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Emergency SOS via satellite is included for free with iPhone 14 Pro for 2 years
- JustSomeNobody 4y agoI got close with my guess: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32638093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32638093
- Jtsummers 4y agoNB: Not just the Pro, it's also available for the iPhone 14, also for free for the first two years.
- shadowpho 4y agoWow this is a game changer for many users. Plus it will generate cash once the 2 years run out!
- number6 4y ago
- tpmx 4y ago
- simonh 4y agoA free emergency service is despicable because it’s not forever. Really?
- tpmx 4y agoYes. It's long (I think since the early days in the 80s) been a tenet in mobile phone industry that emergency calls always need to be free. You route them best to your technical ability - anything else is unethical. With any cellular phone it's possible to dial the local emergency number. Doesn't matter if your current operator has coverage, the phone will find the network that has the best coverage. There's still explicit validation of this capability for new phone devices. You don't even need a SIM card. But now Apple has ended the practice.
- happyopossum 4y agoThat’s never been the case for satellite service - ever.
- tpmx 4y agoWell, this is the first time a mainstream phone gets satellite service.
- kube-system 4y agoThat is true and this may set a new precedent, but connectivity requirements in the past were always placed on carriers before, and never phone manufacturers.
- matt_attack 4y agoPhone manufacturers didn't offer services before. In this case Apple is the carrier (much like a MVNO) for the service.
- jshzglr 4y agoWould it be more ethical if they could but never did release this feature? Because that is essentially what you are advocating for, considering no public company could foot the bill in perpetuity. The way this probably plays out is by the time the 2 years is up or shortly thereafter this will be subsidized by the gov. Apple is leaving quite a bit of money on the table here, while simultaneously spending quite a bit. Wipe the entitlement from your eyes and recognize this for what it is.
- tpmx 4y ago> considering no public company could foot the bill in perpetuity. iPhone margins do allow for it. > Wipe the entitlement from your eyes and recognize this for what it is. Sir, let me very calmly ask you to please behave better in discussions here.
- happyopossum 4y agoDespicable? This is a huge investment for Apple (look at Globalstar’s SEC filing for details), it’s free for 2 years, and we don’t even know what (if anything) it will cost after that. But you’re confident it’s “despicable”. That smacks of some serious entitlement man…
- malfist 4y agoI hate apple because of vendor lock in and nonsense with their walled garden. But seriously, GP is deluded. Satellite emergency services has never been free, even if you buy an garmin device for this, they don't operate if you're not paying your monthly bill.
- pxeboot 4y agoThere were many Personal Locator Beacon's that worked without a subscription. They were more popular before the inReach, but still available.
- goleary 4y agoa bit of strong reaction given you have no idea whether or not it includes lifetime global 911 after the 2 years...
- jliptzin 4y agoHow large is the demand for something like this? Are tons of people really going that far out of range of cell signals?
- nicoburns 4y agoA lot of serious hikers use dedicated devices for this kind of functionality. It's expensive-ish, and the chance of needing it is small. But if you do need it then it could be an actual life-or-death situation, so it's worth it if you're out in the middle of nowhere regularly.
- snoopy_telex 4y agoFor the first 10 months in 2020, the Adirondacks had 245 search and rescue events[1] and it's a fairly small park nationally. This could save a huge amount of park service resources if they could be given the GPS cords to go directly to rather then spend hours searching. Expand that nation wide, it's a huge public win, and a great safety benefit to the individuals to be able to get help as soon as possible if something happens. I was unable to find nation wide stats on search and rescue events. [1] https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-search-and-rescues-this-year https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/record-number-of-...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- reaperducer 4y agoHow large is the demand for something like this? Are tons of people really going that far out of range of cell signals? When I lived in the desert, the local newspaper regularly published stories about tourists getting lost/stuck/stranded and then dying. Going by the newspaper accounts, I'd estimate at least a dozen people died in the desert each year, and that was just in my area.
- bombcar 4y agoThe demand is enough that the govn't could pay Apple the whole cost of this program and save money on search and rescue just because "head to the location of the phone" is a lot easier than "carefully comb this entire mountain range". And that's not even counting the lives saved.
