How To Set Up An Emergency Contact On Your Android or
iPhone that can be accessed by an Emergency Responder
even when your phone is locked
How to set up an iPhone emergency contact: All iPhones come with the Health app. It
shows up on your phone as a white background icon with a red heart in it. Along with tracking
your steps every day, it allows you to set up a medical ID. This will display basic personal
information, important medical information, and emergency contact numbers which can be
accessed even when your phone is locked. Additionally, your emergency contacts will be
automatically contacted and updated on your current location if you make a call using the
Emergency SOS feature. Follow these steps to set it up:
1. Open the Health app on your phone.
2. Select the “Medical ID” tab.
3. Select “Edit” at the top of the screen.
4. Make sure that the “Show When Locked” slider is green.
5. Below, fill in the various fields. If there’s a section that isn’t relevant, such as “Medical
Conditions” or “Allergies & Reactions,” it’s a good idea to write “N/A” or “None” instead of
leaving it blank to avoid any confusion.
6. At the bottom is the “Emergency Contacts” section; tap “add emergency contact” to create
a new contact. Note that you need to have this person’s name and number saved in your
phone’s contacts list in order for the app to pull it in.
7. Once you’ve selected a contact, indicate their relationship to you.
8. You can add more than one emergency contact; continue repeating steps six and seven
until all your emergency contacts are added.
9. To test that your Medical ID contains all the information you added, lock your phone and
then wake it back up to reveal the Touch ID/passcode lock screen. Tap “Emergency” in the
corner to bring up the SOS keypad ― you’ll see the “Medical ID” link in the bottom left.
Press this to bring up your ICE info as well as emergency numbers that can be tapped and
dialed directly from that screen.