The Emergency SOS via Satellite feature on the iPhone 14 series is again a savior in critical situations. This feature helped save two women in Canada who got lost after following Google Maps.
The two women got lost on December 23, 2022 while on their way to the Province of Alberta, Canada. On the way they saw the toll road was closed due to an accident, and immediately turned to Google Maps to find an alternative route.
They then decided to go along Holmes Forest Service Road. But the road had only been partially cleared of snow, and the two reached the road where the grader stopped.
"Then it's basically a wall of snow and when they try to get through it, they get stuck," said BC Search and Rescue Senior Manager Dwight Yochim, as quoted from AppleInsider, Wednesday (1/2/2023).
Yochim said the place where the two women got lost was 19 km from the main road. They get lost in a place surrounded by snow, don't know where they are, and have trouble getting a signal.
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Luckily one of the women has an iPhone 14. This latest iPhone does have the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature which can send messages and locations to Apple's call center even in conditions without signal and internet, to then be forwarded to the SAR team.
After the two women successfully used the Emergency SOS feature, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police and Robson Valley Search and Rescue used their GPS location to strategize and rescue them.
"They found the two women, got out their vehicle and helped them turn around and continue on their way. This is something that could potentially save their lives," Yochim said.
Yochim also said that without the Emergency SOS feature, it would probably take the rescue team more than a week to save the two women.
Emergency SOS via Satellite is currently only available for iPhone 14 series users in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom.