How to call emergency services from your Android phone’s lock screen
This short guide is a reference tool to help refresh your knowledge or practise what you have learned in the How to call emergency services from your Android phone’s lock screen online video course.
What is Emergency SOS?
Emergency SOS allows you to quickly contact emergency services, even if your phone is locked. This feature:
- works in most countries
- automatically calls the correct emergency number for the country you’re in
- shares your location with emergency services, even if Location Services on your phone is turned off.
A mobile phone doesn’t need a SIM card to make an emergency call. It only needs to be charged and within range of a mobile network.
Setting up Emergency SOS
Before using Emergency SOS, you need to turn it on:
- From the Apps screen, tap the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Safety and emergency.
- Tap Emergency SOS.
- Watch the video that demonstrates how you can press the Side key five times to make an emergency call.
- To help avoid accidental calls, tap Require swipe to call.
- The Emergency number to call will display the number that will be dialled.
- Send SOS to emergency contacts allows your phone to automatically send an SMS with your location to trusted people when you make an emergency services call. You can learn more about this feature in the How to send an SMS to an emergency contact on an Android phone course.
Using Emergency SOS
To activate Emergency SOS from your phone’s lock screen:
- Quickly press the Side key five times in a row.
- The screen will prompt you to Swipe the SOS button to initiate the call.
- If you don’t swipe, the call will be automatically cancelled.
- If you start SOS by mistake, tap Cancel to stop the call.