New iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite feature saves man in Alaska

After becoming stranded in a remote area of Alaska, a man used the new iPhone 14 SOS feature to call for help.

The man, traveling from Noorvik to Kotzebue on a snowmobile, became stranded on December 1 around 2:00 am.

Fortunately, he could use his iPhone 14 to send an SOS via satellite, alerting Alaska State Troopers to his location.

Working with local search and rescue teams, the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator dispatched four search volunteers to the GPS coordinates provided by the Apple Emergency Response Center.

According to a post made by the Alaska Department of Public Safety spotted by MacRumors, there were no injuries reported.

The new feature rolled out in November after it was announced at WWDC 2022.

When activated, users are asked a series of questions to classify the kind of emergency, along with other important details that are combined into a compact message, similar to a text.

The text is then sent via satellite to either an emergency response center that supports compressed messages, or routed through an Apple Emergency Response center and passed to the correct location.

For those interested, AppleInsider has a guide on how to use Emergency SOS via Satellite.

12 Comments

Madbum 2 Years · 536 comments

About 2 years ago

I bet he would say iPhone 14 was worth the upgrade lol…

chasm 10 Years · 3624 comments

I did not think we would get a genuine rescue report using this technology so soon after it was implemented. Very glad he had it to use, I shudder (or perhaps shiver is the right word) to think of what might have happened to him. Delighted there were no injuries

That said, is snowmobiling your way along a very remote route at 2am really a good idea? I can't help but think that alcohol might have played a role here ...

JFC_PA 7 Years · 947 comments

That far north, above the Arctic Circle and in December, there’s probably not much difference between 2 A. M. and 2 P. M…

okay given sunset (today) is at 3:13 P. M. It’d be a tad lighter… Sunrise, 11:54 A. M. ….

thiugh maybe Notsomuch: check out the UV index on Apple weather for Noorvik: it’s a flatline at zero. Hysterical.

22july2013 11 Years · 3736 comments

He may not be the first person to use this feature. Apple has no obligation (and probably has no right) to report on when this feature is used.

Stabitha_Christie 3 Years · 582 comments

22july2013 said:

He may not be the first person to use this feature. Apple has no obligation (and probably has no right) to report on when this feature is used.

Operating emergency services contact centers is fairly regulated. That said I’d wager that Apple could say how many contacts they got. They likely would not be able to provide details of any situation or customer without consent.