The emergency trigger (5x button push) actually lets out a loud alarm letting you know it's about to call 911. How did the rapist not hear that and turn it off? How can any perp not hear that and just turn it off?
The near-victim worked out that the attacker wasn’t familiar with iPhones. He probably heard the countdown and didn’t know what it was. Also possible that his attention as elsewhere.
The emergency trigger (5x button push) actually lets out a loud alarm letting you know it's about to call 911. How did the rapist not hear that and turn it off? How can any perp not hear that and just turn it off?
The near-victim worked out that the attacker wasn’t familiar with iPhones. He probably heard the countdown and didn’t know what it was. Also possible that his attention as elsewhere.
Do you think she’s lying?
I'm not sure I'd know that the sound was from an iPhone's emergency trigger if it just started going off. If I was some asshole looking to commit a heinous crime I'd assume that my attention wasn't focused on how an iPhone works.
Does this work on all recent versions of iOS or just the latest? I certainly don't see the Emergency SOS on my home screen or does that just appear once triggered? I'd like to set this up for the young members of my family.
Great feature. Glad it saved this woman. Did we always have this many violent cretins in our society or do we just know about more incidences now due to all the media outlets and social media?
When I was a teen in the 1960's, there was a particular avenue that I'd walk down to get to the subway or go to eat. Especially in the winter, there weren't a lot of people there. Inevitably, a car would stop, always a solo male, and ask for directions to the parkway. I'd give the directions and they would always say, "do you want a lift?" I obviously knew better and would say no (sometimes more than once) and it would never go beyond that. No one ever left their car or insisted I get in. But still...what a bunch of pervs!
And this is why anyone should be skeptical of sob stories from strangers and why women (in particular) need to be both more vigilant of their surroundings and should be either trained and armed or be able to make a run for it in any given location.
Does this work on all recent versions of iOS or just the latest? I certainly don't see the Emergency SOS on my home screen or does that just appear once triggered? I'd like to set this up for the young members of my family.
Great feature. Glad it saved this woman. Did we always have this many violent cretins in our society or do we just know about more incidences now due to all the media outlets and social media?
When I was a teen in the 1960's, there was a particular avenue that I'd walk down to get to the subway or go to eat. Especially in the winter, there weren't a lot of people there. Inevitably, a car would stop, always a solo male, and ask for directions to the parkway. I'd give the directions and they would always say, "do you want a lift?" I obviously knew better and would say no (sometimes more than once) and it would never go beyond that. No one ever left their car or insisted I get in. But still...what a bunch of pervs!
1) I can’t seem to get the countdown to happen on my iPhone. It only wants to call the police department directly. Of the three times I tried I only managed to kill it before it connected on two attempts (assuming they call back every time a call to the police is disconnected).
2) I don’t know what this year has been like, but there are many recent years where crimes have become fewer but reports are higher because of the media.
Looking at it now... The UI needs more details about what it actually does and when/how.
If you don’t list an emergency contact, does it still call emergency services?
Do you need to enable the Auto Call feature for it to work at all, or is that a variation on some default behavior?
I’m hesitant to do the rapid button press thing to test it. I see there’s a countdown setting, but, still, I don’t know what to expect; accidentally calling 911 is ... problematic.
Feature saves a woman’s life and somebody has to come in and shit on it, questioning its usability, questioning its functionality, demanding changes from Apple. It never fails.
Cool story, bro. I wasn’t shitting on anything. Maybe stop being so ridiculously defensive for Apple and allow for people to seek clarification when the UI introduces doubt. Other commentators made far more helpful responses to me than yours.
Looking at it now... The UI needs more details about what it actually does and when/how.
If you don’t list an emergency contact, does it still call emergency services?
Do you need to enable the Auto Call feature for it to work at all, or is that a variation on some default behavior?
Emergency SOS is always on, and it's programmed to dial 911 in the US. And you can't change either of those settings.
On newer devices, you activate it by pressing the right button and one of the volume buttons. Hold them and a slider will appear, and then slide to call.
If you have the Call with Side Button enabled, you can get to the slider screen by only pressing the right side button 5 times quickly.
