Apple and Starlink 'Literally Saving Lives' During Hurricane Helene Crisis

Apple iPhone users with later models can use satellite technology to send messages while cellular and WiFi services are down thanks to a new feature in iOS 18 that's "literally saving lives" in flood-ravaged North Carolina, residents say.

Some 400,000 residents there are without power or cell phone service as Hurricane Helene dumped biblical amounts of rain on the state.

But people who purchased iPhones within the past two years—iPhone 14 or later—are able to tap into Apple’s free satellite network to send messages, assuming they've upgraded to the latest operating system software.

The new feature “kinda just popped up for me and was like ‘connect to satellite,’" Matt Van Swol, an Asheville resident, told Decrypt via Twitter. “I’ve never been more thankful to be an iPhone user.”

Satellite messaging and calls allow users to communicate through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of using cellular or WiFi networks, which rely on ground-based towers and routers.

Another satellite technology being brought to bear in Asheville and across the South is Elon Musk’s Starlink, whose terminals are being deployed across the impacted areas.

The Y’all Group, a nonprofit “focused on supporting local communities impacted by severe weather events,” has been airlifting the communications hardware to the most affected areas.

"We're working with local officials to make sure they get to the remote areas that need them as quickly as possible," Y'all Group volunteer Ryan Hall tweeted Monday. "We're also paying for unlimited data plans for each one."

More than 1.7 million customers are without power across several states and territories.

South Carolina has the highest number of outages, with 672,986 affected customers, followed by Georgia with 521,226.

North Carolina is experiencing 390,182 outages, while Virginia and Florida reported more than 90,000 and 89,000 outages, respectively.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and Josh Quittner