Here’s how you can use your cell phone, other smart devices to keep you safe

HOUSTON – If you find yourself in the middle of a dire emergency, like a kidnapping or a car crash, it’ll be too late to try and set up your safety features on your smart devices.

So, we’re going to take you step by step through how to ensure you have the necessary settings on your devices that can alert trusted friends and family members, and also emergency officials if anything were to happen to you.

First up, iPhone settings

Find My iPhone

The first thing you can do is to make sure you have your ‘Find My iPhone’ toggled to ON in the settings. This may seem like the most simple step but if it’s turned off, the people who you are sharing a location with won’t be able to see where you are or your last location.

AirDrop Safety

If you have the iOS 17 update, the new AirDrop feature may cause some trouble if you do not want to share your information with others.

There’s a new feature that lets you share contact information with other iPhone users by just having your phones nearby.

This may present an issue if someone wants your number and information, but you don’t want to share it.

You can turn this off by going to Settings > General > AirDrop. Toggle the ‘Bringing Devices Together’ option to off.

Check-In

Let your friends and loved ones know when you have arrived at a location. This can be turned on by going to a message thread and clicking the plus button in the bottom left corner. You’ll then want to scroll down and select ‘Check In’. This gives users an option to automatically notify a friend when you arrive at your location.

Emergency SOS

For iPhone users who have access to their phone, you can hold down the top volume button and the power button. You will then see three separate options where you can choose the third one, Emergency Call.

If you happen to go off the grid with no working cell service or Wi-Fi coverage, you can also change your settings to be prepared.

First, you’ll want to set up the information that you want to share with others. You can opt to share your Medical ID and immediately notify your emergency contacts.

To learn how Emergency SOS via satellite works, try the demo

You can also send an emergency text message with satellite technology if calling doesn’t work.

Crash Detection on iPhone and Apple Watch

Crash Detection is designed to detect severe car crashes — such as front-impact, side-impact, and rear-end collisions, and rollovers — involving sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and other passenger cars.

Request Roadside Assistance via satellite on iPhone

1. In Messages, tap the New Message button to start a conversation
2. In the address field, type “Roadside.” When you’re off the grid with no cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, you’ll see the option to request Roadside Assistance via satellite.
3. Tap “Roadside Assistance.”
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to connect to a satellite and request help.

If you attempt to call 911 and your call won’t connect, you’ll have the option to text either emergency services or a roadside assistance provider via satellite.

Apple Watch

When you make a call with Emergency SOS, your Apple Watch automatically calls local emergency services and shares your location with them.

When the call ends, your watch will send your emergency contacts a text with your current location, unless you choose to cancel. For a period of time after you enter SOS mode, your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.

To make an emergency call on your watch, press and hold your watch’s side button (the button below the Digital Crown) until the Emergency Call slider appears. You can keep holding the side button; after a countdown, your watch calls emergency services automatically.

Safety Check

On the contrary, iPhone also has a Safety Check option. This is to immediately turn off any and all of the tools if you think someone is using your location to track your whereabouts. Here’s how to do it:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Safety Check. You’ll see two features: Emergency Reset and Manage Sharing & Access.
• If you need to immediately cut off access to your accounts, select Emergency Reset. You may be asked for a Face ID or other ID to access it.
• Tap Start Emergency Reset to be guided through a quick process of protecting your data from people and apps, changing your Apple ID, and adding or removing emergency contacts.
• To do a more considered review of specific people and/or apps that you’d want to switch off, select Manage Sharing & Access.

Next, Androids

If you have an Android, you also have access to an Emergency SOS feature. Setting up Emergency SOS features should be a priority when you first get your new phone because it may be vital in the event of a crisis. Emergency SOS provides a way to call your emergency contact without doing much more than pressing your power button a few times.

If you’re looking for the Emergency SOS settings, search for “Emergency SOS” in your Settings app’s search bar. The first result should take you to the page for adjusting SOS settings.

You’ll also want to save at least one emergency contact to your phone and make sure that you’re sharing your location with others using Google Maps.

According to Google, the Google Pixel Watch can connect you to emergency services if you need help. If you’ve unlocked your watch at least once since startup, you can also call an emergency contact without unlocking it.1 With Google Pixel Watch 2, all safety features, including the new Safety Check7 are available to use with or without your phone nearby.

Google Pixel Watch Wi-Fi needs to be in range of your phone and connected with Bluetooth for your phone to call emergency services. You will not be able to talk to emergency services from your watch if your watch is not connected to a phone through Bluetooth.