If you have Auto Call enabled, then continuing to hold the right button/volume button will initiate the call without needing to use the slider. Instead you'll get a countdown with a tone. You can cancel if need be.
I believe it's best to have both features enabled which would allow you to activate with one hand, and not need to see the screen to use the slider.
Additionally, you can add an emergency contact who will get a text message after 911 has been called, and they'll get your location and updates if your location changes.
Thank you very much for this reply and information! :-)
The emergency trigger (5x button push) actually lets out a loud alarm letting you know it's about to call 911. How did the rapist not hear that and turn it off? How can any perp not hear that and just turn it off?
Have you ever scuffled with someone who has a death grip on their phone and who you’re also trying to physically dominate, while generally being so psychotic as to be attacking someone in the first place?
The emergency trigger (5x button push) actually lets out a loud alarm letting you know it's about to call 911. How did the rapist not hear that and turn it off? How can any perp not hear that and just turn it off?
You can turn the countdown off in the settings. Maybe she had it switched off?
Does this work on all recent versions of iOS or just the latest? I certainly don't see the Emergency SOS on my home screen or does that just appear once triggered? I'd like to set this up for the young members of my family.
Great feature. Glad it saved this woman. Did we always have this many violent cretins in our society or do we just know about more incidences now due to all the media outlets and social media?
1) I can’t seem to get the countdown to happen on my iPhone. It only wants to call the police department directly. Of the three times I tried I only managed to kill it before it connected on two attempts (assuming they call back every time a call to the police is disconnected).
This is exactly why I’m extremely hesitant to try the feature.
As for crime overall, I remember reading statistics that show violent crime has generally reduced, on average. Not sure in what range of time that is based on. One study that I recall more specifically showed a very strong correlation between the reduction in violent crimes and the reduction in lead in the water systems (this might’ve been NYC).
There’s a lot more surveillance all over the place these days. The people still committing violent acts might be the more bold and impulsive ones at this point (??) and yes, the media knows that “it leads if it bleeds”. Human behavior is to focus on the bad, and the networks want to sell commercial time slots, so they do whatever they think will garner attention.
Bad things have always happened. Some of them are only now being talked about openly a lot more than they used to (like sexual abuse and assault against women). Also, stats show that hate-crime has been on the rise since a certain political entity gained power. People who might not have acted on antisocial impulses have been emboldened.
But the stats seem to show a decline in violence overall, in the USA at least. There are things we could do to continue and accelerate the trend, but it takes the will to change the status quo... (the “drug war”, for example).
And this is why anyone should be skeptical of sob stories from strangers and why women (in particular) need to be both more vigilant of their surroundings and should be either trained and armed or be able to make a run for it in any given location.
To those worried about testing this, don’t be. I triggered a call once on my Watch while out playing with my cat in the yard one night while kinda drunk, just from wresting on my arm where my hand had the side button pressed in and triggering a call. All of a sudden I heard my Watch talking to me: “911 what’s your emergency” and I was like “oh sorry, accidentally triggered it with my watch. No emergency, sorry.” I think my phone was even inside. Another time I somehow triggered it on my iPhone while sleeping on it and stopped it from calling one of my emergency contacts, and got a voicemail from 911 calling me back in case there was an emergency, and I didn’t need to call them or anything. 911 dispatchers are professionals and they understand mistakes, etc. They’re not going to SWAT you.
Not sure how she was able to press the power button and volume down button simultaneously while being assaulted.
It’s extremely easy. A firm grip on these phones very easily triggers buttons on both sides.
I’ve accidentally initiated the SOS feature while trying to do a screen capture on my iPhone XS Max. If Apple made the Down button with a different texture and tactile feel than the Up button I believe the false initiation rate of the SOS feature would drop dramatically. In a panicked state, when you’re pulling your large phone out of your pocket or purse it may take a second or two to make sure the orientation is as expected to initiate the SOS sequence. With a unique texture on the Down button it wouldn’t matter if you’re holding the phone right side up, upside down, or sideways. The feel of the button may knock a few milliseconds from the response time in a situation where every millisecond matters. I suppose case makers could implement this feature independently from Apple as an improvement. I’m thinking a cross hatch, horizontal ridges, bumps, or something similar. Maybe texturize the power button too.
