Your emergency contact details
If you are taking part in a u3a event, especially active events such as walks and sports, it is helpful to have your emergency contact details available in case of an accident or sudden illness. Happily, modern smartphones have provision for storing this information so that it can be seen – and any listed numbers can be called – without unlocking the device. You can also include useful information such as your blood group, allergies, and details of any medications being taken. Here are basic instructions for setting this up on an iPhone or Android device.
The following guidance may also be downloaded as a PDF: click PDF SOS
iPhone
See iPhone SOS for detailed instructions. The basics are as follows:
Open the Health app and tap your profile picture.
Tap Medical ID. From here you can edit the information shown. To add emergency contacts, tap Edit, then scroll to Emergency Contacts. Tap the Add button to add an emergency contact. Tap a contact, then add their relationship. Tap Done to save your changes.
If an emergency call (999) is made on your iPhone, then after it ends your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your iPhone sends your current location, and for a period of time after you enter SOS mode, your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.
To test that your Medical ID contains all the information you added, lock your iPhone and then wake it back up to reveal the Touch ID/passcode lock screen. Tap Emergency in the corner to bring up the SOS keypad ― which should display the Medical ID link in the bottom left. Press this to bring up your emergency information as well as emergency numbers that can be tapped and dialled directly from that screen.
Android devices
The latest Android devices have a Personal Safety app. For details of how to enter your information, see Android emergency.
If you have an older device without the Personal Safety app, you can enter emergency information via the Settings app. Details vary between models, but in general terms select Safety & Emergency and use the editing information offered. Guidance for Samsung Galaxy devices may be found at Galaxy emergency and for various brands at Android emergency.
You can also include a helpful text message on your lock screen, such as “This phone belongs to [Name]. If found please call [Contact name] on [number]”. In Settings, select Display, then Lock screen to enter or amend the wording. (On an iPhone with iOS 16 you can do something similar by installing an app to create a suitable widget – see e.g. iPhone lock screen text.)