iPhones sold in India will require panic button starting in 2017

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As of January 1, 2017, all phones in India -- including iPhones -- will have to have some form of panic button to improve the security of women in the country, according to a new government order.




By January 2018, all phones will also have to have built-in GPS, said the Indian Express. That should allow a phone's location to be shared when the panic button is hit. iPhones have had GPS since the iPhone 3G.

In the case of "feature" phones, people must be able to trigger the panic function by hitting the 5 or 9 keys. The situation becomes more complex with smartphones however, most of which don't have a numeric keypad.

Instead, those devices will either have to add a dedicated button, or tie the option to an existing power button. The latter is more likely in the case of iPhones, as Apple normally avoids making region-specific hardware changes unless it involves supporting local wireless networks.

The Indian government is suggesting that companies going that route use a triple-click command, which would be relatively easy to implement in a future version of iOS as a region-specific setting.

iOS already has a pair of emergency functions, including Medical ID and the ability to dial emergency numbers without unlocking a device. India's panic button is meant for cases where an incident like rape or assault is imminent, however, and there might not be time or opportunity to dial as usual.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    ajmasajmas Posts: 596member
    Will be interesting to see if this will end up being India specific or whether it would be available worldwide? If it is available worldwide, would the feature need support by emergency call centres?
  • Reply 2 of 36
    Not good, countries already dictate the design and features of cars to some extent which has only made them more expensive and slowed innovation because of all the laws. Guess the same is about to happen with phones. Very slippery slope. 
    steveh
  • Reply 3 of 36
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,301member
    As they say, the police are minutes away when seconds count! This seems like a pointless feature. The police getting to you in minutes would be lucky. If anything I think there will just be a lot of false reports. As for doing any good, slim to none. Not any better then just dialing 911 or whatever it happens to be in other countries.
    redraider11dws-2cali
  • Reply 4 of 36
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,904member
    Have free dump app that would display nothing but large button which does noting but make a panic call to whatever default number configured for that country's emergency service phone number. You can also add few more numbers like parents/family.friends..That application just do that. By embedding panic button into default call app, people will dial mistakenly all the time and that will put unnecessary burden to verify emergency or fake call on emergency services call center.
    edited April 2016
  • Reply 5 of 36
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,904member
    jbdragon said:
    As they say, the police are minutes away when seconds count! This seems like a pointless feature. The police getting to you in minutes would be lucky. If anything I think there will just be a lot of false reports. As for doing any good, slim to none. Not any better then just dialing 911 or whatever it happens to be in other countries.
    In 3rd world countries, you want to keep police( due to corruption) away from your situation unless life threatening. Typically, police makes it worse and ends up money extortion. First, police will arrive after the situation is over one or other way than access your financial situation to see how much they can pull out.. Your best bet in those countries is call neighbor or family or friend.
    cali
  • Reply 6 of 36
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
    phone-ui-guyapple ][steveh
  • Reply 7 of 36
    This could replace dedicated systems like "I've fallen and I can't get up" Life Alert devices. Of course, there already is an Emergency button on the lock screen for calling 911 in the US, which is effectively the same method of getting assistance, so I'm not sure what is different about this implementation...
  • Reply 8 of 36
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    This could replace dedicated systems like "I've fallen and I can't get up" Life Alert devices. Of course, there already is an Emergency button on the lock screen for calling 911 in the US, which is effectively the same method of getting assistance, so I'm not sure what is different about this implementation...
    Perhaps it would be more effective having a Bluetooth-connected handheld fob a person could press, which would instruct the phone to send to their emergency services the location of the person (assuming there is little to no chance that women there will be allowed to properly arm and defend themselves against gangs of rapists).
    edited April 2016
  • Reply 9 of 36
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,904member
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
    On surface looks good idea to give power to women with gun to defend themselves but at the end police will come and lock up woman who gun down someone in self defense. Than in lockup, police will abuse/rape her over and over until she do suicide in cell. No one will come and help her. Life is way complex their so better to let them solve their issues themselves. We went into Iraq and look what happened.
    edited April 2016 ktappe
  • Reply 10 of 36
    mubailimubaili Posts: 453member
    they should also require phones battery to last more than 30 days, and have defense button to spray pepper spray, and be able to dole out high voltage to shock attackers, and be able to 3D print food on demand. That sure will trigger tons of innovation.
  • Reply 11 of 36
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    How about "Hey Siri call the cops" or what ever keyword you choose.
    aaron sorenson
  • Reply 12 of 36
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,117member
    Sort by death rate/100,000 and look where India is compared to 'murica.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

