A common smartphone mistake: an emergency call was made without my knowledge and the police were calledprinting

Social Situation in Japan

2024.08.07

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Now that smartphones have become an everyday item, everyone must have made some mistakes or failed at something while using them. In this series, we will introduce some mistakes sent in by our readers. This time, we will look at some mistakes made regarding emergency calls.

Introducing some common smartphone mistakes

This failure story

Once, an emergency alert was issued without my knowledge and I received a call from the police.

When I was using a mobile phone (feature phone), I once made a call by mistake while it was in my pocket. I think that when I had a mobile phone, I didn’t have the habit of locking the screen, so I put it in my pocket with the standby screen on and accidentally pressed the address book or call history button to make a call.

Since the advent of smartphones, it has become almost impossible to make an accidental emergency call while the phone is in your pocket, but the risk of making an emergency call by mistake has increased. This is because, on both iPhones and Androids, you can make an emergency call by pressing the power key five times in a row. While this allows for a speedy emergency call, it can also lead to an accidental call. In fact, Docomo issued a warning in January 2023 .

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This feature can be turned off in the settings. For iPhone (iOS 17.5.1), go to “Settings” → “Emergency SOS” and turn off “Press the button 5 times to call”, and for Android (Android 13), go to “Settings” → “Emergency information and emergency calls” → “Emergency SOS” and turn off “Call emergency services”. It’s a good idea to check what your current settings are.

On both iPhone and Android, you can disable the setting to make an emergency call by pressing the side key five times.

In addition, both iPhone and Android devices can make emergency calls from the unlocked screen. When you select “Emergency call” on the unlocked screen, the screen will switch to the dial screen and you can dial 110 or 119. I have often been startled by the emergency dial screen appearing while the phone was in my pocket, but it is rare to accidentally tap 110 or 119 from there. However, it is possible that a small child may touch the phone and make a mistake. If you see a small child trying to touch your locked smartphone, it may be dangerous to be overconfident and think, “It’s safe because the screen is locked.”

Both iPhone and Android devices allow emergency calls from the lock screen

Tell us about a time when you “failed” with your smartphone.

If you have any stories of “failures” while using a smartphone, please tell us about them. Our editorial staff will read them and introduce any that we find interesting in the magazine.

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