Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite service has been slowly expanding from a major emergency role – essentially letting you call in an air ambulance when injured in a remote location – to a broader way of remaining in touch when outside mobile data coverage.
A new satellite-based service spotted in the iOS 26 developer beta will be useful in both extreme situations and more everyday scenarios in areas with poor mobile coverage …
Namely, access to weather reports, as spotted by Macworld.
Apple plans to take the iPhone’s satellite capabilities even further, now with weather forecast updates. Although this feature wasn’t part of the WWDC 2025 opening keynote, Macworld found evidence of its existence in the iOS 26 beta […]
The system will let users receive “Weather Updates via Satellite” when Wi-Fi and cellular connections are not available. The feature will be extremely useful for people practicing extreme weather-dependent activities such as hiking and climbing in remote areas where cellular coverage is not available.
Weather can be a critical factor when planning outdoor activities. Back in my rock-climbing days, I made an annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Skye, and there was one particular all-day route I’d been hoping to climb each time I visited, but as it was lethal in the wet, it was the last day of my fifth visit before I finally got the chance!
But access to weather can also be useful more generally when in areas of limited mobile coverage. You might be camping and planning nothing more adventurous than a gentle hike to a waterfall, but it would still be pretty handy to be able to time your walk between rain showers.
In addition to its life-and-death emergency role, Apple’s existing satellite messaging services allow you to text family and friends, share your location, and call for breakdown recovery if you experience car troubles.
All satellite services require an iPhone 14 or later, as this was when Apple added the necessary radio chip and antenna capabilities.
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