Get help in an emergency using your Android phone

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.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 10 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Prepare for an emergency

Important: Anyone who picks up your phone can see your message and emergency info without unlocking your phone.

Add emergency info on your lock screen
You can add a link to personal emergency info to your phone's lock screen, like your blood type, allergies, and medications.
  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap About phone And then Emergency information.
  3. 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 And then Clear all.
Find emergency info
  1. On a locked screen, swipe up.
  2. Tap Emergency And then Emergency information.
  3. When Emergency information flashes, tap it again.
Put a message on your lock screen
  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Depending on your phone:
    • Tap Display and then Advanced and then Lock screen display and then Lock screen message.
    • Tap Security. Next to "Screen lock," tap Settings and then Lock screen message.
  3. Enter your information to help someone return your phone if you lose it.
  4. Tap Save.

Control emergency broadcast notifications

You can turn alert types on or off, view past alerts, and control sound and vibration.

  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Apps & notifications and then Advanced and then Wireless emergency alerts.
  3. Choose how often you want to receive alerts and which settings you want to turn on.
You can use this setting to manage certain emergency messages, like disaster warnings, threat notifications, and AMBER alerts.

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.

Turn emergency location service on or off
  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Location. If you don't see "Location," tap Security & location and then Location.
  3. Tap Advanced And then Emergency Location Service or Google Emergency Location Service.
  4. Turn Emergency Location Service on or off.
How Emergency Location Service works

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 & Oregon)

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:

  1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
  2. Tap Location And then Advanced And then Earthquake alerts. 
  3. 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.

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