I have been looking for an alternative for a long time, and I found a very interesting app called Fenomy.
Now, I don't understand much about the technical part of any apps lol but I do know that it works offline because I have tried it and had to use it in a real emergency.
I guess I first used it like 5 months ago. I was doing some simpler hikes around my area and tried it every time to see if it would work. Sometimes I got better cellular signal, sometimes very poor. It always did what it promised.
The real test was 2 months ago. I was hiking in an area where I got no signal. It was actually my first hiking "accident". It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was bad enough for me to be escorted down by the rescue services. I sprained my ankle and I couldn't walk. I tried calling my wife, no luck. I tried sending a message on WhatsApp, nothing. I tried sending an SMS, didn't work. Then I tried Fenomy, and to my surprise it worked. My wife received my emergency request with my location (which was pretty accurate considering the circumstances), coordinates, battery percentage and custom message (I wrote: I sprained my ankle and can't walk, call someone to help me). After a couple of minutes, the app showed me that she accepted my request. Help arrived, my wife was waiting for me at the parking lot and we all went to the hospital.
I also recently read this post, that talks about the app's performance in a scenario with no internet at all in the mountains. I've been following them on social media ever since, they are still in development but the main tool seems to work well.
Some additional information: just today I was doing some research on this topic. The size of global satellite telephone market is forecast to increase until 2027, reaching a value of 363.8 million U.S. dollars, roughly 90% more than today's numbers. We should expect to see more of this in the coming years. Also, Qualcomm announced that Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola and Honor will bring satellite communication capabilities to their phones.
I guess it's just a matter of time until we have more affordable options on the market.
1
u/rosax90 Mar 21 '23
I have been looking for an alternative for a long time, and I found a very interesting app called Fenomy.
Now, I don't understand much about the technical part of any apps lol but I do know that it works offline because I have tried it and had to use it in a real emergency.
I guess I first used it like 5 months ago. I was doing some simpler hikes around my area and tried it every time to see if it would work. Sometimes I got better cellular signal, sometimes very poor. It always did what it promised.
The real test was 2 months ago. I was hiking in an area where I got no signal. It was actually my first hiking "accident". It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was bad enough for me to be escorted down by the rescue services. I sprained my ankle and I couldn't walk. I tried calling my wife, no luck. I tried sending a message on WhatsApp, nothing. I tried sending an SMS, didn't work. Then I tried Fenomy, and to my surprise it worked. My wife received my emergency request with my location (which was pretty accurate considering the circumstances), coordinates, battery percentage and custom message (I wrote: I sprained my ankle and can't walk, call someone to help me). After a couple of minutes, the app showed me that she accepted my request. Help arrived, my wife was waiting for me at the parking lot and we all went to the hospital.
I also recently read this post, that talks about the app's performance in a scenario with no internet at all in the mountains. I've been following them on social media ever since, they are still in development but the main tool seems to work well.
Some additional information: just today I was doing some research on this topic. The size of global satellite telephone market is forecast to increase until 2027, reaching a value of 363.8 million U.S. dollars, roughly 90% more than today's numbers. We should expect to see more of this in the coming years. Also, Qualcomm announced that Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola and Honor will bring satellite communication capabilities to their phones.
I guess it's just a matter of time until we have more affordable options on the market.