You can use your phone to show your emergency info. In some countries and with some carriers, your phone can share your location with emergency services automatically.
Prepare for an emergency
Important: Anyone who picks up your phone can see your message and emergency info without unlocking your phone.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap About phone
Emergency information.
- Enter the info that you want to share.
- For medical info, tap Edit information. If you don't see "Edit information," tap Info.
- For emergency contacts, tap Add contact. If you don't see "Add contact," tap Contacts.
- To clear your info, tap More
Clear all.
- On a locked screen, swipe up.
- Tap Emergency
Emergency information.
- When Emergency information flashes, tap it again.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Depending on your phone:
- Tap Display
Advanced
Lock screen display
Lock screen message.
- Tap Security. Next to "Screen lock," tap Settings
Lock screen message.
- Tap Display
- Enter your information to help someone return your phone if you lose it.
- Tap Save.
Control emergency broadcast notifications
You can turn alert types on or off, view past alerts, and control sound and vibration.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Apps & notifications
Advanced
Wireless emergency alerts.
-
Choose how often you want to receive alerts and which settings you want to turn on.
- If you can't find Apps & notifications, get help from your device manufacturer.
Send your location automatically
To help first responders find you quickly, dial an emergency number. For example, dial 911 in the US or 112 in Europe.
If Android Emergency Location Service (ELS) works in your country and on your mobile network, and you haven't turned off ELS, your phone will automatically send its location using ELS. If ELS is off, your mobile carrier may still send the device's location during an emergency call or text.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Location. If you don't see "Location," tap Security & location
Location.
- Tap Advanced
Emergency Location Service or Google Emergency Location Service.
- Turn Emergency Location Service on or off.
Your phone uses Emergency Location Services (ELS) only when you call or text an emergency number. During the call, ELS may use Google Location Services and other information to get the most accurate location for your phone. If you opt in to share this data during emergencies, ELS may also send additional contextual information, like the language your device is configured with.
Your phone sends this data to authorized emergency partners to help emergency services locate and help you. Your data is sent directly from your phone to emergency partners, not through Google.
After you complete a call or text during which ELS is active, your phone sends usage and analytics data to Google to analyze how well ELS is working. This information doesn't identify you, and Google doesn't use it to identify you.
When you send your location with ELS, the process is different from when you share your location with Google Maps. Learn about Location Sharing with Google Maps.
Find out about earthquakes in your area
Your phone can detect earthquakes in your area. To learn more about nearby earthquakes, open Google search and search for "earthquake in [your city or region]".
To stop your phone from contributing to earthquake detection, turn off Google Location Accuracy.
Get alerts for nearby earthquakes (California only)
Your phone can send you alerts about nearby earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 and above. Your phone uses your approximate location to send info about an earthquake’s magnitude and distance from where you are. These earthquake alerts are based on data from ShakeAlert.
To turn earthquake alerts on or off:
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Location
Advanced
Earthquake alerts.
- Turn Earthquake alerts on or off.
You might not get alerts for all earthquakes in your area. Occasionally, you may get an alert but not feel an earthquake in your location.