Use the Personal Safety app to save and share your emergency info. Your phone can contact emergency services automatically in some countries and with certain carriers.
Important:
- Some of these steps work only on Android 13 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.
Prepare for an emergency
Important: Anyone who picks up your phone can view your lock screen message and emergency information even with your phone locked. You can turn off this setting in the Personal Safety app.
Use the Personal Safety appAdd the Personal Safety app on a Pixel 3a or earlier
- Check that you have the latest Android software. Learn how to check your Android version.
- Go to Settings
About phone.
- Tap Emergency information.
- In the banner at the top of the screen, tap Update.
About phone.If you don’t notice the banner, check if the Personal Safety app is already on your phone. Be sure it’s updated to the latest version in the Play Store.
What you can do
- On Pixel 3a and earlier, even if you haven't added the app to your phone: You can sign in with your Google Account, add emergency contacts, and list medical info.
- When the app is installed: You can use Emergency SOS, Emergency sharing, Safety check, Crisis alerts, and Car Crash Detection. Car Crash Detection is available on Pixel 4a and later, including Fold.
What you need
The Personal Safety app requires Location Services and permissions to be turned on. Location Sharing is only available in certain countries and for some user types. Learn more about Location Sharing.
You can share your real-time location with others from your devices through Location Sharing. When you share your location with someone, that person can view your name, photo, and real-time location across Google products, including Google Maps. Your shared location info could include:
- Your current or previous locations.
- Your current activities, like driving or walking.
- Your device specifics, like battery life or GPS connections.
- Your call status, like “started a call” or “called local emergency number.”
- Your places, like home, work, or destinations.
You can add personal emergency info to your phone's lock screen, like your blood type, allergies, and medications.
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
.
- If asked, sign in to your Google Account.
- Tap Your info.
- Add your emergency info.
- For Medical information:
- Tap Medical information.
- To add info like allergies or medications, tap the item in the list you'd like to update.
- For Emergency contacts:
- Tap Emergency contacts
- Tap Emergency contacts
- For Medical information:
Tips:
- To show your emergency info when your screen is locked, tap Allow access to emergency info
Show when locked.
- Set up a SIM card or eSIM with your phone. Otherwise, your phone can’t text your emergency contact later. Learn how to insert a SIM card.
- If you don't have the Personal Safety app on your phone, learn how to add the app.
Show when locked. If your phone detects you’ve been in a severe car crash, it can call emergency services automatically, like 911 in the US and share your location.
Important: Your phone must have a SIM for Car Crash Detection to work. Learn how to add a SIM.
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Features.
- Scroll to "Car Crash Detection."
- Tap Set up.
- When asked to share your location, tap Allow while app is in use.
- When asked to share your microphone and physical activity, tap Allow.
How Car Crash Detection works
To detect a possible severe car crash, Pixel 4a and later phones, including Fold, can use info like your phone’s location, motion sensors, and nearby sounds. Car Crash Detection requires location, physical activity, and microphone permissions to work. If your phone detects a car crash, it can call emergency services for you. This call uses Android’s Emergency Location Service and may transmit info about where you are and what happened. Learn how to manage your Pixel phone’s permissions.
Important:
- Both Car Crash Detection and Emergency Location Service can be used independently.
- If turned on, Emergency Location Service will work for all emergency calls (if available in an area) and send your location info to emergency services.
- Car Crash Detection also uses Emergency Location Service whenever it places a call automatically during emergency situations.
- Car Crash Detection will continue to function even if Emergency Location Service is turned off.
Your phone may not be able to detect all crashes. High-impact activities could also trigger Car Crash Detection. In some cases, your Pixel phone might not be able to call emergency services. For example, your phone might be connected to a weak mobile network or in an ongoing call.
Interoperability
Car Crash Detection is interoperable between Pixel Watches and Pixel phones if paired through Bluetooth. When actively paired, both devices will check in with you and you can respond on either device once.
Tip: When your watch isn't connected with its paired phone through Bluetooth and both devices are powered on, Car Crash Detection will run on each device independently.
