The 23rd of January marked the release of several security updates for Apple products. iOS, IpadOS, and even MacOS received several fixes. 

\
iOS-wise, version 16.3 appears to crave to be associated with a minority racial event, and while I’m all for celebrating and honoring those that lead mankind to be better, I’m further in favor of raising global awareness regarding changes that may lead to life-threatening or life-loss situations.

\
From this standpoint, changes to Apple’s **Emergency SOS** should have been placed on the top of the pile and given extra coverage and awareness by Apple, even if their service usage proves to be small. Case and point, on January 20th, 2023, [Colby’s call to 999](https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2023-01-20/mummy-cant-breathe-listen-as-5-year-old-boy-saves-mums-life-with-999-call) saves his mother’s life.

\
You could and, if you will indulge in some intrusion, should educate your daughters, sons, and even yourself to use the Emergency SOS responsibly. 

\
From being out and about with some friends and suddenly finding yourself in a threatening situation or taking part in an accident, being prepared to act and make the emergency call may prove vital. 

\
The phone at hand may not be yours, you may not be able to unlock it, you may have forgotten the pin, or you may be in a state where you can’t insert it.

\
In an attempt to prevent accidental calls to local emergency services, Apple has changed the way you can activate the emergency call. You'll need to hold one of the volume buttons and the side button at the same time. 

\
Doing so will grant access to a screen where you can use a slider to place the emergency call, however, if for some reason you are unable to do so, by continuing to hold the buttons, a countdown will be triggered; once it reaches zero, the call will be made.

\
\
 ![Example of an iPhone SOS Emergency Call screen](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/U5DOZJ252selvmscTu9FCRgEi0v1-6ib3512.png)

\
Apple offers more. If you use their health application and have added an emergency contact in it, once your call with the emergency services is terminated, an SMS will be sent to that contact (unless you prefer it not to) along with your current location.

\
It goes without saying that either WI-FI or cellular coverage is required for the **Emergency SOS** service to work (the iPhone 14 can use satellites). Nonetheless, it is worth pointing out that there are other service settings you should review. 

\
You can access those via the Settings application and scrolling down and selecting **Emergency SOS**.

\
For those that had previously educated children or teenagers to work with the service and now must update them, a final heads up: Continue to patch and update your devices, but read the “About this update” on the device, as curiously enough, the [online version](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT213606) does not mention said changes…

\
\
 ![Screenshot of the About this Update received on my device](https://cdn.hackernoon.com/images/U5DOZJ252selvmscTu9FCRgEi0v1-rpa35xf.png)

\
No one is perfect! Thank you Apple for having the service, but shame on you nonetheless.


---

*Photo by [Jake Espedido](https://unsplash.com/@jkeeeeyy?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/emergency?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)*

IPhone, This Is an Emergency

Too Long; Didn't Read

@aferreira

RELATED STORIES