I didn’t know about this feature. And I don’t understand the technology. What the heck is “satellite activation”?

“A woman from San Diego was winched to safety after she used her iPhone's SOS feature when she broke her ankle while on a hike with her friends.

Juana Reyes fell while traversing the rough terrain, breaking her ankle and leaving her in desperate need of medical attention in the Los Angeles National Forest.

She and her friends attempted to call for help but were met with no cell service until Reyes remembered the new feature on her phone that does not require bars.

The SOS feature uses satellites to triangulate a user's location and contact emergency services in areas outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

Rescuers were alerted to Reyes and her friends and sent out a helicopter to air-lift the woman and get her to a doctor for her injuries.
……

'If you just try dialing 911 on an iPhone 14, just like you would normally, if you're not in any cellular coverage, it will convert it to a satellite activation,' said Mike Leum with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team.

The SOS feature will then ask the user questions about their location and their condition and will even help the user find the nearest satellite.

It was because of that feature that Leum and his team received a notification from Apple alerting them to the issue.

'Our station notified us of an activation of an injured hiker up the trail near the waterfall,' Leum said. …”

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/12260671

quote:

What the heck is “ satellite activation”?

I've been doing a little looking at this phone myself. The SOS feature will link straight up to low orbit satellites instead of a cell tower that may not be in range.

I've seen several reports in the last few months of similar injured hikers in rough back country
manage to connect with Rescue.

Additionally there are several telcos launching satellites right now to try to increase coverage.

Apparently SOS is only available on IPhone 14.

Basically its a built in epirb/plb aspect of the phone

Tip of the day: hike with people that have skills. Her friends had none.

I have had a 14 for a while now. Never knew anything about this. Thanks for throwing me down the rabbit hole.

She should have taken a big strong guy that could pick her ass up and carry her out. Might help if she'd lose some weight so a less big guy could do the task. She should at the very least repay him with a BJ or two.

With a group that size and no one could fashion a splint, assist in getting her out? No one knows how to construct a makeshift litter? Seems like pretty basic stuff to me. While I have had a long career as a health professional, I learned that stuff aS a 14 year old Boy Scout for god’s sake

My Applewatch has it too…although I’m not sure it’s satellite but it does send your location.

The article leaves much out about what happened. It is fully possible she fell and landed in a spot where her friends could not physically get to her. Even if she had the fella that happened to be the worlds strongest man and best splint maker it’s possible they could not physically get to her. Especially since it said she had to be winched out.
That is how most of our rescues/recoveries go here.

Interesting tech, does one get charged differently for the use? May look into it when I upgrade phones.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Interesting tech, does one get charged differently for the use? May look into it when I upgrade phones.

From Apple's Website https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426
Emergency SOS via satellite is free for two years after the activation of iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro.

If your iPhone or Apple Watch detects a severe car crash or a hard fall and you're unresponsive, an automatic Crash Detection or Fall Detection notification to emergency services may be communicated by your iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro using Emergency SOS via satellite if you're outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.

Huh! I have an iPhone 11. I'm currently visiting my sister and BIL and sleeping in their finished basement. There is an off and on signal down here, but when it goes from 1 bar to none, I saw a little SOS where it was. I was wondering what the heck that was.

I've known about this and have seen the SOS come up on my phone when I haven't had service. As someone that hikes into remote areas at times, I like having the feature. I know there are dedicated systems like SPOT that give you more options but for the few times a year I'm out in the middle of nowhere I'm good with the phone.

I agree you should have some knowledge to self-rescue it's always good to have other options. Carrying someone up/down rough terrain for miles with a makeshift splint or stretcher can be hard on anyone. It can also cause more injury. So well I think it's a must to have self-rescue skills it's often best to stabilize the injured person and get help with the right people and equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Huh! I have an iPhone 11. I'm currently visiting my sister and BIL and sleeping in their finished basement. There is an off and on signal down here, but when it goes from 1 bar to none, I saw a little SOS where it was. I was wondering what the heck that was.

An iPhone 11 doesn’t have the feature described in the OP, so I don’t know what the “SOS” icon that you see means. Perhaps it simply means “No signal”.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:

Huh! I have an iPhone 11. I'm currently visiting my sister and BIL and sleeping in their finished basement. There is an off and on signal down here, but when it goes from 1 bar to none, I saw a little SOS where it was. I was wondering what the heck that was.

The SOS feature on iPhone models prior to the iPhone 14 depended on the cellular network. SOS via satellite was introduced with the iPhone 14.

Older Iphones have the SOS feature. It will call 911 when the phone has signal.

The new Iphones have the ability to use a satellite without cell service. That's the difference.

That rescue may cost her a bit. I wonder if her insurance covers it?

After a little research, I think that the SOS icon on iPhones prior to iPhone 14 means this:

There’s no signal available from your carrier, but you can call 911 via ANY carrier that has a useable signal.

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
With a group that size and no one could fashion a splint, assist in getting her out? No one knows how to construct a makeshift litter? Seems like pretty basic stuff to me. While I have had a long career as a health professional, I learned that stuff aS a 14 year old Boy Scout for god’s sake

I think the "boy" scouts are too busy working on their quilting and crochet merit badges.

What's the over/under on when someone uses the SOS feature because they've been waiting too long in the doughnut line? Never mind, I'm sure it has already happened.