There’s no *right* to communicate via satellite for free.
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What You Need to Know About Apple's Emergency Satellite Feature for iPhone 14
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I have to imagine that this is Apple just getting started with satellite technology. I can't imagine where they'll be in 10 years of iteration and advancement.
I put my trusty InReach mini on eBay and will be upgrading to iPhone 14 pro just for this.
I have been paying $150/year for the past 10 years to InReach just to have the insurance when hiking. Not needing to carry another device with me and (for now) pay for another subscription is worth sacrificing the more versatile messaging capabilities of InReach.
Because physics? Like antenna and transmit power.
I will get it (swithcing to T-Mobile) the second it is available. Knowing “Musk timelines”, I will not be holding my breath. Maybe they will show a demo in 12 months, but I’ll be very surprised if all customers can reliably send messages by mid 2024.
T-Mobile will do the integration: with this there is a good chance that it will succeed. Assuming spacex will be able to get their LEO 5G “link tower” to work.
You have exceptional ears: hearing sound of future.
Not a single gen 2 satellite has been launched yet. SpaceX do not even have the launch vehicle built for launching those very big satellites.
And you will need a constellation of at least a few dozen satellites to cover US. Probably hundreds.
So quite early for a limited beta.
Sorry for those of you living in countries where these services are not covered by the government. In my country, you are rescued by regular police forces, free of charge.
It means that, since Apple expects you to renew phones every two years, this will be another incentive (of -for instance- 100$ a year) to do so.
Great feature. Hopefully its availability will expand to more countries in the future.
The same with people holding older iPhones or a different brand.
It's a service, and most likely a very expensive one to maintain.
If you think this should be a public service free for all, then lobby your favorite politician to get funding for it. You cannot expect a privately held company to foot the bill. I think it's a very good thing that Apple gets the ball rolling with this and makes it free to use for their customers initially - and not just for a trial month.
Seriously interesting, do you have any links to actual facts? I’m curious about these things and enjoy learning new stuff, especially about physics…
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They didn't say that at all. You can send the distress message free of charge, but Apple is not going to pay the cost of rescue operations.
It is very well possible that Apple does not have concrete plans about what happens in two years with this. It might prove to be so useless in real situations that they cannot justify the cost and discontinue the service. It might be such a good idea that a foundation or government agency will foot the bill and make it free not only for Apple users but all modern phones.
Two years is a very long time in tech.
Do you really think Apple's legal team would have left Apple exposed to such a liability?
Think about all the end user agreements you have to agree to before you can use any Apple product - they don't make you do that for fun.
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So you can withstand an impact as long as it stops you quickly? Yeah, that’s not how that works. You’re thinking fighter pilots who can withstand double digit Gs for a little while. Impact Gs are way different, nothing human survives over 200Gs of impact. If something stops you at 200Gs, your body does not stop moving – the impact side does, the rest keeps moving until it has spent all that force by compressing, which at that much energy tends to mess you up completely.
Sarsat is not for conversation. The Iphone sarsat mode can works like a beacon. It only sends a short coded message. which answers tree questions: where the accident happened + who needs help + what kind of help is needed. Nothing more.
Ah, the sorrow I bear from a quick google, can’t really trust what I read on the web… I probably just came across a marketing blurb that was exaggerated. My apologies, I believe you are correct!
Luckily none of those places are on my bucket list. 😂
We seem to have three populations who might be, or find themselves, interested.
Serious outdoors people who might well pay. Even if they have some other satellite-capable device(s) it adds another string to their bow.
Less serious outdoors people and those who live in who live in poor or no tower coverage areas. Some will see reason to pay; some not.
Others who might not even realise they are going out of tower coverage. Where I live, our 3G coverage map looks excellent, 4G not too bad, 5G mostly not here yet. But some areas, especially round the coast, go from good to no signal in metres. The lack of understanding will likely mean they won't even realise they might need the option, let alone actually pay. Think of someone on a very ordinary beach holiday - they walk on the rocks, fall or find themselves being cut off by the tide, or walk along the beach and a minor cliff fall injures them. Places and situations which might only apply for minutes a year! I don't think many will pay unless it is a tiny cost - possibly included in something else like Apple One or iCloud.
Particularly frustrating for this last group is that they might be within range of multiple mobiles. A mesh-like approach might often be perfectly adequate - I can imagine piggy-backing on Find My facilities - without needing to use satellite.
Serious outdoors people who might well pay. Even if they have some other satellite-capable device(s) it adds another string to their bow.
Less serious outdoors people and those who live in who live in poor or no tower coverage areas. Some will see reason to pay; some not.
Others who might not even realise they are going out of tower coverage. Where I live, our 3G coverage map looks excellent, 4G not too bad, 5G mostly not here yet. But some areas, especially round the coast, go from good to no signal in metres. The lack of understanding will likely mean they won't even realise they might need the option, let alone actually pay. Think of someone on a very ordinary beach holiday - they walk on the rocks, fall or find themselves being cut off by the tide, or walk along the beach and a minor cliff fall injures them. Places and situations which might only apply for minutes a year! I don't think many will pay unless it is a tiny cost - possibly included in something else like Apple One or iCloud.
Particularly frustrating for this last group is that they might be within range of multiple mobiles. A mesh-like approach might often be perfectly adequate - I can imagine piggy-backing on Find My facilities - without needing to use satellite.