For sure, a back up is great to have!

Not so fast! Iridium, Qualcomm and Garmin are teaming up for worldwide coverage via Android devices. And, of course, Garmin’s InReach service is already worldwide (where allowed), with over 105,000 SOS incidents.

@bsmukler the first thing you said in the first comment is actually the same thing apple is doing. They have relay centres as well where people coordinate the connection between emergency responders and the sos caller. And emergency contacts get a live copy of the chat between relay center and sos caller. Regarding waterproof ability: Yes inReach will last much much longer but for everyone that doesn’t go climbing in the Arctic the iPhone will hold on just as well. iPhone became more waterproof year over year. Phones (including iPhones) survive for months or years in a lake and still work just as fine afterwards. But I am very happy to hear that Garmin, Qualcomm and Android are teaming up for there own service. This will save more lives! And it means more competition and that’s better for us as consumers so that we get more functions out of it! Very interesting future indeed. edit: replaced a typo ("commotion" with "competition")

Good point, and I would view Garmin, In-reach systems as a back up for a true personal locator beacon. I carry a personal locator beacon made by ACR. This is my first and primary means of rescue. There are many reasons why these units are superior to any satellite communicator. First they were built from the ground up for surgeon rescue the ACR beacons have a full 5 W of power. This is important because the garment has anywhere between one and a half W And some of the communicators go below a lot. Why is this important? If you’re deep in a canyon or under a snow covered tree canopy your signal may not be able to get out. Secondly, the beacons use three different and separate satellite, constellations, low or orbit, satellites, medium earth, orbit, satellites, and Geo stationary satellites. Each constellation has many satellites your signal is going to not only be received for sure, but going to be received quickly again if you’re deep in a canyon and iridium device may not be able to get a signal for a while. In a life or death situation minutes matter third the beacons have 5 to 7 year batteries there’s no forgetting to recharge them for over 43 governments of the world subscribe to the search and rescue network. It was built as a worldwide search and rescue network the devices work anywhere in the world even at the polls there have been deaths because the Private systems, especially spot did not send search and rescue as they “thought“ it was a false alarm. That will not happen with a personal locator beacon. Bottom line is any of the satellite communicators are all using, and buying time on private satellite networks the beacons are tethered to government satellites many different types no less. Also, the beacons have a homing beacon so once the rescuers get close, they may not be able to see you because it may be dark. You may be under a tree canopy the homing beacon which broadcast the signal on 121.5. This is the same same frequency as pilots used to call for help if needed will point the rescuers directly to the beacon the beacon also has not only a strobe light but an infrared strobe so if they are using night vision goggles, they can see that as well. Now granted you cannot have two-way communication with the beacons and that is very handy, but make no mistake. These are very different devices, my opinion is first you need a personal locator beacon and then second as a back up supplement that with a satellite communicator and then third you’ve got your iPhone 14 or higher. I have nothing against iPhones. I have a 12 pro myself. I’m an Apple person, but make no mistake. These are not personal locator beacons stay safe everyone.

That would be awesome. I'd love to have inReach capabilities on something like a Garmin Enduro 2 with super long battery life!

I think that’s the only way forward for Garmin.

Indeed!!!

How about battery life, without recharge, inreach wins, right?

What you need is a true personal locator beacon that’s going to be both devices. The satellite communicators are fine as a back up and they’re great for two-way communication but make no mistake. They are not personal locator beacons.

Good point, and I would view Garmin, In-reach systems as a back up for a true personal locator beacon. I carry a personal locator beacon made by ACR. This is my first and primary means of rescue. There are many reasons why these units are superior to any satellite communicator. First they were built from the ground up for surgeon rescue the ACR beacons have a full 5 W of power. This is important because the garment has anywhere between one and a half W And some of the communicators go below a lot. Why is this important? If you’re deep in a canyon or under a snow covered tree canopy your signal may not be able to get out. Secondly, the beacons use three different and separate satellite, constellations, low or orbit, satellites, medium earth, orbit, satellites, and Geo stationary satellites. Each constellation has many satellites your signal is going to not only be received for sure, but going to be received quickly again if you’re deep in a canyon and iridium device may not be able to get a signal for a while. In a life or death situation minutes matter third the beacons have 5 to 7 year batteries there’s no forgetting to recharge them for over 43 governments of the world subscribe to the search and rescue network. It was built as a worldwide search and rescue network the devices work anywhere in the world even at the polls there have been deaths because the Private systems, especially spot did not send search and rescue as they “thought“ it was a false alarm. That will not happen with a personal locator beacon. Bottom line is any of the satellite communicators are all using, and buying time on private satellite networks the beacons are tethered to government satellites many different types no less. Also, the beacons have a homing beacon so once the rescuers get close, they may not be able to see you because it may be dark. You may be under a tree canopy the homing beacon which broadcast the signal on 121.5. This is the same same frequency as pilots used to call for help if needed will point the rescuers directly to the beacon the beacon also has not only a strobe light but an infrared strobe so if they are using night vision goggles, they can see that as well. Now granted you cannot have two-way communication with the beacons and that is very handy, but make no mistake. These are very different devices, my opinion is first you need a personal locator beacon and then second as a back up supplement that with a satellite communicator and then third you’ve got your iPhone 14 or higher. I have nothing against iPhones. I have a 12 pro myself. I’m an Apple person, but make no mistake. These are not personal locator beacons stay safe everyone.

