• When using safety features to call emergency services, if a call or text session is initiated it may include your device location, regardless of whether you have enabled Location Services, to aid response efforts.
• When the call ends, your device will send a message to your emergency contacts with your location letting them know that Emergency SOS was triggered.
• Some safety features may be automatically enabled.

Emergency SOS

When using an Emergency SOS feature that initiates an emergency call, the call may include your location (regardless of whether you have enabled Location Services) and Medical ID (if enabled) to allow the dispatcher to assist you. Your location data and encrypted Medical ID information are sent to Apple for Apple to check whether the Enhanced Emergency Data service is supported in your area and to provide the data to emergency services. If supported in your area, a partner may retrieve your information from Apple for delivery to emergency services. Apple cannot read your Medical ID information. Once the call ends, your emergency contacts, and Check In contact if a Check In session is active, will automatically receive a message that says you have called emergency services, unless you cancel the message. This message also includes your current location, and for a limited period of time, your device will send updates to your emergency contacts and active Check In contact as your location changes. If you don’t want to send your location to your emergency contacts or active Check In contact, on your iPhone go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services, and tap to turn off Emergency Calls & SOS.

For more information about Emergency SOS & Privacy, visit www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/emergency-sos.

To learn more about Medical ID, go to Settings > Health > Medical ID > Emergency Access and tap Learn More.

To learn more about Location Services, visit www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/location-services.

Emergency SOS via Satellite

Emergency SOS via satellite can help you connect with emergency services under exceptional circumstances when no other means of reaching emergency services are available. This service may not be available in all locations or circumstances.

An unobstructed view of the sky and careful alignment between your device and a satellite are required to send and receive messages with emergency services. A satellite connection works very differently than your traditional network. As a result, messages may take longer to send and receive than with traditional text messages, and you may experience gaps in availability.

In some locations, you may be able to exchange messages directly with an emergency services center. If the emergency services center that serves your location cannot receive text messages, a third-party relay provider will text with you, and call emergency services on your behalf. In the United States, text sent directly to emergency services supports only the Latin alphabet.

If a cellular or Wi-Fi voice connection becomes available, you should contact emergency services via phone. However, if you do, you may not necessarily connect with the same emergency service provider handling your satellite session.

Emergency SOS via satellite is subject to satellite availability and may require a software update for continued functionality.

When you text using Emergency SOS via satellite, your messages are sent in encrypted form, and decrypted by Apple to be passed along to the relevant emergency services provider, or the third-party relay provider. Your messages may be retained by emergency service centers and the relay provider to improve their services to you, and in compliance with applicable law.

In order to route your text messages to a local emergency services organization, and to assist responders in reaching you, your location will be shared with Apple, emergency services text routing providers, and a third-party relay provider when you use Emergency SOS via satellite. Locations shared via satellite in Find My are sent in an end-to-end encrypted form and cannot be accessed by Apple.

During an emergency session, you may choose to share a transcript of your communication with emergency services with your pre-selected emergency contacts along with information about your location and the nature of your emergency. You can stop sharing your session transcript at any time by tapping Stop Sharing at the top of the screen.

Fall Detection

If Apple Watch SE or Apple Watch Series 4 or later detects a hard fall while you’re wearing your watch, a Fall Detection alert can help connect you to emergency services if needed. You can choose to contact emergency services or dismiss the alert. If your Apple Watch detects that you’re moving, it will wait for you to respond to the alert, and won’t call emergency services automatically. If your Apple Watch detects that you’ve been immobile for about a minute, it will make the call automatically.

When the autodialed call connects, your Apple Watch plays an audio message that informs emergency services that your Apple Watch detected a hard fall, and then shares your current location as latitude and longitude coordinates. The call will share your location regardless of whether you have enabled Location Services. If you previously enabled Medical ID to be shared during an emergency call, your Medical ID will also be shared automatically with emergency services (United States and Canada only). After the call ends, your Apple Watch will start a 10-second countdown prior to sending a message to your emergency contacts, and Check In contact if a Check In session is active, with your location, letting them know that your watch detected a hard fall and dialed emergency services. You can choose to cancel the message to your emergency contacts and active Check In contact within the 10-second countdown. Your Apple Watch gets your emergency contacts from your Medical ID.

If a fall is detected, the autodialed call cannot connect to emergency services, and you’re immobile, your iPhone can attempt to use Emergency SOS via satellite connectivity to automatically text emergency services limited information (for example, your location, battery life, and nature of emergency). Limited information (for example, your location, nature of emergency) will also be sent to your emergency contacts and active Check In contact on your behalf.

Falls are automatically recorded in the Health app, unless you reply that you didn’t fall when your Apple Watch asks. To check your fall history, open the Health app on your iPhone and go to Browse > Other Data > Number of Times Fallen.

