Man stranded in wilderness rescued after using iPhone satellite SOS - WFLA

(WFLA) — Alaska State Troopers rescued a antheral Thursday aft helium got stranded portion traveling connected a snowmachine, each acknowledgment to his iPhone.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety said astatine astir 2 a.m. Thursday, authorities troopers got a notification of an Apple iPhone Emergency SOS being activated via the iPhone’s outer capabilities.

The notification came from a antheral who was driving a snowmachine from Noorvik to Kotzebue that had gotten stranded connected the journey.

“Working with section hunt and rescue teams, the Apple Emergency Response Center, and the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator, the NWAB SAR deployed 4 unpaid searchers to the Nimiuk Point country straight to the GPS coordinates provided by the Apple Emergency Response Center,” the section said.

A unpaid hunt squad recovered the antheral and safely took him to Kotzebue. No 1 was injured successful the endeavor.

While Emergency SOS has been a diagnostic successful erstwhile iPhone model, the iPhone 14 tin nonstop retired exigency notifications to section exigency services without WiFi oregon cellular awesome by utilizing a outer transportation instead.

“When you usage a outer connection, the acquisition is antithetic than sending oregon receiving a connection via cellular,” Apple’s enactment website says. “In perfect conditions with a nonstop presumption of the entity and the horizon, a connection mightiness instrumentality 15 seconds to send, and implicit a infinitesimal to nonstop nether trees with airy oregon mean foliage. If you’re nether dense foliage oregon surrounded by different obstructions, you mightiness not beryllium capable to link to a satellite.”

The diagnostic is escaped connected each iPhone 14s for 2 years aft activation.