February 2019

A few months ago we tested the SMS emergency functionality of the Samsung terminals and this time we came with an analysis of the emergency alert functionality in the IPhone terminals.

In order to configure it, it is necessary to access the settings menu, where we find a tab with the name "SOS Emergency".

While it is advisable to activate an emergency contact, the functionality can be activated to make a call only to the emergency services, in the case of Spain the telephone 112.

In case of activating an emergency contact it is necessary to previously access an introduction menu for our medical data, this data will be shown in the foreground on screen in case of an emergency pressing.

To be able to trigger a call to the emergency services, in this case 112, we activate the automatic emergency call functionality within said menu.

It is important to differentiate that to activate the call to emergency services on IPhone 6 and 7 terminals it is necessary to press the on / off button for 5 times intermittently. On the other hand, in the case of more modern terminals of type IPhone 8 and X the alert is triggered by pressing the power button together with the volume simultaneously.

Emergency warning sequence after the combination of alert pulses:

1. Automatic call of warning to 112 after a countdown (can be canceled)

2. Notice to the selected emergency contact via SMS and send the location after countdown of 10 seconds (can be canceled).

IMPORTANT: To be able to receive or send the attached locations it is necessary to have activated the mobile data in both phones.

Theoretically if your shared location changes, your contacts will receive an update and you will receive a notification about 10 minutes later.

3. Finally, after sending the SMS alert, the screen shows the medical data of interest of the user to be attended in case of emergency
Apple watch

Apple watch

The functionality has been tested on an Apple Watch device operating in a manner very similar to the IPhone terminal.

NOTE: To use the functionality, the iPhone must be linked to that device. If the iPhone is not linked, the Apple Watch must be connected to a known Wi-Fi network and you must set up Wi-Fi Calls. On models with mobile data from the Apple Watch, you can also use a mobile data connection.

The steps to make an emergency call are the following:

1. Press and hold the side button of the clock until the SOS Emergency slider appears.
2. With the button still pressed. Wait until the countdown begins and an alarm sounds. You can also drag the SOS Emergency slider.
3. When the countdown comes to an end, the watch will automatically call the emergency services.

Conclusions

The emergency functionality seems to us of enormous utility in critical situations. Since it is included in the operating system of the terminal, it is not necessary to perform any additional installation and therefore it is perfectly optimized for it.

Although it has some advantages such as the section for medical data shown in case of emergency, we miss the alert on Samsung terminals recording audio or taking pictures that can contribute a lot in this type of situation.

In turn, the fact of using data messages to send the locations makes it necessary to have the active data in both terminals, both sender and receiver. This means that in some cases it can not reach even a minimum alert to the receiving terminal. In this case, it might be advisable to send a first message only with coordinates in SMS format.

Highlights

• It can be a decisive help in cases of emergency
• It is integrated into the phone's own operating system and therefore does not require additional facilities
• The functionality is very easy to configure

Improvement points

• It presents some problems sending the location information when you need to have both terminals both sender and receiver of the alerts