Oddly I think Garmin might even sell more InReach units once people realize it’s benefit through some research after this apple announcement… silver lining? 😂

Yep, SPOT is a great option as well. I used one for years. Unfortunately I ran into a situation where my messages weren't sending when I REALLY needed them to so I ended up getting rid of that device and moving to the InReach mainly because I wanted "message sent" confirmation. With the SPOT it's kind of a "hope and pray" things work situation.

@@ChaseTheSummit I agree. You don’t know if anything that has gone through, but I seem to have had a lot of luck with my gen 3. I knew other with a gen 2 that was hit or miss, but so far, so good (and thankfully I haven’t needed the super important button)

Just be careful with the spot. The network is inferior. There have been deaths because spot did not send rescue because they “thought” it was a false alarm. There’s no comparison to a true personal locator beacon like an ACR. They use three different satellite constellations the beacon has a full 5 W of power the battery last five years, it has a homing beacon for when the rescuers get close and can’t see you. It has a strobe light it has an infrared light. It is part of a worldwide search rescue network over 43 governments of the world subscribe to it. It was built from the ground up to save lives the spot And other satellite communicator devices use private satellite networks further the beacons use three different satellite, constellations, low earth orbit, medium earth, orbit, and geostationary systems. Of course, each system has numerous satellites which means your signal is going to get picked up and get picked up quick. Also, the beacons have a full 5 W of power most satellite communicators have less than one watt. Anyway I’m just telling you this because people have died using spots now. Apple is investing at least 450 million in the system so maybe part of that is going to go to the satellite network and maybe they’ll be it up but it will never be as good as a true personal locator beacon my opinion is is to carry both devices actually, that would be the best of both worlds

still rocking an iphone 6 with no issues. depends on what you need i guess; but people definitely don't need to upgrade annually. sure the companies are going to keep making them annually because people keep buying them. planned obsolescence is another thing, but you can thank capitalism for that.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Seth, I like your solution because I don't want to have contact unless it's an emergency. I don't want to be texting people in the wilderness, but if it's available, it will be the expectation.

@@BobCorsaro haha, yep. Piece of mind for the wife with the understanding that I can't do anything else with it. 😁

Yep! I do mention that in this video.

Fur sure, but in this case I'm not sure it matters since the iPhone doesn't have any "live tracking capabilities" so you could theoretically keep the phone turned off until you need the SOS satcom functionality when you're in the back country.

@@ChaseTheSummit This is what I do in the backcountry. Keep the phone off unless taking pictures/video or when reaching edges of "civilization" and have cell capabilities.

Represent!

Thanks for sharing.

Right?! I wish I could test it without triggering a huge emergency event lol!

@@ChaseTheSummit You can certainly see if the Find My works. I expect you (or maybe Ray or Des) will be off the grid at some point to check that out. Maybe you can test it by turning off cellular data, but it may not activate the satellite connectivity unless cellular is on. Somehow Apple will need to let reviewers test the actual emergency services, though. Maybe a special provisioning profile that directs emergency services back to Apple rather than local emergency.

I’m thinking g the same on my gravel rides out of cell range or short distance bike-in campsites with no cell signal. Those are only like 1-2x per year.

I think starlink will displace these technologies in the future.

It appears that it's all included for the first 2 years.

Interesting use case... I wish there was a way to test it without triggering a full blown SOS!

I don't know if the battery life debate is a huge deal in this case. You could theoretically just leave the phone off while you're off the grid and only turn it on in the event of an emergency. Since it doesn't offer live-tracking or anything it's kind of useless without a cell signal anyways... Unless you need a camera I suppose?