    Which is the bigger problem?
  • Reply 13 of 36
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    wood1208 said:
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
    On surface looks good idea to give power to women with gun to defend themselves but at the end police will come and lock up woman who gun down someone in self defense. Than in lockup, police will abuse/rape her over and over until she do suicide in cell. No one will come and help her. Life is way complex their so better to let them solve their issues themselves. We went into Iraq and look what happened.
    I'm not suggesting the US invade India, I'm suggesting Indian women band together and arm themselves against the predator-prey culture that is apparently widespread and still tolerated there.

    The threat of dying if one (or many) attack a woman could prove an effective deterrent.
    edited April 2016
  • Reply 14 of 36
    phone-ui-guyphone-ui-guy Posts: 1,019member
    wood1208 said:
    On surface looks good idea to give power to women with gun to defend themselves but at the end police will come and lock up woman who gun down someone in self defense. Than in lockup, police will abuse/rape her over and over until she do suicide in cell. No one will come and help her. Life is way complex their so better to let them solve their issues themselves. We went into Iraq and look what happened.
    I'm not suggesting the US invade India, I'm suggesting Indian women band together and arm themselves against the predator-prey culture that is apparently widespread and still tolerated there.

    The threat of dying if one (or many) attack a woman could prove an effective deterrent.

    @SpamSandwich This chart compares Rape and Other Sexual assaults by country. Interesting where India is as compared to the US. Not sure if this means they are under-reported in India because of what we are lead to believe. I do suspect they are under-reported in all countries listed though.


  • Reply 15 of 36
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Any woman needing the panic button stands a good chance of finding the phones battery flat because the GPS was locked on by default.  When the battery isn't flat, what is going to happen when it's pressed?  Absolutely nothing.  No police will turn up - guaranteed.  It's a foolish sop of an idea driven by naive politicians who want something , quick, easy and flashy to make it appear they are addressing a serious issue when they are doing anything but.
  • Reply 16 of 36
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    mknelson said:
    Sort by death rate/100,000 and look where India is compared to 'murica.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

    Which is the bigger problem?
    Those stats are misleading since it includes everything such as suicides and accidental deaths. India has 3 intentional homicides per 100,000 while the U.S. has 4. India has a huge problem with arms trafficking as well. India has more than half of the worlds illegal small arms in circulation today. 
  • Reply 17 of 36
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,714member
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women.
    I find this an utterly bizarre reaction.  I understand the primal instinct here of 'kill or be killed', but the fundamental reality which is completely lost in this type of thinking is that taking a life isn't something which most people would take lightly unless they've completely disconnected themselves from their emotions (which is essentially the definition of a psychopath).  So even if these women could bring themselves to kill someone due to the desperation of the situation, I have a hard time believing that they could simply get on with their life as if nothing had happened.  Most people would require counselling and therapy to come to terms with the fact that they've taken another person's life.  Much the same as if they had been sexually assaulted.

    Not to mention the added possibility that the perpetrator could get ahold of the gun and end up killing the woman (above and beyond sexually assaulting them).  Making the situation far more dangerous.

    The real solution here is eliminating the bias/corruption in the police and judicial systems to ensure that these types of assaults result in trial and punishment for the offenders.  Currently, the vast majority of these cases end up in no action by police or dismissal by the courts.
  • Reply 18 of 36
    croprcropr Posts: 1,120member
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
    How about understanding a different culture.  Thinking that a solution applicable in one country,  can easily  be transposed to another culture is massively arrogant and stupid
    singularityajmas
  • Reply 19 of 36
    croprcropr Posts: 1,120member
    kent909 said:
    How about "Hey Siri call the cops" or what ever keyword you choose.
    Are you sure that Siri understands the Indian accent.  And what if the woman does not speak English
  • Reply 20 of 36
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    How about allowing women in India to get training and have ownership of guns? That would put a quick end to these vile attacks on women. India is a massively screwed up country.
    Most couldn't afford a gun if they saved every penny for several years.
    dasanman69
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