts, either by selecting the option on the Report an Emergency questionnaire or via the Find My app. The Emergency SOS feature also automatically alerts emergency services when your iPhone 14’s built-in crash detection feature is triggered. (This feature is similar to Android’s auto crash detection and emergency alerts .)
The iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS feature launches in the US and Canada in November. Apple says the feature will be free for two years, but there’s no word yet on how much it will cost after that. This feature will be compatible with all iPhone 14 devices including 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max.