Your phone could be a life-saving resource during an emergency.
Your phone is a vital and potentially life-saving tool you most likely have with you at all times.
Our phones are key to our social lives, but they could also help save lives in a natural disaster or other emergency. Should you wind up stranded on the side of the road, trapped inside your home or faced with an intruder that makes it impossible to dial 911, the Android phone or iPhone in your hand is a potentially life-saving tool.
In 2019, a young man's life was saved after he began having an asthma attack and dialed 911 from his Android phone. Despite his not being able to communicate with the operator, his location was sent to the call center and help arrived in time. In 2017, a 4-year-old saved his mom's life just by asking Siri to call for help. And phony calls to order pizza can help victims of domestic violence alert the police.
These extreme examples underscore the role that phones can play in preventing loss of life when situations spin out of control. Now that wildfire season and hurricane season are here, it's even more important to prepare for the unexpected. Police departments and first responders also realize our phones are a vital tool during emergency situations.
We talked to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office in Colorado for advice and tips about the many ways a phone can literally be your lifeline.
Read more: Emergency Prep: 3 Tips to Recover Important Documents After a Natural Disaster
Wildfires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes can devastate buildings and critical utilities in just a few minutes. The damage can last for days and weeks, taking down electrical grids and cell towers in the process.
Whether it's an unexpected event or one you've had time to prepare for, here are some tips on getting help:
Storms can take out electrical grids and cell towers in just a few seconds.
To conserve your phone's battery as much as possible, disable apps and services that won't find you help, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. When there's no cellular coverage, airplane mode will keep your phone from constantly searching for signal, which saves precious battery reserves.
In the wilderness, take plenty of precautions.
Unless you know a lot about plants, odds are you're not going to know what's safe to eat if you're in dire need of nutrition. You have a few options:
Texting to 911 is an option to keep in mind.
The first thing you need to do after you realize someone has broken into your house or there's an active shooter nearby is to hide and turn off all sounds on your phone. Dim its lights or switch into dark mode. Android users can quickly mute their phone in the quick-settings panel, and iPhone users can use the mute switch.
Additionally, go into your phone's settings app and disable all vibration, including keyboard and touch vibration -- vibration can be audible, especially if the phone is resting on a surface.
Rely on text messaging to alert someone on the outside what's going on. Ready.gov has more suggestions to help you prepare for an active shooter situation.
Depending on where you live, texting 911 may be an additional option. The FCC keeps an up-to-date spreadsheet of cities that support text-to-911. The list is updated once a month. I suggest searching the spreadsheet (Cmd+F on Mac, or Control+F on a PC) to find the city or county you're in, or will be visiting, to see if they support text-to-911.
If you attempt to use text-to-911 and it's not supported in your area, you will receive a message back letting you know no one received your message and you need to place a call. If it's unsafe to do so, text trusted and responsive contacts so they can place a call on your behalf.
Your phone's voice assistant can call for help, even if your phone is on the other side of the room.
Share your location with only those who you completely trust.