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In the past, you didn’t have to venture very far offshore to be out of range of cellphone service. That can be convenient if you appreciate the reduction in the flow of annoying bunco calls—but what if an life threatening emergency arises, and you cannot raise anyone on Marine VHF? There are EPIRBS and personal satellite transmitters on the market, but not everyone who wanders out to sea on short trips has one of those. Now, Apple is building an satellite SOS feature into their iPhone 14 models.
Available to customers in the US and Canada beginning later this month, the new service will allow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models to connect directly to a satellite, enabling messaging with emergency services when outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.
Delivered in partnership with Globalstar, Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite service utilizes the spectrum in L and S bands specially designated for mobile satellite services by ITU Radio Regulations. When an iPhone user makes an Emergency SOS via satellite request, the message is received by one of Globalstar’s 24 satellites in low-earth orbit traveling at speeds of approximately 16,000 mph. The satellite then sends the message down to custom ground stations located at key points all over the world.
Once received by a ground station, the message is routed to emergency services that can dispatch help, or a relay center with Apple-trained emergency specialists if local emergency services cannot receive text messages.
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