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Looking to use your phone in an emergency? Modern smartphones and smartwatches allow you to set certain features that will ping your last known location to emergency contacts in a situation where you’re unable to talk on the phone. Both Apple and Google have baked these features into the respective iOS and Android platforms, and we’re seeing more and more wearable manufacturers include the features too. Why would you want to set up emergency SOS location tracking? There’s a variety of scenarios where you may not be able to talk on a phone, but you will be able to find a way to send your location to trusted individuals. You can also have an easy way to directly call the emergency services through these features too, so they’re worth setting up for when you may need them in the future. This guide will teach you how to set up the equivalent features on your iPhone, Android phone, or an alternative such as wearables from Garmin and Apple. Not all fitness trackers or wearables sport these features, but most smartphones do. Emergency SOS is already available when you take an iPhone out of the box, but there are some ways you can set it up to work better. It works in all countries, but in some places, you may only be able to choose one particular emergency service. First off, making an emergency services call is simple from an iPhone, but the way it works differs depending on the model of iPhone you have. If you own an iPhone 8 or later (that’s if your phone came out after 2017) you can hold down the side button and the volume buttons. Then, you’ll find a slider on the screen that says “Emergency SOS”. If you drag this across, it’ll make an immediate call to the emergency services. If you can’t slide this across, continue to hold down the buttons and you’ll find your phone makes an alert noise with a countdown. That countdown will finish with the phone calling the emergency services, so this is particularly useful if you can’t take your phone out of a pocket. We would encourage you to set up emergency contacts (more on that below) as it will then message your contacts immediately afterward with your location information and more. Why would you want an emergency contact? First off, it can help emergency services identify who to contact, and on Apple devices, these people will immediately receive a message of your location after your call with the emergency services. To set this up, click on the Health app and press on the profile picture. In here, you’ll find an option called Medical ID and at the bottom of the page, you’ll find an option called emergency contacts. Here is where you can enter the information of the contact, a relationship, and their phone number as well. Tap on done afterward, and you’ve set up your emergency contact. You can have several of these on your iPhone at one time. On Android phones, these features differ depending on the manufacturer. You can often find the information you need by searching in your phone’s Settings for phrases such as SOS messages or simply the word emergency. For example, Samsung phones have a feature called Send SOS Messages that allows you to press the side key three times to automatically message someone with your location. It will automatically attach pictures using your rear and front camera, as well as an audio recording of the moments before the message was sent. For more detailed instructions on various devices visit OUR FORUM.