How to Activate Emergency SOS on iPhone [VIDEO]

These days, smartphones are, for many people, an essential part of life. They carry our photos, help keep our appointments, and wake us up in the morning, among other things. They also have the potential to be life-saving thanks to a built in feature in iOS 11 that allows you to contact emergency services quickly when you're in trouble.

As I show in the video above, in the event you're in an accident, being chased by a ne'er do-gooder, or whatever the emergency situation may be, simply press the power button on the side of your iPhone five times to bring up the Emergency SOS option. Slide the "Emergency SOS" slider in the middle of the screen to the right and you're phone will automatically call 911.

This method works on iPhone 7s and older models. iPhone 8, iPhone 8-Plus, and iPhone X users can simply press an hold the power button along with either volume button on the opposite of the phone.

This feature will also send a text message to your emergency contacts that will include your current location. If you're in a situation where you are on the move because someone is chasing you, the service will continue to send texts to your emergency contacts each time your location changes. In the event you have location services disabled on your phone, SOS mode will temporarily turn them on.

For more on how the service works, and how to set up your emergency contacts, check out the Apple Support website.