How to increase your personal safety with Pixel and Samsung phones - The Verge

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While determination has — rightly — been a large woody written and broadcast astir however to woody with attacks and privateness violations online and via societal media, determination is present expanding attraction being paid to helping radical enactment harmless successful their homes and retired successful the world.

Android phones have, implicit the past fewer years, added respective idiosyncratic information features to their toolboxes. Because the apps and features that travel with the phones tin disagree depending connected the manufacturer, what follows are immoderate of the ways you tin usage the tools offered by Pixel and Samsung phones. If you person an Android telephone from a antithetic manufacturer, your champion stake is to spot what you person that is akin to what comes with either of these phones.

Pixel phones travel with a Safety app, which offers a assortment of ways to assistance guarantee your idiosyncratic safety. To entree each its assorted features, look for the Safety app successful your app drawer — if it isn’t already there, look for the Personal Safety app successful the App Store. When you archetypal unfastened the app, you volition beryllium offered the accidental to tally done respective demos that volition amusement you however to acceptable up the included tools.

Samsung has respective equivalent exigency measures connected its phones, which we volition look astatine arsenic well. And if you person different benignant of Android phone, you whitethorn person akin features; usage the directions beneath arsenic a usher to effort to find your equivalents.

So, present are immoderate of the tools you tin usage to assistance enactment safe.

Send an exigency connection with your location

If you find yourself successful a unsafe concern oregon an exigency happens and you don’t person the clip to commencement texting oregon calling, some Samsung and Pixel phones fto you automatically nonstop a connection to an exigency contact.

Samsung

You tin acceptable up your Samsung telephone to nonstop an alert to an exigency contact; you tin besides connect a five-second audio signaling and pictures from the beforehand and rear cameras.

Go to Settings > Safety and exigency > Send SOS messages.
Toggle Send SOS message on. Agree to the accustomed Terms and Conditions, and marque definite to springiness it the required permissions.
When prompted, pat either Create contact oregon Select from contacts to find who volition get SOS messages. You tin acceptable a maximum of 4 radical to person your SOS alerts.

Screenshot of Samsung’s information and exigency settings screen, with the Send SOS messages toggle.

Toggling Send SOS messages volition instrumentality you done the setup process, which involves designating contacts to nonstop the alerts to.

Screenshot showing a dialog container that says “Add recipient, with “Create contact” and “Select from contacts” buttons.

Tapping Select from contacts brings up a database of your contacts, and you tin take up to 4 radical to person SOS messages.

You tin marque changes to your SOS connection contacts by scrolling to the bottommost of the Send SOS messages screen and tapping Send messages to. From there, you tin adhd further radical by pressing the plus button and region radical from the database with the garbage tin button.

By default, the strategy volition connect pictures taken with your beforehand and rear cameras arsenic good arsenic a five-second audio signaling to the SOS message. If you want, you tin crook that disconnected utilizing the Attach pictures oregon Attach audio signaling toggles.

“Sending SOS messages soon. Your SOS connection volition beryllium sent to Mitchell Clark successful 9 seconds,” followed by a cancel button.

Once you’ve acceptable it up, erstwhile you property the powerfulness fastener rapidly 3 times, a connection volition beryllium sent to your contact(s), on with photos and audio depending connected your settings. (You tin besides marque it truthful that it takes 4 fastener presses if you’re disquieted astir accidental activations.) Your contact(s) volition besides get a nexus to your determination connected Google Maps and volition get updates to your determination if it changes.

Pixel

Google’s Safety app offers respective ways to assistance you support safe. Emergency SOS volition automatically telephone exigency services — and, if you want, notify your exigency contacts — if you rapidly property the powerfulness fastener 5 oregon much times. Emergency sharing volition stock your determination and different info (such arsenic if you’re making a telephone oregon if your artillery is moving low) with your exigency contacts, portion Safety cheque lets you acceptable a clip astatine which your telephone volition cheque with you to spot if you consciousness safe. If you don’t reply the check, past the telephone volition telephone your exigency contacts.

The archetypal clip you commencement the Safety app, determination volition beryllium respective wizards connected the leafage to locomotion you done the process of mounting it up. You tin besides acceptable up the antithetic features by selecting the cog icon successful the precocious near of the app. That’s however we’ll bash it here.

To acceptable up Emergency SOS:

Start the Safety app and pat the Settings cog icon > Emergency SOS.

personal information leafage with 2 ample buttons

The Personal Safety leafage lets you instantly commencement Safety cheque and Emergency sharing.

Safety settings screen

You tin entree a fig of information features from the settings screen.

On the Emergency SOS page, toggle connected Use Emergency SOS. This volition fto you nonstop your SOS alert by pressing the powerfulness fastener 5 oregon much times. After that, you’ll person 5 seconds to cancel the alert.
You tin besides acceptable up an alarm dependable by toggling the Play alarm dependable on. If you privation to cognize what it volition dependable like, pat the Test dependable nexus conscionable beneath it.
It’s besides a bully thought to usage the Try a demo fastener beneath the toggle truthful that you person a consciousness of however accelerated you request to deed the powerfulness fastener successful bid to commencement Emergency SOS.

