[HN Gopher] Emergency SOS on Your iPhone
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       Emergency SOS on Your iPhone
        
       Author : tosh
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-08-03 20:23 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (support.apple.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (support.apple.com)
        
       | threatofrain wrote:
       | > (In India, you only need to press the button three times, then
       | your iPhone will call emergency services automatically.)
       | 
       | Curious. Why the difference?
        
         | nielsbot wrote:
         | Seems to be a law since 2017
         | 
         | https://9to5mac.com/2016/04/26/indian-government-will-requir...
        
       | pushcx wrote:
       | A non-obvious convenience is that triggering this (with or
       | without auto-call), it disables Face ID. It's an easy and subtle
       | gesture if you're in a situation where someone might activate
       | Face ID without your permission, like a theft.
        
         | cyral wrote:
         | Note that you don't need to actually trigger emergency SOS to
         | make this happen, just holding down the buttons to show the
         | power off/restart/emergency screen is enough to disable face
         | ID.
        
         | gnicholas wrote:
         | Or TSA or other law enforcement. In the US, you cannot be
         | compelled to give your password (compelled speech), but the law
         | is less clear on biometrics. Some courts have treated
         | thumbprints like speech, but higher courts have not yet weighed
         | in. The one sure thing is that passcodes are speech and cannot
         | be compelled.
        
       | demarq wrote:
       | Genuinely curious why this is on hacker news?
        
         | runjake wrote:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
         | 
         | TL;DR: If you feel its not appropriate for HN, flag it and move
         | on.
        
           | dwrowe wrote:
           | I think this response assumes snark in the post - since
           | emergency calling has been around and is a feature of the
           | phone - has something notable happened that would bubble this
           | up. I don't believe the intent was to assume this didn't
           | belong - but a request for more context on why it was being
           | posted / voted up.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Arnavion wrote:
         | It's useful to know.
         | 
         | The phone I have right now doesn't have such a feature. I've
         | idly wondered whether it's in breach of some law because of
         | that.
        
       | abotsis wrote:
       | PSA: Careful when adjusting your volume while your wearing
       | headphones (without a mic), while your phone is in your pocket by
       | squeezing the sizes of your phone. There's nothing more stressful
       | than trying to pull over on the shoulder, get your helmet and
       | gloves off, while a 911 dispatcher is repeatedly asking if you're
       | ok and need help.
        
         | themodelplumber wrote:
         | PSA follow-up: Tried something like Chubby Buttons?
        
         | gnicholas wrote:
         | For sure. This happened to me while I was driving and had an
         | Airpod in my ear. I was able to hang up before the 911
         | dispatcher picked up, but they immediately called back to make
         | sure I was OK. Glad to know they're so diligent!
        
           | ericbarrett wrote:
           | I was taught as a kid (80s) that if you accidentally dial
           | 911, stay on the line and tell the dispatcher it was a
           | misdial. This saves them the callback time; the person you're
           | talking to is often the same one on the radio to
           | fire/police/medical, especially in less populated areas.
        
         | cyral wrote:
         | I had it accidentally enabled on a roller-coaster myself. Both
         | my friend and I had zipper pockets so we could bring lose items
         | and a particular rocking motion managed to trigger it on both
         | of our phones. Didn't realize until after we were off and the
         | local police dept was trying to call back. I always wondered
         | after that how often that happened per day.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-03 23:01 UTC)