iPhone 14: emergency calls via satellite will come to France this year

The introduction of the iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max was also a feature that had never been seen in the field of mobile telephony: satellite communication. The new iPhones announced by Apple were supposed to be compatible with urgent messages passing through this channel, but only in the United States and Canada.

But without warning, Apple announced a significant change in its plan. Because, contrary to his initial statement, other countries were added to this list: France, Germany, Ireland and Great Britain. It should be noted that the only difference: while the Emergency SOS function, which allows the use of satellite communication, will be launched in North America on November 15, it will be available on the Old Continent during December.

Remember that the functionality is reserved for extreme cases and allows you to contact the emergency services via SMS. Integrated into iOS 16.1, it is reserved for iPhone 14 series and can be used in the absence of any cellular network or WiFi. Apple claims to have developed a message compression algorithm that triples their size and enables “Send and receive messages in 15 seconds under good conditions”. This option also allows the user to share their location with their loved ones through the Find My Satellite feature.

The Emergency SOS and Find via Satellite functions are offered by Apple, accompanying the 14 series of two-year access to this service, which will be valid in France even if purchased before activation. On the other hand, its value after this period is still not detailed.