Have you ever found yourself in an emergency situation and you didn’t what to do? If the answer is yes, then here is a little-known hack for an emergency that’s spreading like wildfire on social media. It’s simple and could save your life.
Sarah Everard and Women’s Safety
The hack was initially posted on Instagram by The India Edit (via The Sun) in response to Sarah Everard’s disappearance. Everard suddenly went missing last week after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, South London. Her body was found nine days later hidden in a wooded area. Her disappearance is no longer a missing person’s case and is now a murder investigation.
Not surprisingly, the fate of Everard has many people in London and beyond concerned about the safety of women.
The India Edit shared her information to help anyone who finds themself in a situation where they need assistance.
The shortcut referenced will call for help and scare a suspected perpetrator away. You need to configure your phone and learn how to use this emergency dialing feature before finding yourself in a crisis situation.
How to Configure Emergency SOS
- You can turn on this alarm by opening the Settings app and scrolling to Emergency SOS.
- If you have iOS 14, you then can turn on the Call with Side Button option, which will let you initiate an emergency call by pressing the side button five times.
- You also can turn on Auto Call, which will automatically call emergency services. This is helpful if you are incapacitated and unable to choose to call an emergency line.
- Lastly, you can set up your Emergency Contacts who will be alerted after signaling for help.
How to Use Emergency SOS
What you do during an emergency depends upon your phone model and how it is configured.
- If you have turned on the Call with Side Button option as noted above, you can press the side button five times to dial emergency services.
- If you own an iPhone with Face ID, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus, you also can press and hold the side button and either volume button at the same time.
- On older iPhones, you can press the side button or sleep/wake button five times and then drag the Emergency SOS slider to send out a request for help.
Did you know you can also text 911? Learn more here.