Photo: Screenshot from Montrose Search & Rescue Team video
Apple is known as a company that invests heavily in marketing, but some of the technology that it creates occasionally proves to be real life-saving innovations.
This is precisely the case of Emergency SOS via satellite and Crash Detection, two systems that are available right now on the iPhone 14 and which worked like a charm to help save the lives of two people who plummeted no less than 300 feet (close to 92 meters) into a canyon.
Earlier this week, a car that was driving on the Angeles Forest Highway in the Angeles National Forest somehow went off the road and fell right into the canyon. With nobody around to witness the crash and alert the emergency services, the help came from none other than the iPhone 14 one of the passengers had in their pocket.
The device automatically detected the car crash thanks to Crash Detection (a system that uses the phone’s sensors, including the gyroscope and the accelerometer, to determine if a vehicle has been involved in a crash) and then tried to call 911 to ask for help. However, because the vehicle plummeted into the canyon, the phone signal was missing, so the iPhone automatically switched to Emergency SOS via satellite to send the coordinates and the crash data to a relay center.
The Emergency SOS via satellite tech was announced by Apple a few weeks ago, and it is part of the latest software updates on new-generation iPhones. It works in areas with no cellular reception, with mobile devices allowed to call emergency teams using satellite connectivity.
The relay center reached out to 911, so the first responders were able to locate the two passengers, who were already out of the car but required urgent medical care due to mild and moderate injuries. The rescue team rushed to the scene using the coordinates provided by the iPhone and used a helicopter to first insert a paramedic and then to pull out both victims.
The passengers were transported to a local area hospital, and both are now safe.
Earlier this week, a car that was driving on the Angeles Forest Highway in the Angeles National Forest somehow went off the road and fell right into the canyon. With nobody around to witness the crash and alert the emergency services, the help came from none other than the iPhone 14 one of the passengers had in their pocket.
The device automatically detected the car crash thanks to Crash Detection (a system that uses the phone’s sensors, including the gyroscope and the accelerometer, to determine if a vehicle has been involved in a crash) and then tried to call 911 to ask for help. However, because the vehicle plummeted into the canyon, the phone signal was missing, so the iPhone automatically switched to Emergency SOS via satellite to send the coordinates and the crash data to a relay center.
The Emergency SOS via satellite tech was announced by Apple a few weeks ago, and it is part of the latest software updates on new-generation iPhones. It works in areas with no cellular reception, with mobile devices allowed to call emergency teams using satellite connectivity.
The relay center reached out to 911, so the first responders were able to locate the two passengers, who were already out of the car but required urgent medical care due to mild and moderate injuries. The rescue team rushed to the scene using the coordinates provided by the iPhone and used a helicopter to first insert a paramedic and then to pull out both victims.
The passengers were transported to a local area hospital, and both are now safe.
Deputies, Fire Notified of Vehicle Over the Side Via iPhone Emergency Satellite Service
— Montrose Search & Rescue Team (Ca.) (@MontroseSAR) December 14, 2022
This afternoon at approximately 1:55 PM, @CVLASD received a call from the Apple emergency satellite service. The informant and another victim had been involved in a single vehicle accident pic.twitter.com/tFWGMU5h3V
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