Maine iPhone Users: Here’s 2 Steps to Help Out Maine’s Emergency Responders

A newer update on i Phones is becoming a nuisance for emergency services here in the state of Maine and nationwide.

The recent update has made it so that you can make an emergency call with the phones' side buttons.

The Apple iPhone has a shortcut 'Emergency SOS' feature to access local responders during an emergency as well as access your emergency contacts. The Apple website describes the purpose of the feature: "When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number. "

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Unfortunately, the easy access of this feature is causing a lot of accidental calls to Maine's local dispatchers that result in a lot of needless effort to ensure the safety of the community.

Here's the Facebook post from June 24th that the Maine Department of Public Safety Communications put out addressing the problem:

So, let's help out emergency services by doing the following:

Step 1: Go to your settings and select 'Emergency SOS'.

Step 2: In the Emergency SOS options screen you will see that 'Call Button' is active and 'Auto Call' is active, like in this screenshot:

Turn off these settings so your screen will look like this:

It's that easy to help out Maine's Emergency Communications call takers and first responders who are working hard to help us when we need it the most.