How to Add Emergency Information to Android Phones

Steps may vary depending on the OEM and model you are using so a quick search in the Settings app should help. For this guide, I am using a Moto phone.

  1. Open the app drawer on your Android smartphone by swiping up on the home screen. Scroll down to the Settings icon. Tap Settings > About Phone.
  2. Tap Emergency information. The Emergency information page will open in front of you with two highlighted sections — Medical information and Emergency contacts. The medical information section carries details like Name, Address, Blood type, etc. Tap on + Add information.
  3. Medical information page will open with all the sections like your Name, Address, Blood type, etc. Fill in the relevant details in their respective sections by tapping on them. And then tap on OK to save.
  4. After filling in all the Medical information, tap the back arrow in the top left of your screen. It will take you back to the Emergency information page. Scroll down until you find the Emergency contacts section, then tap + Add contact.
  5. Contact picker will open. It will allow you to choose one contact at a time. Choose a contact you want to add and tap on his/her contact name. The selected contact will appear under the Emergency contact list. if you wish to add more, you can repeat by tapping the + Add contact button on the Emergency information page. And so you’ve set up the Emergency contact and information on your Android phone. Any first responder will be able to access these even if your phone is locked. Now let’s take a look at how to access these emergency contacts and information in case of an actual emergency even if the phone is locked.

How to Access Emergency Information on Someone Else’s Phone

Again, the steps may vary but most phones that do allow adding contact and health information allow it to be available or accessible on the lock screen.

  1. Go to your phone’s lock screen and swipe to unlock your phone but don’t enter your PIN, pattern, or password. Just below the PIN, pattern, or password section, you’ll find the Emergency call button. Tap on it.
  2. Emergency page will open up with a dialer at the bottom of the screen and an Emergency Information card at the top of the screen. Tap once on the Emergency Information and it will say Tap again to open. Tap on it again.
  3. The Emergency information page will open right in front of you with all the details you previously filled in. You can tap the info section and contact section to quickly glance at all the information. The best part is that anyone can call these Emergency contacts without going through the hassle of unlocking your phone in case of an emergency. Apart from these, you can also use your lock screen to show other information. Here is how you can do so.

How to Add Emergency Information on the Lock screen

Above, we saw how you can add emergency contact details and medical information that can be accessed from the lock screen. However, they are not visible at all times. Not everyone knows how to access the emergency information screen, after all. For such instances, you can add phone number right on the lock screen so it is visible at all times.

  1. Open the app drawer on your Android smartphone by swiping up on the home screen. Scroll down to the settings icon and tap on it.
  2. Tap on the Display option and then select Advanced. It will open more display settings.
  3. Scroll down and tap on the Lock screen. After that tap Add text on lock screen. A pop-up will appear for you to fill it.
  4. Type in the details and tap Save. And it’s done. Now, whenever you go to your lock screen, you can easily view the information that you’ve added.

Bonus Tip

All the tips mentioned above are useful in case of an emergency, but some can find it a bit tedious. In that case, you can use your lock screen wallpaper creatively to showcase emergency information. You can edit your lock screen wallpaper by adding someone’s number to it and then set it as your lock screen. And to do so, here are some cool and easy-to-use photo editing apps for Android.