People that invest $350 + subscription into hiking safety with an inReach don’t hike into the desert with less than a day’s water. They’ve got at least three maps between Garmin, GMaps or iMaps, and the map they’re actually using to navigate, and don’t get lost very often. Even the most basic inReach mini augments phone GPS for positioning and vector in the Garmin app. One has to be damned near under full tree cover or in a horrible thunderstorm for it to fail to send a text. And, they’d have instead pushed the SoS button, which is literally better than 911 outside any city, which is why it’s the gold standard until mountaineering equipment.
I’d bet $5 this group was desperate and trying everything they could think of. They didn’t have an inReach or they’d be alive.