- guyzero 4y agoThis raises BOM costs and has significant operating costs. How many users are likely to continue to pay for this service once the two years are up? It's a great feature but it's far from a guaranteed money maker. This could just as likely disappear from future iPhone models. edit: also competing dedicated devices also include the cost of SAR insurance in their monthly fees, which are significant: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461/pn/010-06000-SU https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461/pn/010-06000-SU It starts at $15 a month but any serious user is paying more like $35-65 a month.
- SkyPuncher 4y agoI live in a small city in what is rural America. There are a lot of places that I travel that I don't get cell service in. This could literally be a life-saver for me. While I don't know how large this group is, skiers, hikers, boaters, campers, off-roaders would all likely get use out of this functionality.
- guyzero 4y agoMost people in the groups you mention probably already own a dedicated emergency locator device. AAPL may very well take a lot of their business, but maybe not. An inReach is going to survive a much bigger fall than an iPhone.
- chrisseaton 4y agoWho are AAPL?
- Jtsummers 4y agoIt's Apple's stock symbol. People sometimes refer to companies by their stock symbols (on this site and others), though usually more in a financial discussion context.
- matt_attack 4y ago
- ChemSpider 4y agoHow much would it cost if I buy a non-Apple device with (just) this feature? Is it even available? Or would I need a full-blown satellite phone?
- gigatexal 4y agoSeems to be iPhone only. I want to know how much it is after 2 years. Will it be part of Apple One?
- ChemSpider 4y agoWell, I found that satellite phone plans start around $50/month - so it should be less than that.
- gigatexal 4y agoHonestly Apple should make the service free. It’s akin to making Airbags pay as you go; no just include them.
- bombcar 4y agoI suspect their plan is to introduce satellite calling by the time 2 years is up, but we'll see if the phone has the hardware for that already, or just the bare minimum for emergency texting.
- hoppyhoppy2 4y agohttps://www.findmespot.com/ https://www.findmespot.com/ is a popular brand of satellite emergency beacons I know of (I've never used one, though). You don't need a full satellite phone
- ChemSpider 4y ago$11.95/MO - cool. I learned something new ;-)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- whalesalad 4y agoMeanwhile in order to get remote unlock on my RAM truck (via phone) it's like $900 for 5 years. That was one thing I liked about Ford, their tech stuff is (currently) free forever.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago>That was one thing I liked about Ford, their tech stuff is (currently) free forever Wait until some exec gets a bright idea on how they can make more money.
- cheeze 4y agoAre you surprised that a car made by FCA is a pile?
- lotsofpulp 4y agoRebranded to Stellantis now.
- MBCook 4y agoBlueCruise is not free forever. They’re past that hurdle. To be fair, that requires constant road updates and scanning, so there is a very real cost to them.
- whalesalad 4y agomeant fordpass, not the self driving
- MBCook 4y agoAh, yes it’s nice that’s free. Sorry.
- toast0 4y agoFordPass (previously known as myfordmobile or something?) may not have a recurring charge, but my vehicle is on its second obsolete modem. They replaced the 2g modem with a 3g modem for free before I had the car, and some people were offered a 4g modem installation with free labor (but not me), but the hardware is about $300-$400 iirc. My car knows how to be a wifi client for reasons I can't fathom, but FordPass won't work with that. The modem is hidden under trim that's a pain to remove, and the new modem doesn't fit the old modem's mounting pattern, so they use tape on velcro to hold the new one.
- simonh 4y agoCringey called it, kind of, although he thought it would be for all iPhones and for more than just emergency calls. Typical for him to overcook something, and for Apple to come in with a stripped down but high value service.
- dewey 4y agoI'm not sure who "Cringey" is but that has been rumored for a while already by both Gurman and Ming-chi Kuo. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/09/14/iphone-13-satellite-connectivity https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/09/14/iphone-13-satel...
- mintone 4y agoCringely https://www.cringely.com/ https://www.cringely.com/
- simonh 4y agoArgh. Typed it on my phone.
- Jtsummers 4y agohttps://www.cringely.com/2022/06/03/apples-space-ambitions-are-real/ https://www.cringely.com/2022/06/03/apples-space-ambitions-a... - The particularly I, Cringely article.
