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- Apple is making a change to the way iPhones call 911.
- For users, nothing will change on the surface. But behind the scenes, your iPhone will provide location data from cell towers, GPS, and Wi-Fi to the 911 call center over a new internet-based path.
- Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said it could “dramatically improve public safety” in a statement.
Starting later this year, the way that iPhones reach contact 911 will subtly change in a way that could let emergency assistance find the caller faster and more easily.
Apple is teaming up with RapidSOS to include a new way to transfer location data to 911 call centers over the internet, building on the current system which was developed for landlines and uses older, phone-based data. The data provided to 911 centers includes information on location from cell towers as well as data from GPS and Wi-Fi networks. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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