How to use Emergency SOS on iPhone

Emergency SOS on iPhone can be a real lifesaver, especially when paired with Medical ID and emergency contacts.


There are times when you may find yourself in a scary situation. You may have fallen or felt in danger. Perhaps you are with someone else who has fallen ill or had an accident, and you want to help. The best iPhones can actually come in handy in such situations thanks to a feature called Emergency SOS.


It is important to note that you should only use Emergency SOS when it is a true emergency because doing so will immediately cause a call to your local emergency number. This is why it requires a specific set of button presses to activate, so it’s not likely to be done by accident at all.

While you don’t hope you’ll ever have to use Emergency SOS, it’s helpful to know exactly how to do it should the need arise.


How to use Emergency SOS on iPhone

  1. Press and hold the Side button and either the Volume Up or Down until you see the Emergency SOS slider appear on the screen.
    iphone emergency sos 1

  2. Drag the letters SOS onto a file Emergency call slider to the right to immediately call emergency services or;
    iphone emergency sos 2

  3. Alternatively, if you can’t access the slider, you can continue Hold the Side and Volume buttons down at one time. If you do this long enough, a countdown will appear in the red circle where “SOS” is written, and an alert will sound for confirmation. Release the buttons once the countdown is over, and the emergency services will be called.
    iPhone Emergency sos 3

  4. If you have emergency contact Set up in your phone, your iPhone will automatically send a text message to those individuals as well, including your location. Even if location services are down, the emergency operator will temporarily turn on the feature to get your coordinates and send the information. Your emergency contacts will receive updated information about your location after 10 minutes if you move.
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Note that the process is slightly different if you’re keeping an iPhone 7 or earlier iPhone model. In this case, press the side or top button quickly, five times in a row. This will bring up the same Emergency Calls slider, at which point you can continue with Step 2.

You can also choose to actively use this method, even on newer phones, if you prefer to avoid unintentional pressure from yourself or a child.

How to change to a different SOS emergency method

  1. go to settingsAnd SOS emergency.
  2. go to Dial five pistons And move the slider to the right. This will now require using the old method of triggering Emergency SOS.

Using Emergency SOS, first and foremost, to contact emergency services is important. But it’s always a good idea to have an emergency contact listed in your phone, so your family or friends can be notified. In the event of a car accident, for example, this will ensure that your family knows immediately and can head to the hospital instead of waiting to be contacted by the hospital staff. For teens, having this feature can also be helpful if they are in danger or in an uncomfortable situation and need an adult to reach out and help.

  1. open the Health appand press summary (If it’s not the default one already opens).
  2. Choose your right profile picture.
  3. handle Medical ID.
  4. handle release At the top, right to add relevant information such as known medical conditions, allergies, reactions, and whether you’re an organ donor. You can also add your blood type as well as the medications you are taking or needing.
  5. Scroll down to emergency contact.
  6. Select Add Emergency contact.
  7. From there, you can add someone directly from a file contact list Include your name, phone number, and its relationship to you.

With newer phones, including the iPhone 14 as well as the iPhone 14 Pro, there is also a new feature called Crash Detection. This can detect a car accident such as a frontal or side collision, rear collision, or even a rollover, then sound an alarm and display (and read aloud) an alert that an Emergency SOS will be triggered if you do not respond within a set amount of time. The alert shows an emergency slider at the bottom of the screen and also sends a message showing your location to your emergency contacts.

You can then either continue to call the emergency services if needed or dismiss the alert if it was received in error. (Some people have noticed, for example, getting the alert after a particularly bumpy roller coaster ride.) The phone also displays a Medical ID slider with your relevant medical information (if you added it), such as known allergies, blood type, and more. Note that you can turn off crash detection in the Emergency SOS section of the Settings app by sliding the call detection after severe crashes option to the left.

iphone emergency sos severe crash

With the iPhone 14, you don’t even need cellular or Wi-Fi coverage for emergency text services: It can be done via satellite. Note, however, that the satellite feature is only free for the first two years after you activate the new phone, after which you’ll be charged a subscription fee.

It’s useful to set up your Medical ID and emergency contact details in your iPhone, so they work in conjunction with Emergency SOS. Together, these features can be a real life saver, or at least notify loved ones that something is not right and you have alerted the authorities.

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