@@ChaseTheSummit I suppose the counter argument could be that coverage is variable? Where I live you can go from full lte to nothing at all in a few hundred metres (which is fine if you know about it!), but exploring elsewhere you may not know where to get service. That said, you raise a very good point. Not sure if this, as an 'emergency mode' works in flight mode/or over rides it - but I guess if you are expecting minimal service, you could otherwise enable flightmode and any other battery saver features i phones offer, to extend battery life (and still keep that camera!)

@@ChaseTheSummit Agreed. I did 100 miler earlier this year, with my InReach Mini, Fenix 6 and iPhone X. In'Reach was tracking at 10 min intervals. Fenix 6 had bluetooth off as well as other features to conserve battery. iPhone was in airplane mode, just used it for photos and late night delirious videos. By the end of the race (29hours) InReach had a lot of battery, exact number I forget, over 50% though. Fenix had 60+% battery. iPhone had 70%. Iphone with satellite in current configuration Apple proposes wouldn't have a reason to be always on out of airplane mode as it wouldn't do the tracking the InReach mini does. iPhone 14 Pro is tempting to get for the satellite feature to save on the Garmin inreach mini fee. But, I can wait for future iterations to see how they improve these features. Also, would be a waste to not use iPhone X and inReach mini when they are still working great. Could resale, but I'm terrible at that.

​@@Chefcooken grats on your 100 miler. 💪

Looked at the ACR PLB but compared to the InReach Mini 2 no comparison at least regarding the SOS and all other feature functionality of the inReach

@@bryanfix872 No doubt more features with InReach, but comes with recurring cost to consider. Given the amount of rescues that happen in my area I'm glad to see someone use any of these solutions.

No comparison, I would agree. If you mean, the in reach is no comparison to a personal locator beacon. They are far inferior devices. The only thing they do better is allow two way communication. I would view Garmin, In-reach systems as a back up for a true personal locator beacon. I carry a personal locator beacon made by ACR. This is my first and primary means of rescue. There are many reasons why these units are superior to any satellite communicator. First they were built from the ground up for surgeon rescue the ACR beacons have a full 5 W of power. This is important because the garment has anywhere between one and a half W And some of the communicators go below a lot. Why is this important? If you’re deep in a canyon or under a snow covered tree canopy your signal may not be able to get out. Secondly, the beacons use three different and separate satellite, constellations, low or orbit, satellites, medium earth, orbit, satellites, and Geo stationary satellites. Each constellation has many satellites your signal is going to not only be received for sure, but going to be received quickly again if you’re deep in a canyon and iridium device may not be able to get a signal for a while. In a life or death situation minutes matter third the beacons have 5 to 7 year batteries there’s no forgetting to recharge them for over 43 governments of the world subscribe to the search and rescue network. It was built as a worldwide search and rescue network the devices work anywhere in the world even at the polls there have been deaths because the Private systems, especially spot did not send search and rescue as they “thought“ it was a false alarm. That will not happen with a personal locator beacon. Bottom line is any of the satellite communicators are all using, and buying time on private satellite networks the beacons are tethered to government satellites many different types no less. Also, the beacons have a homing beacon so once the rescuers get close, they may not be able to see you because it may be dark. You may be under a tree canopy the homing beacon which broadcast the signal on 121.5. This is the same same frequency as pilots used to call for help if needed will point the rescuers directly to the beacon the beacon also has not only a strobe light but an infrared strobe so if they are using night vision goggles, they can see that as well. Now granted you cannot have two-way communication with the beacons and that is very handy, but make no mistake. These are very different devices, my opinion is first you need a personal locator beacon and then second as a back up supplement that with a satellite communicator and then third you’ve got your iPhone 14 or higher. I have nothing against iPhones. I have a 12 pro myself. I’m an Apple person, but make no mistake. These are not personal locator beacons stay safe everyone.

Haha true! Durability can't be overlooked but it's good to have a backup in a pinch!

That’s why you should carry a personal locator as well.

I don't think they explained that part. I'm assuming they're piggy backing someone elses network and probably paying them for it?

Interesting! I did not know that.

That's unknown at this point.

Yikes! Are they that crooked? Thanks for your concern but I think I'm good!

Yes they are. You teeth right next to your two front teeeth are very pushed back, your bottom front teeth are so crowded and rotated. It must be so hard to floss and keep it clean. That’s the biggest issue. Trust me please that you will benefit so much if you do Invisalign. It wouldn’t hurt to just get a consult from an orthodontist. Please

Voice from other room, "Hey are you watching a video about satellite communication?' Dentist: "NO!, Of course not! I'm staring at this guys teeth!!"