- deznu 4y ago> although he thought it would be for all iPhones Not sure why he would think that - previous iPhones don't have satellite receiver. Apple was however previously rumoured to be working with Qualcomm on a modified X60 modem, for satellite connectivity.
- x32n23nr 4y agoWould this be something Starlink could offer?
- codebook 4y agostarlink recently announced to support T-Mobile to send msg or call. So should be better than this.
- CraigJPerry 4y agoI’d love to learn more about the RF side of this. In their marketing demo they showed that in order to avoid needing a traditional antenna, the user will be guided to point the phone at a satellite during the few minutes required for transmission. I’d love to know what the antenna arrangement is. I’d have guessed something like a log periodic laid out on the inside of the rear case.
- rubatuga 4y agoWonder if Apple is using a phase array like starlink
- gumby 4y agoHow do you think WiFi 6E works?
- Operyl 4y agoAs well as any other WiFi I imagine. So I take it the answer to GP is "Yes, probably."
- gumby 4y agoEarlier versions didn’t have MIMO (beam shaping). Iirc ac was the first version of Wi-Fi to support it.
- joecool1029 4y agoMIMO is not beamforming. 802.11n uses MIMO, 802.11ac introduced beamforming officially, there were some nonstandard vendor implementations in 802.11n.
- flutas 4y ago>How do you think WiFi 6E works? iPhone 14 doesn't have WiFi 6E on any model. https://www.apple.com/iphone-14-pro/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-14-pro/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-14/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-14/specs/
- Daniel_sk 4y agoUS and Canada only.
- alphabettsy 4y agoAt launch.
- pinum 4y ago>International travelers who visit the U.S. and Canada can use Emergency SOS via satellite So the international versions do have the hardware. That's good to know. >except if they bought their phone in China mainland, Hong Kong, or Macao. Emergency SOS via satellite isn't offered on iPhone models purchased in China mainland, Hong Kong, or Macao. No comment.
- ktta 4y agoMaybe because China has it's own system called BeiDou? https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Huawei-unveils-Mate-50-phone-that-links-with-China-s-own-GPS-system https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Huawei-unveils-M... Interesting picture I found on another HN thread, posted by walrus01. See if you note something interesting https://www.globalstar.com/Globalstar/media/Globalstar/Images/Coverage%20Maps/Globalstar-Coverage-Voice-and-Data-Gen1.png https://www.globalstar.com/Globalstar/media/Globalstar/Image...
- mhh__ 4y agoIs BeiDou for positioning only? This needs more than location to work
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- netsharc 4y agoA quick DDG says satellite phones are banned in China[1], I wonder if it's legal to take the new iPhone there. [1] https://apollosat.com/docs/countries-where-satellite-phones-are-banned-or-restricted/ https://apollosat.com/docs/countries-where-satellite-phones-...
- atyppo 4y agoThis idea is totally from left field, but perhaps Apple hopes to show how successful this program is with search and rescue operations to receive government subsidy? I can’t imagine a company as image-conscious as Apple being okay with the optics of a headline describing a hiker’s death after not paying for Emergency SOS.
- nicoburns 4y agoI'm betting: 1. This feature is relatively expensive for Apple. Satellite communication isn't free, and Apple don't have their own infrastructure for this. 2. They've signed a 2 year contract with whichever provider they're using. 3. They want to see if this feature is even popular before committing to supporting it for longer at all.
- ribosometronome 4y agoI imagine this has to be a loss leader/marketing feature, where the hope is very few will use it but those who do will result in "iPhone saves 12 year old Boy Scout lost in the woods!"
- alwillis 4y agoApple doesn’t really do loss leaders.
- ktta 4y agoLoss leader isn't the proper term in this case. Think of this akin to the health-scare clips they've been showing in the past few years when talking about the Apple Watch (like today). The number of Afib/high heart rate detections are miniscule, but serves as great marketing. Good enough for me to order one today.
- alwillis 4y agoAccording to the CDC, 805,000 people have heart attacks in the US [1]. I suspect it’ll be commonplace for many/most people will have some kind of health monitoring device. [1]: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
- codebook 4y agoI cannot find anywhere the subscription plan price after 2 years. Kind of disappointing to this. As a garmin inReach user, I hope this supports location report to closed friends like how Garmin did. But it's not. It is only for emergency.
