iPhone 14: a man saved in Alsaka thanks to the emergency call by satellite
The iPhone 14’s satellite emergency calls served well for a man who was stuck in Alaska. Using the new feature allowed him to get help with rescuers at his exact location, when he wasn’t picking up his carrier’s network.
Alaska State Troops have received an alert that a man traveling by snowmobile from Noorvik to Kotzebue in Alaska was stranded. The man was in a cold, isolated location with no connection, and he activated the satellite emergency call feature of his iPhone 14 to alert authorities to his predicament.
Apple’s Emergency Response Center worked with local search and rescue teams, as well as the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator to send volunteer searchers directly to GPS coordinates that were relayed to Apple using the emergency feature.
The man was successfully rescued, he was not injured. Also, he was lucky, since the area he was in is remote and on the fringes of where satellite connectivity is available. Apple says satellite connectivity may not work in locations above 62° latitude, such as northern parts of Canada and Alaska, and that Noorvik and Kotzebue are near 69° latitude.
iPhone 14 satellite emergency calling has recently become available in the United States and Canada. The feature will arrive this month in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Use is free for two years. Apple has yet to reveal the price beyond that.
