TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — With Hurricane Milton barreling toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, many Tampa Bay area residents will be faced with widespread and potentially weekslong power outages, which could affect cellphone service, as hundreds saw during Hurricane Helene.

However, iPhone’s newest update, iOS18, introduced a new feature that could potentially be life-saving and help those who are stuck without service contact family members and first responders.

Here’s how it works

The new update allows users to connect their phones to satellite which could come in handy if you find yourself stuck or in danger.

To connect to satellite, users will need to have an iPhone 14 or later model and update their phone to iOS18.

From there, users have two ways to access the feature.

Control Center: Swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone to open the Control Center, then tap on the box where the Wi-Fi symbol is located. From there, users should see the “Satellite” option. Tap it and then select “Try Demo.”

The demo will let users select if they would like to use satellite to send and receive text messages, update their shared location, roadside assistance, and emergency SOS.

The video player above also shows a step-by-step visual on how to activate satellite on an iPhone.

For more information on iPhone’s satellite feature, visit here.

With emotions heightened from Helene, many residents on the Gulf Coast have followed evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall, which is forecast to be somewhat near the Tampa Bay region.

On Monday, traffic was bumper-to-bumper as residents in evacuation zones left their homes after Milton was upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton is barreling toward the Sunshine State as a “dangerous major hurricane.” The storm is expected to make landfall early Thursday morning.

If you are considering evacuating, or live in an evacuation zone, you still have time to leave. To find shelters open near you, visit here. If you don’t know what your evacuation zone is, click here.