- evan_ 4y agoIt may not be decided yet. I bet they're waiting to see how much use it gets before they set a price.
- g_p 4y ago> I hope this supports location report to closed friends like how Garmin did. I believe they showed location reporting through FindMy to friends, so not only for emergency scenarios.
- TechBro8615 4y agoI don't know why this would even be a subscription. I'm not hiking into the wilderness on a regular basis. I'd be happy to pay $20 to activate the feature for 30 days ahead of any adventuring I have planned.
- kube-system 4y agoThat's how inreach works now. Their base plan is $15/mo or $143/year
- mrep 4y agoYou can get some without a subscription but they are not as fancy as they just broadcast your location in an emergency. I've got these 2: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V6CWS26/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V6CWS26/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C6RCRIW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C6RCRIW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
- kube-system 4y ago
- alberth 4y agoWhat’s odd is that in the US at least, carriers must allow any phone (even if it no longer has an active/paid plan) to dial 911 for emergency. I wonder if Apple expects the government to institute similar requirements soon for satellite (if that’s possible) and this won’t cost anything.
- walrus01 4y agoUnlike something 3gpp (LTE) based, each existing low earth orbit satellite network is made from mutually incompatible proprietary tech. It's a very different thing than just having a random GSM band cellular phone with no SIM card in it.
- gpt5 4y agoThis is a good insight. As Smartphones satellite connectivity becomes more widespread, it's definitely expected that government will regulate it similar to cellular connectivity and require a free access to emergency services. In the meanwhile, Apple is using it as a differentiated feature.
- spicybright 4y agoIt's even better because if there's one thing Apple is good at, it's getting people to copy them. Mandatory 911 sat service on phones that support will save a lot of lives!!
- tablespoon 4y ago> Mandatory 911 sat service on phones that support will save a lot of lives!! How many people have died in the US because they were in distress but did not have cell phone coverage and were in a position where they could send a transmission to a satellite (e.g. clear view of the sky, etc.)?
- asadlionpk 4y agomore than 1?
- imchillyb 4y ago
- jshzglr 4y agoiPhone SE, Check it out. Also I have no idea how you can consider this a gimmick. It’s a free service than can and will save lives. There are plenty of things to critique apple for, this is not one of them.
- fomine3 4y agoIt's almost gimmick for me because I never go to area out of cellular service. Still it could be helpful when I got serious disaster and every communication method is dead. I'd like to know how much it costs. Anyway most recent features like great camera is gimmick for me, I gave up not to pay for gimmicks.
- jrockway 4y agoAren't a lot of features a gimmick by your standards? Some of the radio equipment in the iPhone is only to support countries that you don't live in, for example. You're paying for it even though you'll never use it.
- fomine3 4y agoIt could be said. But for band example, many band support isn't work for attracting people (though it's useful for travelers but I don't see advertising this great pros on iPhone), and it could reduce final cost by merging SKUs. It's less gimmicky IMO.
- tristanb 4y agoIm upgrading precisely for this feature.
- spicybright 4y agoThat's not their market though, nor does it have to be. It's not like they're the only phone maker on the market.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- OvidStavrica 4y ago"Globalstar said it is allocating 85% of its current and future network capacity to support the services and has agreed to prioritize the services on its network." https://www.satellitetoday.com/telecom/2022/09/07/apple-to-debut-iphone-with-emergency-messaging-enabled-by-globalstar-satellites/ https://www.satellitetoday.com/telecom/2022/09/07/apple-to-d...
- megablast 4y agoWhy would they need 85% capacity for emergeny only SMS. How many people are getting into trouble on their boats??
- core-utility 4y agoOr how little is the service being used now?
- kalleboo 4y agoIt looks like Globalstar currently has around 700,000 subscribers including Commercial IoT. Apple sells what, 200 million iPhones a year? Most of those won’t be Pros or sold in the US but it’s still going to be massive numbers.
- mplewis 4y agoLots of people get into trouble all the time and don't have a PLB or satellite messenger on them. It's not just on boats – hikers and climbers in the mountains get themselves into dangerous situations frequently. Globalstar is probably preparing for an influx of new users to their service who would otherwise not own a satellite-capable device.
