Emergency contacts on phones allow you to call or text specific people, even when your phone is locked. Adding emergency contacts to your phone is an important step in protecting your safety, but sometimes easier said than done.
Jump ahead to these sections:
- How to View Someone Else’s Emergency Contacts on a Samsung Galaxy S7
- How to Set Up Emergency Contacts in Your Samsung Galaxy S7
- Other Tips for Emergency Preparedness on Your Smartphone
If you have a Galaxy S7 phone, you might be wondering how to add emergency contacts quickly and easily. It’s also a good idea for everyone to know how to access emergency contacts on a variety of phones, including a Galaxy S7.
In this article, we’ll show you how to add emergency contacts to your Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge. We’ll also walk you through how you can view another person’s emergency contacts if and when you need to.
How to View Someone Else’s Emergency Contacts on a Samsung Galaxy S7
You might need to view someone else’s emergency contacts in a variety of situations.
You might find a lost phone that’s locked, and the only contacts you can view are the emergency contacts. Alternatively, you might encounter an emergency where you need to get in touch with a person’s family right away. Here’s what to do if you find yourself in one of those situations.
1. Check the lock screen
First, check the phone’s lock screen carefully for any emergency or medical information. Samsung smartphones allow users to add messages that appear either all the time or only when the phone is locked.
You may also want to check the lock screen for a message that includes emergency information, such as medical notes or an emergency contact name and phone number.
2. Access the emergency call function
Next, use the phone’s emergency call function to access any emergency contacts. These are contacts you can call using the phone without unlocking it. To access the emergency call function on a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge phone, just tap the phone icon in the lower left-hand corner, and swipe it up towards the center of the screen.
This will bring up an option called “Emergency call.” Tap this option to view the person’s ICE (in case of emergency) contacts. This function also allows you to view additional medical information if the person has added it, as well as dial 9-1-1.
How to Set Up Emergency Contacts in Your Samsung Galaxy S7
In addition to viewing another person’s emergency contacts, you should know how to add emergency contacts to your own Galaxy S7. Having emergency contacts in place can save you time if an emergency does occur, and it can even help medical personnel if you’re injured or incapacitated.
If there’s a family emergency, you want to be able to contact those closest to you as quickly as possible. And if you happen to get injured, you want emergency responders to quickly get in touch with your loved ones.
Here’s an easy, step-by-step guide for adding emergency contacts to your Galaxy S7 phone.
1. Add your contacts and check for correctness
From the start screen of your phone, enter the “Contacts” app. Before you start assigning emergency contacts, those names and phone numbers should already be in your phone.
Make sure that all of the people you want to add as emergency contacts are listed, and that their phone numbers are entered correctly.
2. Assign emergency contacts to the ICE group
Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge phones allow you to assign your contacts to “groups.” And one group that’s automatically available is labeled “ICE,” which stands for “in case of emergency.” This is the group that you want your emergency contacts assigned to.
To assign contacts to your ICE group, follow these steps:
- Open the “Contacts” app from your phone’s start screen
- Tap the button labeled “Groups” at the top. You should now see the default groups that are already active.
- Select “ICE Emergency Contacts,” and then tap “Edit.” You can now add your emergency contacts to the group.
- Save the ICE Emergency Contact group with the information you just added.
3. Allow emergency contact calling from the lock screen.
Most people have their phones set to lock when they’re not in use. To unlock the phone, you have to enter a password or provide bio-data like your fingerprint. But some information still shows up on the phone’s lock screen, usually including the date and time.
On a Galaxy S7 phone, you can also enable emergency contact calling from the lock screen. That means that you don’t have to unlock your phone to call one of the contacts you added to your ICE group.
Here’s how you can enable emergency contact calling from your phone’s lock screen if you have a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge phone:
- Lock your phone so that the lock screen is displayed.
- Now, swipe the phone icon from the lower-left corner to the center of the lock screen and tap “Emergency call.”
- You can now add up to four emergency contacts from your ICE group to the list by tapping the plus-sign symbol.
4. How to make an emergency call
An emergency contact list isn’t worth very much if you don’t know how to use it. Luckily, making an emergency call with your Samsung Galaxy S7 phone is even easier than adding emergency contacts.
