iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite Feature Helped to Rescue Stranded Man in Alaska

iPhone 14 series from the California smartphone giant Apple was launched in September this year at the company's Far Out event. The company recently introduced a unique Emergency SOS via satellite feature on the iPhone 14 series for select regions that lets users in the connect to emergency services even in the absence of cellular or Wi-Fi networks. Surprisingly, in less than a month since the tech giant rolled out the emergency contact service, it has come to the rescue of a stranded iPhone user in Alaska, saving his life.

According to the state department of public safety, Alaska State Troopers were alerted of an adult male stranded in a remote region through the Emergency SOS via satellite feature in the wee hours of December 1. The man activated the service on his iPhone 14 after he was stranded while traveling from Noorvik to Kotzebue on a snowmachine, the state's Public Information Office stated. Upon being notified of the man's location, local search and rescue teams located the stranded man and transported him to Kotzebue. The man was reportedly uninjured during his predicament and subsequent rescue.

Rescue teams worked with the Apple Emergency Response Centre, which received the man's GPS coordinates via the satellite SOS feature. Once authorities were provided with the location of the stranded person, a volunteer search party was dispatched to the region, which is reported to be near Nimiuk Point.

According to a report in MacRumors, the authorities were "impressed with the accuracy and completeness of information included in the initial alert." According to Apple, the Emergency SOS feature via satellite communication, present in every model of the iPhone 14 lineup, connects directly to an overhead satellite through a combination of hardware and software capabilities. The service was made available in US and Canada on November 15 and is expected to hit France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK in December.

Apple has a long history of its devices coming to the aid of people in emergency situations. In October, a 12-year-old girl's Apple Watch detected an abnormally high heart rate that led to timely diagnosis of a tumour. Last year, the device alerted a 58-year-old user of his inconsistent heart rate, prompting a medical check-up that diagnosed arrhythmia.