We are all exposed to having an accident at any time. In order to be able to contact local emergency services in the fastest way and with the most loved people, Apple has created a peculiar communication system. In this article we tell you what emergency contacts are and how you can configure them.
What are emergency contacts?
The iPhone includes a feature called ‘SOS Emergency’. By activating this mode the iPhone will automatically call the local emergency services. But this is not all, since you can also add a set of emergency contacts so that once the call with the emergency services ends, these contacts will be alerted. The message that is sent includes both the location at that time as well as the change of locations that is made in the minutes after doing the SOS.
Contact emergency services
This function is tremendously useful in the case of elderly people who live alone, or athletes who go through less crowded areas. In the event of an accident, the SOS function can be activated as follows:
- Hold down the side button and one of the volume buttons to bring up the ‘SOS Emergency’ swipe option.
- When dragging it, a countdown will appear and when finished, it will contact the emergency services.
In the case of having an iPhone 7 or a previous model, the following steps must be followed:
- Quickly press the side or top button five times five times.
- Drag the SOS Emergency regulator to automatically call emergency services.
In the case of having an Apple Watch compatible with the fall detector , the call will be made automatically when detecting a fall and not receiving a response.
If you have mistakenly activated the SOS emergency, you can always cancel it during the countdown that is activated, or by hanging up to the emergency services before the call starts. What you have to keep in mind is that this function should not be used for ‘testing’ or for fun. Contacting emergency services when there is no alert situation can lead to crime . This function is exclusive for when there is a problem.
Add emergency contacts
When configuring this SOS mode, it is important to add trusted contacts. As we mentioned earlier, these people will have access to the location 24 hours after having the specific accident. To be able to add them, it must be done through the Health application following the steps below:
- Open the Health app and tap on your profile picture.
- Tap on ‘Medical Data’
- In the upper right corner click on ‘Edit’.
- Scroll down to the emergency contacts section and tap ‘Add emergency contact’.
- Select the contact you want to choose and specify a relationship with that person.
From that moment on, the chosen persons will receive a text message when the SOS emergency warning starts. It is important to remember that during the 24 hours after activating the SOS alert, you will be reminded of the possibility to stop sharing the location . This is important for the privacy of the user, since when it has been located it is advisable to stop sharing it.
Delete emergency contacts
In the event that we want to edit those people that we have in our emergency contacts, Apple makes it very easy. To delete an emergency contact, follow these steps:
- Open the ‘Health’ app.
- Click on the profile icon at the top right.
- Click on ‘Medical data’.
- Go to ‘Edit’ and then look for the emergency contacts section.
- Next to the contacts you have stored you will see the sign ‘-‘ with a red circle. Click it to delete it and save the changes made.
In this way we ensure that this user never receives a text message with our location in the event of an accident.
We believe this is a feature that everyone should have configured on their iPhone. Without a doubt, you can end up saving lives by locating the person who has had an accident that can be very serious thanks to GPS.
