How to set up your Emergency Contacts on iPhone

In this tutorial, we’ll show you a several ways you can set up emergency contacts on your iPhone. Since it only takes a minute or two, it’s worth your time. Hopefully, you’ll never need to use them, but if you do, they’ll be ready.

Emergency Contacts on iPhone

We get used to handing out our emergency contacts at doctor’s offices, hospitals, and the like. But how many of us take the time to set them up on our devices?

Having your emergency contacts set and ready on your iPhone can be an enormous help when you need them. Emergency contacts are also listed on the Medical ID screen for quick help.

So, whether you have a health condition that can put you in danger or not, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about having that insurance at your fingertips.

4 ways to set up emergency contacts on your iPhone

1. From the Health app

If you have a health condition that may put you in a situation where you need immediate help, you can take advantage of a few features in the Health app, like creating your Medical ID. And with that, you can set up your emergency contacts:

  1. Open the iPhone Health app and tap your profile picture from the top right.
  2. Select Medical ID. If you have not yet set up your Medical ID, you’ll be asked to do so.
  3. Tap Edit at the top and then scroll down to the Emergency Contacts section.
  4. Tap the plus sign to add a contact.
  5. Choose your contact and their phone number, and then pick their relationship to you.
  6. You can add another contact if you like or simply tap Done at the top.
Health Medical ID Emergency Contacts iPhone

2. From the Contacts app

Setting up emergency contacts right in the Contacts app is the most obvious spot for most.

  1. Open the Contacts app and select the contact you want to add.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of that contact’s details and pick Add to Emergency Contacts.
  3. Pick the phone number to use if they have more than one.
  4. Select their relationship with you, and you’re done.
Contacts Add Emergency Contacts iPhone

3. From the Phone app

You can easily add people you receive calls from to your Contacts app, and this includes emergency contacts.

  1. Open the Phone app and head to the Recents or Favorites tab.
  2. Tap the info button ⓘ next to the call you received from the person you want to add.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of that contact’s details and pick Add to Emergency Contacts.
  4. Pick the phone number to use if they have more than one.
  5. Select their relationship with you, and you’re set.
Phone Call Add Emergency Contacts iPhone

4. From the Settings app

If you happen to have your Settings app open, you can also add emergency contacts there. However, this will simply direct you to the Health app.

Go to Settings > Emergency SOS and tap Edit Emergency Contacts in Health.

Settings Add Emergency Contacts iPhone

Add, remove, or change an emergency contact

If you want to add, remove, or change an emergency contact, you can do so in any of the locations above where you added them.

Also, anyone that you add will display a red asterisk in the iPhone Contacts app, so you can easily spot those important people.

Emergency Contacts Asterisk Remove iPhone

For that added sense of security, having your emergency contacts at your fingertips on your iPhone is important. And be sure to check out how you can add emergency contacts on your Apple Watch too. Are you going to take a few minutes to set up your emergency contacts?

For additional help with the Emergency SOS feature overall, check out our Emergency SOS section.

Also, remember to make sure calls from your emergency contacts come through if you have Do Not Disturb enabled.