In iOS, Apple has implemented an emergency call feature to quickly and easily contact local emergency services. Sometimes it’s too easy. Here’s how to avoid random calls.
In an emergency, you can quickly press the side button on your iPhone to contact support. On iOS, this feature is called “Emergency Call”. This is incredibly handy, for example, during a serious car accident or when an intruder breaks into your home – a situation in which you need to keep a low profile – but unfortunately, this feature is also (too) easy to activate by accident.
If you have children or are used to playing with your phone, you may accidentally call 911. All it takes is a few taps or a long press and you call for help and send a message to your loved ones informing them that you you may be in danger. And this is just a problem if you really do not threaten anything.
Luckily, it’s fairly easy to prevent accidental activation of this emergency call feature while still keeping the feature available for real emergencies. In this guide, we will show you how to turn off some settings to avoid unwanted calls.
How can I accidentally activate an emergency call on iOS
You can activate an emergency call to call emergency services in three different ways:
- Press the side button and the volume button.
- Quickly press the side button five times.
- Slide the emergency call button.
These are the first two options that can easily work and actually call emergency services by accident. So let’s see how to disable these two options to leave only the last one.
How to Prevent Accidental Emergency Calls from Your iPhone
To quickly disable the first two options, open “Settings”and go to the “Emergency Call”section. Then disable the following two options:
- Call Hold: Press and hold the side button and volume button for a few seconds.
- 5 Touch Call: Quickly touch the side button five times.
If your iPhone is running an older version of iOS, you may see text options, but they work the same way. If you see “Call using the side button”, this is equivalent to a 5-touch call and an automatic call, and is similar to a call on hold.
And while these settings won’t work once disabled, don’t panic, you can still call an emergency call by pressing and holding the side and volume buttons for a few seconds and then toggling the emergency call button to the right. This takes a few extra seconds, but is still easier and faster than traditional dialing methods.