There are times when walking alone at night is unavoidable. When it happens, I usually rely on the Android Personal Safety app to stay safe. It allows me to share my whereabouts with a trusted friend and I can check in once I’m safely home. This post highlights other useful features that can enhance your personal security.
Good to know: check these Android security features that you should be using.
Content
- What Is the Android Personal Safety App?
- How to Set Your Emergency Information
- Other Features of Android Personal Safety
What Is the Android Personal Safety App?
Android Personal Safety (APS) is an app by Google that was designed to provide assistance in emergencies and monitor your location in situations where you might feel vulnerable.
Originally, the Android Personal Safety app was exclusive to Pixel devices, but that’s no longer the case as the tool is now compatible with several Android devices (although not all.) To check if your phone supports yours, visit the Google Play Store and see if you can find the app. If you have a Pixel phone (Pixel 4 and up), you should already have the app preinstalled.
Finally, some of the features in Android Personal Safety will only work with Android 12 and above. For a smooth experience, make sure you update your phone to Android 14 (if that’s available for your device.)
Tip: learn how to unlock your Android’s Safe Folder and keep sensitive apps hidden.
How to Set Your Emergency Information
You can set emergency info in the Android Personal Safety in two ways – either from the app or from your phone’s Settings. Here’s how.
Open the Android Personal Safety app on your device and switch to the Your Info tab at the bottom. At the top, check the Emergency info section.
Tap on Medical information. Here you can input important data regarding your medical history such as Allergies, Blood type, Pregnancy status, or Medications (you’re currently on.) This info can prove crucial to first responders or medical personnel in case of an accident or other type of emergency.
Next, we have Emergency contacts. Here you can add the people who should be contacted in case something unexpected happens to you. Press + Add contact to add someone to the list.
Finally, tap on Emergency info access. The first option Show when locked should be on by default. This allows first responders and other people to dial your emergency contacts from the lock screen. Additionally, you can enable Share during emergency call as well. If you’re in an area where Emergency Location Service is available, when you call or text an emergency number, your phone will automatically share your emergency info with emergency response partners.
You can also access the same options from your Pixel’s Settings -> Safety & emergency. You’ll find the Medical information and Emergency contacts at the top.
Here you can check whether the Emergency Location Service is available and enabled. If it’s not, try turning it on. In case it’s not possible, the service is probably not available at your location.
Tip: here’s how to see all your blocked numbers on Android.
Other Features of Android Personal Safety
Android Personal Safety also includes several options that allow you to stay safe in potentially dangerous situations. We take a look at each of them below.
Call Emergency Number
You can call your regional emergency number right from the Android Personal Safety app without having to dial the number yourself. I think the best way this can work in your favor, is to make sure that the APS app is open on your phone when you’re going out.
In case something goes wrong, you can easily bring up the app and tap the Call 911 (or your regional emergency number) button to get immediate assistance.
Emergency Sharing
Once I got stood up by my friend. I was supposed to meet up with them to go see a gallery in a sketchy part of town. I arrived there in an Uber, but finding another one to go back home was another story. It was a Saturday night and ridesharing apps were extremely busy. So I resolved to walk to the nearest metro station which wasn’t far, but the road was deserted. I admit, I didn’t feel safe doing so, but I did take one precaution. I enabled Emergency Sharing.
This feature, which is available from the app’s main screen, let me share my location and status updates with my emergency contacts. In this situation, I also found it helpful to actually call one of these contacts and stay on the phone with them until I reached the safety of the metro station.
Note: this feature requires access to your device’s location to work, so you might need to grant it, if you haven’t done so before.
You can activate this option with the Google Assistant. To set this up and tweak a few related settings too, switch to the Features tab and find the Emergency Sharing card and press on it.
Safety Check
This is a useful feature if you tend to do many activities alone, such as hiking, for example. I can’t say I’m a fan, but I know a few people who prefer their own company when going up the mountain. I am actually the emergency contact for one such person.
With Safety Check, you don’t have to worry about not knowing whether your loved one has made it back from their walk or hike safely. The option is available from the Android Personal Safety app’s main screen.
Tap on the Start Safety Check button. Select a Reason such as Walking alone, Going on a run, Hiking, etc. You can even write your own reason. Set the Duration and select the contact who should be informed before pressing Start.
Your phone will check in on you after the time has elapsed and let your designated contact know if something is wrong. When it’s time to check for your safety, you’ll receive an alert for 60 seconds. If you fail to mark yourself safe, emergency sharing will be initiated. In case the phone goes off the grid, the safety check will remain active and will start an emergency share with your last known location.
You can initiate a Safety Check using the Google Assistant as well.
Emergency SOS
In case you find yourself in a situation that makes it impossible for you to actually call emergency services, the Emergency SOS option can be a solution.
You can find it in the Android Personal Safety app under Features in the Discover section. Press the Manage feature button.
On the next screen, tap the Turn on Emergency SOS button.
With the option active, you can now press the Power button 5 times and more, then touch and hold the display to start emergency actions.
These include calling emergency services and sharing info with emergency contacts (this you need to activate.) A third option to Record emergency video is also available. This allows you to shoot a video of up to 45 minutes that backs up to your Google account- if you have an Internet connection.
Car Crash Detection
Car Crash Detection (CCD) is a feature that requires a phone with a working SIM. It’s currently available only in select countries.
You can find CCD in the Features tab as well. Press Manage Settings to activate it.
On the next screen, toggle on the switch next to Car Crash Detection.
Note that this option needs location, physical activity, and microphone permissions to work. If your phone detects a car crash, it can call emergency services for you. This uses Android’s Emergency Location Service (if available in your region) to transmit info about your location and additional info regarding the incident.
FYI: CCD will continue to function even if Emergency Location Service is turned off.
Crisis Alerts
Finally, you have Crisis alerts which is available in Features. This is so you can receive notifications about natural disasters as well as public emergencies in your area.
Press on the Set up button to start the process.
You’ll need to grant location access all the time for this function to work. If you agree with this, press Turn on.
If something happens in your area, you should receive a notification on your phone with details regarding of what’s happening.
Note that this is not the same as enabling alerts for Extreme threats, Severe threats, or Missing Child Alerts, which you can do via your Android’s Settings -> Safety & Emergency -> Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Related: thinking of getting a burner phone? Check our post first!
Your Android phone can be of help in all sorts of emergencies. If you’re traveling a lot, it might be worth checking these apps that can help keep you safe while you’re abroad. Speaking of which, if your next holiday is coming up, you might want to take a look at our list of tips to save phone battery while traveling.
Image credit: Unsplash All screenshots by Alexandra Arici
Alexandra Arici –
Staff Writer
Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.
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