iOS 18 Gains Emergency SOS Live Video Support

iOS 18 is giving iPhone users who find themselves in an emergency situation a way to provide more information and context to emergency responders with an update to Emergency SOS.

emergency sos
Emergency SOS now supports live video, which means once the SOS feature is activated, streaming video and recorded media can be sent to emergency personnel. Emergency dispatchers can send a request for a user to share either live video or a video from the camera roll, which Apple says should make it easier and faster to get help.

Video is sent over a secure connection to the emergency dispatcher. The option could allow those in emergency situations to send key information for location purposes, to assess injury or risk, or to be used as evidence at a later date.

Emergency SOS is a feature on the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch that automatically calls the local emergency number and shares location information with emergency services. It is the backbone of the Crash Detection, Fall Detection, and Emergency SOS via satellite features.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

steve09090 Avatar
17 months ago
I like the slow, deliberate roll out for this, to try and ensure it doesn’t overload and seize the system. It will continually get better in stages. I approve.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
17 months ago
I like this idea and hope I never need to use such a feature.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
@Brett Avatar
17 months ago
Apple constantly adding potentially life saving features. Hope not to use them. But this can only be a good thing. We do not need to overwhelm emergencies services with things that don’t work properly.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xmach Avatar
17 months ago

Wait, you'll be able to send video but RCS over SOS Sat is still too bloated to work over it?
You're confusing two very different scenarios.

Apple has said that RCS is too inefficient for general-use texting (maybe thousands or hundreds of thousands of messages a day, maybe even more?). This is not incompatible with allowing video for the much more limited and rare emergency/SOS scenarios (probably no more than a handful or a few dozen SOS calls/day?).

Apple's implementation so far is entirely logical and reasonable.

Perhaps, in the future, as the capacity of Globalstar's satellite network continues to increase, Apple will eventually enable video for general use. For now though, capacity is limited, and it makes sense to limit video to only emergency use.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bluegt Avatar
17 months ago

Apple constantly adding potentially life saving features. Hope not to use them. But this can only be a good thing. We do not need to overwhelm emergencies services with things that don’t work properly.
It’s in their interest to ensure their customers live :D
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NightFox Avatar
17 months ago

Wondering if it shows the mic and camera light at the top of the screen? Otherwise big brother may be watching. :rolleyes:
IF you really do think that Apple would build some sort of surveillance capability into the iPhone, why do you think they would need to ‘sneak it in’ along with another function like this? They could bake it in the the OS anytime. And I’d like to think they’d have the foresight and technological competence to make sure the privacy warning indicators didn’t come on when ‘big brother was watching’.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)