Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Modern smartphones put in a surprising amount of work to make sure that you can always call emergency services, no matter the situation, such as when an outage strikes your service provider's network.
For example: If you own an iPhone, you have access to SOS Mode and the Emergency SOS feature, which can connect you with local emergency services without needing access to Wi-Fi or a cell network, and even automatically call first responders if you're not able to move.
Here's how Emergency SOS works and how to use it. We'll also show you how to make it easier to access.
When activated, the Emergency SOS feature immediately calls local emergency services (usually 911 if you're in the US). You don't need to have a SIM card in your iPhone, and in most cases, you don't even need to have a recognizable cell signal.
The easiest way to activate Emergency SOS is to hold down your iPhone's Lock button and one of the Volume buttons. After a moment, three sliders will appear — swipe your finger to the right across the Emergency Call slider to make a call.
Apple; William Antonelli/Insider
If you have an iPhone 8 or newer, there are two other ways to activate Emergency SOS. But before you can use them, you'll need to enable them.
Open the Settings app and scroll down to tap Emergency SOS. Here you can toggle on Call with Hold and Call with 5 Presses.
If you use either of these two extra Emergency SOS triggers, your iPhone will ring and flash for a few seconds before making the call to let you know it's happening. If you activated it by mistake, you can use these few seconds to cancel the call.
Apple; William Antonelli/Insider
The iPhone 14 series and later (including the Plus, Pro, and Pro Max variants) offer two new ways to use Emergency SOS.
The first is Crash Detection. If your iPhone detects that you've been in a car crash — you come to a sudden stop, there's a loud sound, the air pressure changes — it'll offer to activate Emergency SOS. If you don't or can't respond, it'll automatically make the call.
The second is Emergency SOS via Satellite, which lets iPhone 14 and 15 owners contact emergency responders even when they're completely out of cell signal range. The system works by connecting you to satellites above the Earth, which will then relay your messages and location to responders near your location.
"From a man who was rescued after his car plummeted over a 400-foot cliff in Los Angeles, to lost hikers found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, we continue to hear stories of our customers being able to connect with emergency responders when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to," Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, Kaiann Drance, said in a statement.
Apple extended free access to the Emergency SOS via Satellite system for another year, but the company has not said how much it will cost after that.
Emergency SOS calls go to whatever the local emergency service phone number is — usually 911 if you're living in the US. But you can set Emergency SOS to notify any of your friends and family members when you contact emergency services.
To add an emergency contact, open the Health app and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner. Select Medical ID, then Edit in the top-right corner, and then scroll down to select Add emergency contact.
When you activate Emergency SOS and contact emergency services, your iPhone will send a text message to every emergency contact to alert them. The text will also include your current location.
Apple; William Antonelli/Insider
