In an emergency situation, your iPhone can save your life. Wondering how?? Hurray!! It’s true. By enabling the emergency settings, you will be able to connect to and make emergency calls to your contacts. All you need is just to follow some simple steps and enable iPhone emergency SOS settings.

Let me share the steps of how to change your iPhone’s Emergency SOS Settings?

How to change your iPhone’s Emergency SOS Settings (Step-by-Step Guide)

Here are a few important points I would like to share with you before moving on. Therefore, you will be able to better understand how your iPhone’s Emergency SOS settings work.

What is Apple iPhone Emergency SOS functionality?

If you have enabled your iPhone’s Emergency SOS, it will call the local Emergency number based on your location. For instance, if you are in the USA, it will call 911, if you are in Pakistan, it will call 15, and if you are in the UK, it will call 999.

Now follow these simple steps to enable emergency SOS settings on your iPhone.

How to setup/enable Emergency SOS on iPhone 7 and earlier models

To access Emergency SOS settings on iPhone 7 or earlier, press the side or home button 5 times. Then the emergency slider will promptly appear on your iPhone screen. For using this service drag the emergency slider.

SOS settings in Iphone 7

Set it up by going to Settings > Emergency SOS > Turn on the Call with Side Button option.

A loud siren will start ringing when you press the home/side button five times. This siren is actually a countdown timer sound. This timer starts at 3. This timer will end with an emergency call to the local emergency number.

Note: You can also turn off the sound of the countdown timer if you wish. To turn this sound off follow:

Go to Settings > Emergency SOS > Turn off Countdown Sound.

How to setup/enable Emergency SOS on iPhone 8 and higher models

You must hold the side/home button and a volume button together on the iPhone 8 and later models. Hold these buttons down until you see an emergency SOS slider appear on your screen. On this screen you will find four options:

  1. Slide to Power off
  2. Medical ID
  3. Emergency SOS settings
  4. And cancel Option
SOS Settings in iphone 8

If you drag the SOS slider, it will initiate an emergency call promptly. If you can’t drag the slider because of fear or danger, press the volume button and the side button together. It will initiate the countdown timer and then an emergency call and vice versa.

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Emergency SOS iPhone text to contacts

Once the emergency call has ended, your iPhone can send an emergency SOS text to your contact too. This message will contain your current location so your contacts will be able to locate you and help you.

Location service will be temporarily turned on your iPhone if it is off. If you change your location, your contacts will receive your updated location as well.

Adding and editing iPhone Emergency SOS contacts  

You can add and edit emergency SOS contacts on your iPhone’s Health app. The following steps will show you how to add/edit emergency SOS iPhone text receiver contacts.

  •  Open the Health app and tap the icon at the top right of your screen that corresponds to your profile. 
  • Tap “Medical ID” on the next page.”
SOS Settings
  • Press “Get Started” if you have not added any contact already.
  • Press “edit” if you want to change your emergency contact list.
SOS Settings
  • Scroll down to the section with emergency contact information. Click on the green plus icon to add a contact.
  •  
Add Emergency SOS Contact
  • The Contacts app opens on your iPhone. After you tap the contact you want to add, you will be asked what their relationship to you is.
  • Save your changes by tapping “Done”.

Editing and Deleting iPhone SOS emergency Contacts

Adding, editing, or deleting emergency contacts is as simple as following the steps above and clicking the “Edit” button.

Edit Emergency SOS Settings

Adding or removing contacts is now possible by tapping the plus or minus icons beneath the emergency contacts section.

Bottom Line

In case of an emergency, you can always rely on your iPhone. iPhone’s Emergency SOS settings allow you to initiate a call to your emergency number. Additionally, your iPhone informs your contacts too by sending a text about your current location. All you need to do is add emergency contacts to your iPhone and know the procedure to call emergency services.  The procedure is quite simple as you can see above. Stay safe and protected with the help of your iPhone.

What is Emergency SOS?

When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number. In some countries and regions, you might need to choose the service that you need. For example, on China’s mainland, you can choose police, fire, or ambulance. You can also add emergency contacts.

What happens if I accidentally call emergency SOS?

After an emergency call ends, your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your iPhone sends your current location, and for a period of time, after you enter SOS mode, your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.

What do you do if you accidentally call 911?

What should I do if I accidentally dial 911? If you dial 911 by mistake, or if a child in your home dials 911 when no emergency exists, do not hang up – that could make 911 officials think that an emergency exists, and possibly send responders to your location. Instead, simply explain to the call-taker what happened.