Emergency SOS via Satellite Saves Students Trapped in Utah Canyon

The iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite feature last week saved a trio of students who went canyoneering in Utah and got stuck in an area with no cellular signal. Introduced last September, Emergency SOS via Satellite is designed to let ‌iPhone‌ 14 users access satellite communications to get help in emergency situations.

Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT
The students who were involved spoke to Utah's KUTV and described their dangerous ordeal. One of the students, Bridger Woods, said that the three had heard about a "pretty cool canyon" that they decided to check out because they had been canyoneering for approximately a year.

Inside the canyon, they encountered an area that had unexpectedly deep water, potentially caused by a wet winter in Utah. Woods and another student, Jeremy Mumford, were stuck in the pool for over an hour, but they ultimately were able to get out and continue deeper. They encountered another pool where the water was chest deep, and they could not get out.

Two of the students were experiencing symptoms of hypothermia, and because of the location of the canyon, there was no cellular signal, but the third student, Stephen Watts, had an ‌iPhone‌ 14. According to Mumford, every 20 minutes, a "satellite would line up" to their location, and holding the phone up, they were able to get enough satellite signal to text 911.

While waiting for emergency services, the trio were able to leverage themselves out of the deep pool using rope and carabiners. With Woods going into hypothermic shock, they were still unable to get out of the 10 to 15 foot hole that they were in. Instead, they located driftwood and began a fire to warm up while emergency crews came to their rescue.

A helicopter crew from Salt Lake City arrived, as did paramedics from Arizona, and all three students were ultimately unharmed. The group told KUTV that they recommend taking a satellite phone on adventures in case of an emergency situation.

Emergency SOS via Satellite has already been used in several other life-threatening situations, including when an Alaskan man was stranded in the wilderness and when people were involved in a serious crash in the Angeles National Forest in California.

Emergency Satellite via SOS is available to all ‌‌iPhone‌ 14‌ users in select countries, and it can be activated when an emergency situation occurs and there is no WiFi or cellular connection available. The feature is free to use for two years, and Apple has not yet provided detail on how much it will cost going forward.

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
vision pro video recording

WSJ: Some Apple Vision Pro Buyers 'Feel Total Regret'

Friday May 16, 2025 7:43 am PDT by
Apple's Vision Pro headset has left many early adopters expressing dissatisfaction over its weight, limited use cases, and sparse software ecosystem, according to a new article from The Wall Street Journal. In the year following the device's launch, user feedback suggests that it has failed to meet expectations for comfort, software support, and social acceptance. In interviews conducted by T...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Could Debut Advanced Silicon Battery Tech

Friday May 16, 2025 8:00 am PDT by
The upcoming all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air could become the first Apple smartphone to adopt advanced battery technology, with Japanese supplier TDK preparing to ship its new generation of silicon-anode batteries by the end of June. According to DigiTimes, TDK CEO Noboru Saito revealed in a recent interview that the Apple supplier has accelerated its production timeline, moving shipments...

Top Rated Comments

Paddle1 Avatar
27 months ago

Fantastic! Well worth 1000's of false alarms if it results in lives saved...unless of course the resources for those false alarms are causing other people to die to the first responders being tied up. Seems Apple doing a good job of improving these services.
This feature doesn't have the false alarm problem, that's Crash Detection.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MallardDuck Avatar
27 months ago
Got stuck for over an hour then continued on...

iPhone 14 defeats Darwin.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
27 months ago
Wow! That's amazing! Literally a life-saving feature. Apple doesn't get enough credit for this.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
27 months ago

Inside the canyon, they encountered an area that had unexpectedly deep water, potentially caused by a wet winter in Utah. Woods and another student, Jeremy Mumford, were stuck in the pool for over an hour, but they ultimately were able to get out and continue deeper. They encountered another pool where the water was chest deep, and they could not get out.
?‍♂️ I guess getting stuck the first time for over an hour wasn't enough of a warning that they shouldn't be there.

"Hey, we've got an iPhone 14 with Emergency SOS via Satellite. Let's take another big risk and go even deeper into the canyon"
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coffeemilktea Avatar
27 months ago

One of the students, Bridger Woods, said that the three had heard about a "pretty cool canyon" that they decided to check out because they had been canyoneering for approximately a year.
Now if only phones came with a high-tech feature to prevent making questionable choices. :p
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dmr727 Avatar
27 months ago
Glad to hear everyone is safe!
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)