More Emergency SOS Options

The Emergency SOS feature introduced back in iOS 10.2 has been tweaked to offer more consistency and less risk of accidentally triggering “911” calls to Emergency Services.

As of now, Emergency SOS works differently depending on the iPhone model you’re using. On 2017 and later models, starting with the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, the sequence is initiated by pressing and holding down the side button and volume buttons for about five seconds.

However, on older models, from the iPhone 7 and prior, the feature is activated by instead rapidly pressing the side or top button five times.

With iOS 15.2, you’ll soon be able to choose which method you want to use, or even enable both, with two new toggle switches that can be found under Settings, Emergency SOS to Call with Hold and Call with 5 Presses.

Apple also notes that either of these methods will now trigger an eight-second countdown before calling Emergency Services, which is an increase from the previous three-second timer. This will give you more time to change your mind should you trigger the feature accidentally.

Notably, at least in this first beta, while the timer starts at 8 seconds, the audible alert siren won’t begin sounding until it reaches the five-second mark.