An injured hiker in the Angeles National Forest was rescued by first responders Saturday after using her Apple iPhone 14’s SOS satellite feature.
Juana Reyes was visiting a friend in L.A. when the pair decided to go for a hike in Trail Canyon Falls. After taking a crippling fall in an area with no cellphone coverage, the high-tech feature on her smartphone linked her up with emergency personnel almost immediately.
“And we were going down this small hill. There was a lot of dirt and as we were going down all I remember is that the dirt just sort of gave way,” Reyes told KTLA.
Reyes twisted her right foot and felt her ankle throbbing with pain.
“There was that SOS feature that was triggered,” Reyes explained. “I don’t have the exact details because I wasn’t the one doing the communication.”
KTLA’s Rich Demuro, host of Tech Smart, says that Apple’s emergency SOS satellite feature, which was launched with iPhone 14, allows users to connect to emergency services through text messaging and when there is no cellular or wireless signal. The technology kicks in automatically when a person tries to text or call 911.
“If you have, let’s say, an accident or a significant fall, it does have automatic crash or fall technology where it senses that and can send out an automatic alert,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Department Sgt. John Gilbert told KTLA.
Sgt. Gilbert coordinated the search and rescue team that first made contact with Reyes. In a coordinated effort between LASD and the L.A. County Fire Department, Reyes was airlifted to safety.
In December, the satellite SOS technology helped locate two crash victims in the Angeles National Forest after their car plummeted 300 feet off a cliff.
“Under older technology, nobody would’ve known they were down there,” Gilbert said of that incident. “They wouldn’t have had a way to call out.”
As for Reyes, she’s grateful for both the first responders and the technology that sent them her way.
“Yeah, it’s just a miracle how fast they came out and were able to get in touch with us,” she said. “I’m very grateful for whatever feature that got that communication out.”
The satellite SOS feature is free for two years, though Apple has not announced how much the service will cost after that.