That is, as long as you have an iPhone and an ample view of the sky.
Apple’s Emergency SOS service has officially launched in the U.S. and Canada for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro. Emergency SOS is a new feature that connects you with emergency services using a satellite connection rather than cellular or wifi so that you can call for help even in rural places.
I went to Cupertino to see Emergency SOS in action. The company’s relay centers weren’t actually dispatching during my session, and thus no emergency services were called. But I did experience what it’s like connecting the iPhone to a satellite in real time.
The gist of Emergency SOS is this: if you’re dialing 911 in the U.S. or Canada and the iPhone realizes it can’t dial out via cellular or wifi, it will pop up red text instructing you to try emergency text via satellite. You’ll see the icon in the bottom-right of the screen sprout up an SOS badge, and you can tap that to reach out to your nearest emergency services or Apple’s relay services. It all depends on who can accept text messages.
From there, it’s pretty self-explanatory. The iPhone asks you what happened and if you want to notify your emergency contacts immediately. It’ll also prompt you to describe where you are in a few words—the fewer, the better, as the more characters you include, the more load to send to the satellite and the longer it will take.
Once your information is in, the iPhone will instruct you to point it to the sky to locate a satellite. As you pan around, there’s a guide on the screen with a clear indicator of when the satellite is within range and when it’s sending the distress message. When it’s made the connection, you’ll see a progress bar sending 0ut a description of what’s happened to a nearby emergency dispatch center, plus your Medical ID with any extra relevant information.