Access the emergency call function by dragging the phone icon from the bottom left-hand corner to the middle of the lock screen, just as you did when adding emergency contacts to your lock screen.
You can also dial 9-1-1 from this emergency call screen. (You can even call 9-1-1 if the phone doesn’t have a SIM card.)
5. Inform loved ones and test your emergency call feature
It’s a good idea to let your emergency contacts know that you’ve added them to your ICE group. That way, they’re not caught completely off-guard by receiving a call from a stranger at your phone number, if this ever occurs.
And finally, you might want to get together with one or two of your emergency contacts to test out the feature and ensure that it’s working correctly. Call your contact from your phone’s lock screen, just as you or someone else might do in an emergency situation. Then, wait to see if your emergency contact receives a call.
Other Tips for Emergency Preparedness on Your Smartphone
Modern smartphones, including the Galaxy S7, have many emergency features above and beyond ICE contacts. Here are some additional steps you can take to improve your emergency preparedness using your phone.
Medical notes and information
Another useful feature in an emergency situation is the ability to display medical notes and information, such as allergies, conditions, and medications, on your phone’s lock screen. And with a Galaxy S7, you can do just that.
Your medical notes could be extremely useful to medical care providers in an emergency if you don’t already wear that information on a medical ID bracelet or necklace.
Here’s how to add medical information to your phone’s lock screen:
- Open the “Contacts” app
- Tap your own contact under “My profile”
- Scroll all the way to the bottom to find “Emergency medical information”
- Tap “Emergency medical information,” and enter whatever information you want into the text boxes
- Tap “Save” to save your information
Now, you or anyone else can view those medical notes by tapping the “Emergency Call” button and then tapping the “Medical Information” button on your phone’s lock screen.
Sending SOS text messages
With its Galaxy S6 phone, Samsung introduced the “SOS Message” function. And it could be a lifesaver in an emergency situation. SOS text messaging lets you send a photo, a GPS location, and a five-second sound recording to all of your emergency contacts in just a few seconds. Here’s how you enable and use SOS text messages.
To set it up:
- Enter your phone’s “Settings” app
- Tap “Privacy and safety”
- Tap “Send SOS messages” (this won’t send anything right away)
- Tap the toggle button to turn it on
- Tap the checkbox to agree to the terms and conditions
- Tap “Agree”
- Tap “Add” in the pop-up
- Tap “Select from contacts” to add your emergency contacts
- Tap the checkbox next to each contact you want to add as an SOS message recipient
- Tap “Done” at the top-right corner of the screen.
To use SOS messaging once it’s enabled, all you have to do is quickly press the power button on your phone three times.
Check-in with Your Emergency Preparedness
This is an important reminder to check-in with your current emergency preparedness. We can't predict what will happen in the future, but we can take steps today to make plans just in case.
Aside from emergency contacts and understanding your phone's safety features, do you have additional emergency plans in place? Where are your secure documents kept? Are they safe, and do your trusted loved ones know where to find them? In addition, how can you help your loved ones secure their own preparedness plans?
Your emergency preparedness today helps your family in the future. From helping them understand your final wishes to knowing how to handle a medical emergency, these decisions matter. With more options to choose from than ever before, from virtual funerals with GatheringUs to celebrations of life, it's important to make your choices clear.
Choose Your Emergency Contacts on Android
You never expect to need an emergency contact, and ideally, your emergency contacts would never get used. But it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to your safety and health.
Emergency contacts can help you out in situations as simple as a lost phone, or as serious as a stroke or heart attack. Likewise, your emergency contacts can be anyone from close friends to your official health care proxy. When choosing your emergency contacts, try to choose people who could help in any type of situation, whether it’s a health crisis or simply a missing device.
If you're looking for more on emergency contacts, read our guide on how to set emergency contacts on iPhones and how to set emergency contacts on Androids.
Sources
- “Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone user manual.” Verizon. https://ss7.vzw.com/is/content/VerizonWireless/Devices/Samsung/UserGuides/Samsung%20Galaxy%20s7/final-user-guide-samsung-galaxy-s7.pdf
- Symons, Mick. “How to use emergency features on the Samsung Galaxy S7.” Android Central. 12 March 2016. https://www.androidcentral.com/how-use-emergency-features-samsung-galaxy-s7