How to Setup Emergency SOS on iPhone & Use it to Stay Safe

You can use the iPhone to quickly call emergency services, like 911, and alert your emergency contacts with a set of button presses so you can quickly call for help and send your location with the iPhone on iOS 11.

The Emergency SOS feature on the iPhone will call the appropriate emergency service based on your location. In the U.S. this will make your phone automatically call 911 and it will text your emergency contact that you called and send your location to that contact. Here’s how to set up Emergency SOS on the iPhone with iOS 11.

What is Emergency SOS on iPhone?

This feature allows you to hold two buttons for five seconds or set up a automatic call when you press the power button five times fast. this will call the local emergency services number so you can ask for the police, EMS or fire. This uses your phones location, so even if you are traveling outside of your home country you can reach the equivalent of 911 without remembering the number.

This SOS feature also works when you don’t have time to unlock your phone and get to the phone app if you feel you are in danger. This is hopefully a feature that you don’t need to use, but it’s a good one to setup.

How to Setup Emergency SOS on iPhone

Setting up Emergency SOS on the iPhone is simple, and you only have a few options to choose. On the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, you can hold two buttons to activate it, but on most other iPhones you need to click the power button five times quickly. During this process you can setup your Emergency contacts as well.

1. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the Emergency SOS option.
3. Turn Auto Call to On.
4. Choose if you want the Countdown Sound on or off.

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 will want to turn this sound off. If you are worried that you will accidentally call 911, you may want to leave this sound on. We suggest leaving it on for the first week or two, to see if you accidentally press the buttons.

You can choose to alert your emergency contacts as well on this screen. 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

On most iPhones, you can simply press the power button five times quickly to call 911. With the countdown you will have an option to cancel. If you repeatedly test this feature you may end up skipping 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 need to press the power button five times. On the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, you can hold the volume down and power button for five seconds to use it.

With the countdown, you should see an option to cancel the call, before it calls 911 or alerts your contacts.  Without Auto Call turned on, you can still use this option, but you will need to touch the screen to call.

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.

• Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
• Tap on the Emergency SOS option.
• Turn Auto Call to Off.

That’s all there is to turning the feature off. Even with Auto Call turned off, you can click the power button five times to bring up the screen that allows you to swipe to call emergency services.

What's New in iOS 11.4.1

> 1 / 26

The iOS 11.4 update added Messages in iCloud and AirPlay 2, but it also brought issues along with it. The iOS 11.4.1 update keeps these long anticipated features and includes fixes for some iOS 11.4 problems.  Specifically the iOS 11.4.1 update; Fixes an issue that prevented some users from viewing the last known location of their AirPods in Find My iPhone.  Improves reliability of syncing mail, contacts and notes with Exchange accounts.   This update also includes other bug fixes and security upgrades. It's possible that this update includes a fix for bad iOS 11.4 battery life.  Messages in the Cloud allows you to backup your iMessage conversations to the cloud just like you back up your notes, contacts and photos. This means they are backed up in case something happens to your phone, but that's not all.  Messages in the Cloud syncs deleted messages and threads across your iCloud devices. This means everything will show up the same across your Apple devices. With this in place you should see the same conversations everywhere, all of the time.  This also backs up the photos and attachments in the cloud so you have more room on your iPhone or iPad. When you get a new device all of the messages sync to that device so you don't lose anything.

> 1 / 26