I have accidentally called 911 three times because of that stupid thing! It is VERY easy to trip by simply pressing the buttons in your pocket. What in the hell was Apple thinking with this dumb feature?!
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iPhone X Emergency SOS is literally the stupidest feature Apple has ever implemented
- Thread starter TH55
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Me neither, never done that...especially with the silicone case as it’s a bit harder to press the button.
yeah did this several times too - what a pain
Once this happened when changing the strap on my watch (hit the wrong buttons while trying to install the strap) - and accidentally called 911 - I quickly hung up and they called me back right away and advised they were sending 2 officers to investigate - I was leaving for work - but had to "stay put" until the police officers arrived and interviewed everyone to make sure there was no domestic violence etc. and they took a detailed look at every room and area they could - thanks apple!
It also disables Touch ID or Face ID on your phone. I wonder if that was the real purpose masquerading behind a secondary feature.
Pressing the side button 5 times is probably not what the OP is talking about, and is optional.
Regardless of whether the 5 times setting is on or off, you can dial 911 by simply pressing and holding the power button and either volume button, similar to a screenshot or powering down the phone.
I have never dialed 911 by mistake, but I can certainly see how it could be done inadvertently considering that same button sequence is shared by two other functions.
You can toggle off the feature. Problem solved.
I did also think that the chances of someone doing that by accident were pretty low too, but situations happen. I had my phone paired to a bluetooth speaker and the phone volume was cranked all the way up and it was late and the speaker volume was way too loud. So I panicked and started pressing the volume down as fast as I could, but I wasn't pressing the volume down button.
Thankfully, I don't have auto-call turned on so I was able to defuse the bomb before it went off. I'm not the type of person to accidentally do these kind of things. I'm a developer and am pretty savvy about my devices. If I can accidentally do it, lots of people are doing it too.
When you have buttons on both sides of your device, it's a lot easier to get confused and press the one for cancel / two for confirm button (worst idea ever) with the volume buttons. This wasn't ever an issue for me with a Touch ID phone.
The UI layout of the current lineup of iPhones is a mess. Also, that you have the Emergency SOS appear as an option when trying to turn off your phone and the slider to make the SOS call going in the SAME direction as the slider to shut off your phone is beyond stupid. I really want to know what's going on with the inteface design teams there.
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The way Apple designed these buttons and their usage has to be one of the most head scratching decisions ever for a company that's typically quite savvy about the impacts of interface design. I typically like my phones the longer I own them and only upgrade when I absolutely have to. The more I get to know my iPhone X, the less I like it.
Yeah. And not to mention the poisonous and atrocious home bar that ROTATES with the phone. I have accidentally swiped up numerous times (20+back to home screen during intensive gaming sessions and lose the game. Minor enough but annoy me enough to call it out. Apple could perfectly fit the home bar to where the home button was, and let user always swipe in one direction to switch between apps. But they didn’t.
No you can’t, you can turn off auto call but you can’t disable the feature or the obnoxious fire alarm sound that goes off. And even if you could “toggle it off” you shouldn’t have to turn off something that shouldn’t be there in the first place. As the others have said it is beyond idiotic in implementation, to have it share the same buttons as common features like powering down or screenshotting.
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As another poster said you don’t have to press it 5 times in a row, what are you talking about? It is activated by holding down the same buttons as power down, ridiculous.
And in case you think this is just me:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/18/17129440/emergency-sos-iphone-apple-watch-accident
The fist thing coming to my mind of activating SOS is pressing sleep button five times quickly, so I do not realise powering off phone interface also has SOS feature. Maybe because I am using a case, and buttons are harder to press in general.
People need to look in their SOS settings.
OP is NOT talking about pressing the side button 5 times, which is something you can turn off, along with auto call.
You can NOT disable the phone's ability to dial 911 by pressing and holding the power button and either the volume up or down button. This is hard coded into iOS and you do NOT have the ability to turn it off in settings.
Actually look in your settings to see what OP is talking about.
OP is NOT talking about pressing the side button 5 times, which is something you can turn off, along with auto call.
