Apple iPhone 14 Emergency SOS: Satellite Tech Helps Utah Students Trapped in Canyon Expedition

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 24 April 2023, 08:04 pm

You can never know when a situation would occur as it may come at your most vulnerable moment, but it is great to know that you have the technology that can get you out of a problem at hand.

This is what saved Utah college students from possible hypothermia and being trapped in a 500-foot deep canyon, using their iPhone 14 Pro smartphone for Emergency SOS via satellite to contact authorities and let them know of their whereabouts.

Apple's tech which it first introduced in October last year helped in locating them and sending text messages even when cellular connections were unavailable in their situation.

(Photo : Kyle Rivas/Getty Images for UTMB World Series)

iPhone 14 Emergency SOS Satellite Tech Helps Trapped Utah Students

The iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite tech helped trapped Utah college students in their near-death situation, as they were met with extreme conditions on their adventures.

The Emery County Sheriff's Office provided the full story via their Facebook page that detailed the rescue operation in "The Squeeze," a known difficult rappel spot in the canyons and mountains surrounding the area. They said that they received a text message from the ECSO at around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, 2023.

Good thing is that one of the students has an iPhone 14 and they remembered to use its Emergency SOS feature despite having no cellular connection. They were able to send a text message every 20 minutes, as this is when the satellite would align to their location.

Canyon Expedition Gone Wrong: Satellite is the Savior

It was a canyon expedition gone wrong for the students, as according to KUTV's report, the group did not expect the change in conditions of the area, where the extra wet winter climate in Utah has affected their expedition in the mountains.

Two people were trapped in the waters of The Squeeze, and another member said that they experienced a hypothermic shock. As cellular connections were unavailable, there was no way to send out a call for help without the satellite tech of the iPhone 14.

Apple iPhone 14 Emergency SOS Satellite

The iPhone 14 may have had a lot of mixed reviews and comments regarding the technology it brought to users, but one thing is what made it a unique iPhone in the present. This is with the Emergency SOS Satellite feature that it launched after the phone dropped in its Fall event in 2022, introducing that it had the tech all along.

It officially began testing in the US and Canada regions as Apple first dropped it in November last year, with these initial regions enjoying the capabilities of what the Emergency services of their smartphone can do.

This paved the way for different success stories in helping stranded explorers or people who go on vacation that lost cellular network connections but were able to let their whereabouts known to first responders.

The recent situation of these Utah college students is another reminder that satellite technology is helpful for smartphones as well, with Apple's iPhone 14 marking the beginning of better connections in the future, especially in dire situations.