iPhone 14: finally, the Emergency SOS function will arrive in France this year

The presentation of the iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max was also that of an unprecedented feature in the field of mobile telephony: satellite communications. The new iPhones, Apple had announced, were to be compatible with emergency messages passing through this channel, but only in the United States and Canada.

Apple, however, announced without warning a significant change of plan. Because, contrary to its initial announcement, other countries are added to this list: France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The only difference to note: when the function allowing the use of satellite communications, Emergency SOS, is activated from November 15 in North America, it will be on the Old Continent during December.

Remember that the functionality is reserved for extreme cases and aims to allow emergency services to be contacted by SMS. Integrated into iOS 16.1, it is reserved for the 14 series of iPhones and can be used in the absence of any mobile network or wifi. Apple indicates that it has developed a message compression algorithm that divides their size by three and allows “to send and receive messages in 15 seconds under good conditions”. Via the Find My satellite function, the option also allows the user to share their location with their loved ones.

The Emergency SOS and Find My functions by satellite are offered by Apple, which accompanies its series 14 of two years of access to the service, which will also be valid in France, even in the event of purchase before its activation. On the other hand, its cost after this period has still not been detailed.