Safety First: Here's how to turn on SOS emergency feature on iPhone and Android mobile

Last weekend, a rogue criminal sexually assaulted a 21-year-old girl in the southeastern part of the Bengaluru city. Despite the traumatic ordeal, the young lady showed remarkable presence of mind by turning on the SOS safety feature on her phone to get immediate help from loved ones.

This actually helped the victim's friends reach the location in quick time and thwarted the criminal from doing more harm to the girl.

All phones -- Android and iPhones-- come with safety features, but very few know how to use them. This will come in handy during grave situations and potentially save your lives.

Here's how to use the SOS safety feature on an Android phone:

Step 1: On the phone, open the Settings app.

Step 2: Tap Safety & emergency and then Emergency SOS.

Step 3: At the bottom right, tap Start Setup.

If you need help, your phone can start emergency actions.

Settings on Android phone.

Step 1: To set up your emergency services number, tap Start.

If you need to change the local emergency number, tap Change number.

Once you have the correct local number, tap Next.

Steps on how to set up emergency safety feature on an  Android phone.

To share your location information with and send updates to your emergency contacts, tap Start Setup

Step 1: Then, Tap Add contact, and then pick a contact to share information with during an emergency.

Step 2: Choose what information to have Emergency SOS share with your emergency contact.

Step 3: Tap Next.

Steps on setting up location sharing during emergency on Android phone.

To share your location in an emergency, you must allow the Personal Safety app to access your location while using the app.

Step 3: Tap Next and then While using the app.

To have Emergency SOS start an emergency recording while still using your phone's other features, scroll down and tap Start Setup.

If you want to record an emergency video, tap Turn on and then While using the app.

Emergency video recording feature available on Android phone.

The user can choose to share the video automatically with the emergency contacts after it's backed up to the device. Choose Share automatically after backup and then Next.

To start Emergency SOS actions, choose one of the options:

Step 1: Select Use Touch & hold to start actions.

Step 2: Select Start actions immediately after countdown. If you want an alarm to sound with this option, turn on the Play alarm sound.

Step 3: Tap Done.

Here's how to turn emergency location service on:

Step 1: On the Android phone, open the Settings app.

Step 2: Tap Location and then Location Services and then Emergency Location Service or Google Emergency Location Service.

Step 3: Turn Emergency Location Service or Google Emergency Location Service on or off.

Once all SOS Emergency feature is set up, you can do a trial to see how it works. Just press the side button five times, and it will flash a message to confirm it is an emergency and it immediately contacts the local 112 police control room and sends the location details to the loved ones added to the contacts list.

User has to press the side button three times to turn on SOS Emergency call.

Now, here's how to turn on the SOS safety feature on your iPhone:

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap Emergency SOS.

Step 3: Turn on Call with Hold and Release, Call with 5 Button Presses or Call Quietly.

To add emergency contact details, the user has to update the details on the Health app:

Step 1: Open the Health app and tap your profile picture.

Step 2: Tap Medical ID.

Step 3; Tap Edit, then scroll to Emergency Contacts.

Step 4: Tap the Add button to add an emergency contact.

Step 5: Tap a contact, then add their relationship. Then, tap Done to save the changes.

Once this is done. The SOS emergency feature can used anytime during a grave situation.

Steps on how to set up Emergency SOS feature on iPhone.

In India, the user has to press the side button rapidly three times; the iPhone will then call the emergency services automatically.

If the user continues to hold down the side button and volume button, instead of dragging the slider, a countdown will start and an alert will sound. If he/she releases the buttons after the countdown, the iPhone will call the emergency services automatically.

And, after an emergency call has ended, the iPhone will alert the emergency contacts with a text message, unless the user chooses to cancel this option. The iPhone sends the current location (if available) and – for a period of time after the user enters SOS mode – the emergency contacts will receive updates when the location changes.

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