Where Car Crash Detection is available
On Pixel 4a and later, including Fold, Car Crash Detection is available:
In the following languages:
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- French
- French (Canada)
- Italian
- Japanese
- Mandarin Chinese
- Norwegian
- Spanish
- Swedish
For the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- India
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Singapore
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- UK
- US
If you’re in an emergency situation, you can use your phone to start emergency actions like calling for help, sharing your location with your emergency contacts, and recording video.
Important:
- Your phone must have a SIM for Car Crash Detection to work. Learn how to add a SIM.
- Emergency SOS doesn’t work in airplane mode or when Battery Saver is on.
- Emergency SOS is available on Pixel 4a and later, including Fold.
Set up & turn Emergency SOS on
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Safety and emergency
- At the bottom, tap Start setup.
- If you need help, your phone can start emergency actions.
- To set up your emergency services number, tap Start.
- If you need to change the local emergency number, tap Change number.
- Once you have the correct local number, tap Next.
- If you're unable to respond, you can turn on assisted calling so your phone can share your location with emergency services.
- To use assisted calling, tap Turn on.
Tip: Availability of assisted calling depends on location.
- To use assisted calling, tap Turn on.
- To share your location information with and send updates to your emergency contacts, tap Start setup
- Tap Add contact, then pick a contact to share information with during an emergency.
- Choose what information to have Emergency SOS share with your emergency contact.
- Tap Next.
- To share your location in an emergency, you must allow the Personal Safety app to access your location while using the app.
- Tap Next
- Tap Next
- To have emergency SOS start an emergency recording while still using your phone's other features, scroll down and tap Start setup.
- If you want to record emergency video, tap Turn on
- You can choose to share your video automatically with your emergency contacts after it's backed up to your device. Choose Share automatically after backup
- If you want to record emergency video, tap Turn on
- To start Emergency SOS actions, choose one of the options:
- Select Use touch & hold to start actions.
- Select Start actions immediately after countdown. If you want an alarm to sound with this option, turn on Play alarm sound.
- To set up your emergency services number, tap Start.
- Tap Done.
Choose how to start Emergency SOS
You can set up Emergency SOS so the emergency actions start automatically, or you can require a confirmation step before the actions start.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Safety & emergency
- Under "How it works," tap Settings
.
- You can set up Emergency SOS in two ways:
- To add a confirmation step before an emergency action starts, tap Touch & hold to start actions.
- To start emergency actions automatically after a 5-second countdown, tap Start actions automatically.
.- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Safety & emergency
- Under "How it works," tap Settings
- Tap Turn off Emergency SOS.
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Display
- Enter your message, like info that would help someone return your phone if you lost it.
- Tap Save.
You can turn alert types on or off, find past alerts, and control sound and vibration.
- On your phone, open the Settings app.
- Tap Notifications
- Choose how often you want to receive alerts and which settings you want to turn on.
Get help during an emergency
Get help after a car crash (Pixel 3 & later, including Pixel Fold)Important: Car Crash Detection doesn’t work in Airplane mode, or when Battery Saver is on. Car Crash Detection only works in the country of your phone's SIM, not when roaming.
When you have Car Crash Detection turned on, your phone can determine if you were in a severe car crash. Your phone will vibrate, sound an alarm, and ask if you need help, both aloud and on your phone screen.
If you respond within 60 seconds, you can choose to call emergency services or cancel the call.
Call emergency services
- If Emergency Sharing is turned on, say “Emergency” or drag the slider to Call 911 & notify contacts.
- Your phone will turn on speaker phone automatically.
Cancel the call
- Say “Cancel” or tap I'm OK.
- Your phone won’t make an emergency call.
If you don’t respond within 60 seconds
- Your phone will automatically turn on speakerphone, try to call emergency services, say that a car crash happened, and share your device’s approximate location.
- The message will repeat, but you can speak over it. To stop the message and stay on the call, tap Cancel.
Important: Emergency SOS doesn’t work in airplane mode or when Battery Saver is on.
If you’re in an emergency situation, you can use your phone to start emergency actions like calling for help, sharing your location with your emergency contacts, and recording video.
- On your phone, press the power button 5 times or more.
