Apple has a surprise for iPhone 14 users. Cupertino is extending free access to its emergency SOS via satellite service to iPhone 14 users for one more year. At launch, it was being given for two years. What this means is that iPhone 14 users will be able to use the service for three years—now— at no extra charge. Launched amid much hype with iPhone 14 series, Apple’s emergency SOS via satellite service allows users to text with emergency services while outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. The iPhone-maker claims it has already made “a significant impact, contributing to many lives being saved.”
Emergency SOS via satellite was billed as a marquee feature of iPhone 14 series at launch. The premise, surely, makes it one of the most critical features that Apple has made alongside crash detection, another feature that can automatically dial emergency services in the event the user has met with a severe car crash and becomes unconscious or is unable to reach their iPhone. At the time of launch, emergency SOS via satellite availability was limited to the US and Canada but with iPhone 15 series launch recently, it is now accessible in as many as 16 countries and regions (not in India though).
“Emergency SOS via satellite has helped save lives around the world. From a man who was rescued after his car plummeted over a 400-foot cliff in Los Angeles, to lost hikers found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, we continue to hear stories of our customers being able to connect with emergency responders when they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to,” Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing said in a prepared statement, adding that “We are so happy iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users can take advantage of this groundbreaking service for two more years for free.”
Apple is yet to announce the monetary aspect of the feature and so, we still don’t know how much the service will cost to users as and when the free period gets over.
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