Emergency SOS via satellite expanding to more countries in 2022, sketchy report says

AppleInsider

Emergency SOS via satellite arrives for iPhone 14 owners in November 2022, yet one questionable report claims Apple will expand it outside of the United States before the end of the year.

Emergency SOS via satellite launches in November 2022

Specialized technology in the iPhone 14 lineup enables the devices to communicate directly with a satellite in emergency situations. An on-screen UI guides the users through connecting and sending a message to emergency responders.

According to a report from German website MacPrime, Apple will announce other countries that will support Emergency SOS via satellite in 2022 and 2023. The website claims to have received the information directly from Apple, and AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for clarification.

The Emergency SOS via satellite feature will launch in November to iPhone 14 owners located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Canada. Apple has not publicly announced plans to expand the feature beyond the launch countries nor a timeline to do so.

Since the website is in German, a translation issue may have changed the meaning of the sentence. However, it implies that Apple will reveal new countries that will gain Emergency SOS via satellite in 2022.

With the initial rollout occurring in November, it seems highly unlikely that Apple could expand coverage to other countries before 2023. Apple's satellite partner has limited coverage in some countries in South America and Europe, and it's not clear if they have the same capabilities and bandwidth support that's required for the feature.

The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro lineup have access to this feature for free for the next two years. Travelers visiting the United States from other countries will have access to the feature, as long as their iPhone wasn't purchased in China, Hong Kong, or Macao.

Emergency SOS via satellite is only available when the device cannot locate a cellular or WiFi signal. The satellite connection feature can also be used to send the user's location to friends or family members.

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JanNL

MacPrime(.ch, not .de) is a Swiss (German language) website.

In their news message they don't state it's directly from Apple.

heavypound

Apple has said that new iPhone purchases get 2 years of satellite service included with the purchase. I haven’t seen pricing for the plans after that 2 year intro period. Have they provided that information and I just missed it so far?

docbburk

Since iPhones back to the iPhone 12 are capable of this function, I wonder if they will eventually open that option.  I have a feeling the answer to that will be no, to encourage people to upgrade, and because the satellite system used likely is concerned it won't have the capacity to handle the sos messages from that many iPhones in times of natural disaster where millions may be affected 

22july2013

The article says "The satellite connection feature can also be used to send the user's location to friends or family members." This suggests that the user's location is not necessarily sent to the satellite. And if it is not sent to the satellite, then how would the satellite know the location of the phone? And if it doesn't know the location of the phone, how does it prevent callers from, say, Mexico or Cuba, (which are near the US) from using this feature? I haven't seen anyone asking if iOS uses geo-fencing to restrict users to certain countries.

Most GPS systems have a maximum latitude that they orbit at. Some go only as high as 56 degrees north. Some go 78 degrees north. I think that a few go 82 degrees north. But they don't go 90 degrees north because you can't have an orbit that high remain in sun-synchronous orbit due to the earth's inclination. You can find a few people showing photos of their GPS device working at the poles, but they may have had to wait a while (including waiting for good weather, due to the ionosphere being a problem at low angles) to get that reading, as the highest-visible GPS satellites are only 5 degrees above the horizon when you are at the poles.

Apple shouldn't need anyone's permission for enabling Emergency SOS from operating on international waters or international locations like the Antarctic. That's another 70+% of the Earth's surface that Apple could immediately enable if it wanted to. I can imagine scenarios, like pirates taking over a ship, where someone hiding on the ship would like to use an iPhone to send out his location for rescue.

spheric

docbburk said:

Since iPhones back to the iPhone 12 are capable of this function, I wonder if they will eventually open that option.  I have a feeling the answer to that will be no, to encourage people to upgrade, and because the satellite system used likely is concerned it won't have the capacity to handle the sos messages from that many iPhones in times of natural disaster where millions may be affected 

No iPhones prior to the 14 series are capable of sending SOS signals via satellite. 

tht

22july2013 said:

The article says "The satellite connection feature can also be used to send the user's location to friends or family members." This suggests that the user's location is not necessarily sent to the satellite. And if it is not sent to the satellite, then how would the satellite know the location of the phone? And if it doesn't know the location of the phone, how does it prevent callers from, say, Mexico or Cuba, (which are near the US) from using this feature? I haven't seen anyone asking if iOS uses geo-fencing to restrict users to certain countries.

The phone has GPS. It will work anywhere around the Earth as long as the GPS antenna can get a lock on 3 or 4 GPS satellites. So, GPS coordinates of an iPhone are transmitted to a GlobalStar satellite, it transmits them to GlobalStar relay stations, the relay station than routes it to cellular network and or to emergency services of the supported country.

GlobalStar satellites won't know where the phones are. It only knows that it has established a connection to a device, the device has sent it the destination of where it wants the message to go. It may not even know that. It might only be the relay station that is capable of figuring where a message needs to go or where a call needs to go. The content of the message? It's going to be encrypted if it isn't already.

A user can connect to a GlobalStar satellite anywhere on the planet with line of sight to the satellite. It will work in China, in Cuba, in the middle of ocean. However, would a relay station be able to route an SOS to a country's emergency services? Or a client device within a certain country? Well, it depends on whether the country will allow the relay station to connect to its telecomm services in the country. Hence, Apple has to coordinate that. GPS coordinates routed to Find My? Yes, that should be supported anywhere on the planet with GlobalStar satellites in line of sight.

tht

spheric said:

docbburk said:

Since iPhones back to the iPhone 12 are capable of this function, I wonder if they will eventually open that option.  I have a feeling the answer to that will be no, to encourage people to upgrade, and because the satellite system used likely is concerned it won't have the capacity to handle the sos messages from that many iPhones in times of natural disaster where millions may be affected 

No iPhones prior to the 14 series are capable of sending SOS signals via satellite. 

GlobalStar sat-comm will be reliant on support of the n53 spectrum. It think that is at 3.5 GHz. The Qualcomm X65 modem supports it. The iPhone 13 QC modem may be an X65 modem, I don't know. There likely needs to be an antenna inside the phone capable of supporting it. So, I supposed I could find out what modem is in the iPhone 13.

spheric

tht said:

spheric said:

docbburk said:

Since iPhones back to the iPhone 12 are capable of this function, I wonder if they will eventually open that option.  I have a feeling the answer to that will be no, to encourage people to upgrade, and because the satellite system used likely is concerned it won't have the capacity to handle the sos messages from that many iPhones in times of natural disaster where millions may be affected 

No iPhones prior to the 14 series are capable of sending SOS signals via satellite. 

GlobalStar sat-comm will be reliant on support of the n53 spectrum. It think that is at 3.5 GHz. The Qualcomm X65 modem supports it. The iPhone 13 QC modem may be an X65 modem, I don't know. There likely needs to be an antenna inside the phone capable of supporting it. So, I supposed I could find out what modem is in the iPhone 13.

iPhone 13 has an X60. 

jimh2

Great people, can go places they should not be going because they now have a way to contact some one to bail them out.