Starting with the launch of the iPhone 14 lineup one year ago, Apple introduced a revolutionary feature called Emergency SOS via satellite that allowed users to request help when outside of ordinary cellular signal range.
The feature was free for iPhone users to take advantage of, but it wasn’t going to be a free service forever. Fortunately, Apple on Wednesday announced a one year extension of free Emergency SOS via satellite usage for users of the iPhone 14 lineup.
Emergency SOS via satellite is already free for iPhone 15 lineup users in 16 different countries, allowing those users to text with emergency services via a satellite connection when cellular and Wi-Fi connections are nowhere to be found.
Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, had the following to say about the latest announcement:
Emergency SOS via satellite has helped save lives around the world. From a man who was rescued after his car plummeted over a 400-foot cliff in Los Angeles, to lost hikers found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, we continue to hear stories of our customers being able to connect with emergency responders when they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. We are so happy iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users can take advantage of this groundbreaking service for two more years for free.
Emergency SOS via satellite has already been used extensively by users, with several success stories being reported on in which it has saved lives.
The extension means that affected users will be able to take advantage of Emergency SOS via satellite for two years at no additional cost. This benefit only applies to iPhone 14 model users who activated the service prior to today, Wednesday, November 15th.
Apple felt so confident in its Emergency SOS via satellite that the company developed more features to take advantage of it starting with iOS 17. These include Roadside Assistance via satellite, hosted by AAA, and tracking friends’ and family’s location via satellite via the Find My app, among other things.
Also see: How to use Emergency SOS via satellite
It’s great to see Apple extending a useful and potentially life-saving feature to be included as a free service with new iPhones for another two years. One can only hope that it won’t be too pricy of a service when the trial period does eventually come to an end.