Make an emergency call or text on iPhone or Apple Watch

1. Go to Settings  > Emergency SOS.

2. Do any of the following:

   • Turn Call with Hold on or off: Press and hold the side and volume buttons to start a countdown to call emergency services.

   • Turn Call with 5 presses on or off: Rapidly press the side button five times to start a countdown to call emergency services.

   • Manage your emergency contacts: In Health, tap Set Up Emergency Contacts or Edit Emergency Contacts. See Set up and view your Medical ID in the iPhone User Guide.

Emergency contacts can be set up so that if you call an emergency number, iPhone sends those contacts a notice that you’ve called for help, shares your location with those contacts and notifies them if your location changes. If you previously added someone as an emergency contact and want to remove them, you can delete them.

To add or delete emergency contacts:

1. Open the Health app , then tap your profile picture.

2. Tap Medical ID.

3. Tap Edit, then scroll to Emergency Contacts.

4. Add or delete a contact.

   • Add a contact: Tap  to add an emergency contact (you can’t set emergency services as an SOS contact).

   • Delete a contact: Tap  next to the contact you want to delete, then tap Delete.

5. Tap Done to save your changes.

1. On the Passcode screen, tap Emergency.

2. Dial the emergency number (for example, 999 in the UK), then tap .

In case of emergency, use your iPhone to quickly and easily call for help and alert your emergency contacts (provided that mobile service is available). After an emergency call ends, your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your iPhone sends your current location (if available) and — for a period of time after you enter SOS mode — your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.

• Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear and the countdown on Emergency SOS ends, then release the buttons.

  Or you can enable iPhone to start Emergency SOS when you quickly press the side button five times. Go to Settings  > Emergency SOS, then turn on Call with 5 Presses.

• Quickly press the side button three times until the sliders appear and the countdown on Emergency SOS ends.

• If you’ve turned on Accessibility Shortcut, simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear and the countdown on Emergency SOS ends, then release the buttons.

By default, iPhone plays a warning sound, starts a countdown and then calls the emergency services.

After an emergency call ends, your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your iPhone sends your current location (if available) and — for a period of time after you enter SOS mode — your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.

Do one of the following:

• Press and hold the side button until the sliders appear, then drag the Emergency Call slider to the right.

  Your Apple Watch calls the emergency services in your region — for example, 999. (In some regions, you may be required to press a keypad number to complete the call.)

• Press and keep holding the side button until your Apple Watch issues a warning sound and starts a countdown. When the countdown ends, your Apple Watch calls emergency services. The Apple Watch makes the warning sound even if it’s in silent mode, so if you’re in an emergency situation where you don’t want to make noise, use the Emergency Call slider to call emergency services without a countdown.

  If you don’t want your Apple Watch to automatically start the emergency countdown when you press and hold the side button, turn off Automatic Dialling. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch, tap SOS, tap Hold Side Button, then turn off Hold Side Button. (Or open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Emergency SOS, then turn off Hold Side Button to Dial.) You can still make an emergency call with the Emergency Call slider.

• Say “Hey Siri, call 999”.

1. Open the Messages app , then type 999 or your local emergency services number in the To field.

2. In the Text Message field, type your emergency.

3. Tap .

   Important: After you text 999, your iPhone enters emergency mode for 30 minutes. To get out of emergency mode, restart your iPhone.

1. Open the Messages app , then tap New Message.

2. Tap Add Contact.

3. Tap , type 999, then tap OK.

4. Tap Create Message, then tap SMS.

5. Write a message with your finger, tap to dictate a message, or type a message with the keyboard.

6. Tap Done, then tap Send.

   Important: After you text 999, your Apple Watch enters emergency mode for 30 minutes. To get out of emergency mode, restart your Apple Watch.

On iPhone 14 and later (any model) with iOS 16.1 or later, you can use Emergency SOS via satellite to text emergency services when you’re outside mobile service and Wi-Fi coverage. To learn more, see the Apple Support article Use Emergency SOS via satellite on your iPhone 14.

You can also use the Find My app to share your location with people via satellite. See Send your location via satellite in Find My on iPhone in the iPhone User Guide.

For more information, see Important information about emergency calls on iPhone in the iPhone User Guide.