- dghlsakjg 4y agoBoats? Denver to California is basically only covered if you can see a paved road… and their aren’t a ton of paved roads. Let’s not get into Canada, even on the main highway there are plenty of dead spots. Also, don’t overestimate their bandwidth. I rented a sat-phone once for weather updates mid Atlantic. Text only emails could take a minute to ul/dl with full reception.
- therealmarv 4y agoAfter 2 years: I hope they offer a "pay later" option (does not mean it has to be cheap). You never know when you are in emergency situations and you maybe need this kind of new technology. Imagine people could be saved in theory (and die) but not in practice because they did not paid their emergency subscription. And even worse: Imagine you could pay later but you don't use that option because you want to save money oO A lot of ethical problems in my opinion.
- LorenPechtel 4y agoThat issue already exists--without a subscription my inReach becomes nothing but an inferior GPS. When it powers up it even warns you that the SOS capability does not work without a subscription.
- ASalazarMX 4y agoApple: Certainly, you can pay another two years, by buying an iPhone 16 Pro.
- jbverschoor 4y agoPlus 3 months of Apple TV
- Etheryte 4y agoYou have to look at the business side of things, too. Apple has to pay a lot of money to whoever is managing and maintaining the satellites behind this and if you only ever pay when you need it you might not never pay at all. The correct mindset to have about this is that it's like insurance — you can't pick up insurance only after the fact when you need it, otherwise all insurance providers would be broke.
- cowsup 4y agoNot just the satellites, but they also said that, due to the slow speeds involved in the satellites, Apple will employ people who will be able to step in the middle of you and EMS, to help get information to them faster and answer relevant questions, without having to rely on you receiving/answering them using your device. The cost of this team alone will be huge.
- ykl 4y agoI genuinely think this feature is going to save lives. I've had friends before who have been in the exact target situation (got lost after nightfall in a remote location with no way to communicate) and only were found and rescued through absolute sheer dumb luck.
- eddyg 4y agoRelated discussion (on Globalstar SEC filing, with some interesting insight into the state of the Globalstar constellation): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32754963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32754963
- hughes 4y agoI expect that within 2 years the Starlink cellular coverage will be good enough to replace this. Will be interesting to see how the take rate holds up in that environment after the free period expired.
- yourMaster666 4y ago
- bilsbie 4y agoI wonder how much bandwidth it would need to be able to load directions? It’s worst when I’m done hiking and can’t reception to load directions to Red Robin. I have to drive aimlessly until I get some cell service.
- onionisafruit 4y agooffline maps are your friend here
- tjohns 4y agoHaving used these types of satellite messenger devices, it can take 1-2 minutes just to send an SMS. Loading graphical maps is out of the question, unless you use a different satellite network.
- bilsbie 4y agoI’d be ok with a stripped down service and just send directions as text. Better than nothing.
- gerdesj 4y agoI scrolled and I scrolled and I got bored - it's like trudging through an old adventure game with dark mode on. Where on earth is the content wrt SOS and satellites?
- Waterluvian 4y agoMy guess is that including it free for two years is because they aren’t confident the UX will be any good. They don’t dare charge for an emergency-relays service that might be a mess. So it’s basically an open beta. I think the weakest link, by far, is texting 911 or routing through a call centre.
- GavinMcG 4y agoI am not a lawyer. That doesn't seem likely. Offering something for free doesn't mean you're legally off the hook for what it does. That's especially true when the "free" thing you're offering is part of a package deal that you're selling to the public. If they're rolling out an emergency relay, they'd better be confident that it'll work the vast, vast majority of the time.
- marricks 4y agoIt's an unfortunate fact of human nature that once you get used to something existing you expect it to exist*. Something one could easily forget to pay (say you overspent and denied the charge) could end up killing you. I sincerely hope in two years the SOS feature is free and a limited data plan for $$$ exists. This could also explain the 85% of sat service usage. But we shouldn't have to hope such a thing exists... * We can hate people all we want for this "feature" but the fact of the matter its how we're built.
