How to Add an Emergency Contact to Your iPhone

14 September 2015

A quick and easy guide on adding a medical ID to your iphone as well as an emergency contact that can be accessed even if your phone is locked.

There's a handy and relatively new feature for iPhone, that not many people know about. It could literally save lives, or at least help you get your lost phone back. 

You can now activate an area in your phone, called a "Medical ID". That can be accessed even if your phone is locked. So if something happens to you, you're in an accident, you're unconscious or not physically able to communicate any important medical details about yourself, then this Medical ID is invaluable. 

If you have an iPhone, make sure you've updated it to at least ios 8.1 I believe is the earliest update to give you access to the medical ID. 

Find the app called Health. It's a white square with a little pink heart on it. If you haven't had a look at the Health app before, it has a lot of handy little features, such as being a pedometer, and tracking how many steps you do a day, and how far you have walked. You don't even have to turn this on, in fact it's already been recording your steps. 

The last little tab down the bottom on the far right, is an asterisk that says Medical ID, underneath.


Once you tap, "Create Medical ID" you come to a page with lots of options and spaces for you to fill out with any details you may want. 

You also need to have the Emergency Access "Show When Locked" option set to on. That's the most important part. 

I would recommend having a photo of yourself in the section too. Make sure it actually looks like you. This isn't for instagram, it's for being able to identify you in an emergency, and know that these are your medical details. 

I don't have any Medical conditions, notes, allergies or medications to add. But if you do, add them in. You could be struggling to breathe but unless people see that you have allergies to something you just came in contact with, they might have no idea. 

I don't know my blood type, I really need to find that out. But fill that in too. The emergency contact bit is really good to have. I have my partner Josh, who I live with and both my parents. They will also come in handy if I lose my phone. (and if some nice person wants to return it to me) they can call one of these people. 

The organ donor section is a yes/no. You should all be organ donors, not enough people put down that they want to be. But you'll be dead. You can't use them anymore, and someone out there could really benefit.

Weight and height, can be used to calculate things like the amount of medication that you are able to be given. Don't feel awkward. It's not for just anyone to look at. 


How to Access the Medical ID on iPhone

You have to have it switched on, like at the top of the middle iphone in the photo above. 
Then when your phone lights up (by pushing the middle button or the power button) and it's still locked, you swipe to unlock and it comes to the passcode page. Don't try to unlock, down the very button on the left, it will say emergency which you all should already know takes you to an emergency call option. 

You should now see in the place of where it said Emergency, it will say Medical ID *
You can now tap that, and view all of your medical details as well as call any of the emergency contacts all while the phone is still locked. 

This is seriously so so handy, and the more people who know about it the better. 

If anyone knows about anything similar to this on the Android or Windows phone, let me know and I will add it to this post. It could save lives!



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12 comments

  1. I set this up when I got my new phone. Such a life saver (literally)

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  2. Ah this is such a great feature to have, one never knows what can happen

    Candice | Beauty Candy Loves

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  3. Such a clever idea, I just did it, thanks for sharing Tegan!

    Sara - She Who Is Short

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  4. Setting it up now! thanks for this, you are a lifesaver! :P
    ♥NY
    Yours Truly, NY

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  5. this is brilliant! Will set it up and have all of my family do the same. Thanks girly!

    Pam xo/ Pam Scalfi♥

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  6. This sounds like such a great idea!!

    Meg | A Little Twist Of…

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  7. This is a very informative post! I have only had an iPhone for a couple of months, and never would have known about this feature xx

    Laura | Lala London: Beauty & Lifestyle

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  8. This is such a helpful post♥♥
    chocolateandsunset.com

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  9. I've heard about this but have never got round to doing it. But I'm going to get right on it because it is so important! Thanks for sharing

    Kathryn | nimblenote.blogspot.com

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  10. I didn't know about this! Am adding this right now, what a useful thing x

    Josie’s Journal

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  11. This is very useful! Thank you!
    xx
    Mademoiselle Coconath
    http://mllecoconath.com

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  12. This is so good of you to point out - I've just added all my information. Didn't even realise it was there! So useful. x

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Thanks so much for commenting everyone! I read and appreciate every single one of your comments! xx