Apple Adds Free Access to Emergency SOS Satellite Service to iPhone 14 Owners

Apple Satellite Emergency SOS feature (photo: Apple)

JAKARTA - After one year after Apple's Emergency SOS service via satellite was launched on all iPhone 14 models in the US and Canada, the company is now offering two years of free access to iPhone 14 and 15 users.

This free access is initially only valid for one year. But Apple says iPhone 14 users who activate their phones before Wednesday, November 15 in countries where the service is available, will get free access for an additional year.

For your information, this innovative technology from Apple allows users to send text messages with emergency services when they are outside cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

Kaiann Drance, vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, shares how Emergency SOS via satellite has helped save someone's life. These range from a man rescued after his car fell off a 400-foot cliff in Los Angeles, to a lost hiker found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy.

"We are very happy that iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users can take advantage of this innovative service for two more years for free," said Drance in an announcement on his official website, quoted Thursday, November 16.

Additionally Apple recently introduced Roadside Assistance via satellite to connect users to AAA if they experience car problems while outside cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

This announcement comes after Qualcomm announced that it had ended its agreement with Iridium Communications Inc., to provide a satellite SOS feature for Android phones called Snapdragon Satellite.

In a statement at the time, the company said that it had successfully developed and demonstrated the technology. But unfortunately, despite its technical success, smartphone manufacturers have not yet incorporated this technology into their devices.