Alaska is a U.S.' state located in the northwest extremity of North America. Semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon territory to the east.
Considering how far north the area is, this region has a tremendous amount of variety in precipitation, and in general, it's subarctic oceanic climate in the southwest and a continental subarctic-artic climate farther north.
And this time, a snowmobiler in Alaska was successfully rescued when he became stranded in an extremely isolated area, and that happened thanks to his Apple iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.
According to Alaska State Troopers, they received an alert from the Apple Emergency Response Center early in the morning.
The man was traveling using his snowmobile from Noorvik to Kotzebue, but was stranded due to some mechanical failure on his vehicle. As a result of this, the man was alone in the cold night.
The State of Alaska Department of Public Safety provided a report:
While Noorvik and Kotzebue can be considered two cities in Alaska, in between them, is just wilderness. And at that time, the man was stranded in the remote location far from civilization, with no connectivity.
Making things worse, the average temperature in the Kotzebue area was 19 degrees Fahrenheit (-7° Celsius), and that the area was having a winter storm warning that last at least until a day later.
However, the man was lucky.
Apple said that satellite connectivity might not work in places above 62° latitude, such as northern parts of Canada and Alaska. The man stranded at a location close to 69° latitude, meaning that the feature should have a hard time working,
It was fortunately for the man, because the night sky above him was clear at the time. This allowed him to beam up the tiny bits of information regarding his location.
Troopers who helped with the rescue were "impressed with the accuracy and completeness of information included in the initial alert."
Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite feature was first announced at the company's September product launch.
Developed through Apple's partnership with Globalstar, the former can tap into the latter's satellite network and ground stations, to allow iPhone 14 users to contact emergency services and contacts, even when their out of cellular range. With a clear view of the sky, even without cellular coverage or internet connection, messages can be sent via satellite in as little as 15 seconds, Apple said.
Initially, the feature is only made available to a number of countries, and is free to use for two years.
At this time, the feature is available in North America, with Apple planning to expand it to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.
Besides the satellite communication feature, another feature made unique starting the iPhone 14, is the Crash Detection feature.
This feature is also meant to save lives, but apparently, it's too sensitive that it was widely reported that roller coaster rides could trigger the feature.