You can enable or disable Fall Detection from the Apple Watch app on your iPhone by going to My Watch > Emergency SOS, then tapping to turn Fall Detection on or off. If Fall Detection is turned on, you can tap “Always on” or “Only on during workouts.” If you entered your age when you set up your Apple Watch or in the Health app, and you’re age 55 or over, Fall Detection turns on automatically. If you’re 18 to 55 years old, Fall Detection turns on automatically only during workouts. Wrist Detection must be enabled for your watch to automatically call emergency services. To do this on Apple Watch, go to Settings > Passcode and tap to turn on Wrist Detection. Fall Detection is available only for those age 18 or over. Apple Watch cannot detect all falls.

Crash Detection

If your iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch Series 8, or Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) detects a severe car crash, an alert will be triggered to call emergency services. You can choose to contact emergency services or dismiss the alert. If you do not respond to the alert within 10 seconds, your device will make the call automatically.

When the autodialed call connects, your device plays an audio message that informs emergency services that your device detected a car crash, and then shares your current location as latitude and longitude coordinates. The call will share your location regardless of whether you have enabled Location Services. If you previously enabled Medical ID to be shared during an emergency call, your Medical ID will also be shared automatically with emergency services (United States and Canada only). After the call ends, your device will start a 10-second countdown prior to sending a message to your emergency contacts, and Check In contact if a Check In session is active, with your location, letting them know that your device detected a car crash and dialed emergency services. You can choose to cancel the message to your emergency contacts and active Check In contact within the 10-second countdown. Your device gets your emergency contacts from your Medical ID. After the notification to emergency contacts and active Check In contact, your device will continue to display options to contact emergency services, open Medical ID information, or dismiss the alert. iPhone and Apple Watch cannot detect all car crashes. Location information may be used to determine whether or not a crash occurred.

If a severe car crash is detected, the autodialed call cannot connect to emergency services, and you’re unresponsive, your iPhone can attempt to use Emergency SOS via satellite connectivity to automatically text emergency services limited information (for example, your location, battery life, and nature of emergency). Limited information (for example, your location, nature of emergency) will also be sent to your emergency contacts and active Check In contact on your behalf.

You can disable or reenable Crash Detection by going to Settings > Emergency SOS > then tapping to turn Call After Severe Crash on or off or in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone by going to My Watch > Emergency SOS, then tapping to turn Call After Severe Crash on or off.

You can also choose to share Crash Detection data with a third-party application installed on your iPhone. If you allow access to the data and a car crash occurs, the third party will be informed automatically about the crash, which may include location data.

If you allow your iPhone to call emergency services after it detects a car crash, the call to emergency services will be placed prior to informing the third party about the crash. If you do not allow your iPhone to call emergency services after it detects a car crash, and a crash is detected and third-party sharing is on, your device will send an alert to let you know that a crash was detected, data was shared with the third party, and you should engage with the third-party app if able to do so.

You can choose whether to share Crash Detection data with a third party. To do so on your iPhone, go to Settings > Emergency SOS and tap to turn on Share Crash with App.

Compass Waypoints

You can use the Compass app to add your current location as a waypoint, which allows you to see the distance and direction to each Compass Waypoint you create. In addition, the Compass app can automatically generate two waypoints: A Last Cellular Connection Waypoint that will estimate the last place with cellular reception for connectivity, and a Last Emergency Call Waypoint that will estimate where on a route your iPhone or Apple Watch had the last connection to any available carrier’s network so that an emergency call can be made. In order for a Last Cellular Connection Waypoint or a Last Emergency Call Waypoint to be created, you must have Significant Locations enabled on your device, with Precise Location turned on for the Compass app. You can delete the Compass Waypoints you create in the Compass app by selecting the waypoint in the Compass App, then scrolling to the bottom of the screen and selecting Delete Waypoint.

Backtrack

In certain areas where you may need help retracing your steps, the Compass app and certain third-party apps available on Apple Watch may ask you for one-time access to your recent locations for safety purposes. These locations may not always be available, for example, if you are located close to familiar places, such as your home, or in urban areas. In order to use these features, you must have Significant Locations enabled for the device, with Precise Location turned on for the app.

Other Information

Some safety features may not be available for all devices or in every region or language. Some regions and countries have multiple emergency service numbers. For these locales, Apple Watch will call the number associated with ambulance services for Fall Detection alerts.

Applicable Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

We process your personal data in Emergency SOS and Emergency SOS via satellite as necessary for providing the service, and to comply with our legal obligations. Where consent is the appropriate legal basis, we seek it in accordance with applicable local law. Where applicable local law provides, we process the following categories of personal data for our legitimate interests to facilitate emergency services, prevent fraud or criminal activity, improve services, and help maintain the Emergency SOS and Emergency SOS via satellite systems and architectures:

• Your location
• Information about your sessions, such as the duration and content communicated to Emergency Services
• Your selected Emergency Contacts

Retention

Apple retains personal data only for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including as described in Apple’s Privacy Policy or in our service-specific privacy notices, or as required by law. When assessing retention periods, we first carefully examine whether it is necessary to retain the personal data collected and, if retention is required, work to retain the personal data for the shortest possible period permissible under law.

At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy

Published Date: September 18, 2023