- Depending on your settings, touch and hold inside the red circle for 3 seconds or wait for the automatic countdown to start the emergency call.
- After you start an emergency call, other emergency actions begin based on your settings.
Important: If you turned on Emergency Sharing and video recording, these actions will start while your call is placed to emergency services. Learn more about how to record video in an emergency.
Accidental calls
Important: Video recording is designed for you to record emergency situations and related events to improve your personal safety. In addition to our Privacy Policy, when you use the features of our products to record, upload, and/or share video and audio content, such as recordings of an emergency situation, we may log use of the application, sharing with emergency contacts, and video link views/downloads. Recordings of emergency events may be disturbing to your emergency contacts and may cause those persons distress. Please use the video sharing feature carefully. It is your responsibility to ensure full compliance with the law when using this feature, including any applicable state and federal video recording or wiretapping laws. By using this feature, you acknowledge and accept the aforementioned. Learn more about our Terms & Conditions.
How emergency recording works
With emergency recording, you can still use your phone to do other tasks like share your location with emergency contacts and get help from local emergency services.
Note: If you open another app that uses your camera, emergency recording will be paused. When emergency recording is paused, your recording will show a gray screen. To go back to your emergency recording, open the Personal Safety app again or tap the notification at the top of your screen.
Emergency recording can record and save video up to 45 minutes. The quality of the video is about 10 MB per minute.
How auto share works
If you turn on auto share, a link to your video will be automatically shared with all of your emergency contacts after each recording. If you don’t have Emergency Contacts set up, your video will not be shared with anyone. If you decide you don’t want to share the video, you have 15 seconds after recording to cancel sharing. After you finish recording, the time it takes to upload and share your video depends on your internet connection. Any emergency contact you share with can download a copy of your video.
Only one sharing link per video can be active at a given time. Each link created has a 7-day expiration timer that is meant to protect your privacy. You can deactivate a link at any time. To refresh the expiration timer, deactivate the existing link and create a new link. To deactivate a sharing link:
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Your info
- Next to a video, tap More
Emergency recording is intended for personal use in emergency situations to keep you safe. Google will automatically disable an active shared link if it’s being shared excessively. Excessive sharing is defined as more than 120 visits to the unique sharing link.
How auto backup works
Emergency recordings are automatically uploaded to the cloud. This helps protect your data if your phone is lost or destroyed during an emergency. Uploading to the cloud requires an internet connection and may cost money if you are on a metered network. Uploaded emergency recordings can be managed any time with internet connection. To manage your videos:
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Your info
- Next to a video, tap More
Tip: If you delete a file, it’s permanently deleted from your Google Account and this can’t be undone.
- On a locked screen, swipe up.
- Tap Emergency
To help responders find you quickly, your phone's location can be sent when you dial or text an emergency number, like when you dial 911 in the US or 112 in Europe.
If Android Emergency Location Service (ELS) works in your country or region and on your mobile network, and you haven't turned ELS off, your phone will automatically send its location to first responders through ELS. If ELS is off, your mobile carrier might still send the device's location during an emergency call or text.
Turn Emergency Location Service on or off
- On your phone, open the Settings app.
- Tap Location
- Turn Emergency Location Service or Google Emergency Location Service on or off.
How Emergency Location Service works
Your phone uses Emergency Location Service (ELS) only when you call or text an emergency number.
If your phone has ELS turned on, ELS may use Google Location Services and other info to determine the most accurate location for your phone during an emergency call. ELS may also send extra info, like the language your device is set up with.
To help them locate and assist you, your phone makes this data available to authorized emergency response services. Emergency response services receive this data directly from your phone, not through Google.
After you complete a call or text during which ELS was active, your phone sends usage, analytics, and diagnostics data to Google via Google Play Services. Google uses this info to analyze how well ELS works and doesn't receive any info that could identify you, including your location.
When you send your location with ELS, the process is different from when you share your location with Google Maps. Learn more about Location Sharing with Google Maps.
You can let your emergency contacts view your location and receive updates about where you are and your battery percentage. You must give the Personal Safety app permission to access your location.
