Enlarge / An iPhone and Apple Watch showing the crash detection feature. (credit: Apple )

Apple released a minor software update for iPhones today. Unlike many of its other iOS updates, the new iOS 16.1.2 was not released in tandem with updates to Apple's other operating systems like macOS or watchOS.

iOS 16.1.2 primarily does two things, per Apple's release notes: it improves compatibility with unspecified wireless carriers, and it optimizes the Crash Detection feature on the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple hasn't gone into detail about what kinds of optimizations we're talking about. Crash Detection is a newly introduced feature that can notify emergency services when the phone's internal sensors have detected that you've been in an automobile accident. Apple developed algorithms that look at a variety of data from the phone's sensors (such as the accelerometer and G-force sensors) and other factors like microphone activity to attempt to accurately detect crashes.

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  You'll be prompted to consider this option if you try to contact emergency services but are unable to. [credit: Apple ]

As previously promised, Apple's Emergency SOS-via-satellite service launched in the US and Canada on Tuesday. The service allows owners of Apple's newest iPhones to contact emergency services or share their location and status with emergency contacts via satellite when they are in a place where standard cellular services are not available.

Emergency SOS via satellite works on all of Apple's most recent flagship iPhone models: iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Support for it was added in a recent iOS update, so no additional downloads are necessary.

When you initiate Emergency SOS via satellite, you'll be presented with a multiple-choice questionnaire that attempts to glean critical information about your situation.