Verizon outage affects over 2 million users; some iPhones show SOS icon

Verizon is experiencing a major cellular outage across the US that generated over 2 million reports in the past 24 hours, affecting major cities including New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte and Houston and preventing users from making phone calls or browsing on cellular networks. Verizon has categorized the impact as "Very High," with most complaints filed as either "mobile phone issues" or "lack of signal." The company posted on X at 4:12 p.m.

ET that its "team is on the ground actively working to fix today's service issue that is impacting some customers." Verizon has not provided a timeline for restoration; users can track local updates on Verizon's network status page. Some iPhone users have reported seeing an SOS or satellite icon in the status bar.

ZDNET's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes said he was able to reproduce the icon when outside cellular and Wi‑Fi coverage while running a mapping app. After testing, Apple technical support told him the appearance is normal behavior, that no emergency SOS call was being made, and that no data can be sent or received over the satellite network other than during a genuine emergency SOS call.

ZDNET noted Apple began rolling out Emergency SOS via satellite in 2022 for some iPhone models and that recent models also support the feature. Verizon has not confirmed whether affected customers will receive refunds or credits.

Key Topics

Tech, Verizon, Iphone, Apple, Emergency Sos, Network Outage