An iPhone 14 or later, running the iOS version Apple sets for each country — from iOS 16.1 in the US and Canada up to iOS 26.4 in Andorra, Iceland and Norway. To be outdoors with a clear view of the sky and horizon, somewhere with no mobile or Wi-Fi coverage. The service is free for two years after the phone is activated.

Call the local emergency number first; the call may go through even when your usual network is missing. If it doesn't, tap Emergency Text via Satellite, then Report Emergency. Answer the short emergency questions with taps, and choose whether to alert your emergency contacts. Follow the on-screen prompts to point the phone at the satellite until the message is sent. Before a trip, Apple suggests trying the Satellite Connection demo and setting up your Medical ID and emergency contacts in the Health app, since they are shared with responders.

iPhone Emergency SOS via satellite works in 21 countries — Kuwait is not one of them

Out in the desert here your phone will not offer it, but a handset bought locally can use the feature when you travel to Europe, North America, Australia or Japan.

27 October 2026 Tech 2 min read

Since the iPhone 14, an iPhone can text emergency services through a satellite when there is no mobile or Wi-Fi coverage. But Apple’s support page, in the version published on 5 October 2026, limits the service to 21 countries — and Kuwait, like the rest of the Arab world, is not on the list.

Where it works

The United States, Canada and Mexico; in Europe, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Andorra; plus Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Apple says travellers can use the feature while visiting one of those countries unless their iPhone was bought in Armenia, Belarus, mainland China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan or Russia (with separate rules for Hong Kong and Macao). In other words, an iPhone bought in Kuwait will work with it abroad.

What you need

An iPhone 14 or later, running the iOS version Apple sets for each country — from iOS 16.1 in the US and Canada up to iOS 26.4 in Andorra, Iceland and Norway.
To be outdoors with a clear view of the sky and horizon, somewhere with no mobile or Wi-Fi coverage.
The service is free for two years after the phone is activated.

How it starts

Call the local emergency number first; the call may go through even when your usual network is missing.
If it doesn’t, tap Emergency Text via Satellite, then Report Emergency.
Answer the short emergency questions with taps, and choose whether to alert your emergency contacts.
Follow the on-screen prompts to point the phone at the satellite until the message is sent.

Before a trip, Apple suggests trying the Satellite Connection demo and setting up your Medical ID and emergency contacts in the Health app, since they are shared with responders.

Camping in Kuwait

At a winter camp inside Kuwait the feature will not appear, so you are still relying on mobile coverage and the 112 emergency number. Download offline maps before you head out, as explained in our desert map guide.

Photo: sand dunes under a clear, starry sky, in a desert outside Kuwait. By Jared Evans, public domain (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: Apple Support: Use Emergency SOS via satellite on your iPhone, published 5 October 2026, read on 26 October 2026.