Will Apple Make Another Surprise Free Offer To All iPhone 14 Users?

Updated Nov. 17 with more details of how Apple could charge for satellite access.

One of Apple’s key safety features is the emergency SOS messaging via satellite, which launched soon after the iPhone 14 went on sale. Apple never said it would be free forever. Here’s the latest on what’s happening with details of what might come in the future.

The first possibility is that Apple will charge a fee for using SOS messaging after Nov. 14 2025—just a year from now for those iPhone 14 users who had activated their iPhone by that time. Note that all iPhone 14, iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 users have two years of SOS messaging access from the day their handsets are activated. It’s only the first tranche of iPhone 14 users who get the extra year. To put it another way, everybody with any iPhone 14 or later has access to the service until at least until November next year.

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What then? As Tech Radar points out, The official support page for the feature still states that ‘Emergency SOS via Satellite is free for two years after the activation of an iPhone 14 or later’.”

It goes on, “Although Apple has apparently always planned to get users to cover the cost of satellite connectivity, the problem with starting to charge money to access it is that it can quite literally save someone’s life.” I don’t agree with this: I’ve asked several Apple execs whether the plan was to charge for the service as soon as the two years was up and their attitude was different, that Apple wanted to get the service live and out for everyone to use as soon as possible, but it just didn’t want to make it open-ended or forever.

And since rivals like Google and, soon, Samsung, are offering similar services, it’s hard to imagine Apple just turning it off on the second anniversary, or charging for something rivals are giving away free.

Again, Tech Radar suggests that since there are multiple services here, including the roadside assistance to satellite messaging and now messaging when it’s not emergency, we’ll have to wait to see what happens. One possibility is that the services could be folded into the Apple One services subscription.

The original service went live on Nov. 15, 2022 for all iPhone 14 series phones, that is iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. At the time. Apple said it would be free to use the service, which allows users to contact emergency services when there was no cellular connection, for two years, that is until Nov. 14, 2024. That date has just passed.

However, last year, on Nov. 15, 2023, Apple surprised everyone by announcing it would extend the service free for another year for activated iPhone 14 models, timed from the date of activation of the iPhone. This meant that for all iPhone 14 series users, the service is still available. If you buy an iPhone 14 today, it will get two years of service from the date of activation. The same applies to iPhone 15 series and iPhone 16 series models, which also have two year’ service included.

Yesterday, Nov. 15, 2024, meant it was exactly a year since the service was extended for the first users, so you might have thought Apple would extend it again. No announcement has been made yet.

If there isn’t one, it means that anyone who is still using the iPhone 14 that they had two years ago is now in the last year of the free service. So, what happens then?

Well, first of all, Apple doesn’t need to make the announcement on the exact anniversary. Many people activated their iPhone 14 after the original SOS service date. Anyone with an iPhone 15, which launched in September 2023, has at least 10 months to go, too, and iPhone 16 models have a minimum of 1 year 10 months left.

Plenty of time, then, for an announcement to be made. And Apple isn’t giving up on the feature. You can use the access for roadside assistance via satellite in both the U.S. and the U.K. And this year, in September, Apple expanded the service to non-emergency situations, also for two years. This month, Apple committed $1.5 billion to Globalstar, its satellite partner, to expand the services.

Which makes you wonder, will this become a paid service one day? While I think that’s possible, especially if the services become more comprehensive, my gut feeling is that the SOS capability will remain free.

Even if you’ve never used it, the fact that it’s there and free would make it something of a hot topic if what’s perceived as a versatile and effective emergency service suddenly comes with a price tag.

If Apple announces a further extension, I’ll update this post.

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