Starting today, owners of any iPhone in the 14 and 15 ranges will have emergency satellite coverage in Spain, a year after the service was launched for the United States and Canada. Since then, other countries have joined and, with Spain and Switzerland, there are 16 as of today. The Emergency SOS service via satellite is intended to be used only when someone is in an area without a telephone or Wi-Fi signal and in a situation where they need to send a message to get help. Apple provides this security function for free for two years from the purchase of an iPhone, although for those people who purchased the iPhone 14 or 14 Pro in Spain previously, the period begins to count from today, when it becomes on going.
When an iPhone from the 14 and 15 ranges is in an area without telephone coverage and needs to notify the emergency services, a short questionnaire appears on the screen with key questions that allow the operators who receive the initial message to quickly understand the situation. of the user. These questions were developed in collaboration with an emergency team.
For example, to identify the emergency, ask if it is a vehicle problem, illness or injury, crime, being lost or trapped, or the presence of a fire. The message includes the user’s responses to the questionnaire; the location you are in, including altitude; iPhone battery level; and medical identification, if activated. The transcript with relay center specialists can also be shared with the user’s emergency contacts to keep them informed.
After answering this, the user must follow the prompts on how to connect to the satellite network. These are satellites with little bandwidth that move very quickly and are in an orbit more than a thousand kilometers from the Earth. Therefore, messages may take several minutes to arrive. To facilitate communication, Apple developed a text compression algorithm so that the size of the message was reduced by about three times. In good conditions, about 15 seconds pass between sending and receiving the message.
When a user does not have coverage or Wi-Fi, but does not have an emergency to report, Apple’s satellite connection allows them to share their location with a contact using the Find My app. In addition, Apple’s satellite system also connects to safety features such as fall and car collision detection on iPhones and Apple Watches, which notify emergency services if it concludes that an accident has occurred and the user is not. respond before a reasonable time to deactivate the call.
Emergency SOS via satellite and Search via satellite require the latest free OS 17 update installed for users in Spain and Switzerland. Users who dial a unique local emergency service number and do not have coverage will be redirected to the European emergency number 112. Up to 10 emergency contacts using at least iOS version 16.1 or later and the iMessage app will be able to see the location of the user, the type of emergency and a live transcript of your conversation with emergency services. The service also works in Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the United States, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
