InCaseOf adds emergency info to the Lock screen

While we obviously do not wish it upon anyone, you never know when you might find yourself in a medical emergency. You also never know where you might be at the time, or who you will be with. That is why a new jailbreak tweak called InCaseOf is more important than you might think. InCaseOf adds important emergency information to the Lock screen, so that first responders and others can gain a better understanding of your health situation. Take a look at how it works… 

Once enabled, the tweak adds a red emergency button to the passcode lock screen for easy access. The button is labelled with “ICE,” which is short for “in case of emergency.” While your passcode-protected iPhone would traditionally be useless in emergency situations, an EMT can now tap this button to learn more information about you without unlocking the device. This includes name, address, date of birth, blood type, medical history and emergency contact information.

All of this information can be configured through the InCaseOf options in the Settings app. When you set an emergency contact, you also have the option to provide a phone number for that person. Emergency responders can then tap the green circular phone button at the bottom of the tweak to call this person without unlocking the device. Of course, tapping on the stock Emergency button on the Lock screen and calling 911 or another official emergency number before anyone else is recommended.

InCaseOf is still a beta tweak, meaning that is rather unfair to comment on its issues. But one potential problem that needs to be resolved by the final release is that when you do not fill out your name or another field, the tweak defaults to fake information. I’m assuming this was included for demonstrative purposes, but I don’t want medical personnel thinking that my blood type is O Negative when it actually isn’t.

Another minor inconvenience is that the tweak appears to use Helvetica Neue UltraLight as its font, which is challenging to read. I would rather have the comfort of knowing that emergency responders are going to be able to read my information as quick as possible, especially when those seconds could make the difference between life or death. A larger, bold font would be more ideal.

A third and final downside about the concept of this tweak is that, because it is not a stock iPhone feature, that is no guarantee that emergency responders will even know about this tweak. If you are a medical emergency where you have passed out, or cannot communicate with responders, then it might be unlikely that they ever come across InCaseOf in the first place. But I suppose a slim chance is better than none.

Aside from those problems, the tweak performed well on my iPhone without impacting battery life or performance too significantly. The red button is designed well to blend in with the stock passcode screen, and the information is displayed in a smart manner. Not everyone uses a passcode, though, so it would be nice if the medical information could be accessible from the main Lock screen in a future update.

InCaseOf is the work of CP Digital Darkroom, best known for the tweak HideMe7 that our own Jeff Benjamin reviewed four months ago. As the tweak is still in beta testing, you will have to add the repository http://repo.cpdigitaldarkroom.com/ to your Cydia sources to test it out. The beta package is a free download, although the final price tag for the tweak remains unknown.

Emergencies can happen in a fraction of a second, and the swift actions of others could potentially save your life. InCaseOf is a practical solution for iPhone users that care about their well-being, and it doesn’t hurt to have the tweak installed just in case; however, the extension has a few notable issues that need to be resolved before it is fully released to the public. InCaseOf beta is free on Cydia.

While you’re here, check out these other Lock screen tweaks.