- sfvegandude 4y agoI think a person who is going out into the wilderness, who has prepared food and water and a tent and told their family where they are going, is probably going to remember to renew the subscription. Apple might even let you do it via satellite.
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y ago"Wanna survive? 200/yr"
- rafram 4y agoI mean, yeah, that’s the model that Garmin, Spot (which is under the same network that Apple is now on), and others are already using. It’s essentially insurance.
- tjohns 4y agoIt's worth noting that you can use a PLB (which runs on the COSPAS-SARSAT network) to summon help for free. No subscription required. On the other hand, the devices themselves cost $300 and aren't usable for anything else outside a life-or-death emergency. The big reason InReach/Spot subscription devices are so popular is that they include non-emergency messaging to family as part of the service.
- marricks 4y agoI wasn't even thinking about those folks actually, more referring to all the hikers who get lost during a day trip.
- saurik 4y agoMeanwhile, "Google Pixel 6 still freezes when calling Emergency Services". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32713375 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32713375
- stalfosknight 4y agoWhy are people still buying Google products?
- zokula 4y ago
- treeman79 4y agoFreedom to install spammy apps
- IntelMiner 4y agoThat's not fair, Apple is just gearing up to get 30% of that spam revenue https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/report-apple-is-exploring-in-app-ads-for-maps-podcasts-books-and-beyond/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/report-apple-is-expl...
- T6ESfbC5hbzJ6W2 4y ago
- serf 4y agoa rooted Busybox is pretty spammy in the literal sense of the word...
- serf 4y agoI ask myself that about nearly every popular consumer item the past few years. Companies are extraordinarily anti-consumer now, but in ways that indulge the customer such that they don't realize it. I don't know what to say about it other than the anecdotal observance; companies won't stop the behavior -- it's extraordinarily profitable ; and it generally seems as if the public doesn't care. It nudges the perceived quality up a bit and the consumer doesn't bother reading the 75 page EULA, so they're generally unaware that they own very little of the product they paid so much for. I find myself pining for the days when a consumer transaction was , generally, a simple A-B money-for-product type transfer rather than this constantly connected service industry that everything has slowly evolved into. Sorry for the rant, I offer no solutions , only hope that there may be a solution somewhere that will give the rights back to the consumer while remaining competitive enough that the company that supports the people will flourish; i'm not holding my breath -- but thinks like the framework laptop and so on are a step in the right direction and a sign of hope for me personally that i'm not the only one with consumer rights on their mind.
- _8j50 4y agoSo basically if you have an iphone you can be tracked anywhere on the planet unless you make sure the battery is drained? This is too funny. I still like the iphone but man, if I ever do anything shady I will burn my iphone first with thermite and throw it in the ocean. Honestly, right now Uber is the only reason I have to use a smartphone. I have been able to move every other use case to a laptop. Or flip phone with removable battery.
- isatty 4y agoThis is always the case, regardless of if you're on an iPhone. Dumb phones can be tracked too unless you remove the battery and chuck em.
- DSingularity 4y agoHis point is remote places lacking cellular reception are now included in set of places where people can be tracked.
- anonporridge 4y agoThat doesn't matter. Your phone can still covertly record GPS coordinates everywhere you are and phone home where you've been once you're back online.
- _8j50 4y agoIt does matter because realtime tracking is more relevant to some people
- ec109685 4y agoApple doesn’t store your location on their servers in a way that can be used by law enforcement.
- sbuk 4y agoOnly if you point the thing directly at the satellite. And if you’re doing that, one imagines that you want to be ‘tracked’.
- devwastaken 4y ago"your subscription to emergency services has ended, have a nice day.". We are going to have to make laws to wrangle this kind of rent seeking that preys upon people. Apple should not be creating this network, it should be public infrastructure, same as GPS.
- TulliusCicero 4y agoI don't disagree that it should be a public service available to all, but I don't see how Apple is to blame for that, or is "preying" on people any more than any other safety-oriented product. The way I see this going is this becoming an increasingly popular/common private service until yeah eventually lawmakers take note and make a nationalized equivalent available to all.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pabs3 4y agoI wonder when iPhones will integrate LoRa for localish low-bandwidth communication without a cell service.
- aaron695 4y ago
- kyriakos 4y agoAre there are big reception blackspots in the US to explain why this feature is needed?
