The iPhone 14‘s Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc characteristic final week saved a trio of scholars who went canyoneering in Utah and acquired caught in an space with no mobile sign. Launched final September, Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc is designed to let iPhone 14 customers entry satellite tv for pc communications to get assist in emergency conditions.
The scholars who have been concerned spoke to Utah’s KUTV (by way of AppleInsider) and described their harmful ordeal. One of many college students, Bridger Woods, mentioned that the three had heard a few “fairly cool canyon” that they determined to take a look at as a result of they’d been canyoneering for roughly a 12 months.
Contained in the canyon, they encountered an space that had unexpectedly deep water, probably attributable to a moist winter in Utah. Woods and one other pupil, Jeremy Mumford, have been caught within the pool for over an hour, however they finally have been in a position to get out and proceed deeper. They encountered one other pool the place the water was chest deep, they usually couldn’t get out.
Two of the scholars have been experiencing signs of hypothermia, and due to the situation of the canyon, there was no mobile sign, however the third pupil, Stephen Watts, had an iPhone 14. In accordance with Mumford, each 20 minutes, a “satellite tv for pc would line up” to their location, and holding the cellphone up, they have been in a position to get sufficient satellite tv for pc sign to textual content 911.
Whereas ready for emergency providers, the trio have been in a position to leverage themselves out of the deep pool utilizing rope and carabiners. With Woods going into hypothermic shock, they have been nonetheless unable to get out of the ten to fifteen foot gap that they have been in. As an alternative, they situated driftwood and started a hearth to heat up whereas emergency crews got here to their rescue.
A helicopter crew from Salt Lake Metropolis arrived, as did paramedics from Arizona, and all three college students have been finally unhurt. The group instructed KUTV that they suggest taking a satellite tv for pc cellphone on adventures in case of an emergency scenario.
Emergency SOS by way of Satellite tv for pc has already been utilized in a number of different life-threatening conditions, together with when an Alaskan man was stranded within the wilderness and when individuals have been concerned in a critical crash within the Angeles Nationwide Forest in California.
Emergency Satellite tv for pc by way of SOS is on the market to all iPhone 14 customers in choose nations, and it may be activated when an emergency scenario happens and there’s no WiFi or mobile connection out there. The characteristic is free to make use of for 2 years, and Apple has not but supplied element on how a lot it’ll value going ahead.
