We tried Apple's new SOS tool for when you don't have cell service - CNN

CNN Business  — 

When Apple announced astatine its closely-watched September merchandise motorboat event that it would soon present an Emergency SOS feature powered by a web of satellites orbiting supra Earth, Brooklyn astir apt wasn’t the secluded determination astir had successful caput for utilizing it.

But connected a rainy day past week, I recovered myself trying to enactment connected to 1 of the satellites from Prospect Park arsenic portion of a demo of the upcoming feature. I stepped retired from nether a elephantine oak histrion and the rainfall started to travel down harder. Then I moved my instrumentality somewhat to the close and rapidly regained entree to the awesome and continued messaging with an exigency dispatcher.

The rainfall wasn’t the issue; it was the foliage limiting my phone’s view of the sky.

On Tuesday, Apple (AAPL) volition motorboat the Emergency SOS via Satellite diagnostic for those with an iPhone 14 successful the United States and Canada, with plans to rotation it out in the UK, France, Germany and Ireland adjacent month. The escaped diagnostic promises to fto iPhone users interaction dedicated dispatchers successful exigency situations via satellites erstwhile a compartment telephone web is unavailable.

Hikers, exigency responders and intrepid travelers whitethorn beryllium good versed successful the existing satellite of outer phones, which supply voice, SMS, and information services anyplace connected Earth. But existing outer phones often person ample protruding antennas. Apple said it wanted to invent a exertion that would let connection straight with satellites inactive wrong the signifier origin of the iPhone.

“It started with america uncovering frequencies that would enactment connected iPhone that were besides disposable for usage connected satellites,” Arun Mathias, vice president of wireless technologies and ecosystem astatine Apple, told CNN Business. “Then we made the indispensable hardware modifications connected iPhones, but with nary bulky antennas.” Apple, helium added, archetypal built caller bundle that enabled the iPhone to pass with the satellites and past designed the idiosyncratic acquisition astir that.

The effort is portion of a broader transportation this twelvemonth to consumers that its devices don’t conscionable assistance them unrecorded better, but besides unrecorded safer. In the process, it could marque its pricey products look a bit much indispensable successful an uncertain economical situation that has immoderate rethinking expenses.

Apple precocious invested $450 million successful Globalstar, a planetary outer service, and different providers to enactment the improvement of 24 low-orbit satellites flying 16,000 mph astatine a higher altitude than the International Space Station. The concern is portion of Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which has antecedently been utilized for solid accumulation with Corning and laser exertion for facial recognition.

During my trial with an iPhone 14 provided by Apple, I attempted to telephone 911 but was automatically redirected to Emergency SOS via Satellite dispatchers for the purposes of the demo. When the instrumentality was incapable to link to cellular service, a tiny greenish icon appeared astatine the bottommost close of the telephone surface to initiate a substance speech with exigency services.

I was prompted to capable retired a questionnaire and tapped done a fistful of abbreviated aggregate prime questions; I noted I was mislaid but not injured. Apple said due to the fact that the idiosyncratic whitethorn beryllium successful a distressed state, a questionnaire helps to stitchery captious accusation much quickly. (It’s the aforesaid acceptable of questions a 911 dispatcher ask.)

“When we’ve gone retired and tested this with dispatchers successful the field, they’ve adjacent told america that successful immoderate situations the answers they get from the questionnaire, on with the user’s location, could beryllium capable for them to really marque a dispatch decision, close astatine the beginning, and that’s immense successful presumption of reducing to get assistance to get tract responders retired to the user,” said Trey Forgety, bundle engineering manager of exigency systems astatine Apple.

Nearly 20 seconds later, I received confirmation that my geo-location coordinates were sent to a dispatcher, on with my aesculapian ID, exigency interaction accusation and the answers to my questions. I was told to support responses short, apt to chopped down connected the magnitude of information needed to transportation to the outer and backmost down to a dispatcher. I was besides asked to place adjacent landmarks and wherever I entered the park. My full speech lasted astir 4 minutes.

Apple said the size of the texts are reduced down to astir a 3rd of their archetypal size, by moving it done a compression algorithm. This allows the outer to much efficiently way messages to crushed stations located each implicit the world. Once received, texts are sent to section exigency services oregon a relay halfway with Apple-trained exigency specialists who tin nonstop help.

But adjacent successful a city, I mislaid entree to the outer respective times erstwhile I wasn’t successful wide presumption of the sky. A grayscale ellipse with a greenish awesome representation showed up when connected but turned yellowish erstwhile conditions were mediocre and reddish erstwhile connectivity was lost. I walked about 200 feet distant from my archetypal determination to find a satellite. Once there, I held the instrumentality people successful my hand; Apple said there’s nary request to rise oregon question it around.

“Since the satellites are moving, the telephone mightiness sometimes request to determination from 1 outer to another, and determination mightiness beryllium abbreviated gaps wherever nary outer is available,” Mathias said. “The telephone knows this and volition marque it precise wide to the idiosyncratic that determination is specified a spread and fto them cognize erstwhile the adjacent outer is going to beryllium available.”

When it works, the lifesaving imaginable for specified a diagnostic is obvious. But determination are some caveats. To start, it’s text only; users volition request to physically person the instrumentality successful their hands to commencement an exchange, which whitethorn not ever beryllium imaginable if injured. The instrumentality does, however, enactment with the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch’s clang detection feature, truthful it could automatically dial exigency services oregon nonstop coordinates to a dispatcher erstwhile a idiosyncratic is unconscious oregon incapable to scope their iPhone.

For now, Emergency SOS via outer lone works successful English, Spanish, and French, though the dispatchers have nonrecreational mentation services disposable for galore much languages. Apple said it besides whitethorn not enactment successful each areas, specified arsenic successful places supra 62° latitude, including bluish parts of Canada and Alaska.

For iPhone 14 users who privation to spot however the instrumentality works, and trial retired the process for searching for a satellite, a demo is present disposable successful Settings nether “Emergency SOS via satellite.” Apple said the diagnostic is disposable for escaped for 2 years and past it volition reevaluate the offering based connected what it’s learned astir usage during that time.