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Apple's iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite Feature Saves Stranded Man in Alaska
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In Scotland a few years ago somebody in the Highlands literally died 100 yards from their door during a heavy snow storm. They couldn't see their way home and they had no way of contacting anybody because they forgot their phone. That's an extremely unlucky case, but it doesn't even take snow to get hypothermia - it's easy to get it in wet conditions even many degrees above freezing.I was waiting for the first story like this to come out after Apple rolled out the feature.
Seems like every year I read a story in the news about someone who was stranded in the snow, or while hiking, or found dead in a remote location and had no way to reach out for help. Here's a really sad one from many years back that still sticks in my mind.
Kim family's fatal Oregon journey
The Oregonian covered the family's tragic journey for months. Here are the key stories.www.oregonlive.com
If only they had a way to reach out for help and send their location.
There is no doubt in my mind that this feature will save lives, and sounds like it already may have done so.
What is so preposterous about someone needing help on a remote location and then getting help from a dedicate SAR team wit the help of technology designed to help stranded people? It happens almost everyday.
There are too many real people involved in this for a stunt to be kept secret and too much for Apple to lose if they got caught faking a story. This is why 99% of all conspiracy theories are nonsense created by mentally unstable people looking for attention.
The batteries of a PLB have a finite life and they can only be replaced by the manufacturer or authorised service centres, which is a PITA, at least in the UK, because the Postal Service does not transport any device with a battery. Anyway, when my PLB battery expires I will investigate replacing it, but if it is too much hassle, I'll probably go for a Garmin.
The article in no way implies he was unprepared and that he did not have necessary gear and resources to survive. It says he became stranded and used the new feature to get help. Should he have stayed out there making a fire, building an igloo and ice fishing hoping that someone would stumble across him and his inoperable snow machine or actively use the phone feature exactly as it was intended?
I vote for using the phone feature as it was intended.
This feature relies on dedicated hardware only in iPhone 14 and connectivity with Globalstar satellites. If it was only about software, Apple could've included this in iPhones years ago.
Hmm, Southern Norway goes up to 65 degree latitude (or at least 63.5)...
This post actually makes me quite angry. What an absurd and vicious comment!
This a great story and great use of technology.
IMHO it should (and I hope will) become a standard feature of all phones globally as soon as possible, and be free to users.
I find the idea of it being a service for profit or even at considerable cost to the individual slightly distasteful really, though obviously preferable to it not existing at all… maybe that is literally and figuratively the price of this feature existing, at least for now.
As for the cynicism that emerges for stories like this - I am just encouraged by the many positive responses so I’ll focus on those. There’s always the extremely useful Ignore List for that other stuff, I’m just not interested, and the ignore list works well.
Fire departments and ambulance companies started out as for-profit subscription services decades ago. Now they are mostly (but not all) public entities. I could see a similar trajectory for something like this. But the satellites orbiting earth were deployed by a private company as a business enterprise, so I imagine they’re going to want to at least pay those off before giving them over to public service.
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I mean, it's a useful feature for a huge majority of people, but like, it worked. So that's not bad.
He may have had all those things so he could survive until being declared overdue but that does not get you home if your vehicle gets stranded.
Noorvik to Kotzebue is only about 5 miles. Temps yesterday in that are ranged about 20-25 F. Cold but definitely not frigid by Alaskan standards. I'm sure people have broken down before in Alaska and most of them turned out fine, especially when only a few miles from town. This story needs more details in the gravity of the situation otherwise it's, embellished, made up, set up, etc.
Why not? Built a little house, start a homestead farm, adopt a dog, get married, maybe have a kid in a few years. All perfectly reasonable things you can do while stranded in the middle of northern Alaska, assuming you prepared adequately. /s
Absolutely. And we're now seeing a remarkable uptick in those conspiracy theory posts. Many websites have stopped discussion threads for this very reason. They don't want their integrity and credibility ruined by these miserable posts. Sadly, other sites seem to encourage it.
This is the wonderful, more than you can believe it.
With the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple rolled out a Emergency SOS via Satellite, which is designed to allow iPhone 14 owners to contact emergency services using satellite connectivity when no cellular or WiFi connection is available. The feature was put to the test in Alaska today, when a man became stranded in a rural area.
In the early hours of the morning on December 1, Alaska State Troopers received an alert that a man traveling by snow machine from Noorvik to Kotzebue had become stranded. The man was in a cold, remote location with no connectivity, and he activated the Emergency SOS via satellite feature on his iPhone 14 to alert authorities to his predicament.
Apple's Emergency Response Center worked with local search and rescue teams and the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator to send out volunteer searchers directly to the GPS coordinates that were relayed to Apple using the emergency function.
The man was rescued successfully and there were no injuries. The area where he was located is remote and on the fringes of where satellite connectivity is available. Apple says that satellite connectivity might not work in places above 62° latitude, such as northern parts of Canada and Alaska, and Noorvik and Kotzebue are close to 69° latitude.
Troopers who helped with the rescue were "impressed with the accuracy and completeness of information included in the initial alert," with the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature designed to ask several questions ahead of when an alert is sent out to expedite rescue missions.
Emergency Satellite via SOS is available to all iPhone 14 users, and it can be activated when an emergency situation occurs and there is no WiFi or cellular connection available. The feature is free to use for two years, and Apple has not yet provided detail on how much it will cost going forward.
Satellite connectivity is available in North America at the current time, and it will soon expand to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.
Article Link: Apple's iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite Feature Saves Stranded Man in Alaska
The cynicism on the Internet is getting appalling.
-If Apple actually had the power to stage something like this and keep the actors silent then surely negative press from all the false Crash Detection emergency calls from theme park goers would either never reach the press or have been balanced by an equal amount of car crash survivors praising Tim Cook to the skies.
I'm not saying there's no chance this is either staged or that the guy was maybe more eager to try out the feature than actually needing to do so.
But people end up in emergencies all day, every day around the World. It's not that far-fetched to suggest that one such person is carrying an iPhone 14.
Let's give it the benefit of the doubt for now.
-If Apple actually had the power to stage something like this and keep the actors silent then surely negative press from all the false Crash Detection emergency calls from theme park goers would either never reach the press or have been balanced by an equal amount of car crash survivors praising Tim Cook to the skies.
I'm not saying there's no chance this is either staged or that the guy was maybe more eager to try out the feature than actually needing to do so.
But people end up in emergencies all day, every day around the World. It's not that far-fetched to suggest that one such person is carrying an iPhone 14.
Let's give it the benefit of the doubt for now.
Sounds like you need to do some research to support your hypothesis.
Don't forget to provide citations.
Honestly, he should have just flown. And should’ve been towing an extra SuperCub just in case his first plane broke down. And probably a spare engine for the second plane. And spare fuselage. Kinda like maybe a third plane. You know, so he didn’t have to call the rescue services. Some people are so unprepared.
It’s a limitation of the orbit of the satellites. Santa Claus cannot use those satellites till he gets well below the arctic circle.
Not true. But…How many miles of tundra have you walked across in winter?
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