How to Set Up Emergency Location Sharing

On iPhone

Emergency contacts are managed through Medical ID. Emergency SOS can notify them after an emergency call and may share changing location for a period. Availability and emergency-service data sharing vary by country and region.

On Android

Supported Android devices may provide Emergency Sharing, Emergency Location Service or Personal Safety features. They require appropriate permissions and may depend on mobile data, Wi-Fi, Location and the Google Account.

Privacy choices

• Use only trusted contacts.
• Include only necessary medical or location information.
• Review background location access.
• Remove old emergency contacts promptly.

Safe verification

Use settings screens, recipient confirmation or an official demo. Do not initiate a real emergency call for testing.

Decide the privacy boundary in advance

Emergency sharing should not silently become permanent tracking. Agree who can see the location, how long sharing lasts and who is allowed to change the setting.

Choose who receives location, for how long and under what trigger

Emergency location features differ from ordinary continuous family tracking. Review whether sharing starts after SOS, after an emergency call or only when manually activated.

• Select contacts who understand the alert and are likely to respond.
• Check battery, mobile data and location permissions required by the feature.
• Confirm whether the contact receives a live location, last known point or message link.
• Practise with a non-emergency sharing feature or platform demo rather than triggering services.

Explain how to stop sharing and review privacy after the event. Location should not continue indefinitely merely because an emergency contact was once configured.