Apple's Free Satellite Features on iPhone Available in These Countries

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In a statement shared with 9to5Mac this week, Apple announced that it will be launching its Emergency SOS via satellite feature in Mexico later this year.

Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT
Apple's satellite features are available on all iPhone 14 models and newer. The features include Emergency SOS via satellite, Find My via satellite, Messages via satellite, and Roadside Assistance via satellite, with availability of each varying by country.

The features are available to use when you are in an area without Wi-Fi or cellular coverage — otherwise, there is only a demo mode. To access the features, open Control Center and scroll down to the page with "Satellite." Tap on that to open Apple's Connection Assistant, which lists all of the satellite features available in your country.

Apple has yet to charge a fee for any of its satellite features. Last month, the company announced it is providing existing iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users with an additional year of free access to the entire suite of satellite features on those devices.

Below, we have outlined where the satellite features are available.

Emergency SOS via satellite

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico (Later this year)
  • The Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • U.K.
  • U.S.

Find My via satellite

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico
  • The Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • U.K.
  • U.S.

Messages via satellite

  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • U.S.

Roadside Assistance via satellite

  • Australia
  • U.K.
  • U.S.

The minimum iOS version required for each feature varies by country.

International travelers who visit a country where the features are available can use the feature while visiting, except if they bought their iPhone in Armenia, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, or Russia, according to Apple.

iOS 26 beta code included references to Weather via satellite, but Apple has yet to announce such a feature, and it is unclear if it remains in development.

Tag: iPhone Satellite Features

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Top Rated Comments

matthew12 Avatar
matthew12
5 hours ago at 08:53 am
I honestly wonder if they'll ever charge for the satellite access. It would be horrendous PR if someone was stranded and Apple tried to charge them to get help. They should probably just make it permanently free at this point.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johannnn Avatar
johannnn
4 hours ago at 09:19 am
Anyone knows why it's not supported in more countries? Isn't it the same satellites for US and Europe? For example Scandinavia is missing. I live in Sweden and would love this when hiking.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cigz Avatar
cigz
4 hours ago at 09:40 am

Anyone knows why it's not supported in more countries? Isn't it the same satellites for US and Europe? For example Scandinavia is missing. I live in Sweden and would love this when hiking.
They don't care about most of the Europe unfortunately and we still pay more for less. I feel like in Poland the major "feature" is Apple Pay and that's it. We barely got autocorrection and swipe to type.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cigz Avatar
cigz
3 hours ago at 11:11 am

With iPadOS 26, we have finally got handwritten text recognition. So, considering Ink from OS X Jaguar, the first handwriting recognition technology from Apple, we're like 23 years behind.

We pay more because of VAT. But it would be so cool if the price was based on how many features are actually supported in each country.
We still pay way more than just "because of VAT". They overcharge the iPhone 17 Pro for around 200USD.
It's so much overpriced to the point that people are selling the US version of 17 Pro for the same price as iPhone Air or sometimes it keeps popping even cheaper.
I've already seen some offers for less than 5000PLN which converted to USD is literally almost the price of 1099 USD + 23% VAT.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaveMcM76 Avatar
DaveMcM76
4 hours ago at 09:25 am
I was expecting/hoping that the Messages via satellite would have become available in the UK by now as we have all the other services - living in the Scottish highlands this would be a really useful feature as I still visit a lot of places with zero mobile signal.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dustin_ Avatar
dustin_
4 hours ago at 09:31 am
happy to hear emergency sos via satellite will be coming soon to mexico! there are still large gaps of the country without proper cell network coverage.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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