Initially I thought the same re: hiking, skiing etc. The only issue I see is that cellphone battery life is terrible compared to inReach like devices. Not sure I'd want to depend on it for longer than a few hours.

Good news: people who pay more still get all those benefits.

And now, other people have some access (if non-optimal) to rescue services, despite the fact that they didn't (or couldn't afford to) pay more for inReach.

I see this as an unqualified win.

Same. Done a few trips to alaska and had to coordinate pickups and food drops via garmin inreach. Battery life on those is way better and more durable.

Yea. My inReach device stays charged for months when it is off.

Modern smartphones can hold the battery for over a week with minimal usage. You could just turn data on when every few hours or so. It's not automated though.

At least my work S24 says ~16 days in airplane mode + power saver. Not tested.

I take my inreach kite surfing and I don't have to worry about it getting wet.

Turn off your phone?

With an inReach I have the option of periodically tracking my position and uploading that to a site my loved ones can check. Even whilst doing this I can leave the device on for a multi-day trip without worrying about battery drain. I'm not saying you couldn't do this with a cell phone, but the inReach is just a more robust solution for a safety critical application.

> It's also possible to pursue a hybrid approach by bringing a battery to change the phone.

Or, as I have done on multi-day trips, a solar panel and a battery.

> you can just turn off the cell phone, and it should be fine

Cell phones are far more sensitive to temperature issues than dedicated devices.

And when you do have an issue no external battery is going to help you because they are also sensitive.

ah yes, let me just trust a glass screen with a cold sensitive battery during an emergency

Why switch carriers for that, you can get the same functionality built-in to iPhones and it's not dependent on carrier.

If you aren't on an iPhone already, switching carriers might be easier.

That's a fair point. I did make some assumptions.

iPhone sos does not allow you to just text random stuff to arbitrary people. It’s emergency only and a preselected “family group”

If you have zero signal, modern iPhone allows you to connect to satellite and text using iMessage. I just used it this week multiple times during massive Pacific Northwest blackout.

Works surprisingly well. You have to be outside and hold iPhone in the specifics position pointed at satellite, it tells you where to turn iPhone to to get signal.

Did they get rid of the limitation of having to setup a special family group in advance?

You can initiate a conversation with anyone while you are connected via satellite. But you do need to set up an emergency contact and/or Family Sharing Group if you want to connect via satellite and receive messages that were sent to you while you were offline.

(I’m referring to the "Messages via Satellite" feature that launched two months ago in iOS 18. This is different from the "Emergency SOS via Satellite" feature that has been around since 2022.)

That is not true. If you don't know, don't guess.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/120930

I'd still carry an old-school PLB (not a satellite messenger subscription service) for the enduring battery-life, ruggedness, and reliability when it matters. And use LTE-Starlink for the basic non-urgent but super convenient communication needs.

The inReach is basically indestructible. A cell phone, not so much.

this is how i feel. especially in the cold. for a lot of the stuff i do, i'm not gonna trust my life on a glass screen with a battery that doesn't work well in the cold.