No. SOS Alerts is not a replacement for 911 or your phone's built-in Emergency SOS. Delivery over satellite is best-effort and can be delayed. Use your phone's emergency features for emergencies.

Any phone that can send and receive ordinary SMS over satellite: iPhone 14 and later with Messages via satellite, Android phones on T-Mobile T-Satellite, and any Garmin inReach device.

Before your trip you name your check-in points and pick your contacts. In the field you text a keyword such as STATUS 2 to the SOS Alerts number. You get an immediate acknowledgement, and your contacts get the message you wrote in advance.

Plans are priced by the number of text segments included per month, because that is what satellite messaging costs. Subscribe and manage your plan on sosalerts.org; the mobile apps are for configuration only.