iPhone 14 saves lives again

[alarmguy]

Wow, what a fantastic feature. Looking forward to the day I will have it, I currently have an iPhone 13.
As some might know from my past posts the new iPhone 14 can send out SOS even without cell service or wifi service. It uses satellites to get your SOS out. Currently there is no cost for this service, who knows what the future holds if it will remain free.

I posted many links to stories of lives saved in the past. One can do a search for stories of the iPhone 14 sos stories of rescues and read many.

Why it MAY become more important to me now is I live on the coast. I used to boat on a 41 mile long lake and if I ever broke down (never have yet) or had an emergency you always have a cell signal.
We moved to the NC coast a few months back and plan or making some runs into the ocean in our small 19 foot Chaparral boat. Since I am unsure over the next year or so if we will keep the boat I really dont want to bother installing a marine radio. For decades I boated off the coast of Long Island and New Jersey in the same size and larger craft, marine radio was a given in my later years but dont think its necessary for this one at this time.
Anyway an IPHONE 14 would be perfect in case of an emergency in the ocean and out of cell range as it can use satellites to get your sos out.

Here is a pretty good NY Post story with photos on the latest rescue from people in a car in Maui fires.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/14/this-hidden-iphone-feature-literally-saved-lives-in-deadly-maui-fires/

 

[JeffKeryk]

This is why I love tech. Embrace tech and your life will be better. Deny it and you will be left behind.

 

[PimTac]

There was a guy recently in Alaska that used this to get help.

 

[Furious]

It's a cool feature, I personally am an Android user but am considering the Iphone 15 since they are going to USB-C. This feature is free for 2 year after activation of your Iphone there is no information after the 2 years if it will remain free or if it will be a premium service.

 

[alarmguy]

It's a cool feature, I personally am an Android user but am considering the Iphone 15 since they are going to USB-C. This feature is free for 2 year after activation of your Iphone there is no information after the 2 years if it will remain free or if it will be a premium service.

Yeah, it would be a great public relations coup. But I suspect they will be watching to see if Samsung or the likes comes out with their own SOS and if so, if they will charge. As much as I love Apple products and I really am all in now, I still know they are a corporation and to extract as much money as they can from my pocket but again, for me, everything they do so well that I might as well have them extract it than another company less worthy *LOL*

 

[LenZee]

Wow, what a fantastic feature. Looking forward to the day I will have it, I currently have an iPhone 13.
As some might know from my past posts the new iPhone 14 can send out SOS even without cell service or wifi service. It uses satellites to get your SOS out. Currently there is no cost for this service, who knows what the future holds if it will remain free.

I posted many links to stories of lives saved in the past. One can do a search for stories of the iPhone 14 sos stories of rescues and read many.

Why it MAY become more important to me now is I live on the coast. I used to boat on a 41 mile long lake and if I ever broke down (never have yet) or had an emergency you always have a cell signal.
We moved to the NC coast a few months back and plan or making some runs into the ocean in our small 19 foot Chaparral boat. Since I am unsure over the next year or so if we will keep the boat I really dont want to bother installing a marine radio. For decades I boated off the coast of Long Island and New Jersey in the same size and larger craft, marine radio was a given in my later years but dont think its necessary for this one at this time.
Anyway an IPHONE 14 would be perfect in case of an emergency in the ocean and out of cell range as it can use satellites to get your sos out.

Here is a pretty good NY Post story with photos on the latest rescue from people in a car in Maui fires.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/14/this-hidden-iphone-feature-literally-saved-lives-in-deadly-maui-fires/

A marine radio handheld or mounted would be the best choice with the Iphone for backup.

 

[DuckRyder]

So it is competition for SPOT and InReach (Garmin). I can see people paying for that...

 

[alarmguy]

A marine radio handheld or mounted would be the best choice with the Iphone for backup.

Agree 100% actually both as marine radio has range limits. Though in my case I doubt I would be out of range. As posted, at this point I am unsure how much off shore I will be doing or if the boat will interest us enough even a year from now. So at least the iPhone 14 would be a reasonable choice for now. The marine radio is also great for calling "hailing" other boating friends and I do agree is a best first choice and iPhone back up for near coastal areas.

 

[alarmguy]

So it is competition for SPOT and InReach (Garmin). I can see people paying for that...

Yeah, Ive been out of touch lake boating for the last 16 + years, now back to the coast I didnt even know what it was that you mentioned until I just looked it up. If I was a true ocean going vessel the Garmin InReach seems like a worth while investment or the spot without an iPhone.
Since I am not, the iPhone would be a nice back up to what another posted VHF marine radio and if I chose nothing, at least the iPhone has the capability of doing something in an emergency.

What is nice about the iPhone 14 though, moving forward is everyone who has the iPhone will have an emergency source to contact someone vs specific use such as boating. Meaning, if they are in an emergency that they never thought they would have, such as the recent fire they actually had a use for really, a tool provided by Apple. Kind of cool. Yes, I might be someone that would consider paying a small fee, between the motorcycle and boating, if you're ever in a tight spot at least you will have a chance.

 

[Pablo]

This is why I love tech. Embrace tech and your life will be better. Deny it and you will be left behind.

