Emergency SOS on Your iPhone

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208076

by tosh • 5 years ago

18 21 5 years ago

support.apple.com

threatofrain• 5 years ago

(In India, you only need to press the button three times, then your iPhone will call emergency services automatically.)

Curious. Why the difference?

nielsbot• 5 years ago

Seems to be a law since 2017

https://9to5mac.com/2016/04/26/indian-government-will-requir...

pushcx• 5 years ago

A non-obvious convenience is that triggering this (with or without auto-call), it disables Face ID. It's an easy and subtle gesture if you're in a situation where someone might activate Face ID without your permission, like a theft.

gnicholas3• 5 years ago

Or TSA or other law enforcement. In the US, you cannot be compelled to give your password (compelled speech), but the law is less clear on biometrics. Some courts have treated thumbprints like speech, but higher courts have not yet weighed in. The one sure thing is that passcodes are speech and cannot be compelled.

cyral2• 5 years ago

Note that you don't need to actually trigger emergency SOS to make this happen, just holding down the buttons to show the power off/restart/emergency screen is enough to disable face ID.

demarq• 5 years ago

Genuinely curious why this is on hacker news?

runjake• 5 years ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

TL;DR: If you feel its not appropriate for HN, flag it and move on.

dwrowe2• 5 years ago

I think this response assumes snark in the post - since emergency calling has been around and is a feature of the phone - has something notable happened that would bubble this up. I don't believe the intent was to assume this didn’t belong - but a request for more context on why it was being posted / voted up.

Arnavion• 5 years ago

It's useful to know.

The phone I have right now doesn't have such a feature. I've idly wondered whether it's in breach of some law because of that.

abotsis• 5 years ago

PSA: Careful when adjusting your volume while your wearing headphones (without a mic), while your phone is in your pocket by squeezing the sizes of your phone. There’s nothing more stressful than trying to pull over on the shoulder, get your helmet and gloves off, while a 911 dispatcher is repeatedly asking if you’re ok and need help.

themodelplumber• 5 years ago

PSA follow-up: Tried something like Chubby Buttons?

gnicholas3• 5 years ago

For sure. This happened to me while I was driving and had an Airpod in my ear. I was able to hang up before the 911 dispatcher picked up, but they immediately called back to make sure I was OK. Glad to know they're so diligent!

ericbarrett• 5 years ago

I was taught as a kid (80s) that if you accidentally dial 911, stay on the line and tell the dispatcher it was a misdial. This saves them the callback time; the person you’re talking to is often the same one on the radio to fire/police/medical, especially in less populated areas.

cyral2• 5 years ago

I had it accidentally enabled on a roller-coaster myself. Both my friend and I had zipper pockets so we could bring lose items and a particular rocking motion managed to trigger it on both of our phones. Didn't realize until after we were off and the local police dept was trying to call back. I always wondered after that how often that happened per day.

cirrus32• 5 years ago

If you continue to hold down the side button and Volume button, instead of dragging the slider, a countdown will start and an alert will sound.

It probably should not make a sound. In a some situations where you might need this, it might be best to be able to activate it silently.

tzs• 5 years ago

Is there a decent way to test this? I'd like to trigger it and have it go all the way to making the call to be sure it is set up right and working, but I'm not sure the 911 operator would appreciate that.

DavideNL• 5 years ago

Here's how to make the call on iPhone 8 or later

I wonder how many people actually remember what buttons to press in an emergency situation - it’s also different depending on which device you use.

Emergency SOS on Your iPhone

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