A few days ago I read something about Emergency calls via satellite on the Iphone 14. Notruf SOS über Satellit für die iPhone 14 Familie ab heute verfügbar - Apple (DE) (The article is in German Sorry).
It would be a useful feature for SailfishOS I think. Because you are probably often in a dead zone when you need help.
That’s a hardware, not a software thing mainly.
There seems to be an extra transceiver built in in these Apple phones to contact satellites like INMARSAT and/or others. So no chance if the hardware isn’t equipped with this transceiver. Service is generally worldwide, but availability in countries is ‘only’ a legal issue.
Should be feasible by connecting a satellite modem via Bluetooth. There are messaging devices available for Globalstar (spot messenger) and Iridium (Garmin InReach). Thuraya even offers a bluetooth device offering satellite calls. Only someone has to program the software and I don’t know if the APIs of these devices are open/documented.
That is a pity. I thought there could be a software solution for this.
Thank you.
These are the spot devices:
Tarrifs start from 15€ per month. It’s the same network and service which apple uses in their devices and continental coverage is worldwide, excluding oceans and polar regions.