I was an emergency responder – simple iPhone change could save your life

A FORMER emergency services worker has urged iPhone users to change their settings.

Making a small tweak could help paramedics or the police find you and help you in a dangerous situation.

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We almost always carry our phones with us, so they can work as a great tool for emergencies.

Now ex-emergency services responder and TikTok star Rachel Kent has urged everyone to change their iPhone Siri settings.

Rachel, who has over 18,000 followers on her @rachhkent account, works in medicine in Philadelphia – and shared the tip online.

“This trick I learned while I was working as an EMS,” Rachel said in her latest video.

“And it could help you save someone’s life someday.

“So in order for this to work, you have to have your phone set to be able to activate Siri when it’s locked.

“I know this sounds weird but it’s actually really important.

“When someone’s phone is locked and they have an iPhone of course, when I was an EMS and we didn’t know who someone was, we could talk to their phone.

“And we could say ‘Hey Siri, who am I?’ and when you say that command, Siri will tell you who the person is, and it will pull up their contact.

“And then sometimes you can have them pull up their emergency contacts on the phone too.

“But it’s really helpful for identifying someone who we didn’t know who they were – if someone’s unconscious or didn’t have an ID etc.”

That’s not all: Rachel says there’s another important reason why you should allow Siri while an iPhone is locked.

And it’s linked to being stuck in a dangerous situation where you might not be able to physically touch your iPhone.

“The second reason why it’s important to have Siri be able to activate while your phone is locked is because if you’re stuck somewhere, you can yell to your phone and say ‘Hey Siri, call 911’.

“And then the phone can call 911 for you if you can’t dial it, if your hands are stuck.”

Rachel says there are lots of reasons why you might be unable to physically operate an iPhone in an emergency, so Siri could be a life-saver.

To activate it, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Allow Siri When Locked.

One more thing…

That’s not the only handy life-saving iPhone feature.

Apple has created a feature called Medical ID that quickly displays your key health info.

“Medical ID helps emergency responders access your critical medical information from the Lock Screen, without needing your passcode,” Apple explained.

“They can see information such as allergies and medical conditions, as well as who to contact in case of an emergency.”

To set it up, go into the Health app then tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.

Under the image, tap Medical ID.

Now choose Edit and then activate ‘Show When Locked’.

You can also select Share During Emergency Call – although this clever iPhone trick only works in the US.

Now add all of your information and then tap Done.

To see your Medical ID, open the Lock Screen then tap the Emergency button.

Now tap the red Medical ID button to see the info.

You can also use Apple’s Emergency SOS feature to quickly call the emergency services.

How to activate Emergency SOS

There are two ways to activate the Emergency SOS features.

Either press the side or top button five times to pull up the Emergency SOS slider.

Alternatively on an iPhone 8 or later, press and hold the side button and one volume button until the slider appears.

Then drag the emergency slider to begin the call.

You can choose the way you want to call by going into Settings > Emergency SOS.

“If you continue to hold down the side button and volume button, instead of dragging the slider, a countdown will start and an alert will sound,” Apple explained.

“If you hold down the buttons until the countdown has finished, your iPhone will automatically call the emergency services.”

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