You can NOT disable the phone's ability to dial 911 by pressing and holding the power button and either the volume up or down button. This is hard coded into iOS and you do NOT have the ability to turn it off in settings.
Actually look in your settings to see what OP is talking about.
Oh man. I've done that numerous times too and it's so annoying. I wasn't even playing a real time game, but it did completely interrupt the flow and I lost my concentration from trying to get the game back on.
I gripe about Face ID vs Touch ID, but my issue with Face ID has much less to do with Face ID than the screwed up interface changes that are part of the Face ID package. My top gripe is how they use the same right side button to mean "cancel" and "confirm" depending on the number of times you press it. That'd be like having a keyboard where the backspace key is also the enter key. Bad idea.
Funny enough, it's the same button you sometimes want to press twice, but never five times unless you really really mean it. Apple, if you don't want to tempt me into accidentally calling 911, don't condition me to ever press that button more than once.
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Don't you also need to swipe for a 911 call to happen in that case? Or does it automatically call if the buttons continue to be depressed? I've never tempted fate by keeping those buttons held down. I get really nervous every time I power down my phone that one time I'm not going to be paying attention and I'll swipe the wrong bar.
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This has never happened to me in over 10 years of iPhone usage. I wonder what you guys are actually doing while the device is in your pocket to trigger the emergency call. 
You do if you have auto call turned off, but still...seems like an obnoxious button sequence considering two other functions share the same sequence, auto call or not.
NONE of my iPhones dialed 911 in error.
Now my Apple Watch is a different story and have banged my arm or hand into something and set off the fall emergency mode. Watch starts vibrating like crazy so you know you did it and it is easy to cancel.
Now my Apple Watch is a different story and have banged my arm or hand into something and set off the fall emergency mode. Watch starts vibrating like crazy so you know you did it and it is easy to cancel.
happened to me with a first gen apple watch about 3 years ago. was at my desk in my nyc office trying to remove the strap. was on a call with my headset so I didn't hear anything coming from the watch as a warning. all of a sudden I hear "911 whats your emergency" and I panicked. had to explain that everything was okay and I literally begged them to not send authorities to my giant corporate office. what an embarrassment that wouldve been.
believe me, it happens more than you think...
believe me, it happens more than you think...
Considering the feature has only existed for a year I’d say your ”10 years” is irrelevant lol.This has never happened to me in over 10 years of iPhone usage. I wonder what you guys are actually doing while the device is in your pocket to trigger the emergency call.
Never had this happen on a phone, but I did have it happen a week ago while changing a watch band.
Hanging up is the wrong thing to do. It's better to stay on the line and explain to the operator what happened and that the call was made in error.
Once this happened when changing the strap on my watch (hit the wrong buttons while trying to install the strap) - and accidentally called 911 - I quickly hung up and they called me back right away and advised they were sending 2 officers to investigate - I was leaving for work - but had to "stay put" until the police officers arrived and interviewed everyone to make sure there was no domestic violence etc. and they took a detailed look at every room and area they could - thanks apple!
Hanging up is the wrong thing to do. It's better to stay on the line and explain to the operator what happened and that the call was made in error.
Yeah exactly they are required to send a patrol car if you don’t call it off.
This is the problem, and you’d think it would be a simple solution to either change how we power off the phone or change how we activate SOS. It’s a great feature to have, it just needs to be implemented differently.
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Once this happened when changing the strap on my watch (hit the wrong buttons while trying to install the strap) - and accidentally called 911 - I quickly hung up and they called me back right away and advised they were sending 2 officers to investigate - I was leaving for work - but had to "stay put" until the police officers arrived and interviewed everyone to make sure there was no domestic violence etc. and they took a detailed look at every room and area they could - thanks apple!
Bolded part above is what you did wrong. If you hang up, the dispatcher doesn’t know what has happened to you. If they call back and you sound rattled or distressed, there is a chance that they’ll send a unit out to you.
Just stay on the line and calmly explain that you made a mistake and called them in error due to a feature on your phone. They here this frequently enough so it won’t be a cause for alarm.
calls from the devices.