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Welcome to the 'How to call emergency services from your Android phone's lock screen' video course. In this video, you'll learn how to quickly call for emergency help, even if your phone is locked. This can help when you or someone else is in trouble and there's no time to unlock your phone or open apps.
This feature works in most countries around the world and automatically calls the correct emergency number for the country you're in. It also provides your location to emergency services, even if you haven't activated Location Services on your phone. A mobile phone doesn't need a SIM to make an emergency call. It just needs battery power and to be in range of any mobile network.
To start, let's set up your phone's Emergency SOS feature. From the Apps screen, tap the Settings app. Scroll down and tap 'Safety and emergency'. Next, tap Emergency SOS. A video will show you how to start an emergency call by quickly pressing the Side key five times in a row. The Side key is usually on the right-hand side of your phone. Below the video is an extra step that helps prevent making calls to emergency services by mistake. Selecting it will remove a couple of other options from the screen, but it's a good safety measure, so tap on 'Require swipe to call' to turn it on.
'Emergency number to call' shows the emergency services number your phone will contact. You can tap on it to change the number if you need to. The 'Send SOS to emergency contacts' option can automatically send an SMS with your location to people you trust to help. You can learn about setting this up in the 'How to send an SMS to an emergency contact on an Android phone' course. Now, let's test how Emergency SOS works from the lock screen. Press the Side key to turn off the screen, then press it again to wake the phone.
Now, quickly press the Side key five times, then remove your finger from the key. Your phone will prompt you to swipe the SOS button to place a call to emergency services. If you don't swipe, the call will be cancelled automatically. If you activate Emergency SOS by mistake, you can cancel the call by tapping Cancel on the screen.