First responder network RapidSOS adds Emergency SOS video support with iOS 18

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited July 25

Apple's Emergency SOS live video feature coming in iOS 18 will be supported by RapidSOS, a platform linking millions of users to 911 and other emergency services.

Three smartphone screens during an emergency 911 call: options to use speaker, share live video, and share photos from the library.
What a user will see when using Emergency SOS via Satellite with RapidSOS and video (Source: RapidSOS)



Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite was a revolutionary safety feature when it was launched with the iPhone 14, and it has since saved lives around the world. Initially, it would connect stranded users to first responders and allow very brief text message exchanges.

For iOS 18, however, Apple is greatly expanding the feature, so that it allows for longer messages, and being expanded to other technologies. Now RapidSOS has announced support for the new Emergency SOS live video for a stranded user to be able to show first responders their condition and environment.

"[Emergency Communications Centers (ECC)] telecommunicators will be able to access Emergency SOS Live Video from within RapidSOS UNITE," announced the company in a blog post. "This service will be at no cost to ECCs and available to the 5700+ ECCs who use RapidSOS UNITE core modules, which cover over 99 percent of the US population."

RapidSOS is a clearing house which routes callers to 911 or other emergency services. Even before the new Live Video option, RapidSOS would simultaneously route the call to 911 and transmit what it calls "hybridized emergency location" information to the first responders.

The aim has been to get users help quicker, and by cutting down the steps required to find locations, to also reduce the chance for errors. With the new Live Video feature in Emergency SOS, first responders will be able to better assess any injuries a caller has, and see the terrain they are stranded in.

This should mean responders can much more quickly determine whether, for instance, the user will need to be air-lifted to hospital.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    appleinsideruserappleinsideruser Posts: 590member
    Any update on what happens after the first 2 years of free satellite SOS for iPhone 14 users? What do we pay, or does it stay free with say iCloud+?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 2
    applebynatureapplebynature Posts: 119member
    Emergency video sharing absolutely will NOT be compatible with Emergency SOS via Satellite. You repeatedly state and imply that one would be able to send video through the satellite communication feature, but that is not the case. Emergency SOS Video sharing will only work through cellular or wifi connections. This announcement has ZERO to do with satellite. Did you even read the press release? "Satellite" is mentioned 0 times.
    muthuk_vanalingamappleinsideruserwatto_cobra
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