Image: Google
Google is following Apple in launching a way to use your phone to communicate via a satellite in an emergency. During its big Pixel 9 reveal event on Tuesday, the company shared details of Satellite SOS, which will let you contact emergency responders and share your location when you don’t have cellular service.
The new Pixel 9 lineup will be the first Android phones to be able to use Satellite SOS, Google’s Brian Rakowski said onstage. (Google partnered with Skylo on the feature.) The feature launches first in the US “regardless of your carrier plan,” Rakowski said, though it won’t be available in Hawaii and Alaska, per a support page. According to fine print shown during Google’s livestream, the service will be included “at no additional charge for the first two years after activation of devices.”
A blog post by Rakowski qualifies that further, saying that it will be free for those first two years “on Pixel.” And it’s unclear when the feature might arrive for other Android phones. Still, it’s nice to see Google introduce this feature for Android, especially following Qualcomm’s failed attempt to launch a satellite SOS feature of its own.
Apple launched its satellite service, Emergency SOS, in November 2022. It announced last year that iPhone 14 owners would get an additional year of free coverage, meaning that both iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users will have to decide if they want to pay for the service starting in November 2025.
Update, August 13th: Added details about the Skylo partnership and two states where Satellite SOS won’t work.
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