iPhone 14 users got a new service for free from Apple last year when it was launched but the company decided to extend the free offering for one more year. As you might recall, the company said that iPhone 14 buyers will get 2 years of its Emergency SOS service which helps people contact the services where they don’t have any network.
It is interesting that Apple has decided to push the satellite-based communication service for one more year, which effectively makes it a three-year service that iPhone 14 buyers are getting for free. And it goes without saying that iPhone 15 models also get the feature and the extended support.
Having said that, Apple has put some conditions for extending the free service. The company says you can only avail the free extension of the SOS service for one more year if you have activated the iPhone 14 in a country where the service is actually available and you did this before 12 am PT on November 15, 2023.
The countries where the SOS satellite tech is available from Apple are the US, UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and Spain among others. Apple claims that the SOS service has already helped many iPhone users get rescued as the satellite communication was able to provide emergency services to the affected people. Those who have been helped by the service have generally been stuck in a natural cause or lose access to the network on their iPhones in remote parts of the world.
Apple has invested $450 million in developing the critical infrastructure that supports Emergency SOS via satellite which was introduced with the iPhone 14 models last year. Apple is using Globalstar’s satellite tech and assets to make the feature work.
Many of us expected the company to announce the pricing for the service but the extension means Apple still needs some time to probably give it a wider rollout which could justify charging a fee for the service.
Apple has the first-move advantage with this feature that was supposed to be part of the Android ecosystem by now but Qualcomm hasn’t seen the uptake it expected and was recently forced to end its deal with Iridium for the satellite service.
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