SOS features may not make for the most exciting tech announcements, but they can save lives. At this year's WWDC, Apple announced that iOS 18 will be adding live video support for emergency calls, and now the support platforms that power 911 are getting ready to help you talk with operators face-to-face.
Apple calls this feature Emergency SOS Live Video, and 911 support platforms such as Prepared and RapidSOS Unite have already announced that they'll be using it once iOS 18 officially launches later this year. Responders will be able to request a live video call with you, and if you approve it, they'll be able to start a FaceTime-like chat with you. This comes after Apple announced that iOS 18 will allow you to use satellite messaging when you don't have any cellular service.
Beyond video, Emergency SOS already supports texts and voice calls and even automatically sends your location to emergency responders as soon as you reach out to them. The live video call feature will help responders identify nearby landmarks and assess the situation better. Here's what Apple says about this feature:
Emergency SOS Live Video allows users to share context through streaming video and recorded media. In the middle of an emergency call, participating emergency dispatchers can send a request for a user to share live video or media from the user’s camera roll over a secure connection, making it easier and faster to get help.
How to use Emergency SOS on your iPhone
You can quickly launch Emergency SOS by following these steps:
Press and hold the side button and one volume button until you see the Emergency SOS slider.
Drag the Emergency SOS slider to the right. This will call emergency services.
Alternatively, you can hold the power button and a volume button down and wait for a countdown and alarm to begin. You can release these buttons as soon as the countdown starts. If you haven't canceled the call by the end of the countdown, your iPhone will call emergency services.
Alternatively, Emergency SOS access can be configured in your iPhone's settings. Go to Settings > Emergency SOS to see toggles to call emergency services with five rapid button presses instead, or to silence the alarm. There's also a toggle to turn keep your iPhone from automatically calling emergency services after detecting a crash, which you should probably leave on but could be helpful you're about to ride a roller coaster. If your emergency is not life-threatening, you can also use Emergency SOS to reach out to AAA for roadside assistance too.
On your Apple Watch, there's also a useful feature called Fall Detection, which can save lives. It detects when you've had a fall and automatically calls emergency services and texts your emergency contacts to ensure that you receive help on time. On a related note, here's how to ensure you don't contact emergency services accidentally.
The Emergency SOS Live Video feature also raises concerns about the welfare of people who work as dispatchers. A comment on Reddit notes that it could expose dispatchers, who signed up to work behind the scenes, to traumatic visuals. One hopes that emergency responders receive significant training and mental health support to deal with the consequences of this safety feature.
Separately, there's another safety feature that lets you contact emergency services even without a cellular signal. Here's how to use Emergency SOS via Satellite on your iPhone.