How the Apple iPhone 14 connects to satellites during emergencies

Apple’s iPhone 14 is going into space. Well, not literally, but it is the first iPhone to be able to not only connect to terrestrial cellular and Wi-Fi and also connect to satellites high above the earth. For now, this service is limited to emergencies, and is called Emergency SOS via Satellite.

In order to do this, Apple has had to overcome a number of huge technical hurdles.

The first is the challenge of how to get an iPhone to connect to a satellite in the first place. Satellites orbit the earth high and fast, and the iPhone doesn’t have the huge, bulky antenna that’s normally found on a sat phone. Instead, Apple has engineered the antenna built into the iPhone’s case to be able to directly send and receive data to an orbiting satellite.

But because of the limited antenna size, the user has to point the iPhone 14 directly at the satellite, and keep it pointed while messages are sent and received.

Sounds complicated, but there’s an app for that!

Yes, Apple has designed an app that shows users where to point the iPhone in order to be able to get a satellite connection, keep it pointed in that direction, and streamline the process of communicating the details of an emergency.

To send a message, users might need to keep the iPhone pointed at the satellite for around 15 seconds where the sky is clear, and for a few minutes in there’s trees or terrain obscuring the view.

Another technical hurdle is how much, or more precisely, how little data you can send over a satellite connection. If you’ve ever used a sat phone then you’ll know just how low the bandwidth is — like an old modem connection, only worse. To overcome this, Apple has had to innovate and compress the data being sent over the network.

Apple also worked with emergency experts to find out the most common questions asked by emergency services, and give users a simple, one-tap way to respond. This means that there are fewer messages to write and send, streamlining the conversation.

There’s also the process of how messages are sent to the emergency services. If the emergency services provider accept text messages, the messages are sent direct to them. If they only accept voice calls, they are sent via a relay station that Apple has set up that are staffed by trained specialists that will call the emergency service provider.

The service isn’t only designed to be used in an emergency either. Users will be able to share their location using Find My satellite.

As for availability and cost, the Emergency SOS via Satellite service will go live in the US and Canada in November, and will be free for iPhone 14 owners for two years.