How to set up an emergency SOS on your Galaxy mobile device

If your job requires you to work in the field on your own, you’ve likely asked yourself this question before: How would I call for help if an emergency or accident occurred?

The number of employees working alone is on the rise. By 2025, more than 605,000 workers in North America are expected to carry specialized lone worker safety devices that use GPS and cellular technology, according to Berg Insight. Out in the field, these workers perform a wide variety of tasks, from providing home care to managing properties to inspecting utility assets.

In an emergency, these workers need an easy way to alert someone who can help. Fortunately, help is right at their fingertips, thanks to the emergency SOS feature on Samsung Galaxy mobile devices such as the all-new Galaxy Z Fold5, Galaxy S23 or the rugged Galaxy XCover6 Pro.

In addition to making workers more connected and productive, their Samsung mobile device running Android can also be quickly set up to provide emergency contacts with information so they can identify the sender’s exact location and understand their crisis situation.

Once this feature is configured, the user just needs to click the Galaxy phone’s side power button three or four times to instantly relay key information to their emergency contacts:

• An SOS message, along with a link to the sender’s location, indicated by an address and a map
• Photos of the scene from both the front and rear cameras of the device
• A five-second audio clip

This information can be critical to ensuring a lone worker quickly receives the right help in an emergency. Galaxy phones can also be set up to automatically place a call to your emergency contact.

How to set up emergency SOS

Here’s how to set up the emergency SOS feature on a Samsung phone (some steps may differ depending on Android OS version):

1. Pull down your notification bar and open “Settings”
2. Scroll down and select “Safety and emergency”
3. Select “Send SOS messages”
4. Toggle it on and choose your emergency contacts (who will receive the message)
5. Choose if you want the SOS to be triggered by pressing the side button 3 or 4 times
6. Select what you want your phone to do when you trigger the SOS
   • Auto call someone: Automatically calls your emergency contact after sending the SOS message
   • Attach pictures: Automatically attaches pictures from your front and rear cameras to your SOS message
   • Attach audio recording: Attaches a five-second audio recording to your SOS message to give your emergency contact more information on what has happened

Now the SOS emergency contact feature is all set up. When the user clicks the power button three or four times, their emergency contacts will receive an SOS message, links to a map and the audio clip, photos and auto call (if those features have been activated).

If your WiFi or location is turned off at the time you try to send the alert, your phone will automatically activate these features first in order to share your location. Your location will continue to be shared with your emergency contacts for 24 hours. They’ll get a new notification every 30 minutes if your location changes.

How to turn off emergency SOS

If you find that you are accidentally triggering the SOS or want to turn it off for another reason, you can do so in just a few taps:

1. Open “Settings” and go to “Safety and emergency”
2. Tap “Send SOS messages” and toggle it off
3. You can also adjust the SOS trigger from three to four presses of the side key to reduce the chance of false alarms

Sharing your medical information with first responders

For workers with medical conditions, it’s a good idea to store this information in your Galaxy phone so first responders can provide appropriate treatment if you are incapacitated. To save your medical information:

1. Open “Settings” and select “Safety and emergency”
2. Tap “Medical info”
3. Note down any conditions, allergies and current medications in the fields provided

First responders will be able to find this information even if your phone is locked, simply by tapping the “Emergency call” tab on the home screen.

Supporting lone workers

Organizations in fields as diverse as home healthcare, education, utilities, hospitality, real estate, field services, oil and gas, security and more are increasingly seeking better ways to increase security and support for lone workers through features like emergency SOS. Some also rely on these solutions to comply with occupational safety regulations and lower employee insurance costs.

For enterprise-level deployments, organization may choose to leverage a specialized lone worker safety application that includes additional capabilities and integrates with their dispatch system. In those instances, enterprises can utilize advanced Samsung Knox device management features to remap the physical buttons on phone or smartwatch devices to trigger alerts through that application.

By providing visual, audio and location data in emergencies, the mobile device becomes a vital tool in protecting the fast-growing lone worker labor force. With emergency SOS, the same rugged phone that makes field work easier and more productive — no matter how tough the working conditions — also keepers workers safe, no matter where they venture.

Find the right mobile device for your business and employee needs with our free guide. Then discover how rugged devices will save you money in the long run.