One of the main reasons I didn't keep my iPhone 13 mini and upgraded to the iPhone 14 Pro was because the iPhone 14 series was when Apple added Emergency SOS via satellite to its flagship smartphone. Now, Google is ripping that feature off for the Pixel.
Today, the company held its latest Made by Google event and announced the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and the bizarrely named Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It also announced the Pixel Watch 3 with a new 45mm size as well as the Pixel Buds Pro. With the Pixel 9 models, the company also revealed that they would be the first Android phones to support Satellite SOS.
In a press release, Google said "Our newest Pixel 9 devices are the first Android phones to include our new Satellite SOS, so you can contact emergency responders via satellite and share your location, even without cellular service. Satellite SOS will be available first in the U.S. on Pixel 9 devices, regardless of your carrier plan. And for the first two years on Pixel, it will be available at no extra cost."
Like Apple, Google has not yet announced how much its Satellite SOS feature will cost after the two free years of service are up.
This feature should be standard on every phone
So, one point for the Apple fanboys, right? Let's all jump on Twitter and dump on Google for ripping off a feature that has been on the iPhone for almost 2 years, right? Wrong!
While iPhone and Android users can dunk on each other (have at it) for stealing certain features from each other — like adding widgets to the Home Screen — we shouldn't be angry at all when these companies rip off safety features from each other.
Whether it's Emergency SOS via Satellite, detecting a car crash and automatically calling emergency services, fall detection, and irregular heart rate detection, Apple, Google, Samsung, and everyone else should rip all of these features off of each other. These features aren't trivial — they help save lives. They shouldn't be exclusive features to one particular brand but instead standard features across all of these brands.
I just went backpacking in West Virginia last weekend and having the iPhone 15 Pro with me gives me extra peace of mind, knowing that if something serious happened, I could contact emergency services using Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite feature. I still carry a Garmin inReach as well — Garmin's satellite communicator — but having the iPhone as a backup is a fantastic thing. I also know that most people don't have something like an inReach, so having a phone with that kind of capability built in is so important.
So, while some Apple fans will point to the fact that SOS satellite communication has existed on the iPhone for the last couple of years and taunt Google over that, I'm glad that Google is bringing the feature to the Pixel. That equates to even more people who will be able to get help in emergency situations when there is no cellular signal available. Hopefully, this feature will continue to roll out to even more Android phones over the next few years until it becomes ubiquitous.
