Stranded man rescued thanks to iPhone 14 Emergency SOS feature that used the satellite

Various parts of America continue to battle one of the worst winter storms it has faced in recent memory. People are fighting for survival amid the snowstorm and one man sought help using his iPhone when he thought all was lost. One man from Alaska found himself stranded on a snow machine while traveling from Noorvik to Kotzebue, which is about 42 miles apart. According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety (ADPS) the man got stranded in Northwest Alaska around 2 am on Thursday with no cell service. The man's snow machine became disabled, an ADPS spokesperson said according to Business Insider.

With nowhere to turn, he decided to use his phone to seek help. He used the iPhone 14’s SOS call which connects via satellite rather than through telecom towers. Apple’s Emergency Response Center received his SOS call via satellite and connected his position to the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator. "The NWAB SAR deployed four volunteer searchers to the Nimiuk Point area directly to the GPS coordinates provided by the Apple Emergency Response Center. The adult male was located and transported to Kotzebue by the volunteer search team. There were no injuries reported to Troopers," per ADPS.

The SOS feature can be found in the device's settings and is available on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, according to Apple. The feature is available in North America and is free to use for two years. Once activated, all you need to do is simply follow the onscreen instructions to connect to a satellite.  You can also use the Find My app to share your location with people via satellite. Apple will soon expand coverage to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.

Another incredible feature is the Crash Detection Feature where an iPhone 14 or Apple watch can determine if the user has been in a collision, according to Good News Network. The feature has been previously praised by a Reddit user who claimed that he was able to locate his wife (even before the ambulance!) immediately after she was involved in a car crash. He shared: Earlier today, while I was talking to my wife on the phone as she drove home from the store, I heard her scream, and the line went dead. Within several seconds, I received a notification from her iPhone telling me that she had been in a crash and giving me her exact location. I rush over there and was there before the ambulance arrived, which her phone had called. Turns out a distracted driver crossed the center line and slammed into my wife’s car head-on. Both she and the other driver are OK and are both recovering. Witnesses tried to call me, but she was so shaken up that she wasn’t able to give them my phone number correctly. I only knew because her Apple device told me and I was there for her when she got in the ambulance. If not for her iPhone, I never would have known and I would’ve been left wondering what had happened and worrying. I cannot express my appreciation enough for that crash detection feature.