How to trigger Emergency SOS on your iPhone....
Wherever you are in the world, there is likely access to an emergency
service for police, medical, or fire help. Different locations around
the world have different numbers. Instead of having to know the local
emergency service number or waiting to be redirected from the number
you've just called you can be directly connected to the emergency
number wherever you are using a shortcut on your iPhone. This
feature is called Emergency SOS.
In late 2017, a number of memes circulated on Facebook advising
iPhone users of a function that allows them to discreetly contact
emergency services by pressing the Lock button five times and
selecting Emergency SOS. The claim was that Apple iPhones would send
a ping to the nearest police station and a police officer would be
dispatched immediately to your exact location. As with a lot of
information on Facebook, it was misleading and inaccurate.
The Emergency SOS feature in iOS 11 DOES provide a quick and easy
way to call for help in an emergency situation, but it does NOT
automatically ping local police and so an officer will not be dispatched to
your location.
When you access the SOS function, your iPhone can automatically call
the designated emergency number in your location. And, after you
finish the call, the phone can automatically send text messages with
your current location to your listed emergency contacts. It is
important to note that you will need to talk to the emergency
services just as you would with any other emergency call.
As usual, rather than relying on what appeared on Facebook, users
with newer iPhones must upgrade to iOS 11 and they should go straight
to the horse's mouth for accurate information...in this case they
should read Apple’s documentation and test whether they can access
the Emergency SOS option before trying to use it in an emergency. The
service may depend on the reliability of local emergency services.
This isn't the first time misinformation about contacting emergency
services have surfaced. There was a similar rumor that said if you
asked Siri (iPhone’s voice assistant) to “charge my phone to 100
percent” that it would trigger a police response.
These types of rumors have been around since before cell phones. It
used to be said that leaving a phone off the hook would eventually
trigger a 911 call.
If you really want to know how it works go to Apple Support. It
could save your life.
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