If your iPhone is stuck in SOS mode, here’s what to do

At some point, while riding the subway or traveling outside of populated areas, you’ve probably seen your iPhone display “SOS” in the corner. Don’t worry: it just means you don’t have regular cell service and you can only make emergency calls.

What’s worse is that when you return to a populated area with good cell coverage, you still aren’t able to resume normal phone service. That annoying SOS status remains in the corner of your screen and no matter how far you hold your phone up, you still can’t access the internet.

What’s going on? Let’s take a look at the iPhone’s Emergency SOS via Satellite service and what you can do if your iPhone gets stuck in Emergency SOS mode.

Learn how to call 112 via satellite SOS emergency notifications and how to prevent your iPhone from automatically calling 112.

What exactly is Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite?

Satellite Emergency SOS is a feature on the Apple iPhone 14 and later that allows you to contact emergency services and share your location with them, even if you don’t have cellular coverage.

When you don’t have a cellular network or Wi-Fi, you’ll see an SOS message in the corner of your iPhone. This means you can receive emergency assistance via satellite.

Remark: There is also Emergency SOS on any iPhone, and while this feature will call your local emergency number and share your location data with emergency services, it does require that you have service. It is not the same as Emergency SOS via Satellite.

What is the problem with SOS mode?

Once your iPhone loses service and is in Emergency SOS mode, your device may have difficulty finding your network, even if you are in an area with service. You may notice that someone else in your area has service while you do not, or vice versa. Fortunately, there are several ways to address this issue.

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What to do if you are stuck in SOS emergency mode

According to AppleIf you see “SOS” or “SOS Only” in the status bar, you can do the following to help your device find a mobile network:

• Make sure you are in an area with mobile network coverage. You can contact people around you who have coverage, while you don’t.
• Turn your mobile data off and on. Go to Institutions > Cellular and turn Mobile data off and on again.
• Restart your iPhone. On iPhone X and later, press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power off slider appears, then drag the slider. Wait 30 seconds, then press and hold the side button to turn your iPhone back on. If you have an older iPhone model, here’s how to restart it.
• Check if there is an update of the provider settings. Your carrier may send a carrier settings update to improve your mobile network connectivity and performance. As long as you are connected to the Internet, go to Institutions > General > About and check if an update is available.
• Turn your cell phone line off and on. Go to Institutions > Cellular > your phone number and turn your mobile line off and on. If you are not using an eSIM, remove the SIM card from your phone and put it back.
• Update your iPhone. If the software has a bug, it could cause issues with your mobile service. To check for a software update, go to Institutions > General > Software updateYou need internet for this, so wifi is your only option if you can’t connect to a mobile network.
• Reset your network settings. WARNING: This will reset all of your Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN settings, so only do this if you’ve tried all of the above options first. If you’re OK with this, go to Institutions > General > Transfer or reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Institutions.

If network connectivity issues persist, Apple recommends contacting your carrier. This applies to issues with your carrier or account that may affect your service, such as outages in your area or an unpaid bill.

If you are traveling internationally and get stuck on SOS upon arrival, make sure you have data roaming enabled. You can go to Institutions > Cellular > your phone number and turn on Data roaming.

Read everything we know about the upcoming iPhone 16 here.