I suppose you could buy two 🤔

This is more of a “it’s better than nothing” feature that I think will get better over time.

I need to figure out a way to test it without causing an emergency dispatch lol.

That's my thought as well. Could this lead to eventual full satcom like facetime over satellite? That would be amazing!

For sure, it won't replace an InReach or true SatCom that's why I made this video to hopefully clear the air.

Having a Fenix with inReach would be incredible but I'm not sure the tech has gotten small enough for that to happen yet!

It would be pretty amazing to get InReach technology inside a watch!

True! However with apps like Gaia GPS the iPhone is a pretty powerful navigation tool as well with the offline mapping functionality.

@@ChaseTheSummit double true. I was on the fence about getting the Montana 700/750i for hiking and what not. It would be more rugged than an iPhone but why spend the extra money when I can just get an Otterbox case for the iPhone and be good to go. At the end of the day a small battery pack is not too bad to to add to my pack.

Nice!

My iPhone is still in the mail unfortunately but I'll have lots of follow up content coming soon.

2. You can turn your phone off and leave it in your bag for emergencies no?

Battery life is certainly better when on but in this situation I'm not sure it matters. You could leave an iPhone in your back turned off only for emergency situations. Redundancy is great! Hopefully this service is reliable.

For all the same reasons is why you should actually carry a personal locator beacon. Full five wants a power five year battery three different satellite constellations homing Beacon on 121.5 strobe light infrared light for rescuers. That’s the one you want to bet your life on and then as a back up, you can carry a satellite communicator and then as a third back up you can carry an iPhone. I love the iPhone that’s what I carry I have a MacBook Pro, but I would not bet my life on this new Service even if it was working perfectly. It’s not a personal locator Beacon. Yes it’s great. Yes it’s going to be helpful. Yes, I’m sure it will save lives, but it is not a replacement for a personal locator Beacon

www.movefreedesigns.com/store/p35/yetirangerheathersage.html#/

I came to the comment section looking for this. Thanks! XD

For sure, I think that's why I made this video. I've seen a lot of discussion in forum posts that Apple just killed the market... But there's more to an inReach or SPOT than simply the SOS function. Thanks for watching!

It's certainly better than nothing when you're in a dire situation! thanks for watching.

I’m not sure if it’s helping Apple or Garmin at this point. Garmin is getting a lot of publicity out of all of these new devices as well and exposure to a crowd that may have not known there were other options out there 🤷‍♂️

I would also seriously consider getting a personal locator beacon first and foremost. The brand I carry is made by ACR. These devices like sound like communicators and what Apple is doing in no way replaces a personal locator beacon. I’m glad Apple is doing this and I think it’s a positive thing, but I don’t want people to be misled and thinking that this can replace a personal locator beacon, the beacons are amazingly powerful. They use three different satellite constellations and there’s just so many other features I won’t go into here it’s just too much but I would do your research. Look at the difference in the power of the units. Look at the coverage, look at the homing beacon on the ACR’s the strobe lights, the infrared lights the five year battery no monthly fee research the three different satellite, consolations the low earth, orbit, medium earth, orbit, and Geo stationary systems understand the difference and why they works synergistically together. Also, the entire system was designed from the ground up as a worldwide searching rescue system over 43 governments of the world subscribed to it read about the ACR survivors club on the website in my opinion is best to have both a personal locator beacon, and the satellite communicator is a back up and then maybe an iPhone as well I’m an Apple user and I love the iPhone so I think this is what they’re doing but it just shouldn’t be replacement for a PLB

Theere's still a place for both.

@@ChaseTheSummit Totally agree but, neither is killing the other. The IPhone 14 looks to be a very useful addition the outdoor activity community but, there will always be a place for dedicated devices. Great content DTW👌🏻

For sure!

Why not?

Not yet!

Well. It is closer than before.

You're not alone... I get this a lot lol.

That would be pretty slick!

Would be cool to see something like that on Gaia (but with Outside at the reins, not holding my breath).

Trust it or not I think it’s better than nothing in a pinch. If you’ve got a broken leg 30 miles into the wilderness anything will be better than smoke signals.