Emergency SOS screen

Once you’ve acceptable your Emergency SOS, you tin effort a demo.

Emergency SOS countdown

You volition person 5 seconds to cancel an Emergency SOS.

After that, you tin determine what volition hap if you property the powerfulness fastener 5 times.

Tap connected Emergency SOS to spell to the Call exigency services page, wherever you tin alteration the fig to telephone (in lawsuit you’re not successful a 911 area) and besides alteration assisted calling, which volition stock your determination and details with the exigency services without your having to speak.
If you privation to substance your determination and updates to your exigency contacts, past toggle connected Share info with exigency contacts. To usage this, you volition person to adhd 1 oregon much exigency contacts by going to the app’s Settings and tapping Emergency contacts.
If you privation to grounds an exigency video astatine the aforesaid clip that you’re contacting exigency services, you tin toggle that connected arsenic well. It volition grounds for up to 45 minutes oregon until you halt the signaling and volition (if you acceptable it to) automatically stock a nexus to the video with your exigency contacts.
You tin besides acceptable Emergency SOS to just commencement a video — truthful if your main interest is that you whitethorn person a confrontation that you’ll request a grounds of, you tin usage the 5 presses to commencement up to 45 minutes of video signaling without calling exigency services. You tin interaction 911 oregon your exigency contacts from the signaling surface if you request to, and you volition person to usage your unlock codification to halt recording.

You volition person 5 seconds to cancel an Emergency SOS.

You tin acceptable Emergency SOS conscionable to grounds video.

Emergency video

From the video screen, you tin interaction exigency contacts oregon services.

To acceptable up Emergency sharing:

You tin fto your exigency contacts way you for up to 24 hours.

Go to the Safety app and pat the ample reddish Emergency sharing button.
The adjacent leafage volition amusement you who your exigency contacts are; each are automatically checked, but you tin uncheck the boxes adjacent to their names if you don’t privation them contacted. You tin besides springiness a abbreviated crushed you’re enabling sharing.
Then conscionable pat the Share fastener successful the lower-right corner.

To acceptable up Safety check:

Safety cheque tin assistance you consciousness unafraid if you’re heading into a perchance unsafe situation. If you alteration the information cheque feature, it volition inquire you to cheque successful with it astatine a preset time; if you don’t, it volition telephone your exigency contact(s). Note that successful bid to usage this feature, you person to assistance the app determination support portion it’s successful use.

Go to the Safety app and pat the ample yellowish Safety check button.
Use the 2 drop-down menus to accidental wherefore you are turning connected information cheque (for example, walking alone, going for a run, taking transportation, oregon hiking; you tin besides constitute your ain reason) and erstwhile you privation to cheque successful (anywhere from 15 minutes to 8 hours; you tin besides take your ain timing). Tap connected Next.

Turn connected information cheque page.

Safety cheque volition inquire you to cheque successful astatine a preset time.

Safety cheque countdown page

The Safety cheque surface shows your countdown and lets you telephone 911 if you request to.

Select which of your exigency contacts you privation contacted if you don’t respond to the cheque and pat connected Turn on. There is simply a toggle that volition fto you notify your contacts erstwhile information cheque is turned connected (so they won’t beryllium caught unawares).
The information cheque surface volition past travel on. It volition amusement the duration of the check, what clip you request to cheque in, and who volition beryllium contacted if you don’t. You tin besides alteration Emergency sharing and telephone 911 from that surface oregon deed the ample reddish fastener to halt the check.

Make an exigency telephone from the fastener screen

Sometimes you can’t instrumentality the clip to unlock your telephone (especially if you’re inactive wrestling with a Pixel’s fingerprint reader). You don’t request to. Both Samsung and Pixel phones (and most, if not all, different Android phones) let you to telephone exigency services from the fastener screen.

Swipe up connected your surface and look for the Emergency oregon Emergency call button. Tap that, and you’ll beryllium taken to a telephone dial pad that volition fto you dial an exigency number.
If you person a Pixel, you volition besides spot a View exigency info fastener that, erstwhile pressed, volition entree your stored aesculapian accusation and exigency contacts.
If you person a Samsung, your exigency contacts volition look astatine the apical of the screen, and a Medical info icon volition pb to your stored data. You tin adhd oregon update your aesculapian info and exigency contacts by going to Settings > Safety and emergency.

Emergency dialing pad and nexus to exigency info.

On a Pixel, you tin marque an exigency telephone oregon presumption info specified arsenic contacts and aesculapian info.

Screenshot showing Samsung’s Emergency telephone screen. At the top, determination is an exigency interaction for Mitchell Clark, followed by a fig pad for entering successful a telephone number. To the near of the telephone button, there’s a aesculapian info button.

On a Samsung, tapping connected 1 of your exigency contacts volition fto you marque an exigency call.

And enactment safe!

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