- CompuHacker 4y agoWith no research, I can give an emphatic "yes."
- datalopers 4y agoYes. PLBs are a very important thing to have for backcountry/wilderness exploration and offshore boating. [1] https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/personal-locator-beacons.html https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/personal-locator-bea...
- 8ytecoder 4y agoQuite a bit actually. Even highways out of populated areas won’t have any network coverage. Also the same reason satellite radio is still popular and sold here.
- s1mon 4y ago20 minutes from San Francisco there are dead spots. I go hiking all around the Bay Area, and while it’s gotten much better in the last 10 years, there are so many national, regional, and local parks with huge dead zones. Most rural areas in the US that aren’t near a town center or major highways are pretty spotty.
- LorenPechtel 4y agoI spend a decent amount of time in the backcountry--and more likely than not I have no reception. In general, if I can't see buildings my phone probably doesn't work. (Note that "see" should be interpreted broadly--looking down from a mountain you can rarely resolve individual buildings, but you can see it's developed land.) Major roads will generally have service even if you can't see buildings, but secondary roads rarely do.
- napolux 4y agoIf you really were stranded on a mountaintop, you would probably have been hiking all day, which means your iPhone’s battery might very well be dead and the satellite feature would therefore be unusable. :)
- LorenPechtel 4y agoYeah, an awful lot of the people who would need this feature won't be able to power it. I've seen far too many let their phones run dead out there.
- balls187 4y agoMy sense is 2-year covers the original owners phone for the average length of time an iphone owner keeps theirs, and for those who purchase phones 2nd hand, they would have to re-up for this coverage. I would assume when you buy the iphone15 it would come with another 2-years of coverage.
- dgan 4y ago... truly anything is good to make marketing claims
- andix 4y agoHey Siri, i broke my leg and I need emergency services to my remote location Your emergency subscription expired yesterday, should I renew it the next time you have wifi?
- johnflan 4y agoFirst thought when seeing this was this is their first step into satellite technology, whats the odds they will own a satellite constellation in the next 5-8 years
- fouronnes3 4y agoI never understood why Apple hasn't moved much earlier and much faster to own the entire telecommunication stack and infrastructure, including carriers, home internet, satellite internet, etc. Seems like an obvious move from the outside. Buy an iPhone, log in with your Apple id, it works everywhere on the planet.
- that_guy_iain 4y agoHonestly, if I was a hiker or liked roaming in the wilderness. I would pretty much be instantly upgrading to the iPhone Pro.
- JCBird1012 4y agoCarriers in the US are basically required to route 911 calls, even for devices not on their network - I wonder if that’ll include T-Mobile’s/Starlink announcement (since they’re going to be using existing 5G spectrum, I would presume so) - if I’m out in the wilderness and I experience an emergency, in theory, 911 should just work for me, piggybacking off a Starlink satellite, even if I’m a Verizon or AT&T or whatever subscriber - if that’s the case, I don’t see the need for all of these competing Emergency SOS via Satellite offerings.
- rapjr9 4y agoThis feature seems to have a few limitations: You have to point the phone, perhaps for a minute or two, which means you have to be able enough to point the phone at a particular part of the sky dictated by the phone. If you are injured this may not be possible. So not as simple as just pressing a "rescue me" button. You need both satellite and GPS coverage wherever you are. GPS is not 100% available everywhere, sometimes tree cover or tall buildings can block it. Same with satellite coverage. So there are likely situations where it will not work, or it may get a message through but may not be able to send your GPS location.
- LorenPechtel 4y agoTrue, but terrain limitations apply the same to the systems it's competing with. I do agree it's stricter about pointing, but the manual on my inReach advises that it be in a vertical position for maximum reliability--people typically hang such devices from their packs to provide vertical orientation and minimum obstruction. For a lightweight implementation of a satellite rescue system this sounds very good.
- t0bia_s 4y ago2027: Protect against new SarS-Cov28 with new iPhone 19 for 29 USD/month subscription. 2035: Extra two years of life with our new iChip for 49 USD/month. 2065: No pain ever. With our brand new iWater. ... I guess there will be decade for advertising tech based primary on health benefits.