Emergency contact: why you need it and how to set it up on Android, iOS and Wear OS

Any person around the globe wants to feel safe and not think about the bad. However, sometimes bad things still happen and we can’t get away from it. Fortunately, today most people have smartphones at hand so that you can contact your loved ones yourself, and perhaps the doctors and rescuers who should help you. This is really not a very pleasant topic, which you may not want to think about at all, but like in a lot of other situations, the problem is always easier to prevent, and any unpleasant situations can be easier if you prepare for them in advance. Today we figure out how a smartphone can help out its owner in an unpleasant situation and how to set it up correctly.

Why do you need it

Despite the fact that we put emergency contacts in the headline, they should be considered in combination with a set of other parameters, in particular, with the ability to quickly call for help, call or send a message to a trusted contact and inform the arrived doctors / rescuers about your health status. All this information will be available on the screen of your smartphone even if it is locked.
In the section for medical information, you can enter data on blood type, chronic diseases, possible allergies and medications taken.
Such options should definitely be configured for users at risk: the elderly or those who have chronic diseases. Think about it if you or your loved ones are in a war zone or where there is a high probability of a natural disaster.

How to setup

Although the philosophy of this option is the same on different systems, the path to different parameters may differ, so let's try to consider them in more detail.

Android

We go along the path Settings - Security and emergency situations. Do not forget that depending on the UI used on your smartphone, this path may differ slightly, and its sections may be called differently, but their essence will still be preserved. All the settings that you should pay attention to are concentrated here: information about your health status and contacts that the person who finds the smartphone will contact.
The "Emergency Messages" section also offers a wide range of settings: by repeatedly pressing the power button (3-4 times, at the user's choice), a trusted contact will receive not only a message that you need help, but also your geolocation and, optional, a fragment of the recording from the smartphone microphone. It is possible to set up auto call.

Wear OS (Galaxy Watch 4)

You can activate an emergency call from your smartphone from the Galaxy Wearable application along the path Galaxy Watch Settings - Additional Features - Help - SOS with the Home key. Here you will find a switch that needs to be activated. We also recommend that you enable a five-second delay so as not to frighten your family and avoid embarrassing situations.
Here we also set up an automatic call when a fall is detected and enter emergency contacts. In addition to telling you that you need help, the emergency contact will receive your location information.
If you plan to configure the function from the watch, follow the path Settings - Additional functions - Help. Emergency contact cannot be configured from here, but triple tap and fall detection can be activated.

iOS

Owners of smartphones with this operating system need to pay attention to two sections at once.
We are looking for the first one along the path Settings - Emergency call - SOS. Here we activate an emergency call, which will be launched after you press the power button five times. In this section, we also configure emergency contacts.
The second is the “Health” section, where you need to set up a medical record: enter data on allergies, medications taken and other data that may be useful to doctors. All of them will be available on the lock screen of your smartphone.

Apple Watch

Fall detection is available on Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 4 and later. To set it up, go from your smartphone to the Apple Watch app, then Emergency call - SOS. Here we activate the “Fall detection” switch. We also recommend that you activate “Hold side button to call” so that the owner of the watch can quickly contact emergency services.

So, let's finish with this. Today we raised not the most pleasant, but an important topic that should not be ignored. As you can see, popular mobile operating systems and wearable devices have everything you need so that you can quickly call for help, and the rescuers who arrive can get all the information they need to provide this assistance. Do not ignore these opportunities and subscribe to PDALIFE Official on Telegram to get more useful tips and download updates for popular games.