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Emergency call - I have an idea for a feature

Risco

Risco

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 22, 2010
1,961
321
United Kingdom
I was just thinking about this, and wondered why it has never been an option. Basically, I have a pin code on my phone as I am sure others do. Now if that phone is lost, for sure I can secure erase or find my phone. However there are some honest people out there. Now as things stand, they would not be able to get in to my address book to look me up or family member due to the pin code. Another thing as well, is for example I had a big motorbike accident about 10 months ago. I did have my phone on me, however of course it had a pin. Luckily I was conscious and therefore able to direct someone to unlock my phone and call a friend. Now, if I was unconscious, then I would not have been able to do this.

Here is my suggestion, and that is to have an emergency contact on the emergency number screen. So it would have something along the lines of "in case of emergency or lost phone please call"

What do you think? Maybe someone could make a mockup on my suggestion? I do know you can send a message with find my phone.
 
I've been wondering the same thing. What's the point of having an I.C.E. in your Contacts if you have a PIN lock? So my thinking was to create a lockscreen wallpaper with a note:
In case of emergency
Call John (213) 555-6789​
 
I have an app called Wallpaper Maker Pro where I have made a lock screen with my home number & email in case of loss .
Since reading this tread I have now added an ICE number in the last line .
 
Patriot24 said:
Actually, I don't think the functionality the OP has described is available. The options in your link revolve around handling incoming calls, not outgoing. When the phone is locked, 911 is your only choice.
Click to expand...

"Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device. Immediately lock your missing iPhone with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your iPhone."
^ that is right from the iOS 6 site.
 
xnickitynickx said:
"Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device. Immediately lock your missing iPhone with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your iPhone."
^ that is right from the iOS 6 site.
Click to expand...

So how is he going to utilize that feature of he is on the ground unconscious? What he is stating is there should be a way to add to the emergency contacts when you tap on emergency call. At the moment you are only restricted to a 911 call.
 
xnickitynickx said:
"Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device. Immediately lock your missing iPhone with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your iPhone."
^ that is right from the iOS 6 site.
Click to expand...

It sounds nice but I don't see how it would help in case of emergency :confused:
 
This is kinda an improvement of the current iOS 6 functionality. With iOS 6 you still need to first log in and tell your phone to display a number/lock.

They could instead let you allocate emergency numbers that can be accessed from the lock screen? They wouldn't display the actual number, just a name/title (e.g. Dad, Lucy (sister) etc - something like this?).

iOS 7!
 
jelew1985 said:
So how is he going to utilize that feature of he is on the ground unconscious? What he is stating is there should be a way to add to the emergency contacts when you tap on emergency call. At the moment you are only restricted to a 911 call.
Click to expand...

Yup exactly! If I had not been conscious when I had my accident then I would not have been able to direct the lady to unlock my phone and call someone.
 
Yeah I left that part out. On that front, it would be a cool feature. I think someone else earlier mentioned something about find my iPhone.

As for a regular emergency contact, that's a good idea
 
xnickitynickx said:
"Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device. Immediately lock your missing iPhone with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your iPhone."
^ that is right from the iOS 6 site.
Click to expand...

As others have pointed out, this is still not the functionality the OP is asking for and will not be useful in a real emergency.

Lost/Stolen != Emergency Call
 
If it's that much of an emergency, 911, 999 etc. is what you want.

If you're conscious and able to give instructions to call relatives etc. then perhaps 911, 999 etc. is not what you want and you wouldn't need this feature.

I can't see how this would be useful. In the UK the emergency services specifically ask friends of those involved in accidents not to contact family members until the police family liaison officer is there to assist properly.
 
Primus84 said:
I can't see how this would be useful. In the UK the emergency services specifically ask friends of those involved in accidents not to contact family members until the police family liaison officer is there to assist properly.
Click to expand...

Fine, you're unconscious, you've already had the 911 thing done and are in a hospital. Would you like this Liaison Officer to look at your phone, get a number for an emergency contact and call them? Or would prefer that they potentially waste hours simply attempting to figure out who you are?

Getting to the hospital is obviously priority #1. No one is denying that. They're just saying that step #2 (contacting an emergency contact) could be made MUCH quicker and easier. I'm fortunate that I have no serious allergies. But if I was allergic to something like morphine, and I was in a hospital unconscious, I would LOVE to have someone there who could tell them of my medical issues up-front rather than doctors reacting after the fact.

You may not see how this could be useful. That doesn't mean it's not.
 
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