Why does my phone say SOS? What is worth knowing about a cell phone failure

(The story has been updated with new information.)

On Monday, tens of thousands of cell phone users were affected by a nationwide telecommunications blackout.

According to Downdetector.com, a website that monitors outages in real time, Verizon users were most affected.

Phoenix was one of the hardest-hit cities, with more than 5,000 Verizon customers affected. Chicago, Seattle, Omaha and Indianapolis also saw significant impacts. The spike in outage reports began around 6:30 a.m. and peaked around 8:15 a.m. Arizona time.

Downdetector found that more than 100,000 Verizon customers were affected, and thousands of other providers were affected across the country. More than half of affected customers reported problems with their mobile phones, 34% said they had no signal and 13% reported a complete blackout.

Verizon says the company is aware of the issue and is working to restore service to customers.

“Our engineers are committed and we are working quickly to resolve the issue,” the company wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

AT&T said on social media that it did not experience any outages on Monday.

The number of outages appeared to decrease as of 10:30 a.m., with more than 50,000 customers still reporting problems.

The service outage also caused some to see an SOS icon where cell phone service usually appears on the screen. Here’s what it means and how to fix it.

Why does my phone say SOS?

The SOS symbol appeared on the screens of iPhone users using Verizon, where cellular service bars are usually visible.

According to Apple Support, if you’re having trouble with telephony and you see SOS or “SOS Only” in the status bar, your device can still make emergency calls even though it’s not connected to the phone network.

The goal is to allow you to make calls to first responders in an emergency, even if you don’t have cell phone reception. According to Apple, when a user makes an SOS call, the iPhone automatically connects to the local emergency number and shares the user’s location information with emergency services. In some countries and regions, you may need to select the service that users need.

If you need additional assistance with an outage, you can contact Verizon Support.

If you’ve resolved your cellular network issue and you still can’t connect to a cellular network, contact Apple Support.