Emergency SOS

How to set up your Emergency Contacts on iPhone

Sandy Writtenhouse / June 4, 2020

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 device?

Having your emergency contacts set and ready on your iPhone can be an enormous help when you need them. Whether you have a health condition that can put you in danger or not doesn’t really matter. It’s about having that insurance at your fingertips.

In this tutorial we’ll show you a few quick ways you can set up the 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.

In iOS 12, 911 responders will know your exact location in the US

Bryan M. Wolfe / June 18, 2018

The iOS 12 update will allow emergency responders in the United States to know your exact location when you call 911. The change will provide faster and more accurate information to help reduce emergency response times, according to Apple.

If you sleep with an Apple Watch on, consider disabling Auto Call in Emergency SOS settings

Christian Zibreg / March 23, 2018

Emergency SOS, a tremendously helpful feature in iOS and watchOS that allows you to quickly and easily place a potentially life-saving call to local emergency services, is apparently causing some unforeseen problems for people who sleep with their Apple Watch on.

New in iOS 11.3: automatically send your accurate location when making a 911 call

Christian Zibreg / January 28, 2019

The upcoming iOS 11.3 update supports Advanced Mobile Location (AML), a feature that automatically sends the user's current geographical location when making a call to emergency services in countries where this potentially life-saving solution is officially supported.

iOS 10.2 brings Emergency SOS feature from the Apple Watch to your iPhone

Christian Zibreg / November 9, 2016

The potentially life-saving Emergency SOS feature which debuted on the Apple Watch with the release of watchOS 3 this fall is coming soon to your iPhone via a forthcoming iOS 10.2 software update. As my colleague Cody pointed out, Emergency SOS is now available on an iPhone with iOS 10.2 beta 2. Here's a quick overview of Emergency SOS on the iPhone, how it's invoked and what happens when you use it.

Emergency SOS: How to set up and use this Apple Watch feature

Anthony Bouchard / July 31, 2019

A major new feature that came baked into the watchOS 3 update for Apple Watches was Emergency SOS.

This will let you call 911 to dispatch emergency personnel to your current location and will alert your loved ones that you're in trouble, in extreme bouts of danger, or life-threatening emergencies, right from your wrist.

Video walkthrough: Emergency SOS, Activity Sharing & more in watchOS 3 beta 2

Christian Zibreg / September 21, 2016

A second beta of watchOS 3 released last week alongside iOS 10 beta 2, macOS Sierra beta 2 and tvOS 10 beta 2. Having posted our video walkthroughs and detailed overviews of what's new in iOS 10 beta 2 and macOS Sierra beta 2, my colleague Andrew and I now get to take a closer look at everything new in watchOS 3 beta 2.

watchOS 3 beta 2 is not as feature-packed a release as the second beta of iOS 10, but still includes some major new features not found in prior betas, like Auto Unlock, Emergency SOS and Activity Sharing. We also detail a few smaller, useful enhancements in the stock Activity and Workout apps and some related new options added to the companion Watch app on the iPhone.