CalTopo<\/a>, a search-and-rescue mapping platform, and Apple\u2019s Find My Friends feature were also unsuccessful.<\/p>\nDavis eventually connected with the woman over FaceTime and asked her to show him the terrain. When that didn\u2019t help, he remembered hearing that newer versions of FaceTime allowed users to remotely control another person\u2019s iPhone screen with permission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to remotely access her screen, which was weird,\u201d Davis told Outside<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019d never done that before, but I just sorta figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\nAt that point, Davis had already spent roughly an hour and a half on the phone with the hiker, he told Outside.<\/em>\u00a0Their calls kept dropping, and although the woman was unfamiliar with some of her phone\u2019s features, she worked with Davis as he patiently explained each step.<\/p>\n\u201cShe was great, and was as helpful as she could be, being unfamiliar with the device,\u201d Davis said. \u201cShe was a good sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Race Against a Dying Phone Battery<\/h2>\n
As darkness approached and the hiker\u2019s phone battery drained, Davis managed to access her screen, adjust several location settings, and retrieve her GPS coordinates using the Maps and Compass apps. He immediately relayed them to search teams in the field.<\/p>\n
Williams credited Davis\u2019s persistence with helping searchers reach the woman sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe searchers would have found her eventually, but we found her a lot faster because Cody figured that out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Shortly after Davis relayed the hiker\u2019s coordinates, their call disconnected again. By the time he reconnected over FaceTime, rescuers had located the woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called her back just as teams were approaching, and we all saw the moment the first team made contact with her while she was on FaceTime,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt was ultimately a cool experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rescuers helped the woman return to the trail, and Williams said she walked out with them in good spirits.<\/p>\n
What Search and Rescue Wants Hikers to Know<\/h2>\n
Williams urged hikers to stay with their companions, particularly when members of a group move at different speeds.<\/p>\n
If you lose your bearings, Davis advised staying on established trails rather than heading downhill in hopes of finding a road or another path. Search teams typically check trails first, he explained, and leaving them makes it harder for rescuers to find you.<\/p>\n
He also recommended that hikers learn how to retrieve GPS coordinates from a phone\u2019s Maps or Compass app before heading out, so they can relay their location directly to emergency responders.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Williams pointed to several advantages the woman had when she lost her way. She carried a charged phone, had cell service, and answered when rescuers called.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften when we get called for a search, somebody doesn\u2019t call until their phone is dying, or they\u2019ve used their flashlight for so long that the phone is dying,\u201d she said. Starting out with a charged phone and knowing how to share coordinates can make all the difference when a routine hike takes a wrong turn.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated November 13, 2026 01:59PM A 17-year-old search-and-rescue volunteer helped locate a lost 88-year-old hiker in Northern California after conventional cellphone-tracking methods failed. The volunteer rescuer, named Cody Davis, eventually used FaceTime to take control of the hiker\u2019s\u00a0iPhone screen and retrieve her GPS coordinates. \u201cI\u2019m not a super tech person,\u201d Davis told Outside. \u201cBut I\u2019m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}