The iPhone 14 feature you never want to use saved three trapped BYU students – do phone

Apple has one other good-information story to speak about at WWDC, after a bunch of stranded students used a brand new iPhone feature to escape from an ordeal in a distant Utah canyon.

KUTV stories that BYU students Bridger Woods, Jeremy Mumford, and Stephen Watts obtained into difficulties whereas visiting the San Rafael Swell. Exploring “the squeeze,” a 500-foot canyon with sheer rock partitions, the group grew to become stranded in deep water for nearly three hours, and began to undergo from hypothermia. Unable to climb out, and unsuccessful when making an attempt to name for assist, they as an alternative used Emergency SOS by way of satellite tv for pc on an iPhone 14 to contact emergency companies.

“The county, the paramedics, all the way in which from Arizona to helicopter crews from Salt Lake Metropolis, we simply want to give an enormous thank you to all of the individuals who pitched in to save us,” stated Mumford.

The Emergency SOS via satellite feature was introduced final fall with the launch of latest iPhone fashions. It prompts mechanically any time the proprietor of a suitable iPhone in one of many nations the place the feature is out there tries to contact emergency companies and fails to get a mobile sign; as an alternative of connecting usually, you’ll be linked by way of an obtainable satellite tv for pc and enabled to talk by way of textual content solely. It’s free, Apple says, for 2 years from the time of activation.

Apple may be very keen on tales of this sort. At occasions previously, the corporate has prefaced its launch bulletins with testimonies from grateful clients whose lives have been saved by crash or fall detection on their phone or watch, or by well being-monitoring alerts warning about lethal medical problems. The Expensive Apple advertising video embedded under is a good instance of this: whereas some customers report easy health enhancements, others focus on much more harmful conditions. It’s all a part of Apple’s drive to remind you that life is precious.

This particular case, nevertheless, could not make fairly the right testimony to the iPhone 14’s life-saving powers, for the easy purpose that the properly-ready canyoneers had a backup plan in place in case the iPhone didn’t save their bacon. A good friend had been instructed to contact emergency companies if not given the all-clear by 9pm. A wonderful plan, readers will agree, however it does make the story barely much less thrilling content material for the following Expensive Apple video.