iPhone 14: Apple wants to save lives with satellite emergency calls

With the iPhone 14, Apple introduced new personal assistance features. Indeed, the new Apple brand smartphones can connect to a satellite to alert emergency services in the event of an accident in areas without a network or Wi-Fi. We explain how it works.

As you probably know, Apple held its new keynote this Wednesday, September 7, 2022. During this long two-hour conference, many products were presented such as the new Apple Watch Series 8, SE and Series 8 Ultra without forgetting the AirPods Pro 2, and of course, the iPhone 14.

With this new generation, Apple has made a point of emphasizing the safety of users. To this end, the Apple brand has added two new features dedicated to personal assistance. First of all, it should be mentioned accident detectionwhich can detect serious car accidents and automatically call for help (in the event of loss of consciousness of the user).

iPhone 14 can alert satellite rescue

The other novelty in this security section is based on satellite communication. Indeed, the iPhone 14 also integrates the functionality Satellite emergency call. The principle is simple: in case of danger in an area without internet or cellular coverage, the user can connect to a satellite via your iPhone 14 to alert the emergency services.

As you can imagine, the iPhone 14 obviously does not have an imposing antenna as Starlink can offer in its equipment pack. No, Apple used “bespoke components tightly integrated into the software”. However, satellites are moving targets with limited bandwidth.

In fact, users will have to point their smartphone to an available satellite. To do this, the device incorporates a guidance system. Once the iPhone 14 is correctly aligned with a satellite, the user will be asked to respond to several vital questions necessary to assess the status of the person. There are questions of the type:

• What is the emergency: car accident, illness or injury, crime, lost or trapped, fire
• Is anyone hurt ?
• What is the best description of urgency?

Once this is done, the user can send a text message to clarify their situation. Of course, this whole operation can take several minutes. “However, the communication protocols are not adapted to the low bandwidth of satellites. That’s why we created a custom-made compression algorithm to reduce message size by three”. explains Ashley Williams, satellite modeling and simulation manager at Apple.

As the Cupertino company specifies, all your answers are then transmitted to centers where work specialists trained by Apple who will provide help for the user. In addition, note that it will be possible for users to share their position via satellite via the Locate application. According to Apple, satellite emergency calling will be available in the United States and Canada in November 2022, and will be free for two years for iPhone 14 owners.