How to Turn an Emergency Call on or off after a Crash on iPhone
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you have an iPhone 14 or later, your iPhone can automatically detect a severe crash and help you contact emergency services. In order for this feature to work, you will want to make sure you have it enabled in your iPhone settings. In this article, I’ll tell you how to make sure Crash Detection is enabled and how you can either make an emergency call or cancel one after a crash has been detected.
Crash Detection on iPhone
Before we talk about Crash Detection on iPhone, I want to mention that the feature is also available on Apple Watch (Series 8 or later, SE 2nd gen, and Ultra 1 and 2). You should also know that:
- Crash detection will work in most countries. However, the emergency call may require manual input in some countries (to choose which emergency service) and so may not be completed automatically.
- If the emergency call is placed (automatically), an automated voice message will begin telling everyone (in the language of that country) that a crash was detected, that you are unresponsive and the details of your location.
Make sure Crash Detection is enabled
First of all, Crash Detection is enabled by default on compatible iPhones. If you think there is a possibility that you have turned it off in the past, or if you just want to make sure it is enabled, you can take a look in Settings:
- Open Settings on your iPhone and tap on Emergency SOS.
- Look under Crash Detection and make sure Call After Severe Crash is enabled.
What happens after a crash is detected?
If you are in a car crash, an alarm will go off on your iPhone, and an alert screen will appear. If you also have an Apple Watch, the screen will appear on your watch.
How to make the emergency call
Once the Emergency Call screen appears, you can slide the SOS Emergency Call slider to initiate the call. If you only have your iPhone, the slider will appear on your phone. If you also have your Apple Watch, the slider will only appear on your watch.
If you don’t do anything, the call will automatically be placed after 20 seconds. However, if you are able to slide the emergency slider in time, this will prevent the automated message from being played.
How to turn off or cancel an emergency call
If you do not need emergency services, you can dismiss the emergency call alert by tapping Cancel before the call is made automatically (20 seconds).
If you missed the 20 second window but don’t need help, explain that to the person on the call rather than simply hanging up.
After placing the emergency call
A few things will happen after the emergency call is placed:
- Your emergency contacts will be notified that you were in a crash and given your location. To make sure that they will be able to see your location, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and enable Emergency Calls & SOS.
- Your Medical ID information will be available on your iPhone for the emergency responders.
For information on how to set up your emergency contacts and Medical ID information, see How to Set Up Medical ID on your iPhone.
Related articles
