Consider turning off the Emergency SOS feature on your iPhones

[Carpediem44DB]

My wife has an iPhone X and lately when she carries with other things in her hands, she would set off the emergency SOS feature and get a 911 dispatcher on the phone! She just explains the mis dial and hangs up. last night at 9:00 she fell asleep with her phone under her or something and the damn phone, again, called 911. A few minutes later she got a call from a deputy that was at the gate wanting to have a discussion in person with only her. I had to walk 500 feet out to the gate at the road to let the deputy in the drive. The deputy, a female incidentally, was very polite but insisted an speaking with my wife outside, alone.
This was extremely bad timing as on Friday night she happened to trip on a curb after dinner in town and face planted on the asphalt so she looked like someone had roughed her up! To make things even worse, Kathy had taken a prescription sleep aid so she was not terribly sharp having been sleeping. The deputy spent ten minutes trying to get her to tell her that I beat her up! Kathy explained the injury to her face and eventually satisfied the deputy enough that she left after leaving a business card. The deputy was just doing her job but it was really unnerving to think that I could have been arrested for domestic abuse over this.
I googled ghost 911 calls and found this to be a big issue for local PDs. It turns out that by simply pushing the volume button and the power buttons on the side of the phone together, calls 911. I disabled that feature post haste and advise others to do the same.
Carpe Diem out

 

[mrsrobinson]

Oh boy, never knew this since I am an Android/Pixel user. Interesting. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[Creekwood]

The butt dial from hell. Reminds me of the time our young son jumped up from the kitchen chair just as my wife was leaning over the table and nailed her in the eye with his head. She got a pretty bad black eye. After the first couple times seeing hateful stares from people along with whispers, I realized I couldn't go out in public with her until it cleared up.

 

[Gord]

My wife has an iPhone X and lately when she carries with other things in her hands, she would set off the emergency SOS feature and get a 911 dispatcher on the phone! She just explains the mis dial and hangs up. last night at 9:00 she fell asleep with her phone under her or something and the damn phone, again, called 911. A few minutes later she got a call from a deputy that was at the gate wanting to have a discussion in person with only her. I had to walk 500 feet out to the gate at the road to let the deputy in the drive. The deputy, a female incidentally, was very polite but insisted an speaking with my wife outside, alone.
This was extremely bad timing as on Friday night she happened to trip on a curb after dinner in town and face planted on the asphalt so she looked like someone had roughed her up! To make things even worse, Kathy had taken a prescription sleep aid so she was not terribly sharp having been sleeping. The deputy spent ten minutes trying to get her to tell her that I beat her up! Kathy explained the injury to her face and eventually satisfied the deputy enough that she left after leaving a business card. The deputy was just doing her job but it was really unnerving to think that I could have been arrested for domestic abuse over this.
I googled ghost 911 calls and found this to be a big issue for local PDs. It turns out that by simply pushing the volume button and the power buttons on the side of the phone together, calls 911. I disabled that feature post haste and advise others to do the same.
Carpe Diem out

Carpe Diem I would never of thought this of you. Just kidding. Too soon?

 

[quality time]

This has happened to us a few times when my wife jammed her phone into the undersized cupholder of our folding chairs while sitting on the dock. I think I will disable the feature also because I'm not even sure I'd remember how to activate it in a true emergency.

 

[Steve S]

I have had this happen placing my phone into a car holder. Had the Police call me back and question me. Thanks for the tip... it is disabled now.

 

[spikedaddy99]

My teenage daughter did this. Asshole, power tripping MALE deputy showed up at the house and insisted on questioning her alone. I told him he could do that at the station with my attorney present. Then, I just called his boss (a friend of mine) and got him taken down a peg. Of course, this deputy now has a hard on for me and my family, but it's a small town and the Sherriff told him he'd better steer clear of us.

 

[ttmott]

My teenage daughter did this. Asshole, power tripping MALE deputy showed up at the house and insisted on questioning her alone. I told him he could do that at the station with my attorney present. Then, I just called his boss (a friend of mine) and got him taken down a peg. Of course, this deputy now has a hard on for me and my family, but it's a small town and the Sherriff told him he'd better steer clear of us.

Walk in his moccasins. Consider if he did not do due diligence and a scared little girl really gets hurt because she really did call and need 911.

 

[Little Ducky]

Might have to update your phone.

A one button push will not get you 911 on at least the iPhone 13 pro.

