Apple will never charge for this. It’s a lose-lose solution until they simply say it’s free forever. Being one of the largest publicly traded companies, they will be faced with extreme scrutiny if let’s say a hiker was stranded and died but could have been saved if Emergency SOS subscription was active. Instead of blaming the person for not getting the subscription, Apple will be blamed for not making it free or not allowing users to use it and then be billed for it.

How much effort would it be for them to add satellite phone service capability? In other words, making satellite phone calls? Obviously, you’d need a plan for that, but it’d be really cool to have that as an option.

I guess I have this on my iPhone 14 but I haven't needed it so it is invisible.

It might be more visible if I could use it to send iMsg (perhaps text only) via satellite when I'm off the cell grid for extended periods (which is rarely these days)

It should be a free service if you subscribe to other Apple services.

If they do start charging for it, they should make it an option where you can pay for it by the day/week/month. Only in the times where you think you could actually need to use the feature.

Honestly I wouldn’t mind it being a post pay per use service if it’s under $50 per instance.

But I wouldn’t subscribe to it

a handy feature but i would only subscribe to it if it was part of icloud or apple one sub.

Putting safety behind a paywall at Apple’s level is the craziest thing I’ve ever read. Capitalists at Apple are wilder than I thought.

Why need a subscription. Just make it so anyone can SOS via satellite and add that to the rescue bill. Even better if just pay a little more in tax for the FCC to mandate SOS via satellite.

Seems like something I would buy if I was going on a backcountry hiking trip or if I knew I would be off grid.

Imagine the PR if someone died because they didn’t/forgot to renew their satellite subscription 💀

There is no way I’m paying for the service once it’s not included. Someday on the side of a highway with no cell reception I may regret that decision but for today, No!

Didn’t know you had to pay for it

It’s a trail? Who knew. I won’t be subbing unless it’s an Apple one throw in.