Emergency SOS on iPhone: Quick Guide to Your Lifeline Feature

Your iPhone is more than just a device for calls, messages, and watching cute cat videos — it’s a potential lifeline in emergency situations.

This feature may be one of the most important yet lesser-known features you have on your iPhone.

Using your phone’s Emergency SOS feature, your iPhone provides a quick way for you to call for help when you need it most.

Your iPhone’s Emergency SOS enables you to swiftly contact emergency services without fumbling through your phone’s apps or contacts.

By pressing a combination of buttons, you can initiate a call to local emergency responders. It can also alert your emergency contacts with your location after an emergency call is made.

Setting up these contacts beforehand ensures that your loved ones are informed if you’re in distress, providing both you and them with additional peace of mind during critical moments.

Let’s take a look at how to set up and use Emergency SOS so it’s ready to spring to action if you ever need it.

🔄 2025 Updates: What’s New with Emergency SOS on iPhone?

Since this article was first published, Apple has made a few updates to Emergency SOS—especially for users with newer iPhones and the latest iOSiOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its iPhone, iPad, and iPod ... More versions. Here’s what’s new in 2025:

• Call Quietly: If you’re running iOS 17 or later, you can now choose to make emergency calls silently. No loud alarms or flashing lights—just a quiet call for help. You’ll find this option under Settings > Emergency SOS.
• Expanded Satellite Coverage: Got an iPhone 14 or newer? Emergency SOS via satellite now works in more countries, with extended free service through the end of 2025. It’s a lifesaver if you’re ever off the grid and need help.
• Crash Detection Tweaks: If you’ve got Crash Detection enabled on an iPhone 14 (or newer) or Apple Watch Series 8 (or newer), Apple’s latest updates have made it better at telling the difference between a car crash and, say, a roller coaster ride.
• Lock Screen Customization (iOS 18): With iOS 18, you can now adjust whether Emergency SOS shows on your Lock Screen. Handy if you want quicker access—or prefer to keep it more private.

Everything else still works the same way, so if you haven’t set it up yet, now’s a great time. Keep reading for the full how-to below.

Setting Up Emergency SOS

Emergency SOS on your iPhone can be a lifeline in critical situations. It lets you quickly call for help and alert your emergency contacts. Below are the steps to activate Emergency SOS, configure auto-call features, and add emergency contacts.

Setting SOS Auto Call

To adjust the auto call feature for Emergency SOS on your iPhone, go to Settings > Emergency SOS.

Here, you will find the following options:

• Call with Side Button: Toggle this to the on position (green) to enable SOS calls when the side button is pressed five times quickly.
• Auto Call: When enabled, this will automatically place a call to emergency services when the Emergency SOS sliders are activated.

Adding Emergency Contacts

To add emergency contacts in the Health app on your iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Open the Health appAn app (short for application) is a program that helps you do specific tasks on your smartphone, tab... More.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top right corner.
3. Choose Medical ID.
4. Tap Edit and scrollScrolling is what you do when you move up or down on a screen to see more of a webpage, email, or do... More to Emergency Contacts.
5. Tap the green plus (+) sign to add an emergency contact.
6. Select a contact, their phone number (if they have more than one) and then assign their relationship to you.
7. Tap Done to save your changes.

Your emergency contacts will be notified with your location when you activate Emergency SOS, provided you have completed setup and are connected to a network.

Using Emergency SOS

Emergency SOS is a vital feature on your iPhone that enables you to quickly call for help in critical situations. Here’s how you can initiate an SOS call, disable the Auto Call feature, handle post-call actions, and use the Emergency SOS slider when necessary.

Initiating an SOS Call

To initiate an SOS call on your iPhone 8 or later, press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons until the Emergency SOS slider appears. For iPhone 7 or earlier, quickly press the side (or top) button five times. The call to emergency services will start after a countdown if Auto Call is enabled.

Disabling Auto Call

If you prefer not to automatically dial emergency services when triggering SOS, you can disable the feature. Go to Settings > Emergency SOS and toggle off Call with Hold or Call with 5 Presses according to your device’s options.

After an SOS Call

After an SOS call is made, your iPhone will alert your emergency contacts with your location, if you have set them up in the Health app. You’ll also see the option to stop sharing your location if you choose to.

Emergency SOS Slider

If Auto Call is disabled, you can also use the slider. Just drag the Emergency SOS slider that appears on the screen to initiate the call immediately. No countdown will take place when you use the slider.