The locked screen that tells a paramedic who to call

Whoever reaches you first after an accident does not know your name, does not know who to ring, and cannot unlock your phone. The phone, though, keeps a page built for exactly that moment, reachable from the locked screen without a passcode. On most handsets it is empty, because nobody filled it in.

On iPhone

The page is called Medical ID and it lives in the Health app:

1. Open the Health app.
2. Tap your picture, then tap Medical ID.
3. Tap Get Started or Edit and fill in your details: conditions, allergies, medications, blood type.
4. Under Emergency Contacts, tap Add Emergency Contact, pick the person and set their relationship to you.
5. At the bottom of the edit page, turn on Show When Locked, then tap Done.

A first responder reaches it from the locked screen by swiping up or pressing the Home button, tapping Emergency on the passcode screen, then Medical ID. After any emergency call, the phone also texts your emergency contacts with your location unless you cancel it.

Automatic sharing of the card during an emergency call is, by Apple’s own account, limited to the US and Canada, so do not count on it in Kuwait.

On Android

The equivalent is the Personal Safety app, and some steps need Android 12 or newer:

1. Open Personal Safety.
2. Add your medical information — conditions, medications, blood type.
3. Add emergency contacts.
4. Put a message on the lock screen if you want one.
5. The same app holds Emergency SOS, location sharing with your contacts, and a scheduled Safety Check.

What anyone can see

Google states it plainly: anyone who picks up the phone can read the lock screen message and the emergency information while the device is still locked. That is the whole point, and it is also the cost. So write what helps a paramedic — a drug allergy, a chronic condition, a blood type, one number to ring. Leave out anything that is not about treating you; this page is not the place for a home address or details that belong only to you.

Kuwait’s single emergency number is 112, covering police, ambulance and fire.

Photo: a locked smartphone on a desk. Photograph by JESHOOTS.COM, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: Apple and Google official support pages for Medical ID and the Personal Safety app.