Apparently the iPhone doesn't show LAT/LONG on EMS calls? You can get them from the Compass app if lost but in an emergency, being able to supply them without thinking about it could be extremely helpful. Of course not every police department nor RMP may have that capability.
I know of situations where police have supplied LAT/LONG info from iPhones to helos who then know where to go. It could be a toggled feature that would be more helpful than using cell tower triangulation, when and where that's even possible.
Thanks for the link and info. I should have realized that this was happening, based on another incident reported here. A hiker or bicyclist fell and woke up in hospital because his Watch called 911 and he was found alone and unconscious by EMS personnel.
Not sure how she was able to press the power button and volume down button simultaneously while being assaulted.
It’s extremely easy. A firm grip on these phones very easily triggers buttons on both sides.
I’ve accidentally initiated the SOS feature while trying to do a screen capture on my iPhone XS Max. If Apple made the Down button with a different texture and tactile feel than the Up button I believe the false initiation rate of the SOS feature would drop dramatically. In a panicked state, when you’re pulling your large phone out of your pocket or purse it may take a second or two to make sure the orientation is as expected to initiate the SOS sequence. With a unique texture on the Down button it wouldn’t matter if you’re holding the phone right side up, upside down, or sideways. The feel of the button may knock a few milliseconds from the response time in a situation where every millisecond matters. I suppose case makers could implement this feature independently from Apple as an improvement. I’m thinking a cross hatch, horizontal ridges, bumps, or something similar. Maybe texturize the power button too.
Completely agree. As the phone became more and more “minimalist” it also became more difficult to operate without actually looking at it. This is not an improvement in the usability-vs.-compromises ratio.
And this is why anyone should be skeptical of sob stories from strangers and why women (in particular) need to be both more vigilant of their surroundings and should be either trained and armed or be able to make a run for it in any given location.
Nice driveby victim blaming.
It’s not victim blaming. It’s a good reminder to know your situation at all times. She put herself in that situation. While everyone is glad things eventually turned out ok for her she didn’t need to be there. I’ll bet you from now on she’ll tell others not to do what she did. You don’t think that’s an important message to get out?
Comments
Great feature. Glad it saved this woman. Did we always have this many violent cretins in our society or do we just know about more incidences now due to all the media outlets and social media?
When I was a teen in the 1960's, there was a particular avenue that I'd walk down to get to the subway or go to eat. Especially in the winter, there weren't a lot of people there. Inevitably, a car would stop, always a solo male, and ask for directions to the parkway. I'd give the directions and they would always say, "do you want a lift?" I obviously knew better and would say no (sometimes more than once) and it would never go beyond that. No one ever left their car or insisted I get in. But still...what a bunch of pervs!
2) I don’t know what this year has been like, but there are many recent years where crimes have become fewer but reports are higher because of the media.
It’s extremely easy. A firm grip on these phones very easily triggers buttons on both sides.
Thank you very much for this reply and information! :-)
Have you ever scuffled with someone who has a death grip on their phone and who you’re also trying to physically dominate, while generally being so psychotic as to be attacking someone in the first place?
i sure hope not.
As for crime overall, I remember reading statistics that show violent crime has generally reduced, on average. Not sure in what range of time that is based on. One study that I recall more specifically showed a very strong correlation between the reduction in violent crimes and the reduction in lead in the water systems (this might’ve been NYC).
There’s a lot more surveillance all over the place these days. The people still committing violent acts might be the more bold and impulsive ones at this point (??) and yes, the media knows that “it leads if it bleeds”. Human behavior is to focus on the bad, and the networks want to sell commercial time slots, so they do whatever they think will garner attention.
Bad things have always happened. Some of them are only now being talked about openly a lot more than they used to (like sexual abuse and assault against women). Also, stats show that hate-crime has been on the rise since a certain political entity gained power. People who might not have acted on antisocial impulses have been emboldened.
But the stats seem to show a decline in violence overall, in the USA at least. There are things we could do to continue and accelerate the trend, but it takes the will to change the status quo... (the “drug war”, for example).