Apple already shares your location on emergency calls using HELO, but new tech from Apple partner RapidSOS will make that information more precise and shared faster all while maintaining complete privacy.
Most 911 emergency calls are made by someone who is at the scene of the emergency, which is why figuring out where they are quickly is so vital. Apple already attempts to do that on the iPhone using Hybridized Emergency Location (HELO), but more accuracy is required. With the release of iOS 12, very precise location details for emergency calls will be a standard feature.
As 9To5Mac reports, Apple partnered with RapidSOS to offer the company’s Next Generation 911 technology as a standard feature of iOS 12. During an emergency call it will privately and safely share precise location data with « call-takers, dispatchers and first responders » through the software those services already use. It does this, as you’ve probably guessed, using the iPhone’s readily-available data connection to the internet.
The technology is actually already available on iPhone through the RapidSOS Beacon app. It only works with participating jurisdictions, but offers a precise location as part of the call and through the RapidSOS Next Generation 911 Clearinghouse.
By embracing this tech and making it a standard feature, Apple is actually complying with an FCC rule expected to come into force in 2021. It states that carriers must « locate callers to within 50 meters at least 80 percent of the time by 2021. »
We expect iOS 12 to launch in the fall, and with it all iPhones from the iPhone 5s through to the iPhone X will use the RapidSOS system during emergency calls.
