Apple announced the activation of the Emergency SOS by Satellite feature for the iPhones. This is the first time an iPhone has come with support for direct satellite connectivity. But this connectivity is not meant for communicating via calls or the internet, but for emergency purposes. With this Emergency SOS by Satellite feature, iPhone 14 series users can ask for help even in areas where there is no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage.
This service is free for now in two countries, including Canada and the United States (US). Apple said that the service is free for the first two years. After that, to get the service, users will have to pay a nominal charge to the company. For now, users in Canada and the US can leverage the service if they are stuck in a no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage zone to call for help.
All that an iPhone 14 user needs to do is go to the Find My app and share his/her location via satellite. Apple said that it would extend the service to other countries, including Germany, Francy, Ireland and the UK, in December. It is definitely a service that can save lives. Only the iPhone 14 series can support this functionality as it requires satellite connectivity hardware to be fitted inside the device. This means that the support for satellite connectivity can't come via software updates to any of the iPhone 13 series devices.
The iPhone 14 series is truly a breakthrough smartphone series from Apple as it integrates many new useful features such as Car Crash and Fall detection. All of these features are going to help save so many lives in the future. The great thing to see was that Apple could manage to provide satellite connectivity on the iPhone 14 series so seamlessly. Usually, you would think of a big antenna to send and receive signals from a satellite.
