The iPhone 14 range has already had its fair share of headlines. Since the range launched, they've been hailed among the best phones on the market, but they've also faced a slew of production issues making it hard to pick up an iPhone 14 before Christmas.
If you have been lucky enough to get your hands on one, though, there's a fantastic new feature which is coming your way. It's coming to the whole range, too, so it doesn't matter whether you have the vanilla handset, the iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro or the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Emergency SOS via Satellite is designed to give users the opportunity to interact with the emergency services, even when outside of their usual cellular signal range. It works when you make a call to the local emergency services phone number, offering a button where you can enable the functionality. You'll be taken through a series of questions about your situation, including things like if anyone is injured and if any potential hazards are nearby.
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The phone will then display a radar screen, directing you towards the nearest satellite. Once you are pointing at it, the screen turns green and the message will send in as little as 15 seconds, thanks to some intelligent compression.
The information is collated along with your location and medical ID, to ensure the best emergency service for the job is sent to your aid. Users in the USA and Canada got the feature last month, and quickly found use for it when a man in Alaska was left stranded, but successfully used the feature to call for help.
Now, MacRumours, has reported that the feature could roll out to users in the UK and Europe as early as the 13th of December. We'd previously heard that the feature was coming to users in the UK and Europe in December, but this is the first specific date we've seen.
It's a brilliant new feature. I've previously been very vocal about my love for this technology, and that's not about to change. It's easy to get excited about processors, camera arrays and screen technology – those are really nice things to have. But when you're stranded and need help, none of those can save your life. This can, and that makes it a winner in my book.
