Apple Emergency SOS, a tool on the iPhone that not many people know about, could save your life.
Michael Miraflor recently posted a story about the devastating Maui wildfires on X, which used to be called Twitter. The story showed how useful the tool can be in real life.
Miraflor wrote in a tweet that has been seen more than 8.7 million times since Aug. 9 that his brother’s girlfriend’s cousin and his family were caught in their vehicle in Maui while the wildfires suddenly erupted around them.
At that time there were no cell service, so Apple Emergency SOS was the only way they could call for help, which saved their lives in a literal sense.
My brother’s girlfriend’s cousin and his family were caught in their vehicle in Maui while the wildfires suddenly erupted around them.
No cell service, so Apple Emergency SOS was the only way they could get in contact with first responders. Literally saved their lives. pic.twitter.com/PpxNwTGOAf
— Michael J. Miraflor (@michaelmiraflor) August 10, 2023
Even if you don’t have cell service, this function lets you send messages to emergency services through a satellite.
Milafor said the family was safely evacuated to a shopping mall in Lahaina near the fires within 30 minutes because of the Emergency SOS satellite feature.
In November 2022, the Apple function came out for the first time. According to Apple’s website, when a user calls SOS, the iPhone immediately calls the local emergency number and shares your location with emergency services.
READ: iPhone 14 Satellite SOS Feature Is Coming this November
You can also put in emergency contacts who will get a text message when the call is over. A new feature of iPhone 14 lets Emergency SOS send texts to emergency services via satellite when there is no cell phone or Wi-Fi service.