You can use iPhone to quickly call emergency services such as 911 and alert emergency contacts by pressing a series of buttons, so you can quickly call for help and send your location with iPhone in iOS 11.
The Emergency SOS feature on iPhone will call the appropriate emergency service based on your location. In the US, this will make your phone automatically dial 911 and send a message to the emergency contact you’ve called and send your location to that person. Here is how to set up Emergency SOS on iPhone with iOS 11.
What is Emergency SOS on iPhone?
Here’s what you need to know about using Emergency SOS to call 911 from your iPhone.
This feature allows you to hold down two buttons for five seconds or set up an automatic search when you press the power button five times quickly. this will call the local emergency number so you can call the police, EMS or fire brigade. This uses your phone’s location so you can reach the 911 equivalent without remembering the number, even if you’re traveling outside of your home country.
This SOS feature also works when you don’t have time to unlock your phone and switch to the phone app if you think you’re in danger. This is a feature you hope you don’t need to use, but it’s a good one to set up.
Emergency SOS Setup on iPhone
How to set up Emergency SOS on iPhone.
Setting up Emergency SOS on iPhone is simple and you only have a few options to choose from. On the iPhone 8, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus you can hold down two buttons to activate, but on most other iPhones you’ll have to click the power button five times quickly. You can also set up your Emergency contacts during this process.
- Go to on your iPhone.
- Tap the option.
- return .
- choose if you want.
The Countdown sound will play an audible alert for three seconds before calling. If you think you want to call 911 on your iPhone without anyone near you knowing, you’ll want to turn that sound off. If you’re worried about accidentally calling 911, you may want to leave this volume on. We recommend leaving it on for the first week or two to see if you accidentally pressed the buttons.
On this screen, you can also choose to warn the people to be contacted in an emergency. You set up Emergency contacts as part of your Emergency ID in the Health app.
How to Use Emergency SOS on iPhone to Call 911
How to use Emergency SOS on iPhone to call 911 without unlocking your phone?
On most iPhones, you can quickly press the power button five times to call 911. You will have the option to cancel with the countdown. If you test this feature over and over, you can skip the countdown. This is not documented, but we called 911 while working on this guide and using the button combinations multiple times.
On most iPhones you have to press the power button five times. To use it on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, you can press and hold the volume down and power button for five seconds.
With the countdown, you should see an option to cancel the call before calling 911 or alerting your contacts. You can continue to use this option without Auto Search turned on, but you must tap the screen to search.
How to Turn Off Emergency SOS on iPhone
If you accidentally call 911 or your local emergency services using this feature, you can turn it off in the settings.
That’s all for turning off the feature. Even when Auto Dial is turned off, you can click the power button five times to open the screen, which lets you swipe up to call emergency services.