Kinda sorta.

If "embracing tech" means loving the controllers and handlers. No thanks. You people give up freedoms so easily. And don't care to know.

This sort of feature is excellent in situations. The soldiers in certain zones don't have iPhones for a reason though.

 

[IndyIan]

This is why I love tech. Embrace tech and your life will be better. Deny it and you will be left behind.

Your life might be a lot shorter if you turn your brain off and just rely on your phone or technology to save you from ignorance... How many people have blindly followed a nav system into a lake, or into the mountains?
I agree it does make sense to cram all the communication methods possible into a phone though...

 

[Shel_B]

This is why I love tech. Embrace tech and your life will be better. Deny it and you will be left behind.

Is there any correlation here with EVs?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Is there any correlation here with EVs?

Advanced tech is a key reason we bought the Model 3 in Dec 2018. Wifey is in charge of future technology at a $10B Silicon Valley company. She bleeds technology.
Are you familiar with Industry 4.0?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Your life might be a lot shorter if you turn your brain off and just rely on your phone or technology to save you from ignorance... How many people have blindly followed nav system into a lake, or into the mountains?
I agree it does make sense to cram all the communication methods possible into a phone though...

My definition of technology is different than that. See post #13. AI, Big Data, Quantum Computing. Analytics.
I was lucky enough to be part of the computer business explosion of the late 80's and 90's. It changed business forever and my life as well.

I am data driven. Kinda like statistics, you can make them say whatever you want, but there is truth and answers there if you are unbiased in your analysis.
Coding and performing linear regression on millions of lines of data is a kick. And that's just the beginning.

 

[Shel_B]

Advanced tech is a key reason we bought the Model 3 in Dec 2018. Wifey is in charge of future technology at a $10B Silicon Valley company. She bleeds technology.
Are you familiar with Industry 4.0?

No, I'm not. I don't know much about high tech although I certainly appreciate aspects of it. For example, I've only had a smartphone for a couple of years, and I love it. OTOH, I'm somewhat familiar with Teslas and, while I'm an advocate for EVs, there are many aspects of the Tesla I could happily do without.

While I like the idea of moving towards more technology, I still embrace many of the older methods of doing things and living life. I love medical advancements - looked into robotic surgery a dozen or so years back, I love the idea of cell phones as part of a monitoring device that sends info to the doc automatically, and other such advances.

In my own life, I generally prefer the older, more traditional ways of doing things. Yet, show me some high-tech magic that fits my needs and lifestyle, and I'll embrace it.

 

[JeffKeryk]

No, I'm not. I don't know much about high tech although I certainly appreciate aspects of it. For example, I've only had a smartphone for a couple of years, and I love it. OTOH, I'm somewhat familiar with Teslas and, while I'm an advocate for EVs, there are many aspects of the Tesla I could happily do without.

While I like the idea of moving towards more technology, I still embrace many of the older methods of doing things and living life. I love medical advancements - looked into robotic surgery a dozen or so years back, I love the idea of cell phones as part of a monitoring device that sends info to the doc automatically, and other such advances.

In my own life, I generally prefer the older, more traditional ways of doing things. Yet, show me some high-tech magic that fits my needs and lifestyle, and I'll embrace it.

You mention medical advancements. AI holds the promise of medical care for the masses who otherwise might have none. Take the body of knowledge, which no one person could ever have, add to that locality, outbreaks, medicines available and make that a click-click-click anywhere in the world, and you have an incredible, low cost high value solution.

Industry 4.0 speaks to process digitation. But it encompasses more than that.

 

[Shel_B]

You mention medical advancements. AI holds the promise of medical care for the masses who otherwise might have none. Take the body of knowledge, which no one person could ever have, add to that locality, outbreaks, medicines available and make that a click-click-click anywhere in the world, and you have an incredible, low cost high value solution.

In

 

[DuckRyder]

Story headline is misleading (what a surprise) this is not Hidden.

it also allows location sharing with others via sat.

I can see the basic service being low or no cost or perhaps supported by .gov like Epirb while an app or pay services may be available via a native or third party app.

Wonder what sat/sat network its using, Garmin InReach seems pretty proud of theirs.

 

[Skippy722]

Wonder what sat/sat network its using, Garmin InReach seems pretty proud of theirs.

Apple made a pretty large investment, ~$450 million, into Globalstar for Emergency SOS.

 

[alarmguy]

Kinda sorta.

If "embracing tech" means loving the controllers and handlers. No thanks. You people give up freedoms so easily. And don't care to know.

This sort of feature is excellent in situations. The soldiers in certain zones don't have iPhones for a reason though.

Well in all honesty, the soldiers dont have iPhones or any Android phone in that case (for certain zones) not because of the SOS feature I would have to say, as it is only activated by the person. But because of the constant pinging of any cell network device to local towers.

I couldn't agree with you more about how the public allows big tech into their lives, unfiltered to everything that they do. I find it startling actually but, well, that is Joe Public.
The key is to take the time to learn functions and at least limit what programs on your phone are allowed access. But most people dont bother, the companies know this.
Apple does make it easier than Android
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