While major mobile platforms such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android come with rich location services helping apps like Uber and Facebook pinpoint a user’s location, emergency services were unable to use this data. Thankfully, that's beginning to change now.
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.
Your iPhone comes equipped with government notifications, such as AMBER, Emergency, Public Safety, and Test alerts. These time-sensitive notifications are pushed out to individuals by their carriers based on their location and can be useful for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, if you don’t think you’ll be using them anytime soon or you get sick of seeing them on your device, you can always disable them.
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…
Exigency is a new a jailbreak tweak that allows you to load up your contacts directly from the iPhone's emergency call menu. That means that it's totally possible to initiate a phone call from this menu, even when your phone is locked with a passcode.
Obviously, this isn't the type of tweak to use if your primary concern is security. If convenience is more your thing, then you may want to check out Exigency.
Following a Skype for iPad update earlier this week that has enabled automatic dropped call recovery, in-app purchase of Skype credits and a minor UI tweak, the Microsoft-owned VoIP provider has pushed out an update to its iPhone and iPod touch client this morning. Borrowing from the latest iPad build, the iPhone version will now automatically reconnect any dropped call.
More importantly emergency calls now get routed through the native dialer, which is interesting knowing most other VoIP apps don't support this feature. A few more tidbits and the full changelog follow after the jump...
Cue Karl Malden. Stuck abroad without your emergency contact information. What will you do? Instead of turning to the local American Express office, you could consult your iPhone, according to a newly-discovered emergency application by Apple. In a patent application filed when the first-generation iPhone hit shelves, an app could hold local emergency phone numbers and addresses. The proposed app suggests Apple already envisioned its smartphone becoming a storehouse for vital information...