Garmin has an entire product line (in reach) dedicated to this. Service starts @ $15/month for 50 texts & 10 photo or voice messages, plus unlimited SOS messaging & Check ins. Probably not a huge group of people who will pay, but likely more than you'd think. I pay that much for my Apple Watch cell plan. Plus it would likely be turn it on for the month that you will be hiking, then turn it back off (or else forget about it & feel like $15 is not worth turning it on/off for).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone's Satellite Feature Launched Two Years Ago Today, Remains Free
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Fortunately I've never had to use this feature and hopefully I never will be in a situation where I have to. However, it's a comforting feature to have in case it's ever needed. Hopefully it will remain free. Maybe someday satellite communication will become advanced enough to become the norm and iPhone users will be able to purchase plans directly from Apple. Oh no, I can feel the walls getting higher and harder to escape.
As someone who has used Spot for may years before this became available I absolutely love this feature. Spot has you buy a device that only does the one thing, then pay for an initial activation, then an annual fee (as I recall), and then whatever service you want. It was all very convoluted, there were hardly any buttons on it, the web interface for checking if it's working wasn't great, it required special capacity AA batteries (IIRC), and I routinely couldn't get some of my tests to work properly.
Apple's solution resolves all those issues so if they wanted to charge me for a potentially saving my life when I'm far of the grid with no one around then I'll do it.
Imagine dying because you had the feature but your phone was dead.
If they want to make money on this then don’t make it a subscription service, pay if and when you use it.
Today marks two years since Apple made its Emergency SOS via satellite feature available on all iPhone 14 models in the U.S. and Canada. Apple has since expanded its suite of satellite-based features, and they all remain free to use for now.
Below, we recap the rollout of Apple's satellite features and what's next.
It is unclear if and when Apple will start charging for its iPhone satellite features, but the time limit on free usage makes it sound like the company does eventually plan to charge a fee for at least some of the services. The current free period for Emergency SOS via satellite ends one year from today, so Apple still has some time to figure out its plans.
- November 2022: Apple launches Emergency SOS via satellite in the U.S. and Canada, allowing you to contact emergency services via SMS in most locations without cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. You can also share your location in the Find My app via satellite connection. The feature is available on all iPhone 14 models and newer. When the feature first launched, Apple said it would be free for two years after the activation of any iPhone 14, but the free period was later extended by one year.
- December 2022: The feature expands to the U.K., France, Germany, and Ireland.
- March 2023: The feature expands to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
- May 2023: The feature expands to Australia and New Zealand.
- September 2023: The feature expands to Spain and Switzerland.
- September 2023: Apple launches Roadside Assistance via satellite in the U.S., allowing you to contact roadside assistance provider AAA via SMS in most locations without cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, in the event you get a flat tire, run out of gas, or have other car troubles. The feature is available on all iPhone 14 models and newer. This feature is also free for two years after device activation.
- November 2023: Apple makes Emergency SOS via satellite free for an additional year for users who had already activated an iPhone 14, meaning the feature can be used for free until at least November 2025.
- December 2023: Verizon becomes a Roadside Assistance via satellite partner.
- July 2024: Emergency SOS via satellite expands to Japan.
- September 2024: Apple launches Messages via satellite in the U.S. and Canada, allowing you to send and receive text messages over iMessage and SMS in non-emergency situations outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. Like the other satellite features, it has an initial two-year free usage period.
- October 2024: Roadside Assistance via satellite expands to the U.K. with Green Flag.
- November 2024: Apple commits around $1.5 billion to its satellite partner Globalstar to fund the expansion of iPhone satellite services.
With funding from Apple, Globalstar plans to launch a new satellite constellation and expand its ground infrastructure, which could result in faster connection times and the expansion of iPhone satellite features to additional countries.
Article Link: iPhone's Satellite Feature Launched Two Years Ago Today, Remains Free
Two thoughts:
- They could always keep emergency services free but charge for other uses, much like a phone does for 911
- By time limiting the free period they avoid people claiming it should always be free because Apple said it was free when they bought the phone
I think signing off on the $1,500,000,000 check to Globalstar may also have served as a useful reminder for Tim Cook.
Didn't he promise Full Self Driving 10 years ago, and weren't all our Teslas meant to be out at night being self driving taxis earning us money while we sleep by now?
My uncle works at Nintendo, and he told me the Switch 2 will also have satellite capability.
I get a little frustrated with this take by people. There is more to the design and construction than the parts. There is a shipping and the contracting of companies to assemble these products. That is not done for free. we pay a premium for almost everything in Australia. I for one blame the overvalued US dollar and the fact that it is used as the preferred currency by countries when selling their goods. It also devalues other currencies around the world.
Any phone that can connect to a tower, even with no active service, can call 911 in the US.
Went to a music festival last weekend, towers were hammered, but still showed network and signal, so feature didn’t get activated.
Wish it would either retry via satellite if it couldn’t or you could manually toggle.
Wish it would either retry via satellite if it couldn’t or you could manually toggle.
Indeed. Couldn't agree more. Why would anyone who hates Apple so much participate in an Apple forum?
I was caping out where I had no signal. When I woke up the next morning, I had a prompt asking me if I wanted to send my location over satellite. I was curious and tapped “yes”. Then it was giving me instructions on how to point it at the sky and wait for a while, but instead I cancelled out of it since it wasn’t very far to where I had coverage.
Eh, I suspect it would be a rare day when this person posts something pro-Apple. I wouldn't worry too much about their take.
I'm sure if it does wind up being free to use, they will be getting some of that 911 emergency services fund money.
When introduced 5GB was probably plenty for the average user for a few documents and even some super low resolution photos. The problem is our data usage by taking photos and videos makes it irrelevant to the average user to not have some service and 5GB isn’t an entry point as it’s not even sufficient for basic usage. Just like Tim’s AAPL is designed, if you’re in the ecosystem you’re probably just going to pay for it. I know I do.
I also have One Drive, and I put my One Drive folder inside my documents which are iCloud synced. This way I have access from multiple sources to data I need. Although not sure how many people would pay that twice. I just cannot imagine not having my photos and videos backed up somehow to the cloud. And for my documents and especially work files, need both MacOS and Windows access.
Wouldn’t it be nice if could just use any service at a system level? I mean Apple wouldn’t allow it outside the EU where the EU protects its citizens and SMBs from anticompetitive practices these tech juggernauts thrive on.
Yeah, and at this point it's mostly only for the people who can afford to get a new iPhone every year or two. ANY iPhone can be made to work with Globalstar. And Apple still won't do it, despite the lives it will cost.
I opened the comment thread to see if people would find a way to complain, and was not disappointed
Still waiting for it to be available in my country. Don't know when Apple is planning to charge for it.