Satellite communication, also known as "emergency SOS", is a new feature that will be present on the iPhone 14 series in September 2022. As the name suggests, this feature allows users to send a signal for help via a message via satellite, without the need for an internet network.
Since its release, this feature has saved its users several times, including what happened recently. Around the end of last December, two women who were reported to be lost in Canada were finally found thanks to the satellite communication feature on the iPhone 14.
This incident began when the two women who were not identified, traveled to the region of Alberta, a province in Canada. On their way home, the toll road they were about to take turned out to be closed. As a result, they also looked for alternative roads through Google Maps, which directed them to the "Holmes Forrest Service Road".
The road is an area near a small village in British Columbia, Canada. However, the road has been dredged by graders or heavy equipment cars to level the road since last week because it was covered in snow. However, there are parts of the road that have not been dredged and are still covered in ice.
Nevertheless, the two of them continued their journey, until they finally hit a thick and high pile of ice, which then trapped their car. Both of them are in a pretty difficult situation. This is because, apart from getting his car stuck in a pile of ice and snow, the internet is also difficult to reach that location.
Thus, they also find it difficult to ask for help via cell phone connections or the internet. It turned out that one of them was using an iPhone 14 and trying to take advantage of the satellite communication feature. When activated, the message is immediately received by Apple's call center and connected to emergency contacts in Canada (Nothern 911). Then, they immediately contacted the SAR team in the British-Colombia area to conduct a search. Arriving at the location, the SAR team immediately removed the car that was stuck in a pile of ice and helped the two of them return to their way home.
The road is an area near a small village in British Columbia, Canada. However, the road has been dredged by graders or heavy equipment cars to level the road since last week because it was covered in snow.
However, there are parts of the road that have not been dredged and are still covered in ice. Nevertheless, the two of them continued their journey, until they finally hit a thick and high pile of ice, which then trapped their car. Both of them are in a pretty difficult situation.
This is because, apart from getting his car stuck in a pile of ice and snow, the internet is also difficult to reach at location. Thus, they also find it difficult to ask for help via cell phone connections or the internet. It turned out that one of them was using an iPhone 14 and trying to take advantage of the satellite communication feature. When activated, the message is immediately received by Apple's call center and connected to emergency contacts in Canada (Nothern 911).
Then, they immediately contacted the SAR team in the British-CoEmmammediately conduct a search. Arriving at the location, the SAR team immediately removed the car that was stuck in a pile of ice and helped the two of them return to their way home.
Yochim said that his team conducts around 1,700 to 1,800 searches per year. However, the presence of Apple's satellite communication feature is said to be able to significantly reduce the number of searches.
As an illustration, the workings of this feature will initially guide the user to point their cellphone in a certain direction to provide the best signal. Once connected to the satellite, users can send messages to be sent to emergency service providers.
However, the process of sending messages will take quite a long time compared to using cellular or internet operator signals. Because, based on Apple's explanation, connectivity from satellites is quite limited. Apple's satellite communications feature is available free of charge for two years only on all iPhone 14 series models, namely the "regular" iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. However, this does not apply to iPhones sold in China and Hong Kong. It is not yet known how much the user will have to pay to continue using this feature after it is no longer free.