To use Emergency sharing, you must:
- Have at least one emergency contact.
- Grant the Personal Safety app "While in Use" location permissions.
- Important: If Location Sharing is unavailable in your country, a message will appear in the Personal Safety app.
- Have an internet connection and Location Services turned on.
- Turn on Emergency call status sharing.
Start Emergency sharing
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Emergency sharing.
- Select who you want to share your real-time location with.
- You can add an optional message.
- Tap Share.
- Tap the notification banner to view the details of your Emergency sharing.
Stop Emergency sharing
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap the emergency sharing information.
- Tap Stop.
- You can add a note to explain why you’ve ended the emergency share.
Tip: Emergency sharing will automatically end after 24 hours.
Emergency sharing with Car Crash Detection
If you have Car Crash Detection turned on, you can set your phone to start Emergency Sharing in the event of a crash.
Turn on Emergency sharing with Car Crash Detection
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- At the bottom, tap Features.
- Tap Car Crash Detection.
- Select your phone’s emergency response if it detects a crash.
- To text your location and updates to your emergency contacts, tap Emergency Sharing.
If Car Crash Detection is turned on, it will automatically call emergency services.
- If a crash is detected and you respond within 60 seconds, you can:
- Tap I’m OK to cancel the call.
- Tap Call 911 & notify contacts.
Tip: You can ask Google Assistant to start Emergency Sharing by saying, “Hey Google, start Emergency Sharing.”
With Google Assistant, you can use your voice to share your location with emergency contacts or schedule a Safety Check. There are some differences from when you use the Personal Safety app:
- When starting Safety Check with Assistant, Personal Safety won’t send a text message to your emergency contacts.
- When starting Emergency Sharing with Assistant, you can’t select from among your contacts. Emergency Sharing will send info to all of your emergency contacts.
To start or stop a Safety check, ask Google Assistant:
- “Hey Google, start a Safety Check.”
- “Hey Google, start a Safety Check for [duration].”
Tip: Your Safety check can last from 1 minute to 24 hours.
- “Hey Google, stop Safety Check.”
To start or stop Emergency sharing, ask Google Assistant:
- “Hey Google, start Emergency Sharing.“
- “Hey Google, stop Emergency Sharing.”
If you want your phone to check on you and let your emergency contacts know if anything is wrong, you can schedule a safety check. For example, you can use a safety check when you walk in an unfamiliar area or go to a party. You must give "While in Use" location permissions to the Personal Safety app.
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Safety check.
- Select your Reason and Duration. You can set the check for 15 minutes to 8 hours into the future.
- Then, tap Next.
- Select your contacts.
- Tap Start.
If you turn on notifications for your emergency contacts, they’ll get a text with:
- Your name.
- The duration of your safety check.
- A reason, if you provided one.
Text limits may apply.
Mark yourself safe
When it’s time to check in, you’ll get an alert for 60 seconds before Emergency sharing begins. If you mark yourself safe, the Emergency sharing will be canceled. You can stop Safety check at any time through the notification. If you don’t choose one of the options within 60 seconds, Emergency sharing will begin.
- When you get the notification, choose one of the options:
- I’m OK. Don’t Share.
- Start sharing now. This will end future safety checks.
- Call 911.
- If your phone is locked, you may need to unlock it.
If your phone turns off or loses signal, Safety check will remain active. The check will start Emergency sharing with your last known location at the scheduled check-in time.
When Emergency sharing starts, Google will send your emergency contacts a text including:
- Your name
- A link to view your real-time location in Google Maps
- Your remaining battery percentage
- A message, if you provided one
You can stop Emergency sharing and Safety check manually, or mark yourself safe. When they stop, Google sends another text to your contacts to let them know your Safety check has ended.
Text limits may apply.
Crisis alerts are available in all countries and languages. If your phone is set to a language different from the local language, the alert may show up in your current location's official language instead of your set language.
Turn Crisis alerts on or off
- Open your phone's Personal Safety app
- Tap Features
- Turn Crisis alerts on or off.