Totally agree… Apple are high on hype and low on real details. With inreach you’re getting the SOS rescue.. Like I'm seeing a lot of hype about this 15 hour GPS life with the Ultra and yet no-one mentions it's at the cost of reduced Gps sampling and even more Importantly it's " coming soon" with no timescale ... Airpower anyone?

@@AdamRykala One thing I’ve found about Apple is that their testing and estimates regarding features in the past are often very accurate. They spend tons of time and money on researching these things, so I tend to be optimistic about their boasts more so than a lot of other companies (and I’m not talking about their ‘magical’ marketing speak, just real results).

@@Ryotsu2112 But Conversely they will often kill things with little warning. This looks Ok on paper but this is definately some thing where the adage " Measure twice, cut once" springs to mind. I'm not anti-apple - i've had a Main computer as a Mac since 2004 but i still don't 100% trust their claims. See the Ultra announcement where "Coming Soon" is hidden away in the footnotes!

You make a great point I see so many comments here people saying they’re not going to get a locator device because this is coming out I’ve got news for you almost every comment in here. These people don’t even understand the difference in satellite communicators and personal locator beacons the first, the very first your first piece of equipment should be a personal locator beacon for all kinds of reasons second you could use a satellite communicator and then third you have the iPhone is a third back up but hands-down the personal locator beacon is what will save your life people just don’t do their research. I just read a comment by a guy saying how, he has a spot and how great it is. People have died using spots because they couldn’t get a signal out. Our spot didn’t send a rescue because they “thought” it was not a real emergency. The satellite communicators are well under powered the beacons have 5 W they have a home beacon on 121.5. They’ve got three different satellite, constellations, low earth, orbit, medium earth, orbit, and Geo stationary systems all that worksynergistically with each other. The worldwide network is subscribed to at least 43 governments of the world. Everything about it is designed to save lives. All these other devices can be helpful. No doubt it’s great to have two-way communication but you don’t want to bet your life on them not to mention the ACR Beacon has no monthly fee.

I'm looking forward to seeing how that works!

For sure, this is about the phone SOS function though and I think in that case the argument could be made that you could leave the phone off until you need it?

I think the advantage would be to have your iphone turned off until you need it for SOS. It's just peace of mind knowing you have that capability with you. But yes, lot's of advantages to the inReach system we'll have to see how this all works once iPhone 14's are out in the wild.

For sure!

Lol ty good to know...

For sure, still nice to have the capability though. I'm sure this will save lives in some situations.

@@ChaseTheSummit true! I think people who don't do hardcore adventure activities could definitely use it. People get lost all the time

I’m afraid there will be “city” people misusing this just because they are scared and a little lost

@@hugovela2919 I'm not sure that is misusing it. "City" people off-grid enough that there is no cell phone coverage and a "little" lost is how people die. Plus the questions it leads you through will tell emergency responders that someone is just lost.

Yea you are right. It’s better to have your bases covered than not.

It’s not meant to replace a PLB or InReach. Reliable or not, it’s better than having nothing and I think that’s the purpose… a last ditch effort to get help when you need it.

Why is Garmin dead to you?

@@ChaseTheSummit welll, you pay extra premium for garmins and they act cheap. Had 7X sapphire solar, got it replaced, wore it for a week and send it back along with edge 1040 solar. Why? Theres a lot I dont like about it. Fenix cant even count your calories for non exercise activity. Lets say you did 20k steps for a day but didnt go for a run or didnt register any activity manualy. At the end of the day it will say 2400kcal burned, which I know should be around 3k at least for me. Then you got edge 1040 freezeing in the middle of a climb or just in a random place during your Ride. I was so frustrated I send it all back and got the money. I told myself never more any garmin devices.

I think you're missing the point. Not everyone is going to walk around with a Ham radio in their pocket. The idea behind this is that millions of people have iPhones and simply because of that this could be a life saving feature.

@@ChaseTheSummit Well I wasn't missing the point......I like gps, etc. My point had nothing to do with saying that ham radio is the way to go for everyone. My actual point is that the use of this technology isnt that impressive when ham radio is actually more capable as a communication device and it's from 100 year old technology. That's all. And I do like gadgets and satellites. Wasn't saying to not have options. I like them all.

Feel free to not watch it. This was just sharing information to a demographic that may have not noticed this feature. I also wanted to compare the new feature to something like an InReach. Apologies if it wasn't helpful. I'll have follow up content once I have an iPhone 14 in my hands.

I never said this was a review and the word “review” is not in the title of the video. Purely just talking about new tech before it came out. Fast forward, I do own an iPhone 15 pro now. At the time of this video no one did.