There is a way to put important information on the lock screen of your iPhone that can be used in case of a medical emergency. Have you set it up yet? This guide shows how to do it.

What would happen if you fell, banged your head and were knocked out? What if you had a car accident? What if… There are countless situations in which you might end up injured in some way and require the emergency services.

If you are dying from a heart attack it is doubtful that a doctor or other medical expert would search your pockets for your phone and start playing around with it. Obviously their first priority would be to provide emergency medical care.

However, there may be time after the immediate situation has been brought under control, or there may be others around that can look at your phone while emergency treatment is being administered.

Your phone could provide important information, such as medical conditions, allergies to foods and drugs, people to contact, and so on. It is important that you set up your phone to help you in a situation like this. It is also important that you know how medical information can be accessed on an iPhone in case you are there when someone else has a medical emergency. You may be able to help by looking up information on their iPhone.

iPhone Medical ID

To make information accessible even when the iPhone is locked, open the Health app on the iPhone and tap Medical ID in the bottom right corner of the screen.

• If you have not used this feature before, it will show an information screen. Tap the Create Medical ID link.
• If you have used it before, it shows your medical information. Press the Edit link in the top right corner.

The most important feature is the Emergency Access switch at the top of the Medical ID screen, Show When Locked. Turn it on so that if you are unable to provide information, such as if you are unconscious, someone could access it from the lock screen without needing to log in.

There are sections for your date of birth, medical conditions, medical notes, allergies and reactions. You might want to tell people that you are diabetic for example, it would help whoever is treating you.

If nothing is entered into a field then nothing is shown. This puts you in control of what is accessible from the phone’s lock screen and should should bear in mind that anyone can access this information, so it should be things you need to make public and not things you need to keep private.

Swipe up to reveal more items, such as medications, emergency contact, blood type, organ donor information and so on. Tap an item to type in the information or select Yes/No or other responses. Ignore any section you want to hide.

Tap add emergency contact and select a person in your contacts. If there is more than one telephone number for them, you can then select the number to use. You are prompted to enter the relationship, such as partner, son, mother, and so on. More than one emergency contact can be included, such as a mother and father, son and daughter and so on.

Enter any medications you take. None is a useful answer to enter too. The person treating you might be wondering if you have a medical condition and if you are taking some medications. It is helpful to know that you are not taking any.

How to use emergency features on an iPhone

In an emergency, someone can get your phone, wake it with the power button and swipe up from the bottom of the screen on newer models or tap the home button on older models to get to the passcode screen. In the bottom left corner is Emergency. Tap it and then tap Medical ID.

There is another way to access the emergency screen and medical ID.

• On an iPhone 8 or later, press and hold the wake/sleep button and either of the volume buttons until the emergency screen appears.
• On an iPhone 7 and older, press the wake/sleep button 5 times quickly (3 in India) and the emergency screen appears.

The result is a screen that shows the information you entered.

Drag the emergency slider if you want to automatically call emergency services and message emergency contacts with your location, or drag the Medical ID slider to see the medical information.

The screen shows whatever information you enter, so you could in fact, enter any information you want. The medical conditions, medical notes and allergies and reactions are text fields into which you can type anything. Remember that None under Allergies & Reactions and Medications is useful information and a paramedic or doctor will not need to worry about giving you medication.