How Google sends crisis alerts
Google manages crisis information from official local sources. If a crisis is posted that affects your location, the Personal Safety app will notify you. Google posts crisis alerts based on various factors, like internet connectivity in the affected area, official info from governments and other authorities, and the impact on the ground. Alerts are typically available in the primary languages of the affected area and English. Learn more about crisis alerts.
You can quickly dial emergency services while on your phone, even when it’s locked.
Set up an emergency dialer
Choose connection options with emergency services in the Personal Safety app :
- Fast Emergency Dialer (FED) lets you quickly call for help with a swipe on a slider. Emergency numbers for your area are listed automatically.
- Traditional Emergency Dialer (TED) shows a dialpad that you can use to dial emergency numbers.
Pixel phones are set to use FED automatically where it’s available. Learn about FED availability.
Fast Emergency Dialer features
- Quick access: To call an emergency number with one action, use the slider.
- Automatic emergency numbers: Your phone finds emergency numbers automatically, even when you travel.
- Multiple emergency numbers: Your phone finds available numbers for your area, like Police, Fire, or medical services. Use the slider for the emergency service you need.
How to use Fast Emergency Dialer
With the power button (Android 11 and earlier and Android 12 on Pixel 5 and earlier):
- Hold the Power button for 5 seconds.
- Tap Emergency.
- In the emergency menu, use the slider.
With the power and volume buttons (default on Android 12 and Pixel 6 and later):
- Press the Power button and the Volume up button at the same time.
- Tap Emergency.
- In the emergency menu, use the slider.
Fast Emergency Dialer availability
Important: FED isn’t available in all regions or areas. Your carrier and other circumstances can limit FED and its availability, even in covered areas.
When FED isn’t available: Your phone automatically uses TED, which displays a dialpad you can use to dial emergency numbers. When FED isn't available, your emergency dialer settings don’t change.
If you’re in an emergency situation without Wi-Fi or mobile network, you can connect with emergency services through satellite.
Get help in an emergency with Satellite SOS on Google Pixel
Who can use Satellite SOS
- This feature is currently available in the US only (except Hawaii and Alaska).
- This feature is available on Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold only.
Access Satellite SOS
To contact emergency services when you don’t have a network coverage on your Pixel phone:
- Dial 911 immediately.
- If you don’t have a mobile or Wi-Fi network, you'll find an option to use Satellite SOS in the dialer.
- Tap Satellite SOS
- To describe your emergency, fill out the emergency questionnaire.
- To share your emergency with your emergency contacts, answer the on-screen questions.
- To notify your emergency contacts, tap Notify.
- If you don’t want your emergency contacts to receive your location and emergency information, tap Don’t notify.
- To connect to the satellite, follow the on-screen prompts to correctly position your phone.
- Connection and response times vary based on location, site conditions, and other factors.
- Once you’re connected, the emergency service provider should reply via text within a few minutes.
- To receive replies, stay outside with a clear view of the sky.
- When you would like to end the satellite text conversation, press the End button and follow the prompts.
Tip: You'll need Google Messages as your default messaging app to avail the service. If you change your default messaging app, you'll get a notification that Satellite eSOS will no longer be available.
Make assisted emergency calls
When you dial an emergency number on a Pixel phone (like 911 in the US), you'll find an "Emergency Number" screen with info and features to help during the emergency.
- Most emergency operators should know these features (you can revert to a normal voice call)
- No internet connection needed
- No set-up needed
You can read your location from your screen to the emergency operator. Depending what your phone can detect, you could find:
- Full street address
- Plus code (like, "CWC8+JH")
- Plus codes are an easy way to state longitude and latitude.
- Emergency operators recognize them.
- Longitude and latitude (like, "37.4216105,-122.0857449")
- Map
Important: This feature is available in only Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, and the US.
To alert an emergency operator without speaking, tap either Medical, Fire, or Police.
Your phone will stay silent. But the emergency operator will hear:
- That this is an automated voice service
- The kind of help you need
- Your location (Australia, UK, and US only)
- Your name (if available from your set-up Emergency Information or other on-device sources)
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 & Washington
Greece & New Zealand
Turn earthquake alerts on or off
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Safety & emergency
- Turn Earthquake alerts on or off.