SOS Only means your iPhone lost its carrier signal but can still call emergency services.
Here's what's happening behind that status-bar text.
Why this matters: knowing it's a network-connection state, not a broken phone, keeps you from panicking or paying for a repair you don't need.
If your iPhone uses an eSIM (every iPhone 14 and later sold in the US is eSIM-only), the reseat step doesn't apply, there's no tray to pull.
Persistent SOS Only across reboots, a SIM reseat, and a network reset usually means a carrier-side account issue, an unpaid bill, a deactivated SIM, or a provisioning error.
Read the complete breakdown, fixes and what happens next.