How to turn off Emergency SOS on Android

Emergency SOS on Android is a great feature when you require help, but it can also be triggered by accident. This guide explains how to disable the feature to stop accidental emergency SOS calls to 911 and other services.

How to turn off Emergency SOS on Android

To deactivate Emergency SOS on most Android devices:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Safety & emergency on devices running Android 12 or newer and Advanced settings on Android 11 or older.
3. Tap Emergency SOS.
4. Toggle off Use Emergency SOS.
   • Note: This toggle may have another name on other devices. For instance, on vivo devices, this is called SOS Call.

Notably, if you don’t want to leave the feature activated but don’t want to connect to emergency services each time Emergency SOS is activated, toggle off Call emergency services under Emergency actions. This will prevent your device from dialing 911 but will still connect to emergency contacts.

To deactivate Emergency SOS messages on Samsung devices running One UI:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Safety & emergency.
3. Tap Send SOS messages, then toggle off Send SOS messages on the following screen.

What happens if you accidentally call Emergency SOS on Android?

Emergency SOS on Android is designed to alert a list of emergency contacts or an emergency service when activated. The feature is usually activated by pressing the power button three to five times in quick succession, but more recent devices can trigger the feature if a fall or violent stop is detected. In this scenario, you have five seconds to cancel the alert. If you do not cancel it, your emergency service in your country will be contacted.

While accidental calls to 911 aren’t ideal, you shouldn’t get into trouble. Should the emergency SOS feature trigger a call to emergency services and you can’t cancel it, tell the emergency operator that it was an accidental call, and they should understand. If the operator does answer and you hang up in a panic, the 911 operator will likely call you back. Again, state that it was an accidental call. In reality, it’s unlikely that you’ll get into trouble for an accidental call, but if you do find your phone triggering the feature too often, consider disabling it.

If you do ever need to call 911, remember that the service can be reached even without Android’s built-in Emergency SOS feature, and even without cell service in some cases.