How To Activate Emergency Call On Iphone

You can turn off the automatic emergency call feature in your iPhone's settings menu so that you don't accidentally trigger a call to 911.
The emergency call feature can be triggered by holding down the Power button with one of the Volume buttons and swiping to call 911.
It can also be triggered by pressing the Power button rapidly five times, or by holding down the Power and Volume buttons long enough to automatically call without the need to swipe.
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iPhones have several built-in methods for dialing 911 emergency services just by touching the external buttons on your phone.

This feature is designed to allow you to quickly call for help without having to unlock your phone and dial as you would with a normal call.

How your iPhone will automatically call 911

If you press either of the Volume buttons with the Power button on your phone, it'll display the Emergency page, which includes the SOS slider. Swiping the slider to the right will dial 911.
If you simply continue to hold the Volume and Power buttons, your iPhone will start a short countdown and dial 911 automatically.
If you rapidly press the Power button five times in a row, your iPhone will start a short countdown and dial 911 automatically.

You can open the Emergency page by holding the Power button along with either of the Volume buttons.

While useful in emergencies, you might worry about triggering either or both of these methods accidentally. If so, you can disable them.

How to turn off the emergency call feature on an iPhone

1. Start the Settings app.

2. Tap "Emergency SOS."

3. If you want to disable your phone's ability to automatically call 911 when you press the Power button five times, turn off "Call with Side Button" by swiping the button to the left.

4. If you want to disable your phone's ability to automatically call 911 when you hold the Volume and Power buttons, turn off "Auto Call" by swiping the button to the left.

You can customize how emergency calls are triggered in Settings.

Even if you turn off both of those features, you can still call emergency services from your phone's external buttons, but you need to swipe the SOS slider on the Emergency page to do so.

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Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.