 

[Joint Custody]

Same thing here. The GirlFriend and I where on the dock 2am fishing for stripers. Sitting in our chairs many cocktails in us . I guess I pocket dialed SOS. Next thing a park ranger comes down the dock. He was very understandable when we all realized I did the pocket dialed.

In this case I was impressed that when 911 couldn't reach me that they actually sent someone out that late at night.

 

[Steve S]

Might have to update your phone.

A one button push will not get you 911 on at least the iPhone 13 pro.

It was a two button push - one on both sides of the phone at the same time will activate the SOS mode, usually if placed in a tight spot or holder.

 

[bobeast]

My teenage daughter did this. Asshole, power tripping MALE deputy showed up at the house and insisted on questioning her alone. I told him he could do that at the station with my attorney present. Then, I just called his boss (a friend of mine) and got him taken down a peg. Of course, this deputy now has a hard on for me and my family, but it's a small town and the Sherriff told him he'd better steer clear of us.

Not sure about the 'down a peg' thing. I'm pretty sure speaking with the caller alone, is SOP.

 

[Blueone]

Wow…. You are like an overachiever when it comes to bad timing. Glad it worked out

 

[b_arrington]

It was a two button push - one on both sides of the phone at the same time will activate the SOS mode, usually if placed in a tight spot or holder.

It does have a countdown. It used to be 5 seconds count, I think it's 10 now. If the ringer is on the phone gives out a "whoop whoop" sound to let you know it's about to call 911. If if silent mode it vibrates - that could easily be missed though.

iPhone also has an option to call emergency services when the power button is rapidly pressed 5 times in a row. This one seems to be a little less likely to trigger an accidental call, while being able to make a call easier/more clandestinely if you're under duress.

My daughter did the same thing with the 2 button hold. Jammed the phone in a cup holder and it set off a call to 911. Somehow the loud siren didn't clue her in. I didn't want to just hang up on the dispatcher so I stayed on and told her the phone went into emergency mode. The dispatcher seemed to be quite familiar with the issue.

 

[spikedaddy99]

Walk in his moccasins. Consider if he did not do due diligence and a scared little girl really gets hurt because she really did call and need 911.

Tom, my Dad (her Grandfather) is a retired cop. I know power tripping when I see it. Asking her if she's going to make a habit of this was a little ridiculous. He was trying to intimidate her, not check on her wellbeing. I agree with your comment 100%. In this case the LEO did not come across as worried about her. Again, his boss, the Sherriff, is a friend of mine and told him he was out of line.

 

[Gofirstclass]

I have an Android and have turned that "feature" off. Easy Peasy to do, just push and hold the power button for a few seconds and the screen displays an option to dial 911. That's also where you turn it off.

 

[jmauld]

Carpe Diem I would never of thought this of you. Just kidding. Too soon?

I was going to ask if this is what happens when you don’t agree with the helm chair selection, but wasn’t sure if that was in bad taste…

 

[OllieC]

I think I speak for most, as a parent we worry about our little ones and their safety. My nightmare has always been and always will be having my child abducted or put in an emergency situation where there's almost no escape. Which brings me to this point. I find it odd, that an emergency 911 feature on a phone would make a loud 'whooping' sound just before dialing 911, or make any noise/vibration at all for that matter. What if you needed to be discreet? Maybe there's a feature that I'm unaware of out of the umpteen million features on these phones.

 

[b_arrington]

I think I speak for most, as a parent we worry about our little ones and their safety. My nightmare has always been and always will be having my child abducted or put in an emergency situation where there's almost no escape. Which brings me to this point. I find it odd, that an emergency 911 feature on a phone would make a loud 'whooping' sound just before dialing 911, or make any noise/vibration at all for that matter. What if you needed to be discreet? Maybe there's a feature that I'm unaware of out of the umpteen million features on these phones.

Yes, you can set it to not make the noise. It's a toggle in the settings.

 

[boatman37]

Happened to my daughter a couple years ago. We got an alert that she had an emergency. We kept trying to call her with no answer. She owns a few rental properties so we worry about stuff like this. She has a black belt in Tang Soo Do and a few years of MMA training and carries a Glock but still. Her brother is a cop in the town over from where she lives so we were tracking the GPS map and she ended up home. Turns out she was on a Harley with a friend and threw her phone in the saddle bag and had no idea. Then a few weeks ago get one from my mothers phone. No answer. Turns out she left her phone in my step-fathers truck and he had bumped it somehow. Then this past Saturday I did it...lol. Had no idea. Heard this siren go off. 911 operator calls me and I told her who I was and she laughed and hung up...lol